Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/207

 10'" S.V. MARCH 3, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

167

to the Derby Family. The name is, however, probably much older than this. Mount Murray and another hill stand side by side, forming the little valley of Glen Darraght between them. The name of this other hill is Slieu Chiarn, the Hill of the Lord.

In the south-west of the island we find Port Erin, pronounced Eirn or Iron, and Port St. Mary, in Manx Purt le Murrey. This suggests the name Slieu Murrey, the Hill of Mary, corresponding to Slieu Chiarn, just as Purt le Murrey corresponds to Purt Chiarn Eirn Erin.

FEED. G. ACKERLEY.

Grindleton, Clitheroe.

" MAN IN THE STREET." (See ante, p. 100.) Emerson was not the first to use this phrase in his ' Conduct of Life,' which was published in 1860. In the first series of the 4 Greville Memoirs,' under date 22 March, 1830, occurs the following passage :

" Then will come the question of a dissolution, which one side affirms will take place directly, and the other that the king will not consent to it, knowing, as ' the man in the street' (as we call him at Newmarket) always does, the greatest secrets of kings, and being the confidant of their most hidden thoughts."

It would appear from this that the expres- sion was in common use among racing men in 1830. C. L. SAYER.

NEWCASTLE PLATE. (See ante, p. 92.) The best account of the exhibition of Newcastle plate is in the catalogue of it published by the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries in Arc/iceolofjia^liana, vol. xxi, with numerous illustrations. R. B R.

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.

HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE. If we may credit a 'Guide Souvenir de Semur,' it was in that place Mrs. Oliphant's "Beleaguered City" that French horse-racing first began. ! It has been stated that Charles V. established j a foot-race there in 1369, and that this, with i some intermissions, was run on 31 May, during the time of a great fair, until 1651, when it was abolished in favour of a horse- race, which had since 1639 been carried on concurrently with the human competition in swiftness. Originally a pair of breeches had been the winner's meed, but in course of time a hat and a pair of gloves were added

to the prize-list. In 1651 a gold ring was substituted for the ckausses. The * Guide' asserts :

" La course de la Bague est la premiere course de chevaux qui ait existe en France. II n'y en a eu a Paris que 137 ans plus tard, en 1776. } Aujourdhui elie se fait encore avec beaucoup d'eclat, car la municipality et les habitants sont tiers de conserver cette antique tradition. Les prix sont restes les mem.es qu'en 1651, une bague en or aux armes de la ville, une echarpe, et une paire de gants."

Over the gate by which one enters Semur, when approaching it from the railway station, is the hospitable legend, "Les Semurois se plaisent dans 1'accointance des Strangers." This is quoted in the * Guide Souvenir 5 and attributed to Munster. Who was he 1 Sebas- tian Miinster, the erst Franciscan, who is known as a Hebraist and mathematician (1489-1552)] ST. SWITHIN.

DURHAM GRADUATES. I should be glad to receive information concerning the follow- ing :

Belcombe, Henry, B.A., 1842.

Cooper, Charles Alfred, L.Th., 1842.

Dacre, George, B A., 1839.

Hill, John, B.A., 1842.

Hill, Thomas, B.A., 1842.

Jones, Charles Saltoun, B.A., 1839.

Mackenzie, William, L.Th., 1839.

Napleton, George Decimus (first exam., 1839).

Turner, Joseph Richard, B.A., 1842.

Whitehead, John A., B.A., 1841.

W. C. BOULTER,

28, Queen's Road, Bayswater, AY.

THE HOLLY, OATHS, AND LIGHTNING. If not already discussed in *N. <fc Q.' can any one give instance of oaths sworn upon a holly bough, as is done before the Verderers' Court in the Forest of Dean ?

Also, can any one illustrate from his own local experience the belief that a holly tree protects from lightning in a storm ?

GOLDSMITH : VARIOUS READING IN * THE TRAVELLER.' What is the correct reading in 1. 113? I have two editions by editors of repute, who both state that the text is that of the ninth edition. One editor reads,

Whatever fruits in different climes were found ; the other has "are" instead of "were." Neither editor has any note on his text.

OLIVER.

4 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH.' How many parts of this publication a kind of Anglican miscellany were published 1 I possess nineteen, bound in two volumes, both dated