Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/29

 us. ix. JULY*. i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 was practically that which is now known as the South Dorset, which embraces Cran- borne Chase, of which he was appointed Ranger. I do not think any precise record exists of the period of his mastership of foxhounds. Some interesting notes, how- ever, on his- hunting career were collated by Mr. Otho Paget in an introduction to an edition of Beckford's monumental ' Thoughts on Hunting ' published by Methuen in 1890. WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK. HANDSHAKING (12 S. viii. 451, 495). This seems a century before The Rambler to have been for men only. See ' Diary of Anne Clifford ' (Countess of Dorset, Pem- broke and Montgomery, 1590-1676) quoted in 'Papers and Pedigrees Relating to Cum- berland and Westmoreland ' (W. Jackson, vol. i., pp. 55-57) : Feb. 10th. This afternoon about one o'clock, did Sir George Fletcher and his lady and her daughter by her first husband, and Mr. Fleming and his eldest daughter come hither, so I had them into my chamber and kissed the women and took the men by the hand. . . . With Mr. Thomas Ubank of Ormside the doctor, so after dinner I had him into my cham- ber, and I took him by the hand. . . . And this day there dined without with my folks my cousin ... So after dinner I had them all into my chamber, and kissed the women and took the men by the hand. M. E. A. P. MAY SAYING (12 S. viii. 490). Cast not a clout Till May be out. I have been familiar with this saying all my life and have never anywhere heard it used, with reference to anything but the month of May. The fact that the weather of this month is unstable gives point to the proverb as a warning against being too ready to believe that summer has come. " May is a pious fraud of the almanac," says Lowell, and this is as true here as in New England. Not till June comes (and alas ! not always then) is it safe to cast our winter clothing. C. C. B. A similar suggestion as to the interpreta- tion of Don't cast a clout Till May is out was made, during the warm weather we had last Whit -week, in a letter which appeared in the London Daily Express. It is ingenious but not convincing, and is undoubtedly wrong, as will be seen by comparing the saying in question with a companion proverb in circulation in many parts of the country : Who casts a clout in May Shall sleep in clay. There is no mistaking the meaning of this. The recent correspondence in ' N. & Q.' on the Franklin Nights (or Days) has called attention to the cold snap which we invariably get in May, and which usually occurs after both the hawthorn and the meadow mayflower have blossomed. WM. SELF WEEKS. Westwood, Clitheroe. AUTHOR WANTED ^(12 S. viii. 471) : "Heart of Christ ! O cup most golden." This hymn was written by the Rev. Thomas Toke Lynch, and will be found in his book ' The Rivulet.' Mr. Lynch was from 1862 to 1871 (the year of his death) minister to a congregation worshipping at Mornington Chapel in the Hampstead Road, where I have occasionally heard him preach. ' The Rivulet ' on its first appearance raised a considerable storm in the religious world on account of its alleged want of sound doctrine. The hymns certainly are not dogmatic, but they breathe throughout the spirit of true religion which their author exemplified in his life, and have " a faint mystical fragrance " such as is rarely found in more popular hymns. Speaking generally they are perhaps hardly suitable for congregational use, but several of them have been included in well-known hymn-books. C. C. B. on JSoofcs. Studies in Islamic Mysticism. By Reynold Alleyne Nicholson. (Cambridge University Press, 1 4s. net.) A WELL-KNOWN French writer, conversant with the modern life of Islam, has reproached the doctrine and practice of followers of the Prophet with being defective in mysticism. If the content of Islamic mysticism be considered, it may be conceded that it is not the richest, and thereby we may perhaps say not the profoundest, system of mystical doctrine. If, however, we consider the devotion, conviction and concentration of the mystic himself, then the holy men and doctors of Islam take high rank among those who are aware of and live by the supernatural. As their apprehension of this is vivid so is their con- sistency of profession and conduct apt to be uncompromising. The studies in this volume should have the same function for English readers as the delightful ' Studies in Islamic Poetry ' which we noticed at ante, p. 139. That is to say, they should bring Eastern thought closer to us, and help to establish it at least as a constant element in the picture each of us forms of the world. But they should do a good deal more than this, and more even than arouse keen enjoyment. For those who