Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/445

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

365

Xapoleon I., | were on this day solemnly received | on behalf of the Parish | from | Colonel Commandant Officers, N.C.O., and | Citizens now serving to the number of One Thousand | and Placed in the Chancel | of 8. Margaret's Church | as | a monument of | National Patriotism | for | the Emulation of Posterity. | Frederic W. Farrar, D.D., | Archdeacon and Rector. | Henry Hunt, Chas. Wright, Church- wardens.
 * C. E. | Howard Vincent, C.B., M.P., j and | the

Sunday March 27 th, | in the Jubilee Year | of Queen Victoria's Reign | A.D. 1887-

As they were placed, so they remained during the time that Archdeacon Farrar con- tinued rector ; but upon his preferment to the Deanery of Canterbury, and the appoint- ment of the Rev. Robert Eyton, Rector of Holy Trinity, Upper Chelsea, and Prebendary of St. Paul's (who was inducted into the rectory in July, 1895), they were removed to the west end of the church, the reason given for this proceeding being that "they disturbed the symmetry of the east window, and did not harmonize with the colour of its stained glass," both of which statements were dis- tinctly true. The new rector was, however, unacquainted with their previous history, and thought that, as no faculty had been obtained for placing them in the chancel, it was in order for the rector and churchwardens for the time being to place them in any other part of the church. In March, 1896, Col. Sir Howard Vincent became aware of the removal of the colours, and as colonel of the regiment, and the officer with whom the engagement as to the placing of the colours in the chancel had been made by the late rector and churchwardens in 1887, and as a member of the House of Commons, of which the church is the officially recognized place of worship, wrote a letter, dated 13 March, 1896, to Canon Eyton, stating his objections to the removal of the colours, and asking him, on reconsideration, to restore them to their former position. This request met with a decided refusal from the rector, whereupon a petition was filed in the Consistory Court of London by Sir Howard Vincent, he being joined in the matter by Mr. Tomlinson, M.P., a parishioner, (1) pray- ing that Canon Eyton should be ordered to replace the colours in their original position against the east wall of the church ; and (2) asking that a faculty confirmatory of the erection of the brass tablet in the chancel, and of the affixing of the colours to the chancel wall in that position, should issue. Canon Eyton opposed in person the applica- tion, on the ground that the flags in 1814 had become the property of the rector and church- wardens and their successors, and subject to their control as to the position they occupied

in the church, and that they could not be treated as a fresh gift from the regiment by their re-presentation in 1887. He therefore asked that the faculty, if issued, should pro- vide that the position of the flags in the church should be under the control of the rector and churchwardens for the time being. Many witnesses were called and examined,, and ultimately a very learned judgment was given by Dr. Tristram, the Chancellor of London, on 23 July, 1896, in favour of the regiment, extracts from which are given here,, the judgment being fully reported in the Times of the following day.

The colours now hang on either side of the- reredos in the church, at a lower level and better angle than their original position, and have a much better effect, not interfering, with the beautiful east window, which has- been truly said to be the "pride of the parish and gloiy of the church," and it is pretty safe to assert that they are not likely to be moved from the place they now occupy.

It may, perhaps, be allowable to add that Col. Sir C. E. Howard Vincent, M.P., has lately retired from the command of the regi- ment, being succeeded by Col. Trollope.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

JENNY GREENTEETH. In your review of Mr. Crof ton's ' Old Moss Side ' (ante, p. 319> reference is made to Mr. Crofton's description of a water-hag called "Jenny Greenteeth." It may be interesting to learn that at this day in all East Lancashire the older inha- bitants call the green moss which covers the surface of stagnant ponds "Jenny Green- teeth." Further, I have often been told by my mother and nurse that if I did not keep my teeth clean I should some day be dragged into one of these ponds by Jenny Greenteeth, and I have met many elderly people who have had the same threat applied to them. HENRY BRIERLEY.

Wigan.

THE CHESHIRE CAT IN AMERICA. In the 'Dictionary of Americanisms ' of John R. Bartlett (1877 ; not in the first edition, 1848) we find the phrase "to grin like a chessy cat." A writer in Dialect Notes (vol. i. p. 378) of the American Dialect Society, when giving the phrase in a word -list, remarks: "In. Bartlett, but no locality given. Certainly not widely known."

Before ever reading this notice, I heard the expression " Jessy cat " used by a Phila- delphia woman, with the usual State-school education, and was informed by other members of her family that both forms,