HARRY LEROY TEMPLE.
Hell-rake (Vol. iv., pp. 192. 260.).
—I cannot dispossess my mind of the impression that, like the theological word hell, so the agricultural term hell-rake is derived front the well-known Saxon word signifying to cover.
Every Devonshire vestryman or mason well enough knows what is meant by the "helling," or "heleing," or "heeling," of a church, viz. the covering of the roof; and every farmer or labourer in the west will tell you, that the second-helling of potatoes is the covering them with earth a second time. Query: Was not the hell-rake originally an implement used in husbandry for the purposes of covering the broad-cast seed, and for other kindred purposes?
J. SANSOM.
Family Likenesses (Vol. v., p. 7.).
—The remarkable preservation of a family likeness is the subject of one of your "Minor Notes." It has been often observed, I believe, that in the continuation of such resemblance, a generation is not unfrequently passed over, and the son is not like the father, but the grandfather. The Note recalled to my mind some powerful lines in a poem, printed more than forty years ago, for private circulation only, which I transcribe, thinking that perhaps you may consider them not unsuited to your pages. To establish the relationship of one who claims kindred with another, several proofs are offered, viz. a bracelet, a ring, a letter: but the satisfactory evidence is afforded by the family resemblance:—
"That bracelet with Elmina's hair,
That bridal ring which join'd the pair,
From Geoffrey, or from Geoffrey's son,