Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/453

 12 8. 1. JUNK 3, 1916.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

447

This will not only, if it be so, involve us all in great sorrow, but me in great and anxious care His worldly matters would in fact be in inex tricable confusion, were he thus cut off, and ] Relieve all he had would be sold. Nothing but the house at Abbotsford and one farm entailed utter ruin in short. Ever aff'ly yours,

J. G. LOCKHART.

L. G. R.

" CLAP-TRAP." This word, in the sense o: a. trap to catch applause, is found in Bailey 1727-31. The ' N.E.D.' gives also instances 1788, 1799. A very good one occurs in Davies's ' Life of Garrick,' 1780, vol. ii p. 76:

" He had entirely dropt that anxious exertion at the close of a speech, both in look and behaviour which is called by the commedians a clap-trap." RICHARD H. THORNTON.

" ENTIRE." Since I initiated a discussion {8 S. ix. 265) on brewers' use of this word over public-houses which showed that the word had become useless " entire " has disappeared after the names of the brewers. RALPH THOMAS.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

Two ANONYMOUS NOVELS. I have two English novels founded on Canadian history, both written in the first part of the nineteenth entury, and both anonymous. Perhaps some readers of ' N. & Q.' could tell me the names of the authors.

Of the first I have only the French trans- lation by Philarete Chasles, published at Paris in 1833. Here is the full title :

" Bellegarde, ou L'enfant indien adopte. Histpire canadienne, traduite de 1'anglais, avec une introduction par Ph. Chasles." 2 vols., 8vo. Paris, Ch. Gosselin, 1833.

Following the introduction by Philarete Chasles, there is a French translation of the preliminary reflections of the English author, unsigned, but dated " Lcndres, septembre 1832." In those few pages the English author handles roughly Mrs. Trollope, criticizing her book ' Domestic Manners in America.'

The other novel bears the following title : " The Canadian Girl, or The Pirate of the

Lakes : A Story of the affections. 111." 716 pp.,

8vo, n.p., n.d.

The ' Catalogue of Books of the Legislative library of the Province of Ontario,' on

Nov. 1, 1912, gives as the author of the book Mrs. Bennett. But I never saw it mentioned anywhere else among the works of Mrs. Agnes Maria Bennett, who died in 1805. ^EGIDIUS FAUTETJX.

Bibliotheque Saint- Sulpice, Montreal.

[The French 'Bellegarde' is a translation of ' Bellegarde, the Adopted Indian Boy. A Canadian Tale,' 3 vols., London, Saunders & Otley, 1832. The preface is unsigned, and the British Museum Catalogue gives no indication of authorship.]

MIBBOB GHOSTS. Sir David Brewster in his ' Letters on Natural Magic ' (1868, pp. 124-5) mentions a certain Mrs. A. who when preparing to go to bed one night about eleven o'clock, and sitting before the dressing- glass arranging her hair, in a drowsy state of mind, but fully awake,

" was suddenly startled by seeing in the mirror the figure of a near relation who was then in Scotland and in perfect health. The apparition appeared over her left shoulder, and its eyes met hers in the glass. It was enveloped in grave- clothes, closely pinned, as is usual with corpses, round the head and under the chin, and, though the eyes were open, the features were solemn and rigid. The dress was evidently a shroud." The apparition was as distinct as any reflected reality could be, but when Mrs. A. turned to look for the figure, there was nothing visible in the room.

I should like to know whether any of your readers can cite other instances of ghosts seen in mirrors, and all communications on this subject would be gladly received.

I append the address to which they should be sent. FRANK HAMEL,

Author of ' Human Animals,' &c.

Coptic House, 8 Coptic Street, W.C.

RIVER BRENT. 1. Can any reader give me a reference to the passage descriptive of the River Brent, " the most romantic little

river ," by the late Ford Madox Brown,

in connexion with a view of it, at Hendon, painted by himself ?

Is the precise locality of the view painted, or the present owner of the picture, known ?

2. Where is the poem on the River Brent written by the late Alexander Ramsey to be ound ? CHAS. W. JACOBS.

Trevaylor, 180 Fernhead Road, Maida Hill, W.

" SHE BRAIDS ST. CATHARINE'S TRESSES."

If any one of your many readers could


 * ell me anything about the expression " She

braids St. Catharine's (or St. Barbara's ?)

resses," I should be much obliged. It is

said to refer to, and to describe, a " maiden "

as contrasted with a " matron."

J. R. CRAWFORD, Vicar. Narborough Vicarage, Norfolk.