Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/77

 12 S. II. JULY 22, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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SARUM BREVIARY : VERSES IN CALENDAR. In the Kalendar prefixed to the Sarum Breviary there is a Latin hexameter at the head of each month. Each of them specifies two days in the month, having their particu- lar superstitions attached to them.

Can any one throw any light on the origin of these verses or the superstitions to which they refer ? They are as follows :

January. Priraa dies mensis et septima truncat ut

ensis. February. Quarta subit mortem ; prosternit tertia

fortem. March. Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bi-

bentem. April. Denus et undenus est mortis vulnere

plenus.

May. Tertius occidit et septimus ora relidit. June. Denus pailescit ; qumdenus fcedera nescit. July. Tredecimus mactat : Julii denus labefactat. August. Prima necat fortem, perditque secunda

cohortem. September. Tertius Septembris et denus fert mala

membris.

October. Tertius et denus est sicut mors alienus. November. Scorpius estquintus, et tertius estnece

cinctus. December. Septimus exanguis (? exsanguis) virosus

denus ut anguis.

G. H. PALMER. Heywood Park, White Waltham, Berks.

MARRIAGE LINES. It is a very common belief among the lower classes that if a woman lose her " marriage lines " her marriage is void. What is the origin of this idea ? On June 10, 1916, I saw a kine- matograph play, ' Infelicite,' the plot of which largely depends on the foregoing idea. I take it the " marriage lines " are merely a, copy of the register, and that even if the latter, as well as the copy, were burnt, the validity of the marriage would be absolutely unaffected. ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. [See 8 S. xii. 44, 110, 193 : 9 S. i. 48.]

THE LION RAMPANT OF SCOTLAND. What is (or was) the national flag of Scotland ? The rampant lion on a yellow ground is often said to be the Scottish standard, but this has been denied. ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN. [See 8 S. v. 366, 433, 493 ; vi. 33.]

" FEIS." In a question put in the House of Commons on July 6, mention was made of " the feis portions of local shows, comprising children's competitions in singing and dancing." I do not find " feis " in ' N.E.D.' What is its meaning ? A. F. R.

WILLIAM PHILIPS, TOWN CLERK OF BRECON, ANTIQUARY, D. 1685. In the sale of the Towneley MSS., on June 28, 1883, lot 149 was a volume in MS. of ' Welsh Pedigrees,' apparently collected by Wm.

Philips, with his autograph on the last page, green morocco. It was bought for l.V. \:>*. by the late Mr. Bernard Quaritch, who sold it about two years later, and was quite unable to trace it in 1908. I should be obliged if any reader of ' N. & Q. 1 could give me any information about this MS.

GWENLLIAN E. F. MORGAN. Buckingham Place, Brecon, S. Wales.

PICTURE : ' THE WOODMAN OF KENT.' Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' supply informa- tion with regard to a small oil painting entitled as above ? It represents a forester or woodman smoking a pipe, with a dog beside him. N. L. P.

" DOLORES." Who was the composer of songs who published under this pseudonym fifty years ago ? FRANK PENNY.

[" Dolores " was Ellen Dickson, third daughter of General Sir Alexander Dickson. We quote the following account of her from the first volume (1892) of Mr. Frederic Boase's ' Modern English Bio- graphy,' s.v. Dickson : " Bforn] Woolwich 1819 ; an invalid from her youth ; resided chiefly at Lyndhurat, New Forest ; composed under pseu- donym of Dolores upwards of 50 drawing-room songs which were very popular and some of which are still sung d. Lyndhurst 4 July 1878."]

STATUE AT DRURY LANE THEATRE, c. 1794. An engraving of Drury Lane Theatre at its opening on March 12, 1794 (by J. White, after J. Capon), shows the building sur- mounted by a pedestal and statue. What was the subject of this statue ? and was it destroyed with the iron curtain and other properties when the place was burnt down, fifteen years later ? J. L. L.

INSCRIPTION AT POLTIMORE CHURCH. Can any of your readers tell me the meaning of the following inscription to a man and his wife over one of the doors to Poltimore Church, near Exeter ?

Grudge not my laurel, rather blesse that Bower Which made the death of two the life of fower.

Some queer domestic incident seems recorded here, but I was unable to ascertain at the time of taking down the inscription what it was. H. B. S.

PAPAL AND SPANISH FLAGS AT SEA n* SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Did (1) the Pope and (2) the King of Spain in the sixteenth cent ury use their personal arms as flags for their ships at sea, or did they use other flags, and if so, what ? I have read somewhere that King Philip II. vised a flag resembling the present Danish one.

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.