92 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2" d S. IX. Peh. 4. 'GO. 



les anneaux de mariage ont et£ deposes sur l'autel de la 

 patrie, et le gouvemement a distribue en echange des 

 bagues en fer avec cette inscription, ' J'a.i change de Vor 

 pour du fer.' Cette baguc si precieuse par 9a valeur mo- 

 rale peut encore etre regardee commeun objetde curiosite 

 par la beaute" du travail du fer, que je ne crois pas que 

 Ton puisse travailler ainsi dans aucun autre pays. Si 

 quelque dame se permet un bijou, il est en fer. II est 

 vrai que l'e'le'gance du travail compense la valeur de la ] 

 matiere. II est impossible de se procurer a la manufac- 

 ture ces bagues patriotiques, vu qu'elles sont donne's ex- ; 

 clusivement aux proprie'taires comme un marque qu'il a 

 e'te depose au bureau quelque bijou d'or ou d'argent en ! 

 don patriotique. Ce que j'envoie ci-jointe a Votre Ex- 

 cellence m'a ete donnee par une dame qui en posse"dait 

 deux, car tous mes efforts pour en acheter un a la manu- 

 facture ont e'te" inutiles." 



This nccount states distinctly that the iron 

 rings were not procurable except from govern- 

 ment, and in exchange for gold or silver jewels 

 given up for the public service. Me. Boys' ac- 

 count, although not asserting the reverse, seems 

 to lead to a different impression : for his episode 

 of the maiden's hair has clearly nothing to do with 

 the distribution of rings by government, as de- 

 scribed by Senor Pizarro, although the one might 

 be mistaken for the other, or rather confounded 

 with it. Z. 



The Oath of Vargas (2 nd S. viii. 355.)— The 

 story (respecting the above painting), to the best 

 of my recollection, is this : — One Vargas, a 

 Spaniard, was appointed by the Duke of Alva 

 chief of the so-called " Bloody Tribunal," or In- 

 quisition, established during the Spanish domina- 

 tion over the Netherlands. This Vargas was a 

 man distinguished by his fierce bigotry and fana- 

 ticism. On one occasion, when presiding over 

 the aforesaid tribunal, he arose and took a solemn 

 oath upon the crucifix before him, saying : " That 

 if he knew or suspected that his own father or 

 mother were tainted with the accursed sin of 

 heresy, with his own hands would he consign them 

 to the stake." 



This rather startled some of his worthy con- 

 freres, who were not quite prepared to go to such 

 lengths. The picture is in water-colour, by 

 Louis Haghe, and was first exhibited at the New 

 Water-colour Society in 1841 or 1842, and was 

 afterwards purchased by one of the prizeholiiers 

 of the London Art Union. It is now the property 

 of W. Leaf, Esq. If your correspondent can pro- 

 cure one of the New Water-colour Exhibition 

 Catalogues for the above years, he will find „he 

 story attached to the picture. E. Downks. 



Sepulchral Slabs and Crosses (2 nd S. ix. 27.) 

 — A few years ago, I was visiting Mr. Gaskell at 

 his Highland lodge, called Inverlair, in the county 

 of Inverness, when I strolled one day to a bnry- 

 ing-ground, about two miles off, most romantically 

 situated amongst the mountains ; and there I saw 

 several gravestones, placed for the most part, as 

 in England, at the head of the bodies, which lay 



with their faces towards the east ; but there were 

 also monumental stones to the memory of two or 

 three priests, whose bodies were laid " with their 

 faces, to the west," as Mr. Cutts states. And on 

 asking some of the people present at a funeral 

 why this difference occurred, they said it was 

 the custom of their religion to place the bodies of 

 their priests in this position. The population was 

 almost exclusively Roman Catholic. 



I do not recollect whether the inscriptions were 

 included in the same description ; but my impres- 

 sion is, that they all, both clerical and lay, faced 

 one way. J. W. 



An example of the peculiarity in clerical sepul- 

 ture mentioned by your correspondent, occurs in 

 the cemetery of the Seven Churches of Glenda- 

 lough, co. Wicklow. 



A portion of the burying-ground, which occu- 

 pies the site where formerly the sacristy stood, is 

 still called the " Priest's House," and is set apart 

 for the repose of the Catholic clergy. 



The tombstones are all, to the best of my re- 

 collection, of the upright kind called head stones. 



The inscriptions over the clerical graves all 

 face the west, while all the others in the cemetery 

 face the east. W. D. 



Mr. D'Aveney is informed that the passage he 

 cites from Mr. Cutts's otherwise valuable Manual 

 is wrong. In this country there never existed 

 the slightest distinction between the clergy and 

 laity with regard to the placing of the head and 

 feet in the grave, or upon their sepulchral stones. 

 The cleric, from a bishop down to the lowliest 

 clergion, was invariably buried with his face to 

 the altar, just like the layman ; and th,e difference 

 which is noticed by Mr. Cutts is somewhat 

 modern in Italy itself, where it began, and even 

 there had no existence before the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. If Mr. D'Aveney will look into Dr. Rock's 

 Church of our Fathers (torn. ii. p. 473.), he will 

 find this very question gone into. Liturgist. 



Bookstalls (2 nd S. viii. 494.) — As a pendant 

 to Abracadabra's communication on this subject, 

 I send an extract from an unpublished volume of 

 " Recollections of the iate Gecrge Stokes, Esq." : — 



" One interesting fact Mr. Stokes was accustomed to 

 mention in connexion with these editorial labours: he 

 was exceedingly anxious to compare Wickliffe's Lantern 

 of Light, written about 1400, with one of the early copies 

 of the work, from a conviction that various errors had 

 crept into the later editions. He inquired in every direc- 

 tion for the work, searched many libraries and catalogues, 

 but. all in vain. He had occasion to visit the British 

 Museum for some literary purposes, and had the proof- 

 sheets of Wickliffe's writings in his pocket. On retiring 

 from the Museum, he passed down a court leading into 

 Lincoln's Inn Fields, and observed in an old tea-chest a 

 number of books, all marked sixpence each. He was led 

 by curiosity to examine the lot; and there, to his joyful 

 surprise, he found the old black-letter book he had long 

 been seeking iu vain. This book he valued at several 



