Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/115

 ii s. ix. FEB. 7, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

109

AUTHORS WANTED.

Are you little gimlet holes Made to let the glory through ?

I thought these lines were to be found in Jane and Anne Taylor's "Twinkle, twinkle, little star ' but they are not.

Perhaps one of your readers, sympathizing with a man cursed by a bad memory, will take pity on me and tell me where I may obtain a sight of the poem in full.

COURTENAY DUNN.

Torquay.

1. The tear down childhood's cheek that flows Is like the dewdrop on the rose :

When next the summer wind comes by And waves the bush the flower is dry.

2. A woman's love is like that Syrian flower That buds and spreads and withers in an hour.

3. Cowed by no danger, harassed by no dread, Zounds ! damn the work, but damn it not un- read !

Be your quotations many, gents, and ample, That comment may associate with example.

STANLEY HUTTON.

Can any one tell me the source of a passage in Ewald's Life of Algernon Sidney, com- mencing thus ?

Here let the Muse withdraw the bloodstained steel, And show the boldest son of public zeal. Lo ! Sidney bleeding o'er the block, &c.

c. s. c.

BIOGRAPHICAL, INFORMATION WANTED. I should be glad to obtain any information concerning the following Old Westminsters : (1) John and Richard Gimbart, admitted in 1726, aged 12 and 11 respectively; (2) Edmund Gipps, admitted 1721, aged 10 ;

(3) Jeffery Glasier, admitted 1715, aged 11 ;

(4) Edward Glasse, admitted 1753, aged 9 ;

(5) Edward Goat, admitted 1750, aged 10 ;

(6) John Godfrey, admitted 1726, aged 12.

G. F. R. B.

BREAST TACKLE. Are there any districts where breast tackle is still in use for up- rooting such things as whin bushes and heather on patches of waste land ? Many years ago I saw a couple of men engaged in rooting up bilberries and whins on a patch of ungrubbed land on a hillside. Their tackle was a sort of rake with one big tooth, a double handle attached to it, at which one man thrust, the other pulling with a tackling of rope which crossed his chest from the left shoulder and under his right armpit. The work seemed hard, but the whins and other tangle came up readily enough.

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

" RUTLAND'S PLACE " : SIGN. May I take this opportunity of thanking those contributors who have replied to my queries on Pudding Lane, and, like Rosa Dartle, ask for further information about a sign called " Rutland's Place " in Thames Street ? Was it an inn or shop sign ? I think it is mentioned in the ' Index Locorum ' to the Chancery Bills and Answers of James I. (1603-25), without any further description. "REGINALD JACOBS.

THE HEXAGRAM AS A SYMBOL OF THE TRINITY. (See 2 S. iii. 291, 456 ; 6 S. vii. 268 ; viii. 33, 93, 157, 289.) 'N. & Q.' has excellent references to the magical meaning of the double triangle or six -pointed star and its proper designation (" the Shield of David "), and also to its confusion with the " Seal of Solomon " or the five-pointed " Pentalpha."

Smith's ' Bible Dictionary ' somewhere states that the Christians adopted the Hexagram, and used it to denote the Trinity. What is the earliest instance of this ? Can it, for example, be pointed out as inscribed or sculptured in Christian churches, on sarcophagi, in the Catacombs, or on Chris- tian houses during the first six centuries A.D. ?

Many of the town and guild medals figured in such dictionaries up to the early part of the seventeenth century appear to connect it with Jews rather than Christians. There is no doubt that Christians used as a symbol the equilateral triangle which had been used previously in Egyptian and other old religions for pagan Trinities. A late Christian example of this is found on the Gosforth Cross. It is stated, however, not to have been very common.

The early symbolizers were careful and accurate all through their work, including their culminating effort in the great medi- aeval cathedrals. The Hexagram, taken accurately, can hardly be anything nearer than two Trinities superimposed one on the other.

I submit the possibility which I hope some expert reader will discuss that it was always a "Shield of David "a sacrp- magical sign which, perhaps, some time in the Middle Ages, had its early meaning for- gotten, and for artistic reasons was con- verted by an enthusiast into a " Trinity."

I have been told that the word " Deus " put in the centre, and the initial letters for the three Persons put at the points, read " Deus Pater est, Filius est, Spiritus est." No date in this case either is given. I cannot