Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/251

 10 S. VIII. SKFT. 14, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

205

MORAYS OF BOTHWELL. The recently issued ' Scots Peerage ' is such a valuable contribution to genealogical literature, and bears evidence of such painstaking care, that one hardly likes to draw attention to what is an obvious oversight. The coat of arms assigned to the Bothwell family does not agree with what is stated in the text (vol. ii. pp. 125-30). The only authentic arms borne by these Morays were surely those appearing on the seals of Sir Andrew Moray and his descendant Sir Thomas, last of his line. The former used " three mullets within a bordure charged with eleven roundels," whilst the latter had " three mullets within a bordure charged with eight roundels." These seals are better authority than the vague statement of Crau- furd, or the shield of arms at Bothwell, which is obviously of later date. This question of arms merits serious attention because investigation goes to prove that the ancestors of the families of Sutherland, Tullibardine, Duffus, Drumsargard, Sand- ford and Udston, Bothwell, &c., all used seals of arms bearing exceedingly significant marks of cadency, such as labels, chevrons, bordure, and fesse. At this early stage the Morays of Culbin happen to be the only family who bore the paternal coat of three stars without any difference.

Another point worthy of attention is the identity of the Lady Devorgill, Lady of Lilleford, supposed wife of Walter de Moray. In 1287 William Munfichet, Lord of Cargill, co. Perth, claimed to be her next heir, so that further light must be thrown on the Moray-Olifard connexion ere it be accepted.

D. M. R.

RED RAG AND ANTELOPE. In Przhe- valsky's ' Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern Tibet,' trans- lated by E. D. Morgan, 1876, vol. i. p. 141 we read this about the argali :

" The Mongols told me that if they placed some conspicuous object, such as a piece of clothing, to attract their attention, they would remain motion less while the hunter stalked them without diffi culty. I myself successfully tried the experiment by suspending a red shirt on the top of a ramrod whicr I stuck into the ground, and in this way arrestec the attention of a frightened herd for more than a quarter of an hour."

This gives strong confirmation to the veracity of the Japanese mountaineers, who have observed the red rag to have the powe of fascinating and stopping the native antelope. See 10 S. i. 77.

KUMAGTTSrj MlNAKATA. . Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

SIGNS OF AFFIRMATION AND DISSENT. n The Daily Telegraph's report on 5 June >f the House of Commons' debate upon the "erritorial and Reserve Forces Bill, it i bserved that,

"In the course of further discussion, Sir H. Vincent addressed a question to Mr. Hobhouse, rtio had several times filled the role of spokesman or the Government. Receiving an answer by signs,, tie hon. and gallant member remarked, 'Wnat am

to understand ? There are two hon. gentlemen pposite (Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. Acland, who acts- s a private secretary to Mr. Haldane). One nods is head up and down (laughter) which is always nderstooa to be a sign of affirmation. The other ods his head from left to right, which is under- tood to mean negation. (Laughter.) It is very ifficult, under the circumstances, to know what he exact idea of the Government is. (' Hear, iear,' and laughter.)'"

Sir Howard Vincent appears to have been >f meaning accustomed to be attached in his country to a nod and a shake of the head ; >ut I believe it has not always and every- where been so. A* F. R.
 * orrect in his statement of the difference

S, ITS LONG AND SHORT FORMS. The ollowing note is worth reproduction from The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt,' ed. 1 850. '. had been under the impression that the ong a had gone out of fashion among printers ",ome years before Bell's Weekly Messenger
 * ame into being.

" An intelligent compositor (Mr. J. P. S. Bicknell)> who has been a noter of curious passages in his who confined the small letter s to its present shape and rejected altogether the older form /. He tells me that this innovation, besides the handsomer form of the new letter, was ' a boon to both master- printers and the compositor, inasmuch as it lessened the amount of capital necessary to be laid out under the old system, and saved to the workman no small portion of his valuable time and labour.' My in- formant adds, as a curious instance of conservative tendency on small points, that Messrs. Rivington having got as far as three sheets, on a work of a late Bishop of Durham, in which the new plan was adopted, the Bishop sent back the sheets, in order to have the old letter restored, which compelled the- booksellers to get a new supply from the type- foundry, the font containing the venerable f having, been thrown away." Vol. i. p. 278.
 * ime, informs me that Bell was the first printer

K. P. D. E.

SERVIUS SULPICIUS AND BRET HARTE. In a letter to Cicero from Servius Sulpicius, B.C. 45, the following dictum occurs : " Nullus dolor est quern non longinquitaa temporis minuat ac mollat."

The same sentiment exactly is expressed by Bret Harte in ' The Lost Galleon ' : Never a tear bedims the eye. That time and patience will not dry.

CLIFTON ROBBINS.