Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/100

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[12 S. I. JAN. 29, 1916.

BlOGBAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED ' I

THOMAS LISLE (US. xii. 421, 12 S. i. 58). ' ^M.A.OxON.'s suggestion that " Magdalen Hall must be a mistake for Magdalen Coll." is an unfortunate conjecture. Beadles sometimes make mistakes, and so the Matriculation Re- gister (followed in this case both by Foster and by Bloxam, vi. 210) may be in error; but Lisle elected Demy in 1726 is not likely to have been matriculated from Magdalen College in 1725. There were no commoners at Magdalen at this date. A gentleman commoner would have been ineligible for a demyship, which was an eleemosynary en- dowment. It was perhaps possible for a clerk to become a demy. It must have been very rare. Anyhow Thomas Lisle was never a clerk of Magdalen College. Magdalen Hall seems to hr.ve been a favourite place for matriculation with those who were after- wards to be elected demies. Four were elected thence in 1725, three in 1728. A large majority of the demies at that time were elected from other colleges and from the halls. It is dangerous to depart from original evidence except for specific reasons. ' N. & Q.' is more read than Foster or Bloxam, and M.A.OxON.'s unhappy con- jecture might injuriously affect all future biographies of Thomas Lisle.

JOHN R. MAGRATH. Queen's College, Oxford.

(12 S. i. 11.)

(5) George Hodges was the son of George of Shrewsbury, Salop,gent. He was 19 when he entered Christ Church, June 22, 1739. (6) Samuel Holford was y.s. Rich, of St. Dun- stan's, Middlesex, equitis ; brother of Robert Holford, y.s., which I suppose means youngest son, of Ric. of London, equitis. Entered Trinity Coll. 1702, aged 16. Foster refers the readers of both entries to his Judges and Barristers,' which I cannot find in the Picton Reference Library, Liver- pool. M.A.OxON.

TREE FOLK-LORE: THE ELDER (11 S. xii. 361, 410, 429, 450, 470, 489, 507; 12 S. i. 37). The elder and the alder have, as ST. SWITHIN says, sometimes been confused ; in some of our dialects the same name is still given to both, and in others the names are so nearly the same that confusion is sure to arise ; but this does not altogether account for the hard things that have been alleged against the elder, nor is the alder's reputation entirely bad. In medicine, though it was, I think, never official in this country, it was used as a purgative and -emetic, though Gerard says that on account

of the violence of its action it is " more fit for clownes than for ciuil people." Its leaves were used as fodder for cattle.

The dwarf elder, again, had a much better reputation in medicine than would appear

rom the note at the last reference. It was admitted into our pharmacopoeia, and much used for dropsy, for which (says Culpeper) its roots are " as gallant a purge as any under

he sun." It was, indeed, credited with the same medicinal virtues as the common elder, but Brookes savs its action was

' rough." C. C. B.

I do not know on what legend Aldhelm based his riddle, but it appears from one conserved in the Harleian MS. 4196, fol. 76 b, col. 1, and printed in Dr. Richard Morris's Legends of the Holy Rood ' (E.E.T.S.), that, whatever the origin of the pips given by the angel in Eden to Seth, the outcome of them was not apple-wood. According to this particular tradition they respectively produced cypress, cedar, and pine, though the editor thought olive would be a better reading of the last.

Dr. Morris gives lines which I had in mind when I wrote before, but could not accurately set down. They may be^ccept- able now :

Quatuor ex lignis domini crux dicitur esse : Pes crucis est cedrus ; corpus tenet alta cupressus : Palma manus rebinet, titula laetatur oliva.

P. xvii.

ST. SWITHIN.

EMPLOYMENT OF WILD BEASTS IN WAR- FARE (US. xii. 140, 186, 209, 463 ; 12 S. i. 74). Carter's ' Curiosities of War,' p. 159, has an article on ' Animals in War,' not neces- sarily wild, but perhaps interesting in connexion with the subject.

R. J. FYNMORE.

BRITISH ARMY : MASCOTS (12 S. i. 10, 58). I have a newspaper cutting relating to this subject, enumerating some regimental pets. Some years ago the Seaforth Highlanders captured in the Vindiya Hills two young black bears, which they made much of. These bears were very fond of lamp oil, which they purloined. The same regiment had also as a pet an Adjutant bird, which presented a strange spectacle wandering about in a red coat which the regimental tailor had made for it. The 2nd Life Guards maintained a monkey named "Jack" when Frank Buckland was a surgeon in the regiment. A goose joined the Coldstream Guards in Canada, and was brought home arid for a number of years paraded in frorrt