Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/302

 296

NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL s, me.

dea the saint of Lindisfarne and the man whose buckle was buried with him may have lived in the same century, if not in the same year. Y. T.

Under this heading no one has yet noted a method of preservation not due to the art of the embalmer, viz., the conversion of an entire body, under certain conditions, into adipocere. When this curious change has occurred the corpse does not crumble to dust on exposure to the air, but retains its firm wax-like consistency.

Frank Buckland has much to ay about adipocere, which he states to be of the same chemical nature as spermaceti. He relates that he discovered many examples of the substance during his gruesome examination of more than three thousand coffins in the vaults of St. Martin' s-in-the-Fields, when searching for the body of John Hunter in 1859 (' Curiosities of Natural History,' Fourth Series). He tells how human remains are thus often preserved for centuries in the state of mummies, also that he examined one case in which the whole body had been converted into adipocere in twelve years.

I am drifting from the exact subject of the heading, but I should like to be allowed to add the following quotation from the pen of William Pinkerton :

" Many curious and startling stories could be told of the antiseptic nature of oogs. Thus, a few years ago, some turf-cutters found the body of a man in an Ulster bog; so well was this body preserved that an active constabulary officer notified the coroner, and summoned a jury to hold an inquest on the corpse, which, from its skin dress, had probably been dead not less than 300 years.'

CHAELES GILLMAN. Church Fields, Salisbury.

SARUM MISSAL: HYMN (12 S. i. 229). This hymn appears to have been written by Adam of St. Victor. It contains many Biblical allusions, packed together with marvellous skill, most of them being types of the resurrection. The lines cited by ABDEA refer to the escape of David, when he fled from Saul to Gath, and was after- wards the master of Ziklag (1 Sam. xxvii.) ; to the scapegoat of Lev. xvi., " sent away for Azazel into the wilderness " ; and to the sparrow (if such it were) of Lev. xiv., which was set free, after being dipped in the blood of the slain bird. All of these were regarded as foreshadowing the victory of Christ.

A collateral reference may be made to a sermon by Henry Melvill of Lothbury, in which he compares with the scapegoat

that young man (St. Mark xiv. 51-2) who left the linen sindon in the hands of his captors, and fled : an incident otherwise- unexplained. RICHABD H. THORNTON.

For " David arreptitius " see 1 Sam. xix_ 18, and for the escaping sparrow (passer in the- Vulgate), Lev. xiv. 7. The Missal was brought out by F. H. Dickinson, not " Dickson." J. T. F.

Winterton, Lines.

The text of this hymn, with full notes, is given in Archbishop Trench's * Sacred Latin Poetry ' (1864 ed., p. 165), and" also in Wrangham's ' Liturgical Poetry of Adam of St. Victor ' (1881, vol. i. p. 80). For further- particulars about English translations, &c. r, cf. Dr. Julian's ' Dictionary of Hymnology * (1907 ed., p. 1305). L. L. K.

DAVID COMPIGNE, CLOCKMAKEB (12 S. L 47, 97, 117, 172). With reference to the- notes in recent issues of ' N. & Q.' concerning David Compigne, clockmaker, the following particulars gleaned from the local records of the city of Winchester may be of interest,, especially as they help to elucidate the ques- tion by H. C., ante, p. 172, as to whether Compigne was a clockmaker or a grocer.

In the ' Winton Proposal Book, 1704-13,' the following occurs :

"Ye 16th November, 1705. Also to be proposed to the same Assembly That David Campigne & Gorle be admitted to use the Trades of a Watchmaker and A -, Clockmaker within this City and no other Agreed, grades each of them paying for a ffine,. the Sum of Tenri Pounds, they giving such Security as shall be recognized by the Mayor, Bailiffs and Commonalty of this City."

In the ' Ledger Books,' which record the leases granted by the city corporation to- various persons, are several leases granted to David Compigne, and from these leases it can be proved that there were two persons oi this name : one a clockmaker, and the other a grocer, the latter being the son of the former. In the ' Eighth Ledger Book,' pp. 162-4, are the particulars of three leases,, dated June 22, 1741, relating to property in. and near the High Street, Winchester^ granted to " David Compigne, watch- maker " ; while in the ' Ninth Ledger Book,' pp. 17-19, we find these leases were renewed under date Sept. 7, 1756. Then in the leases were transferred on Feb. 23, 1774, to " David Compigne, grocer " ; and in these leases it is stated that David Compigne,, watchmaker, was the father of David. Compigne, grocer. ,
 * Tenth Ledger Book,' pp. 26-7, these same