Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/112

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [iss.\r.AiL. win.

more upon the effect of masses of well- dispersed colour. In the west window are three large and magnificent figures of the three children in the furnace. The general disposition is not unlike the Faith, Hope, and Charity of the west window in the
 * outh ahle of Christ Church Cathedral ;

but when on a summer evening the window is glorified by the red rays of the setting sun, it gives the spectator an idea of what the best stained glass in a suitable position can produce in the way of brilliance of effect.

JOHN R. MAGRATH. Queen's College, Oxford.

ABANAZAR (12 S. v. 68)- Abanazar is the name of the African magician in the story of Aladdin in the ' Arabian Nights.'

WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.

OATH OF FEALTY: EDWARD III. (12 S. v. 9). Froissarb states :

" It appears to me that King Edward at that time did homage by mouth and words, but without placing his hands in the hands of the King of France, or any prince, prelate, or representative doing it for him. And the King of England by the advice of his Council would not proceed further in this business until he should be returned to England, and have examined the privileges of old times to clear up this homage, and see by what means a King of England was .a vassal to the King of France."

For further particulars of the corre- spondence and its results see the rest of chap, xxiii. of the ' Chronicles,' translated by Thomas Johnes (1803) ; also Rymer, anno 1329, who gives a copy of the original instrument of the homage, besides another document which Froissart appears to have consulted. N. W. HILT..

BURIAL AT SEA : FOUR GUNS FIRED FOR AN OFFICER (12 S. v. 38). The following notes occur in tho Diary of Henry Toonge, who was Chaplain of H.M.S. Assistance, Bristol, and Royal Oak, 1675-1679. c

The custom of saluting with an odd number of guns appears to have been observed from a very early period : the origin of the usage, as peculiar to the Navy, is not ascertained ; but it probably arose from the predilection in favour of odd numbers, which has existed from a very remote antiquity. Brand, in his ' Ob- servations upon Popular Antiquities,' says : bers ; this predilection for odd numbers is very ancient, and is mentioned by Virgil in his 8th Eclogue."
 * ' Salutes with cannon consist of odd num-

In a MS. ' Discourse on Marine Affairs,' an the Harleian Collection (no. 1341), the

ceremony used on board upon the^depar- ture of any personage of high rank or command in the Navy is fully described, and concludes thus :

" Bt-inge againe returned intoe his barge, after that the trumpets have sounded a loathe to Departe, and that the barge is falne oft a fitt and faire birthe and distance from the shippe side, hee is toe bee saluted with soe manie gunns for an adieu, as the shippe is able toe give, provided that they bee alwaies of an odd number. The odd number is, in these wayes of salute and ceremonie, soe observable at- sea, that whenso- ever anie gunnes are given in an even nomber, it is received for an infallible expression that either the Captaine, or master, or master gunner is dead in the voiage. It is a generall custome alsoe uppon the deathe either of the captaine, master, master gunner of the shippe, or anie other propre officer, when the corpse is toe bee throwne overboarde, to ring his knell and fare- well with some gunns, the which are allwaies to bee of an even nomber."

A. G. KEALY, Chaple.in, R.N., retd.

Bedford.

RAIN AND MOWING (12 S. v. 41, 81). I have heard a similar saying in the countiy districts of Durham and Northumberland, applied indiscriminately, not to any par- ticular field, but to farmers who are not too sharp in getting on with their hay while tho weather is fine, as " O, it's sure to rain ; old Johnson's on with his hay."

J. W. FAWCETT.

Conaett, co. Durham."]

KENT FAMILY OF WINCHESTER AND READING (12 S. iv. 187, 274; v. 52). Clement Kent, M.P. Wallingford, 1705-8, and Reading 1722-7, High Sheriff, Berks, Nov., 1714, inherited from his grandfather Sebastian Lyford the manor of Crokeham, Berks, which, however, he afterwards sold to Bulstrode Peachey Knight, M.P. He matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford, June 12, 1700, aged 17 (Foster's ' Alumni Oxon.'), was admitted to the Inner Temple, Nov. 16, 1700 (Registers), and was serving in 1706 as captain -lieutenant of the regiment of foot raised on Ma~ch 1, 1704, in Ireland, by Lord Henry Scott (afterwards Earl of Deloraine). He was promoted to captain in Sir Daniel O' Carrol's regiment of Dragoons in 1709, but placed on half -pay at the Peace of Utrecht in 1712. He again went on full pay as captain of an additional troop in Brigadier -General Philip Honywood's (llth) regiment of Dragoons on Dec. 25, 1726 (Dalton, vol. viii.), and probably went on half-pay again when his troop was reduced in 1729. When examined by a