Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/382

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vi. OCT. 19, 1012.

partisan account of the Princess (and Queen) Caroline affair, says that the first Marquis

" desired that his right hand might be amputated immediately after his decease, as an expiatory judgment against himself, in having signed dis- honourable deeds to injure the happiness of the Princess." W B H

" TOUCHING FOB A LOAN " (11 S. vi. 228). " I touched him for a bob " is often used in this district among certain classes, but it does not of necessity mean that " I obtained a shilling from him." It equally well might mean " I asked him for a shilling," which is a very different thing.

RONALD DIXON.

46, Marlborough Avenue, Hull.

JOSEPH FUSSELL (US. vi. 145, 228, 257)- I scarcely think there is the least doubt that the artist alluded to by MB. ROBEBT PIEBPOINT was father of the Joseph Fussell who died this year in California. He (the father) was for some years constantly employed in London as a book and magazine illustrator, chiefly on wood ; and not only was he well in with publishers, engravers, and editors, but, being of a pleasant, sociable disposition, he soon became intimately acquainted with the leading artists and literary men of his time. I was evidently mistaken in believing his name to have been John, misled by (or misreading) Algernon Graves's ' Diet, of Artists.' Joseph would, indeed, seem to have been an hereditary name in the family. Joseph H. Fussell, a son of the lately deceased artist, is Secre- tary of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society at Point Loma. Hone's artist was probably the Fussell, noted by Graves, who exhibited in London 1821-45. His drawings in the ' Every-Day Book ' are, like most of those by even better-known artists in the same volume, miserably crude and amateurish.

HEBBEBT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

SIB WALTEB RALEGH'S DESCENDANTS (11 S. vi. 191, 236). The Honywoods, Baronets of Kent, are descended, I believe, from a great - granddaughter, Frances, daughter of Philip Raleigh of Finchley Mere, son of Carew Raleigh, and grandson of Sir Walter.

KENNETT AND HOWE FAMILIES (11 S. ii. 229 ; vi. 148). There is also another reference (2 S. vii. 286). Is it possible that Mrs. Howe was a stepdaughter of Bishop Kennett ? R. J. FYNMOBE.

LIFTING THE BBIDE OVEB THE THBESHOLD (11 S. vi. 191, 232). I remember how, in the case of two weddings at the village of Coxbench, Derby, the brides were lifted over the doorstones of the cottages m which they were to " keep house." This was done for luck. There were, as far as I remember it is sixty years ago some simple preparations made, the doorstone, or step, being carefully cleaned with sand- stone. When the wedding party came from church, the bridegroom and the best man made " a catscradle " of their hands and arms interlocked, and the bride, sitting in this, with an arm round the neck of each man, was then lifted and carried over " t' doorston," care being taken that both carriers stepped over the stone so as not to dirty it. This was somewhat difficult, as the girl had to be carried sideways, the husband going first and amidst hails of wheat. These were cottage people, and all, old and young, thoroughly enjoyed it, though none, I suspect, had any other idea than that it was for luck. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

I have heard another explanation of the custom of lifting the bride over the threshold of her husband's house. It is to ensure that when she goes out she may always return. Perhaps a reminiscence of the idea that events go in pairs. H. B.

Hotel Beau Rivage, Geneva.

A chapter almost entirely devoted to this, giving the various theories and a logical conclusion, is in Samter's ' Geburt, Hochzeit, und Tod ' ; an article, likewise well documented, is Ogle's ' The House- Door in Greek and Roman Religion and Folk-lore,' in American Journal of Philology, 1911, xxxii. 251-71.

In my view this lifting is one of the " Rites de Passage " (see Van Gennep's book so entitled) to save the bride from contact with malevolent spirits lurking especially at the threshold. A zoological parallel may make this clear : the hermit- crab, during transit from the shell it has outgrown to the protection of another, has its tender body exposed to danger from manifold enemies ready to snap at it ; so the bride, leaving the protection of the divinities of her father's house, and not having acquired that of her husband's, needs the aid of many devices of her friends to ensure her arrival unharmed.

ROCKINGHAM. Boston, Mass.