Bloomsbury.
Praying to the West (Vol. viii., p. 102.).—The isles of the West, by which is understood what we term the British Isles, in the ancient Hindoo writings are described as the Sacred Isles, or the abode of religion. The Celtic tribes used the practice of turning to the West in their religious rites, having adopted it in a very early age from a reason similar to that which led the Turks in a later age to turn towards Mecca, and other nations towards the East; that is, the superior sanctity attached by each to these several points. This practice the Celtic tribes brought with them in their migration from the East to those parts in which we now find it in the West; where it has been retained by their descendants after the circumstances which gave rise to it had been long forgotten.
G. W.
Stansted, Montfichet.
Old Dog (Vol. iv., p. 21.).—See The Observer (Cumberland's), No. 131.:—"Uncle Antony was an old dog at a dispute."
P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.
Contested Elections (Vol. vii., p. 208.).—An account of many of the English contested elections may be found in Oldfield's Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland, 6 vols.: London, 1816. I hope that X. Y. Z. does not rank this among the "wretched compilations." Oldfield was a man of much experience as a parliamentary agent, and his book is entertaining—at least, to us Americans.
M. E.
Philadelphia.
"Rathe" in the Sense of "early" (Vol. vii., p. 634. et alibi.).—See The Antiquary, cap. xxxix. (vol. i. p. 468. People's Edition), where Maggie Mucklebacket says: