Minor Notes.
Materials for a History of Druidism.—
"It would be a commendable, useful, and easy task to collect what the ancients have left us on the subject of Druidism. Such a collection would form a very small but interesting volume. It would supersede, in every library, the idle and tedious dreams and conjectures of the Stukeleys, the Borlases, the Rowlands, the Vallanceys, the Davies's, the Jones's, and the Whitakers. Toland's work on the Druids, though far from unexceptionable, has more solid intelligence than any other modern composition of its kind. It is a pity that he or some other person has not given as faithful translations of the Irish Christian MSS. which he mentions, as these have, no doubt, preserved much respecting Druidical manners and superstitions, of which many vestiges are still existing, though not of the kind usually referred to."
"The Roman history of Britain can only be collected from the Roman writers; and what they have left is very short indeed. It might be disposed of in the way recommended for the History of the Druids."—Douce's notes on Whitaker's History of Manchester, vol. i. p. 136. of Corrections in Book i., ibid. p. 148.
Anon.
Domestic Chapels.—There is an interesting example of a domestic chapel, with an upper chamber over it for the chaplain's residence, and a ground floor underneath it for some undiscoverable purpose, to be seen contiguous to an ancient farm-house at Ilsam, in the parish of St. Mary Church, in the county of Devon.
The structure is quite ecclesiastical in its character, and appears to have been originally, as now, detached from the family house, or only connected with it by a short passage leading to the floor on which the chapel itself stood.
John James.
Ordinary.—The following is a new meaning for the word ordinary:—"Do ye come in and see my poor man, for he is piteous ordinary to-day." This speech was addressed to me by a poor woman who wished me to go and see her husband. He was ordinary enough, although she had adorned his head with a red night-cap; but her meaning was evidently that he was far from well; and Johnson's Dictionary does not give this signification to the word.
A cottage child once told me that the dog opened his mouth "a power wide."
Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory for 1854.—In the advertisement prefixed to this valuable compilation, which, according to the Quarterly Review, "contains more information about Ireland than has been collected in one volume in any country," we may find the following words:
"All parliamentary and official documents procurable, have been collected; and their contents, so far as they bore on the state of the country, carefully abstracted; and where any deficiencies have been observable, the want has been supplied by applications to private sources, which, in every instance, have been most satisfactorily answered. He [Mr. Thom] is also indebted to similar applications to the ruling authorities of the several religious persuasions for the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department of the Almanac."
I wish to call attention to the latter words; and in so doing, I assure you, I feel only a most anxious desire to see some farther improvements effected by Mr. Thom.
I cannot allow "the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department," inasmuch as I have detected, even on a cursory examination, very many inaccuracies which a little care would certainly have prevented. For example, in p. 451. (Ecclesiastical Directory, Established Church and Diocese of Dublin), there are at least five grave mistakes, and four in the following page. These pages I have taken at random. I could easily point out other pages equally inaccurate; but I have done enough I think to prove, that while I willingly accord to the enterprising publisher the full meed of praise he so well deserves, a little more attention should be paid in future to the preparation of the ecclesiastical department.
Abhba.
Antiquity of the Word "Snub."—
"Beware we then euer of discontente, and snubbe it betimes, least it overthrowe us as it hath done manie."
"Such snubs as these be little cloudes."—Comfortable Notes on Genesis, by Gervase Babington, Bishop of Exeter, 1596.
J. R. P.
Charles I. at Little Woolford.—There is an ancient house at Little Woolford (in the
southeast corner of Warwickshire) connected with which is a tradition that Charles I., after the battle of Edge Hill, which is not far distant, secreted himself in an oven there. This oven is preserved for the inspection of the curious.
B. H. C.
Coincidences between Sir Thomas Browne and Bishop Ken.—Sir Thomas Browne wrote his Religio Medici in 1533-5; and in it suggested some familiar verses of the "Evening Hymn" of his brother Wykehamist Bishop Ken. The lines are as follows:
Sir Thomas Browne.
"Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes,
Whose eyes are open, while mine close;
Let no dreams my head infest,
But such as Jacob's temples blest:
Sleep is a death: oh, make me try,
By sleeping, what it is to die!
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
Howe'er I rest, great God, let me
Awake again at last with Thee."
Bishop Ken.
"Let no ill dreams disturb my rest;
No powers of darkness me molest.
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed:
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awful day.
Oh, may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
Sleep that may me more vigorous make,
To serve my God when I awake."
I have never seen this curious coincidence noticed by any of the good bishop's biographers, Hawkins, Bowles, or Mr. Anderdon.
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
The English School of Painting.—In a note to a volume of poems by Victor Hugo, published in 1836, occur these remarks:
"M. Louis Boulanger, à qui ces deux ballades sont dédiées, s'est placé bien jeune au premier rang de cette nouvelle génération de peintres, qui promet d'élever notre école au niveau des magnifiques écoles d'Italie, d'Espagne, de Flandre, et d'Angleterre."
Does this praise of the English school of painting show a correct appreciation of its claims to distinction? or am I in error in supposing, as I have done, that our school of painting is not entitled to the pompous epithet of "magnifique," nor to be named in the same category with the Italian, Spanish, and Flemish schools? I am aware of the hackneyed and somewhat hyperbolical employment, by French writers and speakers, of such terms as magnifique, superbe, grandiose; and that they do not convey to a French ear the same idea of superiority, as they do to our more sober English judgment; but making every allowance on this score, I confess I was not a little startled to find such a term as magnifique, even in its most moderate acceptation, applied to our efforts in that branch of art. Magnifique, in truth, must be our school, when the French can condescend to speak of it in such language!
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
"A Feather in your Cap."—My good friend Dr. Wolff mentioned in conversation a circumstance (also stated, I fancy, in his Journey to Bokhara) which seemed to afford a solution of the common expression, "That's a feather in your cap." I begged he would give it me in writing, and he has done so. "The Kaffr Seeyah Poosh (meaning the infidels in black clothing) living around Cabul upon the height of the mountains of the Himalaya, who worship a god called Dagon and Imra, are great enemies of the Muhamedans; and for each Muhamedan they kill, they wear a feather in their heads. The same is done among the Abyssinians and Turcomans."
Has the feather head-dress of the American Indian, and the eagle's feather in the bonnet of the Highlander, any connexion with keeping a score of the deaths of the enemies or game they have killed?
Alfred Gatty.