Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/343

 ii s. iv. OCT. 21, 1911. j NOTES AND QUERIES.

337

' THE MOTHER AND THREE CAMPS ' : "POINT OF WAR' (11 S. iv. 227) "Point of war " here means the form of salute ordered to be paid to the memory of a deceased soldier, and consists of a volley fired by a party of soldiers over the grave -at the termination of the funeral service.

For the literal meaning of the order see my remarks at 10 S. xi. 337.

N. W. HILL.

New York.

For " point of war " see 10 S. viii. 96.

J. H. L.

The phrase " point of war " occurs in Macau lay s ' Ivry ' :

Then on the ground, while trumpets sound their

loudest point of war, Fling the red shreds, a foot-cloth meet for Henry

of Navarre.

F. A. W.

"GRECIAN" IN 1615 (11 S. iv. 270). Perhaps a form of the old word for steps ; see " grece " and " gree " in ' N.E.D.' Thus at Lincoln there were " grecian stairs " in the Close (Maddison, ' Vicars Choral,' 1878, p. 26). W. C. B.

Does not this come from "greece" = a

flight of steps ? At Lincoln there is a

beautiful stairway leading to the Cathedral,

and bearing the label "The Grecian Steps."

SUSANNA CORNER.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (11 S. iv. 8, 58). The contributors who have dealt with the verse

Whether >n the scaffold high have not noted how closely it was echoed in Mr. T. D. Sullivan's ' God Save Ireland,' written " in memory of the execution of William F. Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien, 23rd November, 1867," the last three lines of the refrain being Whether on the scaffold high Or the battle-field we die, Oh, what matter, when for Erin dear we fall !

POLITICIAN.

COL. SIR J. ABBOTT : ' CONSTANCE ' AND ' ALLAOODDEEN ' (11 S. iv. 228, 279). I have now learnt that both these books are in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries. They were published anonymously, and when searched for under 'Abbott' could not be found.

Your correspondent J. T. kindly sent me his copy of * Allaooddeen,' and I was thus able to trace ' Constance.' The latter was published by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1877.

In the Bodleian Library the two books are catalogued under the heading ' Poesis,' and in the British Museum under their titles.

J. H. LESLIE.

RAGNOR LODBROK'S SONS : HULDA (US. iv. 249, 315). Miss Yonge in ' Christian Names ' (1884, p. 214) says :

"That Frau Bertha is an impersonation of the Epiphany there seems little doubt, but it appears that there was an original mythical Bertha, who absorbed the brightened night, or if the bright night gave a new title to the old mythical Holda, Holla, Hulla, Huldr (the faithful, or the muffled), a white spinning lady, who is making her feather-bed when it snows. She, too, brings presents at the year's end ; rewards good spinners, punishes idle ones ; has a long nose, wears a blue gown and white veil, and drives through the fields in a car with golden wheels. Scandinavia calls her Hulla, or Huldr the propitious ; Northern Germany Holda, probably by

adaptation to hold (mild) Some have even tried

to identify Holda with Huldah, the prophetess, in the Old Testament, but this is manifestly a blunder."

ERNEST B. SAVAGE.

St. Thomas, Douglas.

F. KNIBBERCH (11 S. iv. 289). The Secretary of the Bedford Library has given me the painter's full name. It is Frangois Knibberch, who studied with Van den Zande at Milan.

I had already judged that the scene depicted was probably in Northern Italy. Apparently a ruined monastery, coming well towards the centre of the picture, occupies the right side, showing high up a noble apse and tower in the Romano- Gothic style usual in Northern Italy, as, for instance, round Lake Como. To the left are hills, and a long valley between them and the buildings. There is a running fountain, with lion's head and stone trough, in the wall of the monastery, besides a woman bearing a pitcher on her head, goats under great trees on the extreme right, &c. The canvas measures 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in.

Is anything known about this picture ?

C. SWYNNERTON.

The following extract from Bryan's ' Dictionary of Painters ' refers, seemingly, to the artist sought for :

" Knibberch, Fran9ois De, was a Dutch landscape painter of the seventeenth century. Early left an orphan, he was placed by his guardian with a painter at Milan, named Van den Zande, a native of Utrecht, by whom he was very badly treated. On his return to his own country in 1629, he was received in the corporation of St. Luke at the Hague."

HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.