A.
Ringing Church Bells at Death (Vol. viii., p. 55. &c.).—The custom of ringing the church bell, as soon as might be convenient after the passing of a soul from its earthly prison-house, in the manner described in "N. & Q.," existed ten years ago in the parish of Rawmarsh, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and had existed there before I became its rector, twenty-two years ago. First a brisk peal was rung, if I mistake not, on one of the lighter bells, which was raised and lowered; then, upon the same, or some other of the lighter bells, the sex of the deceased was indicated by a given number of distinct strokes,—I cannot with certainty recall the respective numbers; lastly, the tenor bell was made to declare the supposed age of the deceased by as many strokes as had been counted years.
John James.
What is the Origin of "Getting into a Scrape?" (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—It may have been, first, a tumble in the mire; by such a process many of us in childhood have both literally and figuratively "got into a scrape." Or, secondly, the expression may have arisen from the use of the razor, where to be shaved was regarded as an indignity, or practised as a token of deep humiliation. D'Arvieux mentions an Arab who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose rather to hazard his life, than allow the surgeon to take off his beard. When Hanun had shaved off half the beards of David's servants, "David sent to meet them, because they were greatly ashamed: and the king said, 'Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return'" (2 Sam. x. 4, 5.). The expedient of shaving off the other half seems not to have been thought on, though that would naturally have been resorted to, had not the indignity of being rendered beardless appeared intolerable. Under this figure the desolation of a country is threatened. "In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, by them beyond the river, even by the King of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall consume the beard" (Isaiah vii. 20.). Again, as a token of grief and humiliation: "Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his beard," &c.—"There came fourscore men, having their heads shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves," &c. (Jer. xli. 5.). Or, thirdly, the allusion may be to the consequence of becoming infected with some loathsome cutaneous disease. "So Satan smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal" (Job ii. 7, 8.).
J. W. T.
Dewsbury.
High Dutch and Low Dutch (Vol. viii., p. 478.).—Nieder Deutsch, or rather Neder Duitsch, is the proper name of the Dutch language; at least it is that which the people of Holland give to it. Low German does not necessarily mean a vulgar patois. It is essentially as different a language from High German, or rather more so, as Spanish is from Portuguese. I believe German purists would point out Holstein, Hanover, Brunswick (not Dresden), as the places where German is most classically spoken. I wish one of your German (not Anglo-German) readers would set us right on this point. The term Dutch, as applied to the language of Holland as distinguished from that of German, is a comparative modernism in English. High Dutch and Low Dutch used to be the distinction; and when Coverdale's Translation of the Bible is said to have been "compared with the Douche," German, and not what we now call Dutch, is meant. Deutsch, in short, or Teutsch, is the generic name for the language of the Teutones, for whom Germani, or Ger-männer, was not a national appellation, but one which merely betokened their warlike character.
E. C. H.
Discovery of Planets (Vol. vii., p. 211.).—I should wish to ask Mr. H. Walter, who has a learned answer about the discovery of planets, whether the idea which he there broaches of a lost world where sin entered and for which mercy was not found, be his own original invention, or whether he is indebted to any one for it, and if so, to whom?
Quæstor.