Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/19

 12 s. ii. JULY 1,1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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GORGES BRASS (12 S. i. 488). This brass, to the memory of Henry Gorges, Esq.-. probably came from the Church of St. Luke, Chelsea. In Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society, vol. ii. p. 329, is an article on the brass of Sir Arthur Gorges (1625) in Chelsea Old Church, contributed by Mr. Randall Davies. This brass was missing when Faulkner wrote his ' History of Chelsea,' but during the restoration of the church in 1832 was discovered under the floor of the More Chapel (Qent. Mag., vol. cii. p. 602). Henry Gorges was, doubtless, a descendant or relative of Sir Arthur.

W. J. M.

Richard, Lord Gorges, and his wife were both buried at Stetchworth, co. Cambridge, according to G. E. C.'s ' Complete Peerage,' iv. 54, and the brass might appropriately find a resting-place in that church.

J. P. R.

96 Bidston Road, Birkenhead.

ELIZABETH, EVELYN (12 S. i. 288, 356, 435, 473). I cannot tell how I came to call the father of the two Elizabeths, George. Of course, as MR. MAYNARD SMITH kindly points out, it should have been John Evelyn of Kingston and Godstone. I think, how- ever, he will find my reference to Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, Second Series, vol. iv. p. 329, to be correct for the pedigree to which I referred. I am sorry I have no knowledge of the Xeedham connexion.

A. STEPHENS DYER.

207 Kingston Road, Teddington.

TOUCHING FOR LUCK (12 S. i. 430, 491).- Suffer me to scotch the bit of folk-lore cited by MR. EDWARD SMITH concerning the three white stripes on a sailor's collar. My weapon is an informing article about the Navy, which appeared in Chambers' 8 Journal, April, 1916, and is part of a realistic story entitled ' Pincher Martin, O.D.' The hero

" was proud of his blue jean collar with its three rows of narrow white tape, which, he had been told, commemorated Nelson's three great victories of the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar. He had heard, too, that the black silk handkerchief worn round his neck and tied in front was a badge of mourning for the same great naval hero. But both in the matter of the collar and the handkerchief he had been led into following a very popular fallacy.

" The square collar was first introduced in the latter portion of the eighteenth century as a means of preventing the grease and flour with which the sailors anointed their pig-tails from soiling their clothes. The three rows of tape, moreover, were placed upon it merely for ornament, for there is no evidence to support the belief that they com- memorate the three famous victories. The black silk handkerchief came in much at the same time.

In early sea-fights the heat on the gun-decks was- stifling, so much so that the men were forced to strip to the waist. To prevent the perspiration from running down into their eyes and blinding them, they were in the habit of tying handkerchiefs round their foreheads, and at ordinary times these were worn round the neck for the sake of con- venience. It is true that up till a few years ago our modern bluejackets wore their spare black silk handkerchiefs tied in a bow on the left arm when attending funerals ; but there is nothing to support the theory that they were introduced as badges of mourning for the immortal Nelson." P. 260.

It would not surprise me if some reader of ' N. & Q.' were to produce evidence to resuscitate the scotched belief. As for the inclination to touch a returned sailor, I think it must have originated in the idea that he could communicate the health, the vigour, the good luck call it what you will that brought him home again. Why do people touch stones and trees and idols and relics of saints if they do not expect some helpful virtue to exude ? The mystery of the sea and its manifold perils invest the mariner with an interest beyond that attached to those whose busineas is not in " the great waters."

I wonder whether superstition has turned its attention to airmen. ST. SWITHIN.

PIN-PRICKED LACE PATTERNS (12 S. i. 468). Mr.A.P. Moodystates, in his bookon 'Devon Pillow Lace,' that in olden days the process of pricking-in lace patterns was looked upon as being of the greatest importance. The transparent parchment known to be used in the Midlands is seldom met with in the West, but some of the best work was made on white skins, often remnants of old wills. The design was usually traced, but Devon- shire workers have always relied very much on nature for rinding motives for their designs. After being laid over the parch- ment the design was outlined by fine pin- pricking. The latter process is slow and laborious work, and(needs a skilled hand.} ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

'VANITY FAIR' (12 S. i. 467). Lewis Melville, in his bibliographical note to the Harry Furniss edition of Thackeray's works r says :

" In all early English reprints of 'Vanity Fair' the Marquis of Steyne woodcut (page 33 original edition) was deleted. It is said that t was suppressed because the drawing bore a mark, resemblance to the peer who waa .supposed t been the prototype of 'The Wicked Nobleman, but this can scarcely hav^e been the reason, since the full-page plate, ' The Triumph of Clvtemneetr*, which contains a portrait of the Marquis, wa retained." ARCHIBALD SPABKE.