2«d S. IX. Jan. 21. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



39 



which the end of a stout pole five feet in length 

 is firmly fixed : to strengthen their hold a num- 

 ber of supports are nailed round the outside of 

 the former, and also closely round the latter. 

 The tar is then put into the barrel, and set on 

 fire; and the remaining one being broken up, 

 stave after stave is thrown in until it is quite full. 

 The " clavie," already burning fiercely, is now 

 shouldered by some strong young man, and borne 

 away at a rapid pace. As soon as the bearer 

 gives signs of exhaustion another willingly takes 

 his place ; and should any of those who are ho- 

 noured to carry the blazing load meet with an 

 accident, as sometimes happens, the misfortune 

 excites no pity even among his near relatives. In 

 making the circuit of the village they are said 

 to confine themselves to its old boundaries. For- 

 merly the procession visited all the fishing boats, 

 but this has been discontinued for some time. 

 Having gone over the appointed ground, the 

 " clavie " is finally carried to a small artificial 

 eminence near the point of the promontory, and 

 interesting as being a portion of the ancient forti- 

 fications, spared probably on account of its being 

 used for this purpose, where a circular heap of 

 stones used to be hastily piled up, in the hollow 

 centre of which the " clavie " was placed still 

 burning. On this eminence, which is termed the 

 " durie," the present proprietor has lately erected 

 a small round column with a cavity in the centre 

 for admitting the free end of the pole, and into 

 this it is now placed. After being allowed to burn 

 on the '' durie " for a few minutes, the " clavie " 

 is most unceremoniously hurled from its place, 

 and the smoking embers scattered among the as- 

 sembled crowd, by whom, in less enlightened 

 times, they were eagerly caught at, and fragments 

 of them carried home and carefully preserved as 

 charms against witchcraft. At a period not very 

 remote, superstition had invested the whole pro- 

 ceedings with all the solemnity of a religious rite, 

 the whole population joining in it as an act neces- 

 sary to the welfare and prosperity of the little 

 community during the year about to commence. 

 But churches and schools have been established in 

 Burghead, and the "clavie" has now degenerated 

 into a mere frolic, kept up by the youngsters 

 more for their own amusement than for any bene- 

 fit which the due performance of the ceremony is 

 believed to secure. Still there are not a few of 

 the "graver sort" who would regret if such a 

 venerable, perhaps unique, relic of antiquity were 

 numbered among the things that are past and 

 gone, and who bestow a welcome on the noisy 

 procession as it annually passes their doors. 



Of the great antiquity of the practice now de- 

 scribed there can be no doubt, while everything 

 connected with it clearly indicates its religious 

 character. So far as 1 have been able to ascer- 

 tain, the "clavie" is unknown in all the other 



fishing villages along the north-east coast, or in- 

 deed elsewhere in Scotland, which could scarcely 

 be the case if it is a remnant of an ancient super- 

 stition at one time common to the native popula- 

 tion of the north. On the contrary, the inference 

 seems plain that it was once foreign to the soil 

 where it afterwards became so firmly rooted. But 

 when, whence, and by whom was it transplanted? 

 If I might hazard a conjecture I should be dis- 

 posed to look to Scandinavia for traces of the 

 parent stock. Not less puzzling is the etymology 

 of the words " clavie " and " durie." Webster 

 gives clevy or clevis as a New England term ap- 

 plied to a draft iron on a cart or on a plough, sug- 

 gesting its derivation fromLat. clavis ; but beyond 

 the similarity of their literal elements there ap- 

 pears no connexion between the American and 

 the Burghead word. Perhaps I ought not to 

 omit to mention that the villagers, when speaking 

 of the fortifications that crowned the heights of 

 the promontory, invariably call them " the baileys," 

 said to be an Anglicised corruption of ballium, 

 which again has been derived from the Lat. val- 

 lum. 



Should any of your correspondents be induced 

 by what I have written to take up the investiga- 

 tion of these curious questions, they will confer a 

 great favour by communicating the result of their 

 inquiries to " N. & Q." James Macdonald. 



Elgin. 



GENERAL LITERARY INDEX. — INDEX OF 

 AUTHORS. 



A friend of Professor Brewer, editor of Rogeri 

 Baconi Opera, under the superintendance of the 

 Master of the Rolls, has called my attention to 

 that publication, and suggested that a MS. re- 

 cently purchased for and deposited in the Chetham 

 Library, should be made known to that gentle- 

 man. Not having yet seen the volume referred 

 to, I know not whether Mr. Brewer is already 

 acquainted with the contents of this MS. ; but 

 the prospect of affording acceptable information 

 to others interested in the works of the great Eng- 

 lish philosopher, as well as to the learned Editor, 

 induces me to furnish through " N. & Q." the de- 

 scription of the MS., and also of his other works, 

 which is incorporated in the new Catalogue of the 

 Chetham Library. 



"Bacon (Roger) The Myrrour of Alchimy (composed 

 by the thrice famous and learned fryer R. B., sometime 

 fellow of Martin College, and afterwards of Brazen-nose 

 Colledge in Oxenforde; also a most excellent and learned 

 discourse of the admirable force and eflieacie of Art and 

 Nature, with certainc other worthie treatises of the like 

 argument)." Sm. 4to. Oieede, Loud., 1597. 



Imperfect, wanting the title-page and first four pages: 

 contains pp. 84. 



(I liave inserted his titles which I find here, more par- 

 ticularly, because I find that the writer of his Life in the 

 Biographia Brit., art. Bacon, appears not to be " very 



