Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/423

 10 s. x. OCT. 31, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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HERETICAL COSMOGONY. An indispens- .able work of reference for the Slavonic scholar is the erudite ' History of the Slavonic Literatures,' by Messrs. Pypin and Spassovitch. The section on Bulgarian literature contains many strange details of the once widely spread Bohumil heresy, with the story of the earth resting on two gigantic fish yoked, by direction of the invisible Father, like oxen in a plough. (When in Russia I heard of the peasants' belief that the earth rests on three whales.) Here is a bewildering catechism, which the authors transcribe from Prof. Jagic's Archiv :

Quid sustinet ccelum ? Terra.

Quid sustinet terrain ? Aqua.

Quid sustinet aquam ? Petra.

Quid sustinet petram ? Quatuor animalia.

Quas sunt ilia quatuor animalia ? Lucas, Marcus, Matheus, Johannes.

Quid sustinet ilia quatuor animalia ? Ignis.

Quid sustinet ignem ? Abissus.

Quid sustinet abissum ? Arber, quse ab initio posita est, ipse est Dominus Jesus Christus.

Against stupidity the gods contend in vain, a,nd the learned Byzantine or Roman missionary must have had a hard task in combating the fantastic tangle of Christian doctrine and muddled heathen tradition taught by the Bulgarian priest Jeremiah in the tenth century.

FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. Streatham Common.

ST. THOMAS'S, CHARTERHOUSE. This church, which is situated closely adjacent to Goswell Road, has often, and with much reason, been spoken of as a very uninteresting building. It has been decided that it is no longer required, and in the week ending Saturday, 20 June, it was submitted at auction by Messrs. Debenham, Tewson & Co., .and withdrawn at 11,OOOZ.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

LEGENDS ABOUT THE MOON. In The Birmingham Weekly Post of 8 August I notice a letter, with the above heading, signed Regina Miriam Bloch, which seems to de- serve a corner in ' N. & Q.' :

" The Red Indians asserted that a warrior on

am not mistaken, the Japanese also, tell of a hare in the moon. This fabulous creature appears to be the concoctor of the elixir vitse, for in a little booklet of translated Chinese fairy tales I picked up the other day I read the following paragraph .about the hare : ' Meanwhile Wang Chi (the hero -of the narrative) was on his way to the moon, and when he got there he went straight to the hut where the Hare of the Moon lived, and knocked at

the door. The hare was busy pounding the drugs which make up the elixir of life ; but he left his work and opened the door, and invited Wang Ch to come in. He was not ugly, his fur was quite white and soft and glossy, and he had lovely gentle brown eyes. The Hare of the Moon lives a thousand years, as youjmow, and when he is five hundred years old he changes his colour from brown to white, and becomes, if possible, better tempered and nicer than he was before. Probably the peculiar physical geography of the moon's interior also accounts for the superstition which was current among the ancient Carthaginians that the souls of the dead are absorbed into the moon."

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kermington Lane.

({writs.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

HALDANE. Which is the correct pro- nunciation of this surname ? I have heard the first syllable pronounced as riming with " hall " as well as with " Hal." According to etymology, it should be the latter, I think, as the name, when it was first given, must have designated a man who had a Dane for one parent. The name is very old, as it occurs as early as in ' Beowulf ' (1. 1069), where a Danish king bears it in the form of Healfdene. ' The Century Cyclopedia of Names,' by Benjamin E. Smith, gives only the second pronunciation. G. KRUEGER.

Berlin.

BRADLAUGH ON MONISM AND SPINOZA. Can any of your readers inform me in what number of the defunct National Reformer, edited some twenty years ago by Charles Bradlaugh, is to be found an article by " Iconoclast," explaining the differences between the philosophical (atheistic) Monism taught by him and the pantheistic tenets of Benedict Spinoza ? In a life of Bradlaugh issued by his daughter the subject is only imperfectly dealt with. I feel deeply inter- ested in the subject, and should like to be enlightened.

(Madame) CHRISTINE AIGUESPARSES. 2A, Rue de Berlin, Ixelles, Brussels.

SCOTS GREYS : HISTORY OF THE REGI- MENT. Where can one find the roster of officers of the Scots Greys at the time of the Waterloo campaign ? Is there a history of the regiment, or any sketches of its history ?

JOHN J. STEWART. Lehigh University Library,

South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.