Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/419

 S NO 21., MAY 24. '56.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Poetic licence, I readily admit, will fully excuse the above statement ; but the truth is, that Gran- tham steeple does not stand awry, and that the appearance of its doing so arises, not from its height, but from the fact that the angles of the tower are not all alike, one of them being made to project, so*as to carry the staircase.

HENRY KENSINGTON.

Submarine Tunnel between England and France. This project was alluded to in an English song, published thirty-one years ago, called " Bubbles of 1825," tune "Run, neighbours run :"

" A tunnel underneath the sea, from Calais straight to

Dover, Sir, That qualmish folks may cross by land from shore to

shore, With sluices made to drown the French, if e'er they

would come over, Sir, Has long been talked of, till at length 'tis thought a

monstrous bore."

BAR-POINT.

Philadelphia.

Provincial Words, Wiltshire. Among provin- cial or antiquated words used in this neighbour- hood, are two which I have not seen noticed before, viz. :

Frow, brittle or fragile ; applied frequently to full-grown timber.

Froom, luxuriant ; applied to crops of grass or corn. A WILTSHIRE VICAR.

Boy Bachelor. William Wotton, Bentloy's friend, was admitted at St. Catharine Hall some months before he was ten years of age, and ac- tually graduated as A.B. at Cambridge when only twelve years and five months old.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

Burial Clubs among the Saxons.

" The Saxons had also guilds or clubs, in which the ai tizans, or such as seem to have consisted of the middle classes, subscribed for the burial of a member, and a line was inflicted upon every brother who did not attend the funeral. Thus above a thousand years ago were burial societies established in England, a clear proof of the re- spect which the Saxons paid to their dead." Miller's Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons.

The establishment of these fraternities must of course have been subsequent to their conversion to Christianity, The Pagan Saxons burned their dead, F. PHILLOTT.

EXPOSITION OP TUB BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

Will any of your correspondents have the kind- ness to furnish me with what information they can respecting the following book, the title-page of which is lost. It is a folio volume of 1140 pages, and was published in numbers of Jive sheets

or twenty pages in each number. The first pnge has on it : " A correct and familiar -Exposition on the Common Prayer Book of the Church of Eng- land," the words in Italics forming a running titli.- or heading to the pages throughout the volume. After the general directions as to the daily use of the Morning and Evening Prayer, it gives a short introduction, and then sets forth the rubric, which stands at the commencement of the Morning Ser- vice. Then follows the initiatory sentences, which are not in the Order of the Common Prayer Book, but stand thus : " Hide thy face ;" " Enter not into judgment;" "O Lord, correct;" " The sacrifices of God;" "To the Lord our God," &c. On all the sentences there are a paraphrase and remarks. The exhortation is divided into three parts : 1. A Loving Compellation. 2. A Profitable In- struction. 3. An Earnest Supplication. And so it proceeds with every portion of the book. There is a long explanation of the Apostles' Creed, and practical discourses on the 2nd and 3rd collects, and on the prayers which follow. In those for the King and Royal Family, and in the Litany, the supplications are for King George, Queen Caro- line, Frederick Prince of Wales, the Duke, the Princesses, and all the Royal Family. A disser- tation on the Athanasian Creed occupies fifty - eight pages. F. B.

Fcrrara Blades. When are these first men- tioned ? I find allusion to them in a professed account of the battle of Drumclog, which occur- red June 1, 1679. (See Scot's Worthies, edit. 1846, App. vi., and p. 622.) B. H. C.

" The History of the Affaires of Scotland." Who was the author of The History of the Affaires of Scotland, from the Itestauration of King Charles the Second in the Year 1660 ; and of the late Great Revolution in that Kingdom, 8vo., Load, T. Salus- bury, 1690?

T. S, who dedicates it " To Jane, Countess of Sutherland," calls his book the Naked Rafters of a History. The author, from his barbarous or- thography of proper names, was evidently no Scot ; but he shows that his Rafters were sound by sympathising with that nation in their struggle for their own church government. J. O.

Incense. When or where was incense first employed in religious worship ? It was certainly used in Egypt before the Exodus. F. A. S.

Punishment in England. Am I being hoaxed when I read the following ? or perhaps I should rather say, am I hoaxed if I believe it when I have read it ? If not, and if such a punishment could be inflicted at the date I read of it, about