Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/51

 n s. iv. JULY is, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Bernardus non vidit omnia. Still, it is curious that no earlier instance than 1884 should be given of the above phrase under arm. Fuller, in his ', Pisgah-Sight,' 1650,

S. 103, says : " How long an arme must aphtali make to reach to Judah ! " A writer in The Massachusetts Spy, 25 April, 1827, seems to regard it as a local Americanism, which it is not :

" That class of people in New Jersey, who are not very particular about the etiquette of fashionable life, have a habit, when inviting their guests at table to help themselves, of saying ' make a long arm.'"

RICHARD H. THORNTON. 36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.

" CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY." We have almost become reconciled by now to the " Emperor of Germany " and the "King of Belgium," which the daily press has invented for our edification : newspapers have reconciled us to many things. But certainly it is surprising, not to say painful, to find that during the recent show-days at Westminster Abbey two seats therein were ticketed. " The Crown Prince of Ger- many," " The Crown Princess of Germany." W. BAILEY KEMPLING.

ST. SWITHIN'S DAY. The common adage regarding St. Swithin is :

St. Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain ; St. Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.

Many persons still watch the appearance of the sky with anxiety on this important day, oblivious of the circumstance that total change of date has been effected by the Gregorian reformation of the calendar, and that they should consequently make their atmospheric observations nearly a fortnight later.

Swithin, or Swithun, was born in the neighbourhood of Winchester, probably about the year 800. He became a monk, and gradually rose until in 852 he succeeded to the see of Winchester. It is not neces- sary here to give the life of the saint. I need only say that he died about 862, leaving directions to be buried in a vile place, under the droppings from the eaves on the north side of Winchester Cathedral, which was accordingly done. A hundred years after- wards, when the Cathedral of Winchester was being rebuilt, Bishop Ethelwold and Archbishop Dunstaii were desirous of en- riching the new church by the possession of some distinguished relics ; and in order to revive the popular veneration for St. Swithin, appeal was made to King Edgar,

who gave orders for the formal translation of the relics of St. Swithin from the grave in the churchyard to the interior of the Cathedral, where they were enclosed in magnificent shrine and placed in a con- spicuous position. A splendid ceremonial and feast accompanied the translation,, which was effected on 15 July, 971 ; and the historians inform us that the weather was fair.

According to tradition, the saint's remains reposed for a hundred years in the neglected spot that he had chosen in the churchyard. As the clergy felt that a pious member of their order should not occupy such a position they, on a certain day, purposed removing the body with great ceremony into the adjoining cathedral ; but the rain fell incessantly, which they interpreted as a sign from heaven warning them not to disturb the remains in contravention of the wishes of the saint ; so they abandoned the idea. The popular notion concerning St. Swithin's Day is probably due to some- pagan belief regarding the prophetic charac- ter of some day about the same period of the year as St. Swithin's Day.

France has her patrons of showers :

S'il pleut le jour de Saint Me'dard,

II pleut quarante jours plus tard ;

S'il pleut le jour de Saint Gervais et de Saint Protais,

II pleut quarante jours aprds.

In Belgium there is St. Godelieve ; and in Germany a prophetic character is ascribed to the day of the Seven Sleepers.

The legend of St. Medard is related by the late MR. WILLIAM BATES at 1 S. xii. 137; see also pp. 233 and 312 in the same volume*

TOM JONES. [See post, p. 55.]

ST. EXPEDITUS. In an article entitled ' Some Imaginary Saints ' Dr. A. Smythe Palmer tells an amusing story in The Guardian of 30 June. Here it is :

" Within the last five years the Roman Church had a narrow escape of being saddled with a brand-new Saint. Some nuns in Paris were expecting a box of relics from Rome. In due course a case arrived bearing with the address the word spedito (' dispatched '), and the date appended. Obviously these were the bones of some famous though hitherto unknown martyr St. Expeditus, one whose very name would speak to the faithful useful lessons of good speed and expedition. Appropriate emblems of palm and prompt action were being devised for his statue, when the correct interpretation of the prosaic railway label by some busybody dispelled the- romantic vision and robbed the Church of a new martyr, ' St. Forwarded.' "