Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/280

 274

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. via OCT. 4, wis.

to the ' Apostolic Constitutions,' viii. 32 ; the * ' Responsa ad Quaest. <55g. Episcopi ([Justin], Qusest. ad Orthodoxos, 19) "; and Augustine,' De Doctr. Christ.,' ii. 31, for the statement that " this with similar forms of divination was repudiated by the Christian Church."

The following extract will give an idea of the character of P. Rylands 28 :

" If the right shin quiver, it denotes that he will be very wealthy : pray to Hermes. If the left shin quiver, it denotes that he will lose a subordinate person ; for a slave in servitude it means an allevia- tion of his servitude. If the right leg-bone quiver, the person so affected will have pain on account of a friend, and will be involved in ill-treatment : pray to Nemesis. If the left leg-bone quiver, the person so affected will go on a long and unexpected journey in which he will have pain."

H. I. B.

BRITISH GRAVES IN THE CRIMEA (11 S. viii. 209). Messrs. Ackermann & Co. pub- lished in 1857 an imperial 8vo volume at 21s., entitled :

" The Last of the Brave ; | or | Besting Places of our Fallen Heroes | in j The Crimea and at Scutari. | By | Captains | The Hon. John Col- borne, 60th Royal Rifles, late 77th Regiment ; | and | Frederic Brine, Royal Engineers."

This gives a full list of the inscriptions. The following paragraph from the Introduc- tion to this work is interesting :

" All slabs or monuments not marked are of the stone of the country, which is generally soft in quality, and remarkable for its dazzling white- ness, although durable witness Sebastopol, Sim- pheropol, &c. Most of that made use of was procured either from the quarry in front of the Third Division camp, the wall behind the Redan, the Inkermann quarry, or the docks after they were blown up by the Allies, from whence was also procured some granite. All cemeteries were, by General Orders, enclosed and made neat, in many cases being surrounded by a dry boundary stone wall, with a small ditch outside, the earth from which was thrown against the wall within. Entrances were left in the first instance, but were blocked up previous to the departure of the army in cases where ornamental wooden gates had not been fixed ; the entrance gate to the Guards' burial ground was tastefully formed of hoop iron taken from the Commissariat barrels. Of the burial grounds in general, the one most remarkable for its picturesque beauty was that of the Second Brigade, Light Division, Woronzoff Road, to which was imparted a certain foreign character from its being laid out in walks and alleys some- what after the manner of ' Pere la Chaise.' Cathcart's Hill might be termed an humble imitation of Kensal Green, and contains some handsome monuments, in design and execution far from inferior to many in England, as does also the graveyard of the First Brigade, Light Division. To the burial grounds of the Naval Brigade and those of the Sailors at Balaklava and Kazatch must be assigned a touching grace peculiar to themselves. Some regiments ex. : the 18th

Royal Irish, 19th and 90th Light Infantry- erected their own monuments ; in other instances these, together with all public ones, were con- structed by men of the Royal Engineers, princi- pally belonging to the 10th Company, detached from the Royal Engineers' camp to the Light Division. A map of Sebastopol and surrounding country, showing the relative positions of the various burial grounds, is published in connection with this work by Messrs. Ackermann & Co., 106, Strand, the accuracy of which may be de- pended upon. Inscriptions are given exactly as they appeared on the tombstones or slabs, without any corrections."

THOMAS WM. HUCK. Saffron Walden.

ORIGIN OF RIMES WANTED : ' THE BONNY BROWN BOWL' SONG (11 S. viii. 170). I have not met with this song in print, but used to hear it suns? occasionally about thirty years ago. It mainly consisted of names of measures of capacity in an increasing se- quence, and their repetition, in the manner of ' The House that Jack Built,' as a refrain or chorus, which attained some length towards the end, the climax being And then we '11 drink out of the ocean, my boys,

Unto the Barley Mow.

As the Barley Mow was conspicuous in every verse, it seems likely that the song was originally one of harvest, and the words may yet be known if sought in that con- nexion. "W. B. H.

SMUGGLING QUERIES (11 S. viii. 231). I doubt whether your correspondent will find any evidence that smugglers were in the habit of insuring their goods against the risk of capture, for as a broad principle any insurance (or other contract) in support of what the law prohibits must be bad in law. This is certainly true, and doubtless always has been true, as regards insurance in disregard of the Customs laws. No such policy could be sued upon, and it is at least possible that underwriters thus knowingly identifying themselves with smuggling enter- prises might find themselves in an awkward position. Possibly smugglers may some- times have insured by " honour " policies, but any such insurances would certainly have been kept secret. But it would seem much more likely that smugglers set off their large profits on successful operations against any losses by perils of the sea or of Revenue officers.

Not long ago, when looking for an ancient Customs law, I chanced on an Act or Section by which it was provided that the bowsprits I think it was of cutters or luggers were to be strictly limited in length, the purpose so declared, I think being to prevent