Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/49

 s. i. -TAX. 9, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

times in the churchyard, or in the neighbour- hood, or to some neighbouring inn, where they drank ale and made merry. By the benevolence of the people at these pastimes, many poor parishes had their bells cast, beautified their churches, and raised stock for the poor. Warton, in his 'History of English Poetry,' says that the church-ale was a feast established for the repair of the church, or in honour of the church saint, &c. In Dodsworth's MSS. there is an old inden- ture, made before the Reformation, which not only shows the design of the church-ale, but explains this particular use and applica- tion of the word " ale." The parishioners of Elveston and Okebrook, in Derbyshire, agree jointly

" to brew four Ales, and every Ale of one quarter of malt, betwixt this and the feast of Saint John Baptist next coming. And that evert/ inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook sketU be at the several Ales. And every husband and "his wife shall pay two- pence, every cottager one penny, and all the in- habitants of Elveston shall have and receive all the profits and advantages corning of the said Ales, to the use and behalf of the said church of Elveston. And the inhabitants of Elveston shall brew eight Ales betwixt this and the feast of St. John Baptist, at the which Ales the inhabitants of Okebrook shall come and pay as before rehersed. And if he be away at one Ale. to pay at the toder Ale for both," Ac. MSS. Bibl. Bodl., vol. cxlviii. fol. 97. See also the Church Canons given in 1603, Can. 88 (Warton, ed. 1870, p. 709).

The churchwardens' accounts for the -expenses of Pyrton village church, in Oxford- shire, which date from 1547, show that the various ales or feasts constituted its chief source of income. See also 'Church Ales, by E. Peacock, in the Archaeological Journal of, I think, either 1883 or 1886 ; Stubbs's tion to Aubrey's ' Nat. Hist, of Wiltshire, .p. 32 ; and Brand's 'Pop. Antiquities' (Bohn, 1853), vol. i. p. 282.
 * Anatomie of Abuses,' 1585, p. 95 ; Introduc-

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. 161, Hammersmith Road.

Has MR. ANDREWS forgotten that a similar question from him appeared 5 tn S. i. 508, anc that a repli', also from his pen, was given al -5 th S- iii- 274 ? EVERAR.B HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

' EDWIN DROOD ' CONTINUED (9 th S. xii. 389. 510). The small pictures on the origina' green covers of 'Edwin Drood' must have been inspired by Dickens himself, and some of them clearly .relate to unwritten parts oi the story. Any hypothetical conclusion must fit in with these drawings. It has always seemed to me that Mr. Datchery the gentle- man who, ostentatiously canrying bis nat in

ris hand, makes a show of his head of white iair, and quietly interviews the persons con- nected with the " mystery "is no other than Lieut. Tartar, the naval friend of young Landless, trying, in disguise, to get at the aottom of it.

Jasper probably used the knowledge of the cathedral which he obtained from Durdles to secrete Edwin Drood, alive, in one of its ob- scure recesses. W. C. B.

Vide ' Watched by the Dead : a Loving Study of Dickens's Half- told Tale,' by Richard A. Proctor, the well-known author of many popular works on astronomy. It was pub- lished in 1887 by W. H. Allen <fc Co., 13, Waterloo Place, London.

T. N. BRUSHFIELD, M.D.

Salterton, Devon.

MODERN FORMS OF ANIMAL BAITING (9 th S. xii. 127).

" Yet we are very gravely assured by some of the reverend missionaries, that ' the Chinese are entirely ignorant of all games of chance'; that 'they can enjoy no amusements but such as are authorized by the laws.' These gentlemen surely could not be ignorant that one of their most favourite sports is cock-fighting, and that this cruel and unmanly amusement, as they are pleased to consider it, is full as eagerly pursued by the upper classes in China as, to their shame and disgrace be it spoken, it con- tinues to be by those in a similar situation in some parts of Europe. The training of quails for the same cruel purpose of butchering each other fur- nishes abundance of employment for the idle and dissipated. They have even extended their en- quiries after fighting animals into the insect tribe, in which they have discovered a species of gryllus, or locust, that will attack each other with such ferocity as seldom to quit their hold without bring- ing away at the same time a limb of their antagonist. These little creatures are fed and kept apart in bamboo cages ; and the custom of making them devour each other is so common that, during the summer months, scarcely a boy is seen without his cage and his grasshoppers." Barrow's 'Travels in China,' 1804, chap. iv. p. 159.

"This insect [the praying mantis or soothsayer]

is a very stupid and voracious creature It devours

without mercy every living insect it can master. Their propensities are so pugnacious that they fre- quently attack one another. They wield their fore- legs like sabres, and cleave one another down like dragoons ; and when one is dead, the rest fall on him like cannibals and devour him. This propensity the Chinese avail themselves of. They have not the veneration of Europeans for their imaginary qualities, so they use them as game cocks, and wagers are laid on the best fighter." Dr. Walsh [c. 1828-30 ].

" A ferocity not less savage exists amongst the Mantes. These insects have their fore-legs of a construction not unlike that of a sabre ; and they can as dexterously cleave their antagonist in two, or cut off his head at a stroke, as the most expert hussar. In this way they often treat each other, even the sexes fighting with the most savage