Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/498

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

a S. NO 25., JUNE 21. '66.

Derivation of Parish. Etymological students generally derive the word parish from the Greek irapoiKia (nap and ouceco). Query, Is not an etymo- logical connection to be found between the above- mentioned word and the Sanscrit T3jyT"E["<r', pa-

rishad ? E.

Berlin.

Punishment of a Scold. The following ex- tracts are from the Universal Spectator, and will, I think, answer some Queries in the early num- bers of your publication. I am sorry I cannot refer to them at present :

" Saturday, October 14, 1738. Last week at the Quarter Sessions at Kingston-on-Thames, an elderly woman, notorious for her vociferation, was indited for a common scold, and the facts alledged being fully proved, she was sentenced to receive the old punishment of being duck'd, which was accordingly executed upon her in the Thames, by the proper officers, in a chair for that purpose pre- served in the town ; and to prove the justice of the courts sentence upon her, on her return from the water side she fell upon one of her acquaintance, without provocation, with tongue, tooth, and nail, and would, had not the officers interposed, have deserved a second punishment even before she was dry from the first."

Has any case of " ducking a scold " occurred since this date ? J. DE W.

Cowper forestalled by Bishop Berkeley. We all know what Cowper says of tea :

" The Cups That cheer but not inebriate : "

in the 217th paragraph of Bishop Berkeley's Siris, you will find him saying

"The fermented spirit of wine or other liquors pro- duceth irregular motions, and subsequent depressions in the animal spirits. Whereas the luminous spirit lodged and detained in the native balsam of pines and firs (the bishop's pet ' Tar Water ') is of a nature so mild and be- nign, and proportioned to the human constitution, as to warm without heating, to cheer but not inebriate, and to pro- duce a calm and steady joy, like the effect of good news."

This is not mentioned by Southey in his edition.

J. B. 23. Rutland Street, Edinburgh.

Revival after Execution.

" Nov. 29, 1740. William Dewell, for a rape on Sarah Griffin, in a barn at Acton, was carried to Surgeons' Hall in order for dissection, when he came to himself, and was the same night again committed to Newgate.

" Dec. 6. 1740. The case of Dewell the malefactor, who after hanging came to life again is left to the Recorder.

" February 14, 1741. The condition of Dewell's pardon, who revived after execution, is transportation for life."

J. DE W.

A Remarkable Man and his Family. David Wilson died a few years ago at Madison, Indiana, aged 107 years. He had been married five times,

and had had forty-seven children, thirty-five of whom were recently living. Instead of ribs he had a solid bone over his chest, a circumstance which saved his life during the border wars with the Indians in Kentucky. At the period of his death his mental and bodily powers were but little impaired. UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

Lines to the Court of Insolvent Debtors. "Risu Solvuntw Tabulae.

" Qui niger, et captivus eram, candore nivali Splendidus, egredior carcere, liber homo.

Solvuntur curas ; solvuntur vincula ferri ; Solvitur attonitus creditor in lacrymas.

Solvor ego ; tantum non solvitur aas alienum ; A non solvendo rite solutus ero."

The following translation is said to be by the late Rev. R. H. Barham :

" A Blackleg late, and prisoner, hence I go In whitewashed splendour, pure as unsunned snow; Dissolved my bonds ; dissolved my cares and fears ; My very creditors dissolved in tears ; All questions solved : the act resolves me free, Absolved in absolute Insolvency."

E. F.

MARTIN THE FRENCH PEASANT-PROPHET AND LOUIS XVIII.

Can any of your readers confirm, or otherwise, the credibility of the enclosed extraordinary nar- rative ? Is it true that the coronation of Louis XVIII. was countermanded ? W. H.

Hull.

" This history, we believe, is almost unknown in Eng- land. But it created a very great sensation in France at the time of the Restoration," soon after the fall of the first Napoleon. The allied armies had not left France when the events occurred. The whole matter was officially investigated by M. Decages, the minister of police ; by MM. Pinel and Royer Collard, physicians; by the Viscount de la Rochefoucauld, who records many of the facts in his Memoirs ; and by the Duke de Montmorency. Nothing of the kind is better attested.

" Thomas Ignace Martin was a farm-labourer near Gallardon, not far from Chartres, about thirty-three years of age, and father of a family, when, in 1816, as he was engaged in spreading compost over a field, suddenly a young man, of small slender form and long visage, very white, and clothed in a light-colored surtout, buttoned close, and reaching to his feet, laced shoes, and a high- crowned hat, appeared before him, and told him he must go and take a message to the king. Martin replied that he was not qualified for such a high mission; but the youth told him that he must go. Martin, in return, said he thought the young man himself better fitted for such an office. But ' No,' was the answer, ' it is you that must go.' After that, the head of the youth descended toward the waist, and the entire figure then disappeared. Mar- tin's brother and the curate, to whom he mentioned the circumstance, treated it as an illusion; but the youth repeatedly came with the same communication, and Mar-