Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/408

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. in. APKIL 29, ins.

deacon of Glendalough ; and afterwards Dean of St. Patrick's, holding the deanery along with the curacy of St. Bride's. Dr. Verschoyle resigned both deanery and curacy on his promotion to the Bishopric of Killala in 1810. He died in 1834, and was buried at Killala (vide ' Succession of Clergy in the Parishes of St. Bride, St. Michael le Pole, and St. Stephen, Dublin,' by W. G. Carroll, M.A., Dublin, 1884).

I may add that when in 1856 I was at school in Dublin one of my fellow-pupils was a Verschoyle.

The crest of the family is a boar's head erased gu. HENRY GERALD HOPE.

119, Elms Road, Claphara, S.W.

COSAS DE ESPANA (10 th S. i. 247, 332, 458 ; ii. 474, 510; iii. 191). A gale at Taormina rapt ' N. & Q.' of 11 March from my hold, "and I was left lamenting" ere I had enjoyed its contents. Now that I have obtained another copy, and have to the best of my ability translated the narrative of Pere Loriano, I am in a position to appreciate the kindness of DON FLORENCIO DE UHAGON, and to return him many thanks for his valu- able reply. My photograph of the pathetic Crucifix of Burgos plainly shows the gold, or, rather, silver-gilt crown, grouped with three ostrich-eggs about the feet, which they for the most part hide. I cannot, however, believe that the eggs were first associated with the image in order to conceal the absence of a toe, though they may subserve that purpose. ST. S WITHIN.

CROMER STREET (10 th S. iii. 248). The curious houses in Cromer Street, built by a Mr. Lucas, are fully described in 6 th S. iii. 28, 232. Should MR. ABRAHAMS have any diffi- culty in referring to the volume, mine is open for his inspection.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

NAMES OF LETTERS (10 th S. iii. 228, 277, 292). Is not our puzzling name of the letter y so called merely to differentiate or to distinguish it from that of v, which, in its origin, had been identical with it and borrowed from the Greek v ? X.

Louis XIV.'s HEART (10 th S. ii. 346, 496). MR. MARVIN, at the later reference, in instancing cases where the human heart has been swallowed, by mistake or otherwise, gives the tale from Boccaccio's ' Decameron' (Fourth Day, Novelix.) of Gulielmo Rossi- glione, who gave his wife the heart of her lover disguised as a boar's heart. May I give a modern instance of Boccaccio's gruesome

story, the hero of which is now (unless he be dead) undergoing penal servitude at the French convict establishment at Noumea, in the island of New Caledonia, in the South Pacific Ocean 1

Some fifteen years ago, one Sunday after- noon, I was sitting in the square at Noumea, listening to the delightful strains of the convict Iband (which is said to be the finest in the southern hemisphere), when a friend who was sitting by my side the son of the then British Consul pointed out to me one of the performers, a tall, soldierly man, who was stated to be a French count, if I remem- ber rightly, and gave me the following reason for his incarceration. Some years back he had discovered or believed that he had his wife in an intrigue, and, having by some means or other procured the death of her lover, had his heart served up to his wife at table, and then, when she had partaken freely of the bonne bouche, confessed the hideous details of his crime. The result was, of course, a prosecution ; but in this, as in s many other cases in France, there was no difficulty in establishing those "extenuating circumstances " which have saved many a criminal's neck. I did not seek to verify the ghastly story by asking the Governor or Commandant of the Penitentiaire as to the truth of it; but from my friend's official position he should not have been mistaken in what he told me. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Antigua, W.I.

"LEDIG": "LEISURE": "LICERE" (10 th S. iii. 288). Before solving this query, it is necessary to repeat it, as it is replete with mystery : " Brachet, s.v. loisir, connects this [what is this ?] with Lat. licere. But Kluge, s.v. lediy, connects this [what is this ?] with O. Icel. lidugr, free." These two words this are quite separate. Of course loisir and leisure are allied to licere ; that is statement No. 1. Next, the G. lediy is connected with the O. Icel. word ; that is statement No. 2. Both are correct, so that the query, " Which authority is right?" means nothing. For Lat. licere has no more to do with G. ledig than cart has to do with horse.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

BIGG, THE DINTON HERMIT ( 1.0 th S. iii. 285). I presume that the portrait of Bigg to which the REV. JOHN PICKFORD refers is that published on 10 December, 1787, by W. Richardson, at No. 174, Strand. It measures 11 in. in height by 7 in., and was etched by R. L. from a picture in the possession of Scroop Bernard, Esq., of Nether Winchendon, Bucks. The hermit is shown clad in his suit,