Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/309

 10 S. XL MAR. 27, 1909.J XOTES AND QUERIES.

253

William IX., Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, b. 3 June, 1743, was eldest son of the Land- grave Frederick II. by his wife Maria, fourth daughter of King George II. He married 1 Sept., 1764,Wilhelmina Caroline (b. 10 July, 1747), second daughter of Frederick V., King of Denmark, and Louisa his wife, youngest daughter of King George II. The above and his bride were first cousins, their mothers being the two youngest daughters of George H. T. H. B. VADE-WALPOLE.

According to William Betham's ' Genea- logical Tables,' 1795, Table 500, George William, Count of Hanau Mutzenburg (b. 1743), who became ninth Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Philipsthal, and Barchfeld, married Wilhelmina Caroline (b. 1747), daughter of Frederic V., King of Denmark. His brother Charles (b. 1744) married another daughter, Louisa (b. 1750). Their daughter Maria Sophia Frederica married Frederic Prince Royal of Denmark (b. 1768).

George William and Charles were sons of Frederic, eighth Landgrave, and his wife Mary, daughter of George II.

According to Table 376 (' Kings of Den- mark ' ), the daughter of Charles and Louisa was Mary Anne Frederica (b. 1767).

ROBERT PIEBPOINT.

[A. M. G. and the MARQUIS DE KTTVIGNY also thanked for replies.]

SIR ISAAC GOLDSMID (10 S. xi. 89). Some of the descendants of the late Sir Isaac Syon Goldsmid are given in the 66th ed. of Burke' s ' Peerage and Baronetage,' and some particulars of his lineage in editions of that work published prior to 1896.

On the death of Sir Julian Goldsmid, 3rd and last Baronet, in 1896, the title be- came extinct, and the family estates de- scended to Mr. O. E. d'Avigdor, grandson of Rachael (3rd daughter of Sir Isaac Syon Goldsmid, 1st Bart.), who married 24 June, 1840, Count Solomon Henry Avigdor.

Mr. O. E. d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, who has assumed the name and arms of Goldsmic in addition to his own, now resides at Somer- hill Park, Tonbridge, the principal seat o: the late Sir Isaac Goldsmid.

R. VATTGHAN GOWER.

"BLOW THE COBWEBS AWAY" (10 S. xi

189). I have constantly heard this expres sion, but with this difference : " brain,' not " head," was used. I always under stood it to mean that, when one's brain got obfuscated from too long concentration on one subject, without any metaphorica brooms, new or old, coming to sweep o

out one out, change of scene and fresh air would help to clear one's understanding.

Cervantes says : "I can look sharp as well as another, and let me alone to keep he cobwebs out of my eyes."

CONSTANCE RUSSELL. Swallowfield Park, Beading.

I do not believe that there has been any

mixing up of "head" with "hedges."

Cobwebs in the latter are a physical reality,

obwebs in the former, as long as it is alive,

a mere figure of speech, which I think as a

ule is embodied in the phrase " Blow the


 * obwebs out of your brain." The effect

of brisk air on a weary brain is not unlike

hat of " cobwebbing " on a spider-ridden

louse. ST. SWITHIN.

There are variations of this phrase, I often hear " Come ! have a blow, and get ,he cobwebs out of your eyes," and " Let '& lave a blow, and clear away the cobwebs." Also " You 've sat there long enough ; jet out and blow the cobwebs off " this 10 any one who has sat reading or studying or some time. Often enough, after a morning country walk, comes the saying, ' The wind blew cobwebs into my eyes." Old cobwebs in hedges in March are not sightly, and a good spring wind clears them out before the leaf arrives.

Cobwebs, by the way, are gathered, or rather used to be, and bound on cuts, burns, and other sores a certain cure.

THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

It would be intersting to know why it is bad for cattle to be out in the open field- when cobwebs appear in the hedges. Pre- sumably MR. TERRY'S informant was refers ring to the gossamer webs seen in the autumn a by no means unhealthy time for grazing animals. The supposed con- nexion between " heads " and " hedges " seems far-fetched. Surely the cobwebs re- ferred to in the saying are the dusty pen- dants to be found in rarely swept apart- ments. The ' N.E.D.' applies the term to any musty accumulation which ought to be swept away, and refers to cobwebs in the throat and in the eyes. Hence the saying simply means " This will clear the brain of [mental] dust." W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

SIR PATRICK HOTJSTOUN (10 S. xi. 70). Crawford in his ' History of Renfrewshire * states that Sir Patrick Houstoun, of Hous- toun, created a baronet in 1668, married Ann, daughter of John, Lord Bargany. He