Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/540

 442 NOTES AND QUERIES. fl2S .ix. DEC. 3,1921. into "prendront " (' Michelin Guide ' version). Possibly this latter change took place in 1640, though M. le Gentil gives the old form of the rhyme as having been used again at this time. The form Quand les Francais prendront Arras Les souris mangeront les chats, though oftenest used by modern writers, seems most suspect. It leaves out the allusion to the King being lord of Arras, but it preserves the other allusion to the discomfiture of the cats, at the same time introducing the word " prendront," which is of some importance, as upon this word depends the truth or otherwise of another incident which is made much of by certain writers. When the French entered the town, it is said, they merely erased the letter " p," and allowed the provocative couplet to stand in a new form and with a new meaning : Quand les Francais rendront Arras Les souris mangeront les chats. Neither Le Gentil nor Poncheville makes reference to any such incident and possibly it is an afterthought. It finds place, however, in the Abbe Drimille's ' Guide historique.' The full inscription as given by M. le Gentil, which M. de Poncheville styles " dicton d'un esprit bien picard," ran thus : Quand les rats mangeront les cats Le Boi sera seigneur d'Arras ; Quand la mer qui est grande et lee Sera a la Saint-Jean gelee, On verra par-dessus la glace Sortir ceux d'Arras de leur place. According to M. le Gentil it was over the Porte de la Cite that the inscription was written in 1477. This gate, which stood between the Cite and the Ville and which dated from 1369, was a fortress flanked by towers. It was in existence till the middle of the eighteenth century, when it was replaced by a gateway in the classic style of the day, which in its turn has disappeared. This pleasantry of 1477, says M. le Gentil, was repeated in 1640, and he quotes some verses of that period, published by the French after the capture of the town, beginning : C'est done a cette fois que Ton voit accomplie, Messieurs les habitants d'Arras, Ce que tous vos aieux tenaient pour prophetie, Vos chats etant vaincus par nos valeureux rats. He also quotes a passage from the ' Memoires ' of d'Artagnan (vol. ii., pp. 70-71) referring to the siege of 1640 : Ils mirent sur leurs murailles des rats de carton qu'ils affronterent centre des chats faits de la meme maniere, ce qui voulait dire que, quand les rats mangeroient les chats les Frangais prendroient Arras. From these two contemporary sources it would appear almost certain that the word " rats," and not " souris," was used in 1640. Possibly it is from the passage in d'Artagnan that the later version, with its employment of the word " prendront," has developed. According to the anonymous writer of ' Arras et ses Monuments ' it was over the Porte Baudimont that the inscription was placed in 1640. None of the other writers mentioned above refers to its exact position at this period. The bibliography of Arras is of great extent and a methodical search would perhaps make clear the apparent confusion which results from the perusal of current guide- books and such local literature as can be easily purchased in the town. For the time being, however, the condition of Arras makes such a search extremely difficult if not altogether impossible, at any rate for ! one whose stay in the town is of short j duration. Hence these interrogatory notes. F. H. CHEETHAM. GLASS-PAINTERS OF YORK. (12 S. viii. 127, 323, 364, 406, 442, 485 ; ix. 21, 61, 103, 163, 204, 245, 268, 323, 363, 404.) WILLIAM PECKITT (concluded). 1764-1774. New College, Oxford. North side of choir. Series of forty figures from the Old and New Testaments. The original water-colour sketches for these, beautifully executed by Biagio Rebecca (1735-1808), ; were presented to the college some few years ago by Mr. Bell and are now hung in the chapel. The last window of the series Peckitt left unfinished at his death and it was completed by Francis Eginton of Birmingham (1737-1805). The figures of Adam and Eve were, as a reference to Rebecca's original design shows, originally entirely nude with the exception of a few fig leaves executed in enamels, portions of which can. still be seen adhering to the present garments, which were added a hundred years or more later at the instiga- tion of Dr. Sewell, late Warden, who was afraid these representations of our first parents in puris naturalibus would tend to corrupt the morals of the undergraduates.