Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/420

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. i. MAY 21,

BROOKE is aware that Cynddelw was the chief bard of Madog ap Meredyth, Prince of Powys. His poems are in Gee's ' My vyrian Archaiology of Wales,' and his dates are there given as 1150-1200. If ME. HWFA BROOKE has not got the ' History of Powys Fadog,' I shall be pleased to make copies of the pedigree for him. JEANNIE S. POPHAM, Llanrwst, North Wales.

REGISTERS OF APPRENTICES AND FREEMEN OP THE CITY LIVERY COMPANIES (9 th S. i. 285). The Miscellanea Genealogica has given ample lists of apprenticeships in the Skinners' Company, from its first entry in 1496 of " William Nagelyn, son of the late Robert, of Boston, gent.," down to John Barlee, ap- prenticed to his father Nicholas for nine years in 1696. The list is compiled by G. E. Cokayne, Clarenceux, and he points. out several who have been in after years Lord Mayors of the City of London. There are sons of several noblemen mentioned, and most of them are bound for seven and nine years. It is made more interesting by the plan adopted by the compiler of placing all those of the same name together. Thus in respect to six Bowyers^they begin in 1626, and end in 1676 ; and six Burdetts in 1653, and end in 1694. All these are comprised in vol. i., Third Series, of the above periodical. In vol. iii. the compiler begins a list of "Freedoms " from 1500 to 1594.

ESSINGTON.

THE HORSE AND WATER-LORE (9 th S. i. 188). Instances of the antagonism between the horse and the ox in folk-lore are to be found in a little book recently published, ' Natur- geschichtliche Volksmarchen aus nah und fern,' gesammelt von Oskar Dahnhardt. For example, a story of German origin relates how the horse ungraciously refused to shorten his dinner-hour by carrying the Lord Christ over a stream, while the kindly ox at once consented ; for which reason the horse may feed half the day and remain unsatisfied, while the ox eats sufficient in an hour. Then again a Sclavonic tradition recounts that when the Saviour was born his mother took the straw out of the manger in which he lay and made a heap of it in a corner for the ox, cow, and horse to feed on as soon as they came into the hut at sunset. When they had devoured it the two former animals lay down to chew the cud, but the horse went to the manger, as there was still a little fodder remaining, and began to eat, although the Christ-child was resting on the straw. In vain the Virgin tried to drive him away, first with her hands and then with her gown ; the horse

was only the more determined ; so she took the child out of the manger, laid it by her, and said, "Ye ox and cow, ye and your descendants shall be blessed, but thou, horse, shalt with thv kin never in thy life become satisfied, and men shall ever lay heavy burdens on thee." According to a legend of the Magyars, Christ turned a number of devils into horses, " therefore many horses have since been like the devil"; but it is only fair to add that some of the stories concerning the relations between the Redeemer, or God the Father, and the horse are less to the creature's discredit.

The horse seems to have been closely con- nected with the religious cults of many Aryan peoples from the time they became familiar with it. It was especially adapted to share in enterprises of war, and further, the speed which was one of its most striking characteristics rendered it a type of the great celestial powers, and of the torrents which have their origin in cloud and tempest. The sun hastens through heaven, and therefore the Persians and Massagetse sacrificed the horse, as the swiftest animal, to the God of Day. Greek mythology showed it to be one with the storm, and in the old faith of Northern Europe the same idea was to be met with. Odin, the God of Wind, for ex- ample, was carried by a grey, eight-legged steed, which is believed to have represented the eight winds. Cf. 'The Wanderings of Plants and Animals,' by Hehn and Stally- brass, p. 35.

As representing tempest and devastating flood, the horse would probably have a very evil side to his mythological character even in heathen times ; and any sinister stories told at his expense would, it may be guessed, lose none of their point after the triumph of Christianity. It is not unlikely that the new faith, influenced by Semitic and Egyp- tian beliefs, regarded the ox with special favour, and it is certain that the animal naturally symbolized peace, plenty, and domestic happiness. It was he who helped to till the ground from which God's gift, the indispensable corn, was to spring, while the horse, pagan animal that he was, meant war, violence, and famine. G. W.

NOBLEMEN'S INNS IN TOWNS (9 th S. i. 327). The information asked for by MR. ADDY will have to be sought in local histories rather than in the usual works dealing with signs. It is certain that there were houses known by a name which were not inns in the ordinary sense of the word, but the private residences of some nobles, though in some