Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/279

 n s. vii. APB.L 5, 1913 ] NOTES AND QUERIES.

275

fireworks at home and giving displays in the back garden. (I believe it is now illegal to make fireworks except in premises licensed for the purpose.) References may be found in the book which we used as a manual :

' Pyrotechny ; | or, | The Art of | Making Fire-

orks, | at Little Cost, | and with | Complete

Safety and Cleanliness.' Ward, Lock <fe Tyler,

n.d. Author's name not on title-page, but on p. 1, "By Fractious."

No doubt the publishers can supply the date. E.g., p. 71 :

" PREPARATION OF TOUCH-PAPER. I have spoken iiboub touch-paper, but I do not think that I have yet, described its preparation."

The most obvious explanation of the name is that touch-paper ignites at the touch of a lighted match or other fire, but [ do not know if this is the correct one.

G. H. WHITE.

St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.

THE RED HAND OF ULSTER (11 S. vii. L89). I have been looking for an oppor- tunity of bringing to the notice of your eaders the following apparently remarkable effect that was produced by the sight of a
 * ard bearing this cognizance.

I quote from The Western Morning News Tom their London Correspondent's Letter K>me time since. He is referring to an ncident in the present war in tke Balkans, ind says :

" Mr. Baldwin, the Central News correspondent, wished to visit one of the magnificent mosques in Constantinople, but, being a Christian, he was refused admission. He produced the usual pass- port, credentials, and Turkish references, but with- out avail. Desperately he felt in his pocket, and same upon a card bearing the red hand of Ulster a press card issued for the Ulster Week demon- strations last summer]. The correspondent prof-
 * ered the card to the Turkish guardians of the

, without much hope that it would avail him. ro his amazement it had a magical effect. The >fficials entered into a hasty consultation, and one )f them disappeared, and shortly afterwards re- turned with a high functionary of the mosque, who salaamed most deferentially, and conducted the correspondent all over the edifice. Mr. Baldwin s still wondering what the red hand of Ulster neant to the Turks, and for whom they mistook aim ! "

Mr. F. T. Elworthy, in his book ' The Evil Cye,' p. 243, refers to the use of the hand s a symbol of power and protection sculp- ured on tombs at Tel- el-Amarna, and adds :

" The use of the hand as a sign of the divine presence and power is thus fixed at least as early is the sojourn of Israel in Egypt ...... and has con-

>mued to be so used ..... down to the present day

ilike by pagans, Mahomedans, and Christians."

At p. 246 he gives a figure of the open (dexter) hand carved on the keystone of the arch of the outer gate of the Alhambra, " in defiance of the strict objection of the Moslem to images." On p. 247 he quotes ' Murray's Handbook for Spain,' 1855, i. 301, to the effect that this occurrence of the open hand refers to " the Hebrew jadh, the Hand of God, the Oriental symbol of power and providence." In a foot-note to p. 247 Mr. Elworthy adds : " The arms of Ulster are simply a large hand in this position " (that is, the right hand as held up by Ori- entals in taking a judicial oath).

I have also seen it stated, but with what authority I should like to learn, that " the fingers of the hand produce the letters of the word Allah in the Arabic and Persian character," and that " Mr. Baldwin there- fore entered the mosque in the name of God."

May I conclude with the question raised by the gentleman who represented the Central News, and ask, What did the " Red Hand of Ulster " really signify to the Mahommedan guardians of the mosque in Constantinople ? W. S. B. H.

NORRIS (11 S. vi. 251, 428; vii. 150, 173, 212). The following in connexion with this family, and with the phrase used at p. 212, " poor as a crow," is curious :

" Queen Elizabeth used to call the Lady Mar- garet, his [Sir John Norris's] mother, her own Crow, being (as it seemeth) black in complexion (a colour which no whit unbecame the faces of her martial issue) ; and, upon the news of his death, sent this Letter unto her, which 1 have transcribed from an authentick copy :


 * < To the Lady Norris. 22 Sept., 1597.

"My own Crow ****** " Your gracious and loving Sovereign,

" E. R.

Fuller's 'Worthies,' vol. ii. pp. 228-9. Lord and Lady Norris had six sons, of whom four were killed in battle.

R. J. FYNMORE.

For the Norris family of Milverton, men- tioned at the penultimate reference, and Sylvester Norris, mentioned at the last, compare also 10 S. x. 225, 316, 355.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

" HYPERGAMY " (11 S. vii. 229). For the history of the word see ' Report on the Census of the Punjab,' by Denzil C. Ibbetson, Calcutta, 1883, p. 356. In a foot-note the author says :

' I am indebted to Mr. Coldstream for these two words [isogamy and hypergamy]. Hypergamy ndeed would appear rather to mean 'too much