Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/199

 2 nd S. NO 10., MAR. 8. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

191

vegetable poisons so difficult to detect by analysis in post-mortem examinations too long postponed. Besides any information on the action of this vegetable poison, rendered so painfully interesting by the recent case at Dingwall, I would feel obliged for an account of its use by the Nepalese, or at least a reference to some easily-procured book where it may be found. I would also ask, if any person has experienced effects similar to those described by Baptist Van Helmont, as hav- ing resulted from his merely tasting the napellus. Opera Omnia. Francofurt : 1682, p. 264. c. xii.

E. G. R.

The Christmas Tree. Is not the Christmas tree, recently introduced from Germany, a relic of the old Christmas pageants ? Hall the historian (Chronicle, reprint, p. 517.) evidently alludes to something of the kind in the following passage :

" Agaynste the xii daye, or the day of the Epiphanic, at nighte, before the banket in the Hall at Richemond, was a pageunt devised like a mountayne glisteringe by night, as though it had bene all of golde, and set with stones ; on the top of which mountayne was a tree of golde, the braunches and bowes frysed with golde, spredynge on every side over the mountayne with roses and pomegarnettes. The which mountain was with vices [screws] brought up towards the Kynge, and out of the same came a ladye apparelled in cloth of golde, and the chyldren of honour, called the henchemen, whiche were freshly disguised, and danced a tnorice before the Kyng, and that done, re- entred the mountaine ; and then it was drawnen backe, the wassail or bankit brought in, and so brake up Christ- mas."

The late Mr. A. J. Kempe in a note to The Loseley Manuscripts (p. 75.), says :

" We remember a German of the household of the late Queen Caroline, making what he termed a Christmas tree for a juvenile party at that festive season. The tree was a branch of some evergreen fastened on a board. The boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges, almonds, &c., and under it was a neat model of a farmhouse, sur- rounded by figures of animals, &c., and all due accompani- ments. The forming Christmas trees is, we believe, a common custom in Germany, evidently a remain of the pageants constructed at that season in ancient days."

The Christmas tree does not appear to be men- tioned in the last edition of Brand's Popular An- tiquities. EDWARD P. RIMBAULT.

Querfetf.

M. H. SPANG, A SCULPTOR OF THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST CENTURY.

_ Any information and all particulars of this man will be acceptable to those who cherish the early records of native art. I find M. Spang an ex- hibitor at the Society of the Artists of Great Britain in 1760, and in the two following years side by side with the mighty Roubiliac, whose death in 1762 left the aforesaid Spang for one year in the field with Carlnii, Tingo, Wilton, and

Tyler, to be followed by Rysbraeck in 1763, who had not " shown " in the two preceding years.

As Spang's name does not reappear on the roll of the Royal Academy in 1769, we must conclude he may have " slept with his fathers " in the in- tervening six years. Permit me to ask if other traces in his career can be pointed out. Was he as well as Roubiliac a pupil of Cheere, and what were their relative ages ? We know that Roubi- liac died llth Jan. 1762, and it would seem that Spang's light burnt out in the Exhibition of tho succeeding year.

From the authority of the catalogue before me it appears that even in this infant state of Schools in 1760

Carlnii had

" A Design for the Monument of General Wolfe." M. Spang exhibited

1. " Cupid riding on a Dolphin, in marble."

2. " A Model of jEneas and Anchises, bronzed."

Roubiliac.

1. "A Marble Busto."

2. " Two Models representing Painting and Sculpture, on a pediment."

3. " A Model of Shakspeare."

Tyler. " Design for General Wolfe's Monument."

What an interest in the fate of the hero of Quebec !

1761. Spang.

1. " Model in Wax of his present Majesty."

2. " An Anatomical Figure."

3. " Design for a Medallion of Tho Taking of Canada."

M. Roubiliac.

1. " A Bust."

2. "-A Bust of Mr. Wilton."

Mr. Wilton.

1. "A Bust of Roubiliac." Interesting interchange of homage !

2. " Bust in marble of Oliver Cromwell."

1762. M. Spang.

1. " A Model of a Sleeping Boy (bas-relief)."

2. " A Child's Head."

Mr. Wilton. A Marble Bust."

1763. M. Rysbraeck had his famous " Model of Hercules "

And so on, Carlnii, Rysbraeck, and Wilton, with no more of Roubiliac or Spang.

Out of your many readers there will be, I hope, one who can enlighten and enliven your constant reader CHISEL.