Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/185

 io S.L FEB. 20,1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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I am aware that the cima di ruta, modelled in silver, was used as an amulet against the evil eye, and that rue itself has long been held in high estimation as a remedy for ills within the body and without ; but I do not know why it should be in such eminent favour among the pawnbrokers of Tuscany. Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' declare the reason ? Mr. El worthy says nothing, I think, about the efficacy of scarlet in counteracting fascination, but he points out instances in which varicoloured ribbons are used as a defence. One day as I was toiling in the sunshine up the hill to Cortona I saw beautiful white calves ornamented with red ribbons being brought out of the city as if for some pagan sacrifice. The trimmings were certainly picturesque, and probably they were also regarded as being prophylactic. I dare say the connexion between green figs and St. Peter's Day is nothing more esoteric than coincident ripeness. ST. S WITHIN.

"DRUG IN THE MARKET." Regarding the word "drug" in this phrase, the 'H.E.D.' says it is questionable if it is the same word as the ordinary word "drug." In A. Boyer's ' Royal Dictionary Abridged' (French-English and English-French), seventh edition, 1747, under 'Garde-boutique' may be found : "A slug, or a commodity that grows a slug, a commodity that sticks by one"; and under 'Slug,' "This commodity grows a slug (or Drug), cette marchandise n'est qu'une drogue, c'est un garde-boutique" May it be that the two expressions were independent, and that some one with an imperfect ear or memory said "it is a drug in the market" instead of "slug"? Both expressions are appropriate, but the two ideas are different. Sir Walter Scott in his ' Diary,' 8 December, 1825, says, " Poetry is a drug," but he does not say " in the market." U. V. W.

CLAVERISG: DE MANDEVILLE. "Were these families originally identical ? The arms of Clavering and De Mandeville are similar, Quarterly, or and gules. Was the village of Clavering in Essex held by a De Mandeville ? And was the Moat Farm House the original manor? T. W. CAREY.

Guernsey.

" KING OP PATTERDALE." Says the Penrith guide-book : " Stybarrow Crag and Pass, where the ' King of Patterdale ' successfully repelled a band of Scottish mosstroopers in the troublous times of Border warfare." Who was the " King of Patterdale " ? Having last summer visited the Crag, I am interested in this personage, if personage there be, since

Canon Rawnsley thinks that he is purely mythical. I am, however, of opinion that he was some Penrith warrior enjoying a courtesy title equivalent to that of the Lord of Haddon Hall" King of the Peak."

J. B. McGovERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

KNIGHT TEMPLAR. Would some reader kindly give the origin or meaning of the eight points in the cross of this order 1

READER.

Dublin.

RECORDS OF MONASTERY OF MOUNT GRACE LE EBOR'. Can any of your readers give me information as to where the records, if any, of the Carthusian (?) monastery of Mount Grace le Ebor' are to be seen ?

H. C. SURTEES, Lieut. -Col.

ST. DUNSTAN. Was it at Glastonbury or at Mayfield that this saint " pulled the devil by the nose " 1 M. A.OxoN.

ADDISON'S DAUGHTER. (10 th S. i. 88.)

BILTON HOUSE was bought by Addison before his marriage for 10,000., the greater part of which was lent to him by his brother, Gulston Addison. It had been built in 1623, and belonged to the Boughton family, whose shield is carved on one of the wings. Addi- son bequeathed it to his wife, the Countess of Warwick, and after their daughter's death it passed to a relation, whose descendants, by name Bridgeman Simpson, still, I believe, possess it. The daughter, Charlotte Addison, was deficient in intellect. Many stories of tier oddity are traditional in the village. She was always fancying herself in love, and wished to leave the property to a Mr. Cave, whom she imagined to be enamoured of her. That she "could repeat the whole of her father's works " no one probably will be found bo believe.

The house is Elizabethan, approached through a winding avenue of stately limes, earlier than Addison, who, however, planted in the grounds many Spanish oaks, which still remain. The interior abounds with in- teresting portraits, chiefly by Vandyke, who was a kinsman of the Gulston family. They include one of the four equestrian pictures of Charles I. ; a Countess of Warwick with sweet countenance and expression ; an Addison, older and coarser than the Magdalen College