152. Carmagnoles.
—Can any of your readers tell me the exact meaning of the Carmagnoles of the French Revolution? Is the "Marseillaise" a Carmagnole song? If the word be derived from Carmagnuola in Piedmont, what is the story of its origin?
W. B. H.
153. The Use of Tobacco by the Elizabethan Ladies.
—In An Introduction to English Antiquities, by James Eccleston, B.A., 8vo. 1847, p. 306., the author, speaking of the ladies of the reign of Elizabeth, has the following passage:
"It is with regret we add, that their teeth were at this time generally black and rotten, a defect which foreigners attributed to their inordinate love for sugar, but which may, perhaps, be quite as reasonably ascribed to their frequent habit of taking the Nicotian weed to excess."
Does the author mean to insinuate by the above, that the Elizabethan ladies indulged in the "filthy weed" by "smoaking" or "chewing?" I have always understood that the "Nicotian weed" whitened the teeth rather than blackened them, but should be glad to be enlightened upon the subject by some of your scientific readers.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
154. Covines (Vol. iii., p. 477.).
—Remembering to have seen it stated by one of your correspondents, that witches or sorcerers were formerly divided into classes or companies of twelve, called covines, I should feel obliged by a reference to the authorities from which this statement is derived. They were not alleged at the time.