Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/237

 io- s. ii. SEPT. 3, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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inology given in Nathaniel Bailey's * Dic- tionary/ 1740, is not altogether an unreason- able one 1 He says that it is from the French sancte tei*re and the Latin sancta terra, because when there were frequent expeditions to the Holy Land, many idle persons went from place to place upon pretence of taking the cross upon them, or intending to do so, and to go thither. Thus it came to mean to wander up and down. Bailey spells it "santer." A "fiacre" was so called from the circumstance of the inn where such vehicles for hire were first supplied in Paris having the image of St. Fiacre, the Irish anchorite, over the gateway. I think

this is SO. J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

[On saunter see DR. CHANCE'S note, 7 th S. vii. 464.] Many such contractions will be found in the West of England and doubtless in other parts. St. Aubyn has become colloquially, and is frequently written, Snorbyn or Snor- bin ; and St. Lo or St. Loe has become Sanlo. Some surnames beginning with San or Sin or St. are to be suspected of a similar origin. I suppose there can be no doubt about Stubbs. F. P.

HARLSEY CASTLE, co. YORK (10 th S. ii. 89). This place was formerly spelt Harlesey. Under the heading of * Harlsey West,' in the 'National Gazetteer' (1868), will be found the following :

" A township in the parish of Osmotherley, North Riding, co. York, four miles N.E. of Northallerton. It is joined with East Harlsey. Here are the ruins of Harlsey Castle, founded by Judge Strangeways. The Earl of Harewood is owner of the land."

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D. Baltimore House, Bradford.

There are, I believe, remains still visible at West Harlsey, near Osmotherley, in the North Hiding, of a castle whose tower was in the early part of the last century so damaged by a thunderstorm that it had to be taken down. Camden says Harlsey Castle " formerly belonged to the family of Hotham, but afterwards to the Strangwayes, and now to the Lawsons ; both of them [i.e., Wharl- ton and Harlsey Castles] old and ruinous " (ed. 1722, vol. ii. col. 910).

J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.

BRISTOL SLAVE SHIPS, THEIR OWNERS AND CAPTAINS (10 th S. ii. 108). Some references to these will be found in * Cardiff Records,' vol. iii., among the Glamorgan County Records. The slaves referred to here were, however, not negroes but Welshmen, practic- ally sold to West India planters, instead of being hanged for felony.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.

REBECCA OF '!VANHOE' (10 th S. ii. 28, 94), DOMINIE SAMPSON may consult 'Colonial Days and Dames,' by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (Philadelphia, Lippincott), 1895-. The author recites the story of Washington Irving's visit at Abbotsford in 1817. Irving: told Sir Walter of the charms of Rebecca. Gratz, a Jewess of Philadelphia.

" He described her wonderful beauty, related thfr story of her firm adherence to her religious faith under the most trying circumstances, and particu- larly illustrated her loveliness of character and zealous philanthropy." P. 234.

Scott thereupon took Rebecca Gratz as the original of the heroine in 'Ivanhoe.' This writer (p. 235) says that Scott sent a copy of the book to Irving, with a letter, in whicn the question is asked, " Does the Rebecca I have pictured compare with the pattern given 1 " The author, of her own knowledge, testifies- that when Rebecca Gratz had become elderly she was frequently pointed out as Scott's- heroine to young people in the streets of Philadelphia'. FRANK WARREN HACKETT. 1418 M Street, Washington, D.C.

BROWNING'S "THUNDER-FREE" (10 th S. i. 504 ; ii. 73). In response to the request by H. K. ST. J. S. for further references, I give the following :

1. 'Don Quixote,' Part II. chap. xvi. y towards the end :

"Cuando los reyes y principes ven la milagrosa ciencia de la poesfa en sugetos prudentes, virtuosos y graves, los honran, los estiman y los enriquecen, y aun los coronan con las hojas del drbol d quien no ofende el rayo [el laurel]."

" El rayo " is " la foudre " (Viardot). Viardot'* note on this refers to both Pliny and Sue- tonius.

2. Leopardi, * La Scommessadi Prometeo ' : " Alcuni pensano che intendesse di prevalersi del

lauro per difesa del capo contro alle tempeste ; secondo si narra di Tiberio, che senipre ohe udiva tonare, si ponea la corona : stimandosi che V alloro non *ia pc.rco.f-iO dai fultnini.''

3. Cowper, ' Table Talk,' 11. 5, 6 : Strange doctrine this ! that without scruple tears The laurel that the very lightning spares.

4. In Brewer's 4 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ' (ed. 1895) we find, under 'Laurel ' :

" Another superstition was that the bay laurel was antagonistic to the stroke of lightning ; but Sir Thomas Browne, in his ' Vulgar Errors,' tells us- that Vicotnereatus proves from personal knowledge- that this ia by no means true."

5. The superstition is noticed as both* ancient and modern in an interesting article- on p. 272 of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal^ vol. iv. new series, 25 Oct., 1845. The writer there quotes from an old English poem :