Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/156

 ND QUERIES. [11 s. VIL FEB. 22, 1913.

is still rung here, not once only, but twice, each evening almost throughout the year. At the Church of St. Michael it is rung at 8 P.M., eight strokes being given, and then the number for the day of the month. A payment of 4. a year is made to the ringer. At % the Cathedral Curfew is rung every evening excepting on and from St. Thomas's Day {21 Dec.) until the Feast of the Purifica- tion (2 Feb.), when it is resumed. Can any reason for this interval be suggested ? The bell used is the hour bell, " Great Peter," a pre-Refonnation bell, and " the only mediaeval signum, or great bell, now remain- ing in England : ' (H. B. Walters, ' Church Bells of England.' 1912, which also see for Curfew, pp. 146-9). Ringing commences immediately 8.45 P.M. has struck : first nine strokes and pause, then forty strokes, then the number according to the day of the month. Mr. Walters (op. cit.} gives the time as 9 P.M., and the number as forty -nine, but the facts are as stated. He also says this bell is not rung as a Curfew, but locally it is so regarded. A reason for the forty strokes seems obscure. Was it to ensure that in the early days of each month there should be a sufficient number to attract attention ? This, of course, when the ringing had its particular significance. At Westminster Abbey the little bell is rung daily at 8.45 A.M. and 1.30 P.M. for three minutes, followed by forty strokes, and various explanations are offered for this number (Walters, op. cit.).

The literature relating to Curfew is scanty. By far the best account is that entitled ' The Curfew : its Origin and History,' published in The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1895, pp. 599-617, where Mr. Lionel Cresswell gives a good historical notice, with authorities. Until this the best autho- rity was Mr. H. S. Cumiiig's communication to the British Arch. Assoc., of which an abstract was given in their Journal, iv. 133- 141. This ha escaped entry in Sir L. Gomme's ' Index of Archaeological Papers,' as it appears in the Journal under the heading of * Proceedings.' A later paper in The Gentleman's Magazine (January, 1904, pp. 74-80) was written by Mr. J. C. Hadden, but this is not so full. An article on ' Ring- ing of the Curfew ' was published in The Quiver, vol. xxvi., 1891.

ROLAND AUSTIN. Public Library, Gloucester.

Curfew is still rung every evening at 8 o'clock on the third (dated 1682) of the five bells in the steeple of West Haddon Church,

Northamptonshire. The second bell is rung every day at noon, which would, I presume, be a relic of the Angelus. This bell contains the following legend :

Be yt knoAvne to all

That doth mee see

That Newcombe of

Leicester made mee 1611

Heare I had not hovnge

Bvt for lohn Dallingtone.

JOHN T. PAGE.

The Curfew is still rung at nine o'clock every night in Lisburn Cathedral.

WILLIAM MACABTHUB. Dublin.

HAYTEB'S ' TRIAL OF QUEEN CABOLINE ' (US. vii. 69). According to The Times of 10 January, this picture was given to the National Portrait Gallery by the National Art -Collections Fund (not by Lord Annaly). The account says that the Fund "has added to its many public services by gener- ously purchasing the picture and presenting it to the Gallery." It was deposited on loan by Lord Annaly in September, 1895. There is a key-plate of the picture in the Catalogue of the National Portrait Gallery, 14th ed., 1909. The incident depicted is the cross-examination of Teodoro Majocchi by Earl Grey. The painter, Sir George Hayter, is in the extreme right-hand corner of the picture. ROBEBT PIEBPOINT.

Was not this picture exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823 ? The incident represented is the cross-examination of Teodoro Majocchi, an Italian witness, by Earl Grey, Spineto (or Spinetti) acting a& interpreter. G. W. Agar-Ellis is seen stand- ing outside the bar on the right ; the painter in the extreme right-hand corner of the picture. A. R. BAYLEY.

GEBMAN FUNEBAL CUSTOM (US. vi. 368, 436, 500 ; vii. 95). It may be well to note that it was at one time usual in Yorkshire for a piece of lemon-peel to be affixed to the handle of the tankard in which wine or ale was offered to the company at a funeraL See Cole's * History and Antiquities of Filey.'

"LAKING" = PLAYING (11 S. vii. 87). An old woman in Durham county was asked the meaning of some runes executed on her cottage floor with sand and, possibly, chalk: "Oh," she said, "it's just my

babby-lakings " = baby-play.

ST. SWITHIN.