Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/339

 us. VIL APRIL 26, 1913] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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recently at Minehead. a brass hand which had been made and used for this purpose. My -specimen now serving me as a paper- weight measures 6 in. by 3^ in., and has a heart 1J in. by H in. cut out of the palm. In their representative processions the Chinese also carry long silver rods tipped sometimes with an emblematic hand ; and among the Indians of North America as also among Orientals the figure of a hand is a sacred emblem.

On the ruins of Uxmal in Mexico the sign of a red hand is frequent, and one of the early explorers of extinct Mexico observed that the same conspicuous mark im- pressed in red paint by the naked hand " stared us in the face in all the ruined buildings of the country."

HABOLD BAYLEY.

THE SANCTITY OF ROYALTY (11 S. vii. 249), I have come across the following instances of a queen's residence in a monas- tery :

Tynemouth (Benedictine, a cell of St. Albans). In 1303 Margaret, the second wife of Edward I., stayed for some months at Tynemouth Priory ( ' Northumberland County History,' viii. 84, and references there given). Her visit does not seem to have caused any protest or punishment, for in 1322 Isabella, wife of Edward II., spent some time there (Brand, ' History of Newcastle -upon -Tyne,' ii. 91). Brand quotes as follows from the Wardrobe Accounts of 15-16 Edward II. :

" Thome de Holm scutifero hospicii Domini Regis moranti in prioratu de Tynemouth una cum aliis scutiferis de hospicio Domini Regis in municione ejusdem prioratus racione more Domine Regine ibidem pro expens'oris sui per 16 dies 26 die Septembris pro primo computato, percipi- endo 4d. ob. per diem 6s."

Durham (Benedictine).

" Anno gratiee MCCC tricesimp tercio, feria <juinta, in ebdomada Paschae, venit Rex [Edward III.] Dunelmum, et in Prioris camera hospitatur. Feria vero quarta sequenti supervenit Regina Philippa uno die de Knarsburgh usque Dunelmum : et ignorans consuetudinem ecclesise Dunelmensis, per portam Abbathias ad cameram Prioris de- scendebat, et ibi cum Rege coenabat. Et cum, ccena facta, cubasset, intimatum est Regi per monachum quendam, quomodo sanctus Cuth- bertus mulierum praesentiam non amabat. Ad prseceptum igitur Regis surrexit Regina : et in tunica sola, cooperta clamide, per portam quam Intravit rediit, et sic ad Castrum per Likyate se transtulit : rogans Sanctum ne quod ignoranter fecerat vindicaret." Raine, ' Historic Dunel- mensis Scriptores Tres,' Surtees Soc., p. 117 ; 4 The Chronicle of Robert de Graystanes,' cap.

This last instance is particularly in- structive, as it shows that the normal custom was for the queen to stay in the monastery, but also that a particular sanctity might override custom. M. H. DODDS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHARTULARIES (11 S. vii. 286). Before any list of printed Char- tularies appears in ' N. & Q.' I venture to suggest that intending contributors should consult Dr. Gross's * Sources and Literature of English History,' and that only additions to those mentioned by him should be given. Section 57 of this invaluable work includes references to a great number of Char- tularies published in separate form and in local histories, &c., while in other parts of the book are some mentioned which appear in general works. Thus the Gloucestershire Chartularies so far printed are all recorded by Gross, and it seems useless to take up valuable space in ' N. & Q.' with repeating these. A list of monastic Chartularies known to exist at the time was printed in Collectanea Topog. et Genealogica, vols. i.-ii. (1834-5) ; and Sims also gave a list at pp. 14- 28 of his * Manual for the Genealogist ' (1856).

' A Calendar and Description of the Monastic and other Chartularies in the Public Record Office ' was included in the Deputy-Keeper's Report, 1847, lApp. II., pp. 135-66.

The excellent ' Index to the Charters and Rolls in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum,' vols. i.-ii., published 1900-12, which -comprises all charters, &c., in the Department on 1 Jan., 1901, should also be consulted. Vol. ii. includes an invaluable index to documents relating to religious houses. ROLAND AUSTIN.

Public Library, Gloucester.

FIRE-RITUAL (11 S. vi. 489 ; vii. 33, 233). I remember seeing fires lit on La (pro- nounced law) Bealltaine, or May Day, about forty years ago at Templeglantine, co. Limerick, with the object of protecting cattle from sickness and blight throughout the year. Two adjacent furze bushes were set ablaze, and were fed by other bushes (previously cut for the purpose) while the cattle were being driven between them, the animals being struck with a blazing bush as they passed, after which they were sprinkled with holy water. As late as 1898 I saw bonfires lit on the 1st of May in Achill Island, and not on St. John's Eve (23 June), to which date the lighting of these fires is said to have been transferred