Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/337

 us. TIII. OCT. 23, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

331

FOLKESTONE CROSS. Near the parish church stands a cross of modern date, but erected on a perron or steps of evidently great age. An inscription states that at this stone, in terms of the charter of 1 Ed- ward III., the Mayor of Folkestone was elected. I shall be obliged by information as to the form of the ancient "cross." Was it a column or block of stone known as " the cross," or was it a true ecclesiastical cross ? Tyack's ' The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art,' 1896, says :

" The good folk of Folkestone were sum- moned by the blast of a horn to assemble at the churchyard cross before proceeding to elect their mayor ; and at Aston Rogers and elsewhere the court of the lord of the manor met at the cross." P. 115.

What are the words of the Folkestone charter relative to the cross ? , Where can I get information as to the manor court of Aston Rogers or other courts held at " the cross " ?

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Ramoyle, Glasgow.

PORTRAIT OF THOMAS BRADBURY. Can any of your readers assist me in my search for an oil painting representing the Rev. Thomas Bradbury, the outspoken and facetious London Independent minister who flourished during the reigns of Queen Anne and the first two Georges ? The picture was included in a collection of portraits of Yorkshire worthies that formed part of the fine-art exhibition held in Leeds in the year 1868. E. BASIL LUPTON.

BADDESLEY CLINTON HALL, WARWICK- SHIRE. I have tried for some years past to obtain a book on the subject of my cousin Mrs. Bering's beautiful and interesting house Baddesley Clinton Hall a book by the Rev. Father Norris of Tamworth without success. If any of your readers have a copy which they would dispose of, I should be very glad if they would let me know.

JAMES DURHAM.

Cromer Grange, Norfolk.

AGE OF YEW TREES. Can any one tell me how the age of yew trees may be cor- rectly calculated ? Authorities on the sub- ject seem to differ somewhat. G. H. W.

[The age of yew trees was discussed at 8 S- x. 431 ; xi. 276, 334, 433 ; 9 S. ii. 53 ; 10 S. xii. 421, 477.]

ENGLISH REGIMENTS IN CANADA, 1837. Is there any printed list of the published records of English regiments, and are there any published or MS. diaries of officers who served in the suppression of the Canadian revoltlin 1837 ? P. D. M.

WATTS'S CATECHISM. Was it ever cus- tomary for any of the clergy of the Church of England to use Watts' s Catechism as a religious primer for children ? In ' Pen- dennis ' (end of chap. ivJ) the Rev. Mr. Smirke considers whether he shall go back to Fairoaks to see Mrs. Pendennis " and hear Miss Laura her Watts 's Catechism.'' Is this merely a sarcastic touch of Thacke- ray's ? JOHN T. PAGE.

SEEN THROUGH GLASS: THE

JEWISH CALENDAR, (US. viii. 230, 252, 294.)

CAPT. CONDER was far from correct when he said the Hebrews " had no calendar " ; that on " each New Moon " they celebrated " feasts of trumpets " ; that the witnesses were " questioned by the Sanhedrin " ; and that the moon was " seen through glass." Admittedly these are minor blemishes in what is a fine contribution to the history and the literature of the Israelites.

If we are to appreciate to what extent the " Kedushas Halevana," or " Sanctification of the New Moon," enters even to-day into the multifarious ceremonies of Jewry, we must translate ourselves in imagination to the days when Israel was free. Upon accurate calculations of the moon's phases the whole of the spiritual life of the people has, for generations, unbrokenly depended. Next in utility is the " Shofar," or " the ram's horn." In the agricultural era the Shofar was a sort of Curfew. Every Friday after- noon, according to the seasons, the farmer's steward would gallop from field to field sounding the ram's horn, which proclaimed the " Hafsokah," or "Cease work"; thus enabling every man to arrive home in good time to dress and to prepare himself becomingly to receive " the Bride of the Sabbath." The time varied, and until the presidency of Antigonus, B.C. 250, they had to rely on " eyewitnesses "only ; at a later stage, viz., during the Mishna period, on observa- tion and on astronomical data ; and lastly, in modern times, on astronomical calculations only, covering a period of nineteen years.

This ascertaining, as accurately as possible, of the date of the " New Moon " is a Mosaic ordinance, and not a Rabbinical " Jekana," or "by-law," as many might suppose. In the primitive stages of Hebraism it was incumbent upon every man to go in search