Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/201

 n s. in. MAR. 11, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Companions (Comites) of the Pope, when h lived at St. John Lateran, and they composec his Court. The insignia consist of a gold cros and chain, and a mantle with embroidered cross The official title of this dignity is ' Count of th Apostolic Palace, and of the Court of the Lateran.' "

It is doubtless either a Count of this kind or else an hereditary Count of the States o the Church, who is known to R. W. P.

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.

REBECCA AND HER DAUGHTERS (11 S. iii 89). May I be permitted to express my entire concurrence with ST. SWITHIN in thinking the explanation advanced by Miss Evans, as to the origin of the " Rebecca ' of the Welsh riots, wholly inadequate Her explanation brings a comic element into the narrative, and suggests gatherings of good-humoured, but mischievous schoo! boys. Had the riots been grounded on force, as Miss Evans seems to imply, it is safe to say that the disturbances would no1 have lasted a week, instead of being continued over a period of some four years. The Welsh people were undoubtedly in grim earnest from the very first outbreak. They felt themselves wronged, and found in Scripture, as they believed, an adequate authority warranting resistance of the wrong. They had, in fact, a real grievance, which the Government took care to remedy with as little delay as possible. But in any case, there seems no reason why we should reject such accounts of the genesis of the Welsh riots as are given in Miss Marti neau's ' History of the Peace ' or in Mr. McCarthy's ' Short History of Our Own Times ' in favour of the theory advanced by Miss Evans as to their origin.

SCOTUS.

MURDERERS REPRIEVED FOR MARRIAGE (US. iii. 129, 172). I cannot find that this was ever a legal right in England, but the idea is widespread in the folk-lore of many countries. Numerous references will be found in F. Liebrecht's ' Zur Volkskunde ' alte und neue Aufsatze, Heilbronn, 1879, pp. 433-4, to similar beliefs in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain. In some of these it is not a virgin, but a woman of loose conduct, who is the medium of saving the man' s life by marriage under the gallows. Two instances are given in H. Estienne's ' Apologie pour Herodote ' (edited by Ristel- huber, 1879), vol. i, p. 253-4, and from a note quoted from Maury,' L'Ancienne Legis- lation CriminelJe ' (no more exact reference), it is implied that the custom or right only

applied in the case of " le ravisseur con- damne a mort et que la fille enlevee con- sentait a accepter pour mari."

In most of the stories the point of the story consists in the man refusing thus to save his life because the woman is ugly or lame, &c. ; see also 9 S. viii. 419, where reference in made to the infamous '' Noyades " of the French Revolution. I cannot find, however, any reference to this custom in Allison's ' History of Europe ' in his long account of such " Noyades."

A. COLLINGWOOD LEE. Waltham Abbey, Essex.

Perhaps this was a " guid Scots " custom. I cannot connect it with any particular town, but I bethink me of Meg of Elibank and cite the following passage from chap. xi. of Lockhart's ' Life of Sir Walter Scott.' The poet wrote thus :

" I have some thought of attempting a Border Ballad in the comic manner but I almost despair of bringing it out well. A certain Sir William Scott from whom I am descended was ill-advised enough to plunder the estate of Sir Gideon Murray of Elibank, ancestor to the present Lord Elibank. The marauder was defeated, seized, and brought in fetters to the castle of Elibank upon the Tweed. The Lady Murray (agreeably to the custom of all ladies in ancient tales) was seated on the battle- ments, and descried the return of her husband with his prisoner. She immediately inquired what he meant to do with the young Knight of Harden, which was the petit litre of Sir William Scott. ' Hang the robber assuredly,' was the answer of Sir Gideon. ' What ! ' answered the ady,' hang the handsome young knight of Harden, when I have three ill-favoured daughters un- married ! No, no, Sir Gideon, we'll force him to narry our Meg.' Now tradition says that Meg Vlurray was the ugliest woman in the four counties, and that she was called in the homely dialect of -he time meikle-mouthed J/e</....Sir Gideon, ike a good husband and tender father, entered nto his wife's sentiments, and proffered to Sir William the alternative of becoming his son-in- aw or decorating with his carcase the kindly o-allows of Elibank. The lady was so very ugly hat Sir William, the handsomest man of his time, )ositively refused the honour of her hand. Three ays were allowed him to make up his mind ; and 'i was not until he found one end of a rope made ist to his neck, and the other knitted to a sturdy ak bough, that his resolution gave way, and he referred an ugly wife to the literal noose. It is vid they were afterwards a very happy couple."

ST. SWITHIN.

SAMUEL BYBOM (US. iii. 168). In the ' Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Byrom,' edited by Canon R. Parkin- son for the Chetham Society, there are frequent references to the sad condition to which " Beau Byrom " had reduced himself. WILLIAM E. A. AXON.