Minor Notes.
Nelson's Coat (Vol. iii., p. 517.).
—The recognition of the coat Nelson wore at Trafalgar depends on its fulfilling a detail in the following fact. The present Captain Sir George Westphal was a midshipman on board the Victory, and was wounded on the back of the head: he was taken into the cockpit, and placed by the side of Nelson. When Westphal's wound was dressed, nothing else being immediately available, Nelson's coat was rolled up and used as a support to Westphal's head. Blood flowed from the wound, and, coagulating, stuck the bullion of one of the epaulettes to the bandage; it was deemed better to cut off some of the bullion curls to liberate the coat: so that the coat Nelson wore on that day will be found minus of bullion in one of the epaulettes.
ÆGROTUS.
Strange Reasons for keeping a Public-house.
—A clergyman in the south-west of England, calling lately on one of his parishioners, who kept a public-house, remarked to her how sorry he was, when passing along the road, to hear such noises proceeding from her house. "I wonder," said he, "that any woman can keep a public-house, especially one where there is so much drunkenness and depravity as in yours." "Oh, Sir," she replied, "that is the very reason why I like to keep such a house, because I see every day so much of the worst part of human nature."
T. W.
Superstitions with regard to Glastonbury Thorn.
—It is handed down, that when Joseph of Arimathea, during his mission to England, arrived at Weary-all-hill, near Glastonbury, he struck his travelling staff into the earth, which immediately took root, and ever after put forth its leaves and blossoms on Christmas Day, being converted into a miraculous thorn.
This tree, which had two trunks, was preserved until the time of Queen Elizabeth; when one of the trunks was destroyed by a Puritan, and the other met with the same fate during the Great Rebellion.
Throughout the reign of Henry VIII., its blossoms were esteemed such great curiosities, and sovereign specifics, as to become an object of gain to the merchants of Bristol; who not only disposed of them to the inhabitants of their own city, but exported these blossoms to different parts of Europe. There were, in addition to these, relics for rain, for avoiding the evil eye, for rooting out charlock, and all weeds in corn, with similar specifics, which were considered, at this time, the best of all property!
T. W.
The miraculous Walnut-tree at Glastonbury.
—This far-famed tree was at the north of St. Joseph's chapel, in the abbey churchyard. It was supposed to have been brought from Palestine by some of the pilgrims, and was visited in former days, and regarded as sacred by all ranks of people; and, even so late as the time of King James, that monarch, as well as his ministers and nobility, paid large sums for sprigs of it, which were preserved as holy relics.
T. W.
The Three Estates of the Realm.
—Some, even educated persons of this day, if asked which are the three estates of the realm, will reply, the Queen, Lords, and Commons. That the three estates do not include the Queen, and are therefore the Lords, the Clergy in Convocation, and the Commons, is obvious from the title of the "Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving to be used yearly upon the 5th day of November, for the happy Deliverance of King James I. and the Three Estates of England from the most Traitorous," &c.; and also from the following passage of the Communion Collect for Gunpowder Treason:—
"Eternal God, and our most mighty Protector, we Thy unworthy servants do humbly present ourselves before Thy Majesty, acknowledging Thy power, wisdom, and goodness, in preserving the king, AND the three estates of the realm of England assembled in Parliament, from the destruction this day intended against them."
W. FRAER.