Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/197

 n s. XL MAR. e, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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month on Sevenoaks Vine, three stumps were ito be used " to shorten the game." In 1808 the stumps were twenty-four inches high and the wicket seven inches wide, and batting had become highly scientific. The bowling was usually fast underhand. " Lobs " had also been tried, and puzzled the older batsmen from their tendency to produce catches. Hound-hand bowling was not legalized until 1828, the present overhead bowling in 1864, in both cases after prolonged opposition. It was some years after the latter date that bowlers in delivering the ball began to iraise the hand very much above the shoulder. PHILIP NORMAN.
 * a match to be played on the 18th of that

GERMAN SOLDIERS' AMULETS. The fol- lowing cutting comes from The Times of Tuesday, 26 January :

present it is somewhat surprising to find reliance being placed on charms. And yet not a few of our prisoners are in possession of so-called 4 prayers,' which are really written charms against death, wounds, disease, and every imagin- able evil. One such document recently found on a prisoner begins thus : ' A powerful prayer, whereby one is protected and guarded against shot and sword, against visible and invisible foes, as well as against all manner of evil. May God preserve me against all manner of arms and weapons, shot and cannon, long or short swords, knives or daggers, or carbines, halberds, and anything that cuts or points, against thrusts, rapiers, long and short rifles, or guns, and such like, which have been forged since the birth of Christ ; against all kinds of metal, be it iron or steel, brass or lead, ore or wood.'
 * In a sceptical and materialistic age like the

" After further circumlocution the list goes on to include ' all kinds of evil reports, from a blow from behind, from witchcraft, and well-stealing {poisoning ?).' But, curiously enough, it omits the only mischance which actually befell the owner that of being made a prisoner of war. The document is of inordinate length, and ends with some cabalistic letters and numerals and with an obscure reference to a ' blessing upon the Arch- angel Gabriel.' Many of these amulets or charms are probably of very ancient origin, and have been handed down among the German peasantry from generation to generation." g T S WITHIN.

CAPTAIN LIEUTENANT : PRIVILEGES OF OFFICERS IN THE FOOT-GUARDS. An error appears in my query, ante, p. 131 (on Cosmo Gordon), arising from the introduction of a comma. Gordon was commissioned in 1773 a Captain Lieutenant (not " captain, lieu- tenant ") and Lieutenant-Colonel. Each regiment of horse or foot had one Captain Lieutenant, but only one, who took his place between the Captains and the Lieu- tenants. In the three regiments of Foot- Guards he was Captain Lieutenant and

Lieutenant - Colonel, all the Captains being Captains and Lieutenant-Colonels ; and all the Lieutenants being Lieutenants and Captains. In the other regiments he was Captain Lieutenant and Captain. In a few cases (1777 Army List), e.g. Eighteenth (or Boyal Irish) Begiment of Foot, he appears as simply Captain Lieutenant ; but I think that this abbreviation in the List was accidental. The 1st and 2nd Troops of Horse-Guards, and the 1st and 2nd Troops of Horse Grena- dier-Guards, had no Captain Lieutenants, but the Boyal Begiment of Horse -Guards had one. Although the 1st Battalion of the First (or Boyal) Begiment of Foot had a Captain Lieutenant and Captain, there was no officer with that rank in the 2nd Battalion. Neither was there in two corps, one serving in Africa, the other in America, or in the Engineers ; but there were thirty- two Captain Lieutenants in the Boyal Begiment of Artillery (none in the Artillery in Ireland), and fifteen Captain Lieutenants and Captains in the Marines. See Army List of 1777.

Captain Lieutenant and Captain appears in the Army List of 1801, but not in that of 1809, excepting in the list of " officers of the late Boyal Irish Artillery, who have been allowed to retire on their Full Pay." There are six. Possibly I have missed one or two other exceptions, but I think not.

With regard to the special privilege for the Foot-Guards by which Captains ranked as Lieu tenant -Colonels in the Army, and Lieutenants as Captains, I may add that it was gradually abolished after 26 Aug., 1871, i.e., after the abolition of purchase in the Army by Boyal Warrant. All those officers who entered the Guards after that date were to be on the same footing as those who entered the other branches of the Army. See ' Hansard,' vol. ccix. (1872), col. 890.

Of course there were many officers who for some years to come had the privilege. I think that the last commission of Lieutenant and Captain was dated 1 March, 1879, and the last of Captain and Lieutenant -Colonel 10 Jan., 1884. See Hart's Army Lists.

BOBERT PlERPOINT.

" SPRUCE GIRL." In the Garforth Register (Yorkshire Parish Register Soc., vol. xlvi). the mother of an illegitimate child is described as a "spruce girl." The earliest entry is in 1778, 10 May: "Joseph Burow, son of Cattron Bagnall, a spruce girll, and came out of Acqueth ospetall and prentice to the Bev d Mr. Wighton."

G. D. LUMB.