Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/493

 12 s. ii. DEC. 16, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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p. 196), he was unable to enlighten me on the subject. Fortunately, I can now supply the information myself. The substituted tale will be found in the fourth volume of Belle- forest, numbered 75, the original story being taken from the Latin of Saxo Grammaticus. MAURICE JONAS.

" TAKING IT OUT nsr DRINK." The ^wood, 1631, " What they want in meate, let them take out in drinke." Skelton, in his ' Ware the Hauke,' 11. 151, &c., complains that the Scribes and Pharisees of his day, taking bribes, would not redress injuries, and in particular ignored the desecration of his church at Diss by a sacrilegious parson, " as 3iow nameles" :
 * N.E.D.,' s.v. "Take," p. 46/3, cites Hey-

And of the spiritual law They made but a gewgaw, And toke it out in drynke, And this the cause doth shrynke : The church is thus abused, Reproched, and pollutyd.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

METAJL-BRIDGE, DUBLIN. The lease of this bridge (formerly the Wellington or cast- iron bridge), a footbridge of a single span of 140 feet with steep gradients, over the Liffey expired on Sept. 29, and it is believed the halfpenny toll will now cease. The bridge ^vas built in 1816, and leased by the Cor- poration to Mr. Wm. Walsh at a yearly rent of 329Z. 4s. Id. Some years ago it was pro- posed to build an art gallery on its site (Dublin Evening Mail, April 2, 1913). The curious jumble of advertisements on the ast side of the bridge formed a subject for a Punch drawing some years ago. The lease of the city ferries also expired on Sept. 29.

J. ARDAGH.

NOTE ON THE MUSSEL-DUCK. Fisher- men at Overstrand in Norfolk impute habits to this bird that will be of interest to students of folk-lore. They say it lays its egg in air, dives after it, catches it before fall, and hatches it, after many days, under its whig ; and this accounts for its ungainly flight.

J. C. W.

" I DON'T THINK." In the thirty-sixth chapter of Henry Kingsley's novel, ' Raven- shoe,' this phrase is used as it would be used now. Lieut. Hornby, of the 140th Hussars, when receiving good advice from Charles Ravenshoe replies, laughing : " You are a pretty dutiful sort of a groom, I don't think. What the dickens do you mean cross-ques- tioning me like that ? "

The earliest edition of ' Ravenshoe ' of which I know anything is that of 1862, but I have not a copy at hand, to see whether it was the first published. M. P.

(fiiwms.

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.

A NAVAL RELIC OF CHARLES I.

IT is with pardonable pride that we treasure any relics of our navy in the past, and doubt- less it would be of interest to the public in general, and to naval students in particular, to 'learn what has become of an old naval gun, dated 1638, which formerly stood at the north-west corner of the Horse Guards Parade.

As far as can be ascertained, it was placed there during the latter part of the seven- teenth century, when St. James's Park and its vicinity was a fashionable promenade for the gallants of the day. It therefore occupied a prominent position, and must have been one of the sights of that part of the metropolis. The Latin inscription that it bore : " Carolus Edgari sceptrum stabilivit aquarum " (The sceptre of Edgar was estab- lished on the waters by Charles), may have puzzled many, to whom its history was probably never known and never troubled about. - Nevertheless, our forefathers re- garded the relic with veneration, and owing possibly to the fact that there was no counter attraction on the Parade, it was always proudly and emphatically referred to as " the gun." As such, it was known during the eighteenth century, when it attracted the attention of a patriotic Briton, who, under the pen-name of " Patina Antiqua- rior," made it the subject of a curious and laudatory communication to The London Chronicle in 1764.

"Oh that this cannon [he pleaded] were crowned with garlands on the anniversary of our Kins, and placed on the terrace of his Palace, amidst the shoutings of our sailors and soldiers, brethren gallant above all other, to announce forth his praises for ever ! "

In spite of the pious wish of the writer, how- ever, its glory was soon to be eclipsed. Less than half a century afterwards " the gun " was unceremoniously removed, and on the spot which it formerly occupied, another, but less historic piece, was placed in 1803. This was the Turkish gun captured at Alex- andria in 1801, which may be still seen on