Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/42

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. JAN. s, 1910.

which the observances of the Christian Church sometimes displaced. To such customs the word " profane " in its literal sense, might well have been applied.

Holy-Rood Day, the 14th of September, is believed to celebrate primarily the con- secration of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem by Bishop Macarius, at the command of Constantine (335 A.D.), although some would see in it a commemoration of the vision of the Cross seen by the emperor. It is, however, says the Rev. Robert Sinker, to the victory of Heraclius over the Persians, and his subsequent restoration of the Cross to its shrine at Jerusalem, that the renown of the festival is mainly due ( ' Diet. Chr. Antiq.*).

But the sanctity of the day became violated by the devil, who is " a busy bishop in his own diocese,'* the proverb says, and he must needs go nutting with those whose intentions were originally those of innocent recreation. So, like the May Day customs, Holy Rood nutting degenerated, as the following from ' Poor Robin, 1 1709, tends to show :

The devil, as the common people say, Doth go a-nutting on Holy-Rood day ; And sure such leach ery in some doth lurk, Going a-nutting do the devil's work. '

Vide Brand's 'Pop. Antiq.'

There does not appear, however, to be any particular legend associated with the devil and nutting on this day. That it was the custom to go a-nutting on Holy-Rood Day is shown by a passage in the old play of ' Grim the Collier of Croydon * :

This day, they say, is called Holy-Rood Day And all the youth are a-nutting gone.

In accordance with the Old Gentleman's well- known character were all his appurtenances, and a common saying was " as black as the devil's nutting-bag. n

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. [MB. W. SCOTT also thanked for reply.]

N. BBOOKE'S ' OBSERVATIONS ON ITALY,* 1798 (10 S. xii. 289). N. Brooke is said to have been an M.D. of Bath, where his book was published in 1797, according to Watt and Allibone. He left England in 1785, invested with some kind of authoritative commission to investigate the state of commerce between Italy and Great Britain. Apparently he was an eyewitness of the terrible eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed the town of Torre del Greco in 1794. On the French invasion of Italy he was obliged to leave the country with the loss of considerable property.

In devoting a few lines to Brooke, ' A Biographical Dictionary of the Living Authors of Qreat Britain ' strikes a some- what tragic note :

" Since the publication of the letters which he wrote. . . .Dr. B. has been, afflicted with blindness. Before he left this country he presented to the Chancellor of the Exchequer a plan for the improvement of our foreign commerce, which, during his absence, was carried into a law, and produced an important accession to the revenue. In ,his publication Dr. B. has expressed a hope that his services might experience some reward at a time when it would be peculiarly acceptable."

He was apparently living in 1816, when the Dictionary l was published ; but probably his hope of reward was not fulfilled.

WALTER SCOTT. Stirling.

STRAWBERRY HILL CATALOGUE : WALPOLIAN^ ' (10 S. vii. 461, 517 ; xii. 216, 294, 353, 430, 491). ' JEdes Walpolianae * is easily to be found, and is probably in any public library to which CURIOUS may have access. My copy is the third edition, 1767. In addition to the description of the pictures in Houghton Hall, there are two pieces : one called ' A Sermon on Painting, preached before the Earl of Orford at Houghton, 1742, on the text Psalm cxv. 5 (the preacher's name is not given) ; and the other ' A Journey to Houghton,' a poem by the Rev. Mr. Whaley.

If CURIOUS cannot conveniently see a copy of the book, I shall be happy to lend him mine, in the perfect confidence that he does not belong to the greater of C. Lamb's races of men. L. A. W.

10, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin.

"OLD SIR SIMON (10 S. xii. 490). " Old Sir Simon - l was a hotel as well. The following is from the ' History of Lancaster,' by Cross Fleury, ed. 1891, p. 456 :

" The Old Sir Simon Hotel had originally a thatched roof and curiously shaped casement lights, and the signboard bore upon it the figure of a man smoking ..... The old signboard sold for a decent sum when the quaint inn was demolished."

I suppose both market and inn are named after the same personage. S. L. PETTY.

ENGLISH COUNTESS AT TUNBBIDGE WELLS (lp S. xii. 368). Possibly this lady can be identified as Mary, Viscountess Muskerry. She was the only child of the fifth Earl of Clanricarde, and was married three times- first to Charles, Viscount Muskerry ; secondly, to Robert Villiers, Viscount Purbeck, who died in 1686 ; and thirdly to Robert Fielding, Esq. She died in August, 1698.