Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/141

 id* s.i. FEB. 6, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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The figurative sense in which it is generally used, if not in Italy (I cannot say), at all events in England and France, is that there are many ways of reaching the same end or of attaining the same object. La Fontaine applies the proverb in the fable (bk. xii.) of ' Le Juge Arbitre,' &c., of which I give the opening lines :

Trois saints, egalement jaloux de leur salut, Fortes d'un meme esprit, tendaient a meme but. Us s'y prirent tous trois par des routes diverses : Tous chemins yont a Rome ; ainsi nos concurrents Crurent pouvoir choisir des sentiers diffe'rents.

EDWARD LATHAM. [MB. HOLDEX MAcMiciiAEL sends a similar reply.]

VENISON IN SUMMER (10 th S. i. 47). Thomas Cogan, in 'The Haven of Health,' 1588, chap, cxxxvi., writing of venison, mentions that, whether it be of red deer or fallow, it maketh ill juice, and is hard of digestion, and that the best way is to drown it in wine :

"And concerning redde Deere, Simeon Sethi writeth, That Stagges in the summer season eat vipers and serpents, whereby their flesh is made venimous and noysome, and therefore it is no wise to be eaten. Yet M. Eliot thiuketh the flesh of fallowe Deere is more unwholesome and unpleasant than of red Deere."

Robert Lovell, in the ' History of Animals and Minerals,' 1661, writes of the buck, Dama :

" When young and in season they are a whole- some Meat, Having no bad juyce of themselves ; when old its dry, too cold and full of grosse humours. But it may be corrected by Butter, Pepper, and Salt."

There is a very full account of the various uses to which parts of the body of the hart, Cervus, can be applied, and with some extra- ordinary results. He mentions :

" The bezar stone, or lachryma cervi Agric, resisteth poyson : They are produced by [the Hart] standing in the water up to the neck, after their devouring of Serpents, which they doe to coole themselves, not daring to drink ; these tears falling into the water, congeale, and are thence taken by those, that doe observe them, the quantity is as that of a walnut."

After nearly two pages of further informa- tion on the qualities of the intestines, &c., the chapter finishes in the following manner, in which it will be seen there is a reason for the swallowing of serpents :

"Some say they live 3600 yeares. There noise is unpleasant. They have friendship with the heath-cock ; but enmity to the Eagle, Vulture, Serpent, Dogges, Tiger, Ram, and noise of Foxes : to the Artichock, Rosewood and red Feathers, &c. They love their young and Music."

I presume, on the assumption that like cures like, the bezar stone, which is said by

Lovell to be made " of poyson and a certaine herb : of a crass terren matter," is used by advice of Garzias for helping the bites of vipers and serpents. HERBERT SOUTHAM. Shrewsbury.

HERBERT SPENCER ON BILLIARDS (10 th S. i. 48). I met Mr. Herbert Spencer some three or four years ago in a country house where he was staying ; and on our hostess inviting him to join her in a game of billiards, he answered that he should be delighted, but that he was too old. He added, " You know I used to be very fond of billiards, and, a propos of that, they tell a malicious story of me." He then repeated the story in much the same words as quoted by your corre- spondent, adding, with some warmth, that there was no foundation for it whatever, and that his personal friends knew that it was not like him to make any such remarks. He went on to say that, though he had contra- dicted it often, he knew it was still repeated, and he feared that it would be circulated after his death. C. E.

DOWNING FAMILY (10 th S. i. 44). It is curious that DR. STEVENS should not have been able to find any record of so well-known a person as Mr. A. G. Fullerton. He had property in the north of Ireland, was for a time in the Guards, and resided for much of his life in France. His wife (a daughter of the first Earl Granville), Lady Georgiana Fullerton, was well known both as a writer and for her works of benevolence. Both Mr. Fullerton and his wife were Catholics, and resided towards the close of their lives at Bournemouth. JR. B.

Upton.

ASH : PLACE-NAME (9 th S. xii. 106, 211, 291, 373; 10 th S. i. 72). I am willing to admit that Asham may be explained as " a home- stead among ashes "; but I would still say that this cannot always be inferred. The original may have been TEscan-ham, " the home of ^Esca": and it is difficult to decide unless you find a spelling you can depend upon. The parallels suggested are to the point. The name ^Esca occurs in Kemble, ' Cod. Dipl.,' ii. 74, 1. 12.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

PROF. SKEAT possibly misread my note re Lasham village. I did not say trees lived in homes, but that the village was a homestead in or amongst ash trees and why not? as DR. G. KRUEGER (Berlin) says. There is ample evidence of the Saxons having settle- ments in the district. The next hamlet to Lasham is Bentworth (Saxon), and within