Minor Notes.
"Passilodion" and "Berafrynde."—Have these terms, which play so memorable a part in the "Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd" (Hartshorne's Ancient Metrical Tales) been explained? The shepherd's instructions (pp. 48, 49.) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has occurred to me that perhaps "passelodion," "passilodyon," or "passilodion" may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking from a peg-tankard, since πάσσαλος means a peg, and πάσσαλῳδία would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of peg-song, or peg-stave, and might be used to denote an exclamation on having reached the peg.
H.G.T.
Inscription on an Alms-dish.—In Bardsea Church, Island of Furness, is an alms-dish(?) of a large size, apparently very old, gilt, and bearing the following inscription:—
"WYLT : GHY : LANGHELEVEN : SOO : ERT : GODT :
ENDE : HOOVT : ZYN : GEBAT : VORWAR."
Bardsea Church is recently erected in a district taken out of Urswick parish.
Can any of your readers give an explanation of the inscription?
F.B. Relton.
[This is another specimen of the alms-dishes, of which several have been described in our First Volume. The legend may be rendered, If thou wilt live long, honour God, and above all keep His commandments.]
The Use of the French Word "savez."—About fifty years ago the use of the French word savez, from the verb savoir, to know, was in general use (and probably is so at the present time) among the negroes in the island of Barbadoes,—"Me no savez, Massa," for, "I do not know, Master (or Sir)." It occurred to the writer at that time as a very singular fact, because the French had never occupied that island; nor is he aware of any French negroes having been introduced there. He had also been informed of its use in other places, but made no note of it. In the Morning Herald of the 7th instant there is a statement that the Chinese at Canton, speaking a little English, make use of the same word. Can any of your readers give an explanation of this?
J.F.
Job's Luck.—I send you another version of Job's luck, in addition to those that have lately appeared in "Notes AND Queries:"
"The devil engaged with Job's patience to battle,
Tooth and nail strove to worry him out of his life;
He robb'd him of children, slaves, houses, and cattle,
But, mark me, he ne'er thought of taking his wife.
"But heaven at length Job's forbearance rewards,
At length double wealth, double honour arrives,
He doubles his children, slaves, houses, and herds,
But we don't hear a word of a couple of wives."
A.M.
The Assassination of Mountfort in Norfolk street, Strand.—The murder of Mountfort is related with great particularity in Galt's Lives of the Players, and is also detailed in, if I recollect aright, Mr. Jesse's London and its Celebrities; but in neither account is the following anecdote mentioned, the purport of which adds, if possible, to the blackness of Mohun's character:—
"Mr. Shorter, Horace Walpole's mother's father, was walking down Norfolk Street in the Strand, to his house there, just before poor Mountfort the player was killed in that street by assassins hired by Lord Mohun. This nobleman lying in for his prey, came up and embraced Mr. Shorter by mistake, saying 'Dear Mountfort.' It was fortunate that he was instantly undeceived, for Mr. Shorter had hardly reached his house before the Murder took place."—Walpoliana, vol. ii. p. 97., 2nd ed.
J.B.C.
The Oldenburgh Horn (Vol. ii., p. 417.) is preserved amongst the antiquities in the Gallery of the King of Denmark at Copenhagen. It is of silver gilt, and ornamented in paste with enamel. It is considered by the Danish antiquaries to be of the time of Christian I., in the latter half of the fifteenth century. There are engraved on it coats of arms and inscriptions, which show that it was made for King Christian I., in honour of the three kings, or wise men, on whose festival he used it, at Cologne.
W.C. Trevelyan.
Wallington, Dec. 19. 1850.
[We avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by Sir Walter Trevelyan's communication to add from Vulpius (Handwörterbuch der Mythologie) the following additional references to representations and descriptions of this celebrated horn—which is there said (p. 184.) to have been found in 1639:—Schneider, Saxon. Vetust. p. 314.; Winkelmann's Oldenburgische Chronik. s. 59.; S. Meyer, Vom Oldenburgischen Wunderhorne, Bremen, 1757.]
Curious Custom.—In 1833 the late Record Commissioners issued Circular Questions to the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, requesting various information; among such questions was the following:—"Do any remarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed within memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of corporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the printed histories or accounts of your borough? Describe them, if there be such."
To this question the borough of Chippenham, Wilts, replied as follows:—"The corporation dine together twice a-year, and pay for it themselves!" (Report of Record Commissioners, 1837, p. 442.)
J.E.
Kite (French, "Cerf-volant").—Some years ago, when reading Dr. Paris' popular work called Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest, 5th edition, London, J. Murray, 1842, I observed that the author could not explain the meaning of the French term "cerf-volant," applied to the toy so well known among boys in England as a "kite," and in Scotland as a "dragon." The following passages will solve this mystery:
"Cerf-volant. Scarabæus lucanus. Sorte d'insecte volant qui porte des cornes dentelées, comme celles du cerf.
"Cerf-volant. Ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. On donne ce nom à une sorte de joüet d'enfans qui est composé de quelques bâtons croisés sur lesquels on étend du papier, et exposant cette petite machine à l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. On la retient et on la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est attachée."—See Dictionnaire de la Langue Françoise, de Pierre Richelet; à Amsterdam, 1732.
In Kirby and Spence's Entomology, vol. ii. p. 224., they mention "the terrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of Europe, the Lucanus Cervus of Linnæus."
The "toothed horns" alluded to by Richelet are represented by the pieces of stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the string-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at certain seasons of the year in England and Scotland.
G.F.G.
Edinburgh.
Epitaph on John Randal.—As a counterpart to Palise's death, I have sent a Warwickshire epitaph, taken from Watford Magna churchyard, written about the same period:
"Here old John Randal lies, who counting by his sale,
Lived three score years and ten, such virtue was in ale;
Ale was his meat, ale was his drink, ale did his heart revive,
And could he still have drunk his ale, he still had been alive."
J.R.
Playing Cards.—As a rider to The Hermit Of Holyport's Query respecting his playing cards (Vol. ii., p. 462.), I would throw out a suggestion to all your readers for notices of similar emblematic playing cards: whether such were ever used for playing with? what period so introduced? and where? as both France and Spain lay claim to their first introduction. I see that Mr. Caton exhibited at one of the meetings of the Archæological Institute this season a curious little volume of small county maps, numbered so as to serve as a pack of cards (described more fully in the Archæological Journal for September, 1850, p 306.), and which I regret I did not see.
W.H.P.
Wanstead, Dec. 13. 1850.