2-- S. VI. 139.. Aug. 28. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



177 



Kaul Dereg and Goldsmith (2°'^ S. iv. 309.) — 

 At the above reference I queried as to whom 

 Goldsmith, in one of his Essays, intended by the 

 first-mentioned names ; and I then hoped that 

 one of your Irish readers would answer the ques- 

 tion. This has not been done ; but I have myself 

 since found, unaided, an explanation in the de- 

 lightful little book of Mr. Wilde, Irish Popular 

 Superstitions, published by Orr & Co., London, 

 p. 99. 



Cathal (pronounced Kaul) Crovedearjr, or the 

 red-handed, was the illegitimate son of Turlough 

 More O'Conor, the brother of Roderick, and last 

 of the Irish monarchs. Through the persecutions 

 of the queen he was compelled to flee to a distant 

 province, where, in the garb of a peasant, he sup- 

 ported himself by manual labour. At length the 

 King of Connaught died ; and search was then 

 made for this his son, who was afterwards dis- 

 covered and crowned : — 



" Of him," 5Ir. Wilde says, " there are man)' romantic 

 tales and superstitious legends still lingering with the 

 people in the vicinity (J. e. of Ballintober, near Castle- 

 bar), which, were they woven into a novel, would far 

 surpass most modern works of fiction." 



To these adventures of Cathal, Goldsmith re- 

 ferred, when he said : 



" Every country has its traditions, which, either too 

 minute, or not sufficiently authentic to receive historical 

 sanction, are handed down among the vulgar, and serve 

 at once to instruct and amuse them." 



This allusion of Goldsmith to a memory of his 

 boyhood, to a romantic fact in the Celtic tradi- 

 tions of his country, is as remarkable as it is 

 touching, and must have startled as well as puz- 

 zled the cockney literateurs of his circle. AVilh 

 this exception, and the great Dean's translation of 

 " O'Rourke's Feast," I have never met with any 

 reminiscence in the Irish writers of that and the 

 preceding age of the folk lore of their own country. 

 They might have been Englishmen, for any na- 

 tional elements to be found in their literature 

 before the Scottish success of Sir Walter Scott 

 shamed Irish authors into their present splendid 

 national literature. The present generation would 

 gladly exchange even The Vicar of Wahefield 

 for a novel of the same genial Oliver, equally 

 true in feeling, and enchanting in description, but 

 Hibernian in its characteristics. H. C. C. 



_ Blue and Buff {2"^ S. v. 304.; vi. 76.)— I be- 

 lieve that the blue coat and buff waistcoat, both 

 with plain gilt buttons, had no connexion with 

 the Lord George Gordon riots of 1780. My father 

 resided in London in 1780, and I have often heard 

 him mention the blue cockade; but never any- 

 thing buff, or any distinguishing dress, as con- 

 nected with these riots. My own impression is, 

 that the blue coat and buff waistcoat, both with 

 plain gilt buttons, were introduced by the Right 



Hon. Charles James Fox, when leader of the 

 Whig party, and worn by the statesmen of that 

 party. I have seen portraits of Mr. Fox so at- 

 tired, and I have also seen this costume worn by 

 the Marquis of Lansdowne ; and I think by Lord 

 Radnor, and the late Sir Francis Burdett, who 

 were not likely to have worn in my time a cos- 

 tume introduced in the "No Popery" riots of 

 1780, as all three were, I believe, in favour of 

 Catholic emancipation. 



In the reign of King George III. the Windsor 

 uniform was introduced. It was a blue coat with 

 red collar and cuffs, and it was worn by the king's 

 personal friends, and is still worn by those at- 

 tached to the Court of the Sovereign ; and when 

 King George IV. was Prince of Wales, or, as he 

 preferred being styled, ''• Prince," his personal 

 friends wore what was called " the Prince's uni- 

 form," — a blue coat and white waistcoat, each 

 having gilt buttons, bearing the Prince's plume, 

 and the letters "G. P. ;" which, when he became 

 Regent, were altered to " G. P. R." 



F. A. Carkington. 



Ogboume St. George. 



Mdlle. de Scuderi (2"'» S. v. 274.) — Madeleine 

 de Scufleri wag born at Havre-de-Grace in 1607, 

 and died in 1704, at the age of ninety-four. A 

 good account of her life and writings will be* 

 found in the French Biographic Vniveiselle, Mo- 

 reri, &c., to which works I would refer R. H. S. 

 of Brompton, as he has probably consulted the 

 English biographical dictionaries, where the no- 

 tices of this clever author are rather meagre ; but 

 that in Charles Knight's English Cyclopcedia of 

 Biography (vol. v. pp. 375, 376.), though brief, is 

 tolerably comprehensive. I am not aware whe- 

 ther a separate memoir of this "Queen of Parisian 

 Blue-Stockings," as she has been styled, has ever 

 been published, even in the country which gave 

 her birth. A. S. A. 



Cross and Pile (1" S. vi. 386. 513. ; vii. 24. 

 487. 560. 631.; x. 181.) — In the discussion on 

 the origin of the term pile, in this connexion, no 

 mention has been made of the derivation given by 

 Mr. J. A. Montagu, in a foot-note on p. 7. of his 

 admirable Guide to the Study of Heraldry (4to., 

 Pickering, 1840). He says ; — 



" The old game of ' cross and pile ' (our modern heads 

 and tails); derived its name from the cross, and wedge- 

 like shape of the shield upon some coins." 



Qu., Was the /;i7e-side the obverse, or the re- 

 verse ? TooNE (aimd "N. & Q." 1" S. vi. 513.), 

 says the latter ; Cleland {Ibid. vii. 560.) affirms, 

 as positively, the former. Adverting to the last 

 reference, I may suggest that jnle was a cant or 

 punning translation of the Latin cuneus (a wedge, 

 or pile), which Cleland there asserts was the 

 term used for the " coin," i. e. the obverse : " from 

 cune, or hyn, the head." Ache. 



