Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/118

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NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vni. AUG. 3, 1907.

to the old " Bull and Mouth," which stood within its confines, and which figures in MB. NORMAN'S list. But this will, in^all probability, depend upon the measure of support accorded to the work on the sub- scription list. WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

SHREWSBURY CLOCK : " POINT OF WAR " (10 S. viii. 8). The quotation referring to " Shrewsbury clock " is no doubt an allusion to Falstaff's assertion in Shakespere's ' Henry IV.,' Part I., where he says that he fought Hotspur at the battle of Shrewsbury " a long hour by Shrewsbury clock." The clock in question is supposed by Salopians to be the one facing the Square in front of the Market Hall, built in 1595. The clock of course was not there when the battle was fought, but it was there when Shakespere wrote, and for centuries Salopians in Shrewsbury and the vicinity took the time from " Shrewsbury clock " with as much confidence as Dover does from the noon gun.

JOHN BAVINGTON JONES. Dover.

The allusion must be to the clock in Shakespeare's ' Henry IV.,' Part I. Act V. sc. iv., where Falstaff asserts that he " fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock." The expression quoted by MAJOR LESLIE, " as regular as Shrewsbury clock," is a new gloss. Though much has been written about it, it may safely be asserted that no clock in Shrewsbury can be identified with Falstaff's " Shrewsbury clock," which is probably the creation of the great poet's imagination. W. G. D. FLETCHER.

Oxon Vicarage, Shrewsbury.

The follbwing extract from the ' Life of Lord Fairfax ' by Sir Clements R. Markham (chap. vii. p. 63) may be useful and ex- planatory :

"A cavalry captain wore a plume in his hat, and his trumpeter had a banner with the captain's full coat of arms suspended from the trumpet. The calls of the trumpet were called 'points of war.' They were derived from the Spanish, viz. : 1. Bota silla. 2. Monta cavallo. 3. Al Estandarte. 4. Tacquet (march). 5. Carga. 6. Auquet (watch)."

The following passage from ' The Bride of Lammermoor ' may prove illustrative. The speaker is Johnie Mortsheugh (sexton of the old graveyard at Hermitage), describ- ing the battle of Bothwell Brigg, 24 June, 1679 :

" There was young Allan Ravenswood, that was then Master, wi' a bended pistol in his hand it was a mercy it gaed na aff crying to me, that had scarce as much wind left as serve the necessary

purpose of my ain lungs, ' Sound, you poltroon I sound, you damned cowardly villain, or I will blow your brains out ! ' and, to be sure, I blew sic points of war, that the scraugh of a clockin' hen was music to them." Chap. xxiv.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

MUSICAL SERVICES ON CHURCH TOWERS- (10 S. viii. 8). Immediately after evensong on the 29th of May the lay clerks and choristers of Durham Cathedral still ascend the central tower, and, facing east, north,, and south, sing in their surplices " Lord,, for Thy tender mercies' sake " (Farrant), referring to the national crime of the murder of Charles I. ; " Therefore with angels and archangels " (V. Novello), ex- pressing the Christian hope for the martyred king ; and " Give peace in our time, O Lord' ' (W. H. Callcott), a prayer that we may not have civil war again. The anthems by two modern composers show that the present selection cannot be earlier than their date. The singing is, perhaps, an early nine- teenth-century revival of an old custom that had been discontinued for a long time. It has, indeed, been supposed to have originated in the monks singing ' Te Deum ' on an earlier campanile when they saw the flight of the Scots after the battle of Neville's- Cross in October, 1346. See ' Rites of Durham ' (Surtees Soc. ed., 1903, p. 23, and note, p. 214). When the present singing on the tower was instituted, the battle wa almost forgotten ; but the happy restoration of our Church and monarchy was still in thankful remembrance, and a ' Te Deum ' on the 29th of May would have been much more suitable for that day than the anthems- now sung. I do not know whether there was an ancient custom of singing ' Te Deum ' annually on the tower, nor have I any knowledge with regard to any singing there, of earlier date than that which now takes- place. And it is quite possible that it only dates from the nineteenth century, and it may have been suggested by the singing on Magdalen Tower or elsewhere. J. T. F.

Winterton, Don caster.

In Southampton the dawn of May Day used to be heralded by a local choir singing from the top of the quaint old Bargate, which still spans the High Street of that town. This custom was kept up as late as 1890 or 1891, when I was resident there^ and possibly may still be observed. I do* not see any reference to it in the Rev. J. Silvester Davies's ' History of Southampton,' 1883 ; but it is probably a very old custom. Is it a relic of pre-Christian times and the