Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/310

 254

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. L MABCH M, wo*.

had been stunned only (Chambers's Journal, Viperiana,' 2 June, 1894).

J. HOLDEN MAcMlCHAEL.

Devonshire must claim its share in this belief. I remember a great-uncle of mine killing an adder in his garden at Foxdown, near Bideford, and hanging him on a branch of a tree. The creature's head was crushed, but I saw, or thought I saw, some movement in him an hour or two afterwards, and pointed it out to one of the farm men. He answered, "They things do never die till sundown." This was in the year 1827. ALDENHAM.

This superstition does not appear to have been confined to Dorset. 'N. & Q.,' 1 st S. i. 511, directed attention to the fact that it prevailed in Cornwall and Devon. In 8 th S. vii. 88 it is noted that in Somerset- shire a countryman said, "Snakes don't never die till sunset," and the writer believed that opinion was common in Hants and South Berks. Another correspondent gave instances of the belief in Lincolnshire, Jamaica (1845), Virginia, and Essex (1830-40).

Shakespeare evidently was acquainted with the difficulty of dealing instantaneous doom to the snake, for he makes Macbeth say :

We've scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it; She '11 close, and be herself.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

This idea is not confined to Dorsetshire. I have often heard it elsewhere with regard to lobworms as well as [snakes, but I cannot speak with any certainty from my own know- ledge. G. T. SHERBORN.

Twickenham.

The belief that a snake cannot die till after sundown is, I believe, known in many counties. There is a story in Lincolnshire that if you chop a snake into fragments it will wriggle about till it has "put itself together again." You should, therefore, cut it into "inch pieces." Then there is hope that it will not have time to sort itself out and arrange itself in order before the sun has disappeared. LINCOLN GREEN.

I have heard the superstition instanced at the above reference stated as an undoubted fact in South-East Devon the native country of Ralegh, Marlborough, and Coleridge which adjoins the western borders of Dorset.

A. R. BAYLEY.

I am sorry to say that when I and other lads in Derbyshire came across a snake or deaf-adder, we forthwith battered the life out of the creatures. Touch them we

dared not, for the belief was that they would not die until after dark, and that if they were handled they would " venomen us."

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

The belief is shared by Lincolnshire, and not unknown elsewhere. ST. SWITHIN.

" FIRST CATCH YOUR HARE " (9 th S. xii. 125, 518: 10 th e S. i. 175). As to a "civet," no doubt it is usually made of hare, a "civet de lievre"; but in 'Le Cuisinier a la Bonne Franquette,' par Mique Grandchamp (Paris, 1892), are receipts for " Chevreuil en civet," "Civet de .lievre," and "Civet de lapin domestique," pp. 478, 487. Also in the ' Manuel Complet de la Cuisiniere Bourgeoise,' par Mile. Catherine) Paris, no date, but modern and current), are receipts for " Civet dechevreuil" and "Civet de lievre," p. 210. In "366 Menus and 1,200 Recipes of the

Baron Brisse translated by Mrs. Matthew

Clark" (London, 1882), are (pp. 19, 275) receipts for " Civet de chevreuil " and " Civet de lievre." ROBERT PIERPOINT.

To try to explain a joke, or show that there is a joke at all, is perhaps a thankless task, but I will try. Thank goodness ! it is not one of my own, or I should not attempt it. To my mind, what joke there is in the French phrase lies in the superfluousness of the direction "prenez un lievre," in order to make a "cive de lievre." Up to a certain point the joke in English is practically the same, only the English one is strengthened by the recommendation to "first catch your hare," the animal being of course rather difficult to catch (I presume it means " en- trap," rather than " overtake " it). If we were told to " first obtain your hare," there would then be no real difference in the joke in both forms, and the advice would amount to about the same thing as telling any one, in a recipe for making bread, to get some flour. But there what, even in the way of jokes, is one man's meat is another man's poison. Still, I think the phrases mentioned are generally looked upon as jokes by English and French respectively. I wonder whether a Frenchman would not see the joke in the English saying. If not, we could cry "quits," and each keep his own joke for his own delectation not to be exported.

In connexion with the French phrase M. Alexandre mentions another cookery joke, but expresses ignorance as to its source, namely, " Le lapin demande a etre ecorche vif ; le lievre prefers, attendre." But if he " waited " he might be " caught."

E. LATHAM.