Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/240

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NOTES AND QUERIES. ( n s. vn. MAR. 2-2, 1913.

THE TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS CXXV. AND CXXVI. (11 S. vi. 446 ; vii. 32, 76, 153). I agree with C. C. B. that the sonnets on estrangement between Shake- speare and his friend begin pretty far back in the book. But the four Sonnets CXXII. to CXXV. seem to me to be so closely con- nected as to form a single poem, separate from the others. It is easier to find fault with Thorpe's arrangement of the Sonnets than to better it.

If the " informer " be taken to be jealousy, I do not see any great difficulty in making the " true soul " apply to Shakespeare. " Jealousy" in 'Venus and Adonis,' line 657, as elsewhere in Shakespeare, means rather suspicion in general than jealousy of any particular object or person. Mr. W. H. does not seem to have been jealous in that sense, but he Was suspicious of Shakespeare's constancy. A true soul when most attacked or accused by suspicion stands least in its power, because conscious of its own in- tegrity. W. B. BROWN.

ALMSHOUSES NEAR THE STRAND (11 S. vii. 130). The description of " a pretty, quiet little place " Would have applied to the almshouses of St. Clement Danes in Clement's Lane. They were situated behind the old vestry hall, and a disused burial- ground was attached. These buildings were demolished, and the site sold on 1 Dec., 1871, to form part of the area required for the Law Courts. Part of the present Cle- ment's Inn stands on the same ground.

If the description quoted is a personal recollection, it may be applied to New Inn, which with its grass plots and chapel could be mistaken for almshouses. Even Thanet Place was popularly identified as a charitable foundation for faded respectability, but there was no room for grass to grow there. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

The almshouse mentioned was evidently that in the parish of St. Clement Danes, which was taken down, with many other buildings, to make room for the Law Courts. The almshouse was a low building, ap- proached from Clement's Lane through an iron gateway. Its windows looked on to a little grass plot, or, perhaps, a burying- ground. The side of the old vestry hall flanked the enclosure, and its windows also overlooked the bit of grass. There was accommodation for six widows, each occupy- ing a roomy apartment containing a recess for the bed. The Writer remembers visiting two of the inmates one an old Lincolnshire lady, who was transferred to her native place

on the demolition of this haven of rest. The inmates attended divine service in the parish church, sitting in one of the pews beneath the north windows. Further infor- mation Would, no doubt, be found in Diprose's ' History of St. Clement Danes.'

C. T.

EXTRAORDINARY FOUNTAINS IN IRELAND (11 S. vii. 129). I have on several occasions visited nearly every corner of Munster in connexion with my books on Ireland and the Irish language, but though I made repeated and particular inquiries as to the fountain mentioned by Giraldus Cam- brensis, I could find no trace of it or tradi- tion about it. Of the magic fountains so prevalent in Irish folk-lore I heard a good deal, of which I made notes, but none of them was identified with any existing fountain or spring. The nearest we get to them is in the cases where some of these fairy fountains (owing to breach of rules) overflowed and became lakes, as in the case of the Killarney Lakes, Lough Erne, and Lough Neagh. The frequent recurrence of magic fountains in ancient Irish MSS., as well as in oral tradition, is no doubt a remnant of the time when springs and foun- tains were worshipped in Ireland, each of them having a guardian spirit or deity of its own. When Ireland became Christian these springs were turned into holy wells, and instead of a guardian deity each was given a patron saint. It was felt that it Would be safer to graft the new faith on to the old than to try to eradicate altogether the ancient forms of worship. The holy wells were a tremendous success, and hosts of pious pilgrims thronged to them until quite recently. Now they are nearly all un- visited, and the " Pattern " days are almost forgotten, owing to the fact that attendance at them on the particular saint's feast day has been discountenanced by the Catholic Church. Recently those who attended went not to pray, but to drink, dance, and make love.

Personally, I believe that some Irish farceur was joking the famous chronicler when he told him the story of the " extra- ordinary fountain." T. O'NEILL LANE.

Tournafulla, co. Limerick.

EXCISEMAN GILL (11 S. vi. 490; vii. 34, 94. 137). In connexion with this subject I find that land at Sandgate was leased to Mr. John Barham by the Earl of Radnor about 1773; that in 1795 it was described as in occupation of Richard Harris Barham ; but in 1809-14 the occupier was James Bell ;