Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/57

 12 s.m. JAN. 20, 191?.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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31. As wise as a constable (Taylor, the Water Poet). Which of the constables does it refer to ?

32. As wise as t'ullot (Yorkshire). Does it .mean " As stupid as an owl " ?

33. As clever as the devil's disciple (Vachell). Used by other writers ?

34. As cunning as Capt. Drake (Bay). Any -other instances known ?

35. As deep as Garrick (6 S. iv. &c.). Does any character called Carrick occur in Elizabethan or other plays, and if so, what does he stand for ?

36. As cunning as a crowder, as Crowder. Is anything known about the simile beside what is told in Gentleman's Magazine, 1754 ?

37. As sharp as bottled porridge (7 S. iv. 48). Commonly used ?

38. As subtle as a dead pig (1672) ; As cunning as a dead pig (Swift). How can a dead pig be taken as a type of cleverness or shrewdness ?

39. As sharp as a thistle (Towneley Myst). /Meaning ?

40. As deep as the North Star. Explanation ?

T. HlLDING SVABTENGBEN. Vasteras, Sweden.

PHEBENICE AND THE OLYMPIAN GAMES. Can any reader give another (Greek) reference besides ^Elian, 'V. H.,' x. 1, for the story of JPherenice, who, being warned off the course by the stewards of the Olympian games, justified her intrusion by the facts that her father and three brothers had already been Olympic victors, and she had just entered a son. I think one of the victors was Diagoras of lalysus (Find. ' Ol.,' vii.).

H. K. ST. J. S.

[The following authors have references to the Incident : (JEschines) ' Epist.,' iv. 5 ; Philostratus, viii. 15, 12 ; Pliny, ' Nat. Hist.,' vii. 133. There are also the Scholiast on Pindar, ' Olymp.,' vii., and Pausanias, v. 6. Pausanias tells the story some- what differently from ^3Elian or the Scholiast or perhaps may be said to make it intelligible. Pherenice, he relates (she is also called Aristo- patira and probably by a mistake Callipatira), ner husband being dead, trained her boy Pisirodus and brought him to the games, disguising herself as a trainer and watching the contest with the other trainers. The boy was victorious, where- upon she sprang over the barrier into the lists, and thereby discovered her sex whether acciden- tally or intentionally he does not make clear. It was then that as daughter of Diagoras of Rhodes, and sister of three other victors, she was allowed to go free. Particulars about her family will be found in Pausanias, vi. 7. Sir J. G. Frazer's notes to his translation of Pausanias (Macmillan, 6 vols.) might be consulted with advantage.]
 * De Arte Gymnastica,' 17 ; Valerius Maximus,

COL. HON. JOHN SCOTT, TEMP. CHARLES I. I am seeking particulars with regard to

"Colonel Hon. John Scott, killed fighting for King Charles I., place not stated. There is said to be a book in the 'King's Exchequer' [sic] that gives the information required." I consulted Mr. Hubert Hall of the Record 'Office, and he told me the data were much

too vague to enable a search to be made in the Commonwealth Exchequer Army Re- cords the most likely place and recom- mended me to write to ' N. & Q.' I* Is there any institution now in existence which either is or could be called the " King's Exchequer," and, if so, are any books per- manently kept there, or are the records kept elsewhere ? The person on whose behalf I am inquiring is specially anxious to have this latter point made clear.

J. DE C. LAFFAN (Major).

FOLK-LOBE : THE ANGELICA. In Long- fellow's ' Tales of a Wayside Inn ' (far too little known, as I think) there occurs (in ' The Musician's Tale ') an episode concerning ' Queen Thyri and the Angelica-Stalks,' wherein it is written of King Olaf :

In his hand he carried Angelicas uprooted, With delicious fragrance Filling all the place.

Even the smile of Olaf

Could not cheer her gloom ; Nor the stalks he gave her With a gracious gesture, And with words as pleasant

As their own perfume. In her hands he placed them, And her jewelled fingers Through the green leaves glistened

Like the dews of morn ; But she cast them from her Haughty and indignant, On the floor she threw them

With a look of scorn.

Is there any significance in the offering of angelicas ? The stalks of Angelica arch- angelica are much used as sweetmeats, and a sweet, green stick of it is often used in ice-puddings ; but why did King Olaf offer uprooted angelicas to the queen ?

JAMES HOOPEB.

92 Queen's Road, Norwich.

OLD FAMILY POBTBATTS IN CABVED WOOD. I should be glad to know of any old family portraits in carved wood in churches and country houses, &c. The earliest I have been able to discover is of Sir Baldwin Fulford of Fulford, Sheriff of Devon, 38 Henry VI. Prince styles Sir Baldwin " a great soldier and traveller of so undaunted resolution, that for the honour and liberty of a royal lady, in a castle besieged by the infidels, he fought a combat with a Saracen for bulk and bigness an unequal match (as the representation of him cut in the wainscot in Fulford Hall doth plainly show), whom yet he vanquished and rescued the lady."

At Higher Peover Church, Cheshire, is the interesting chair, made circa 1545, which