Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/449

 g. tfo 22., MAY 31. '56.]

KOTES AND QUERIES.

441

tack when turning to windward, or sailing againsl the direction of the wind. The non-nautical in- quirer may conceive the extent of the board by imagining a zigzag of any length, the extreme angles of which are points in the board. If a ship by such zigzag course makes only a little advance forward, she is said to nuike a short board; but ii instead of advancing, the current or other accident cause her to recede, she is said to make a stern board.

When the helm is put to starboard, or to the right side of the ship or board as the helmsman looks to her head, the vessel goes to the left. When the helm is put to larboard, the vessel's course is to the right of the board, or zigzag. These words closely resemble each other amongst the chief maritime nations of the North Sea :

Starboard, larboard Stribord, basbord Steuerbord, backbord Stuurboord, bakboord Steorbord, baecbord

- English.

- French.

- German.

- Dutch.

- Danish or

Ang.-Sax.

It therefore appears that starboard has reference to the stern, whilst larboard refers to the stem of the vessel. Bak in Dutch means the forecastle. Port used in lieu of larboard refers, I conceive, to the direction in which the port of destination lies. The probability is that when boats and ships were first moved by oars, one oar would be at the stem to pull the vessel out of her straight course, say to the right, whilst another oar would be at the stern to pull her to the left. In the Thames, bad sailers, such as the heavy barges, are often to be seen thus directed, the more necessary where any strong current runs, or where quick- ness in turning or tacking is much needed. I consider that the term larbord is a corruption of basbord, as that is a corruption of bakboord. The word slower means a boat-hook when used in- stead of the oar. T. J. BUCKTON. Lichfield.

Doorkead and other Inscriptions (2 nd S. i. 379.) Alphonso Ponseca, Archbishop of Toledo, founded a college and chapel at Salamanca, and placed on it the following inscription :

" Ad Dei omnipotentis gloriam ; ad Virginia matris honprem: ad beati Jacob i Zebedaai laudem ; ad Divini numinis purissimum cultwm; ad reipublicaj pe/petuam ntilitatem; ad propriaa civitatis magnifioentiam et splen- dorem; ad pauperum nobilium ingenia sublevanda; ad cleri augmentum ; ad sui animi piam memoriam et cor- poris perpetuum domicilium."

_ A certain proud knight, we read, cau?ed those lines to be inscribed over the gateway of his castle :

" Decretum detur ne dormiat aut epuletur Hie gens villana, sed Achilles, Plato, Diana,"

meaning that no one should be received into his

house but knights, philosophers, or noble ladies. Afterwards he repented of his vanity and pride, and resolved to entertain chiefly the poor. So he removed the former inscription, and substituted the following :

" Muta decretum, Sanctorum suscipe casturn Nudum Martinum, Lazarum, Jacobum peregrinum."

by which names he signified that henceforth the naked and poor, the sick and infirm, the exile and the pilgrim, would be his guests. (Joan. Major, Magnum Speculum, 501.)

In the country-house of Giacomo Gianfiliazzi, near Marignolle, where Leo X. was received to hospitality on his journey to Florence, the memory of the visit was perpetuated by these lines, in- scribed on the bedroom of his holiness :

" Dulcis et alta quies decimo pergrata Leoni Hie fuit : liinc sacrum jam reor esse locum."

CEYREP.

Arboreal and Floral Decorations of Churches (2 nd S. i. 267.) The parish church of Hordley in Shropshire is always profusely decked with birch boughs on Whitsunday ; and this is not any revival, but a custom from time immemorial in that parish. It is also decked with evergreens on Easter Sunday. A friend writing from Auckland, New Zealand, says of the church in which he officiates, that on last Christmas Day " it was beautifully decked with ferns, with the beautiful Pohotokana with its crimson blossoms, and with other flowers." One is rejoiced to hear of the traditional customs of Old England being kept up on the Midsummer Christmas Day of the southern world, WILLIAM FRASER, I3.C.L.

Alton, Staffordshire.

With reference to the remarks of your cor- respondent CUTHBERT BEDE on this subject, it may be interesting to some of your readers to know, that the practice of decorating churches at Easter with evergreens and flowers prevails to a great extent in the city and neighbourhood of Oxford. The custom also survives in the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster. Perhaps some of your readars may be able to say why Easter* is so much less generally observed in this way now than Christmas ? and also, whether in early days both festivals were in this respect observed alike ?

J. G. T.

Facetious Writer (2 nd S. i. 313. 402.) Let me suggest Swift's Tale of a Tab, preface :

' There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof I hope there will be no reason to doubt ; particularly that where I am not understood, it shall be con- cluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath," &c.

A. B.

Horslcy Family (2 nd S. i. 375.) Will your correspondent E. E. BYNG have the goodness to