Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/521

 12 S. III. DEC., 1917.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

515

infant at school, Gerard's witnesses swore he was a " man grown, had a Borough - hold, and had tendered himself to the jury." In the end the Committee came to a resolu- tion that Gerard was duly elected, and Lister's counsel then decided not to contest the case any further.

Formal evidence was then called by Gerard in support of the return, to the effect that Mainwaring had been elected Bailiff by 38 votes to 36 for Wilkinson, and that their votes had been brought to an equality by setting a vote down wrongly.

On the report of the Committee coming before the House a resolution that Gerard was duly elected was carried by 119 to 52.

From a view of the above facts it is pretty clear that a great deal of money must have been spent in connexion with the two by-elections, including the preliminary skirmish over the election of Bailiffs.

There may have been some bribery, though there is not much evidence of it ; but having regard to the small number of electors, and the fact that a great many of the burgesses were the neighbouring country gentry and their friends, who were keen partisans on either side, the number of bribable electors could not have been large. There was no doubt expenditure on treating, and on the entertainment by the candidates of their. friends and supporters. Besides this, there were the costs of the mandamus proceedings, of the information for riot filed in the Crown Office, and of the two election petitions, involving the carrying of a large number of witnesses on either side to London. Quite apart from any question of bribery, the " purses of those who stood for Burgasses " at these two elections must have bled very freely indeed.

Party feeling running strongly in the country, these two by-elections, and the petitions and other circumstances con- nected with them, no doubt attracted an amount of public attention which they would not have received if they had been merely incidents in a general election.

The form of the expression quoted by DE. MAGBATH, " purses bleeding as freely (as they call it here) as ever those who stood for Burgasses for Clithero possibly could," to my mind clearly indicates that the writer had some definite occasion in his mind, and that he was simply using as an illustration, as we often do ourselves, something which had recently occurred and attracted general public attention.

The facts connected with these two elections are amply sufficient to account for

the expression used, without attributing^ to Clitheroe a proverbial reputation for- bribery. WM. SELF WEEKS,

Town Clerk, Clitheroe.

" MALBEOOK S'EN VA-T-EN GUEEEE " (12 S. iii. 358, 402, 428, 461). If we may trust ' Chants et Chansons Populaires de la France, Nouvelle Edition Illustree,' 1848, Librairie Garnier Freres, vol. iii., the French version given in ' The Reliques of Father Prout ' has several errors and is far from complete. ' Chants et Chansons ' gives twenty-two stanzas ; Father Prout only twelve. The following appears in ' Chants et Chansons.' For the sake of brevity I give only the first and last stanzas entire. Let it be understood that in each stanza the second line is

Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, and that the third line is a repetition of the- first.

Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Ne sait quand reviendra.

II reviendra z-a Paques, Ou a la Trinite.

La Trinit4 se passe, Malbrough ne revient pas.

Madame & sa tour monte, Si haut qu'ell' peut monter.

Elle apergoit son page, Tout de noir habille.

Beau page, ah ! mon beau page,. Quell' nouvelle apportez.

Aux nouvell's que j'apporte, Vos beaux yeux vont pleurer.

Quittez vos habits roses, Et vos satins broch^s.

Monsieur d' Malbrough est mort,. Est mort et enterre.

Je 1'ai vu porter en terre, Par quatre z-officiers.

L'un portait sa cuirasse, L'autre son bouclier.

L'un portait son grand sabre, L'autre ne portait rien.

A. 1'entour de sa tombe, Romarins Ton planta.

Sur la plus haute branche, Le rossignol chanta.

On vit voler son ame Au travers des lauriers.

Chacun mit ventre a terre, Et puis se releva.

Pour chanter les victoires, Que Malbrough reiuporta-