Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/424

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. MAY 21, '98,

one of the early distinguishing marks of a leader before crests became necessary as dis- tinguishing marks. In a fresco in the Ritter- Saal of this old castle Rudolph of Habsburg, the founder, is represented with peacock's feathers in his helmet, and although the picture is modern, the authority from which it is taken is good. Several of the German reigning families bear feathers or wings as crests, and the history of the Prince of Wales's feathers is well known. In later heraldry the wing would appear to have been adopted not so much as a distinguishing crest, but as a background or foundation on which to display the crest and to serve the purpose that the wreath does with us. The crest is frequently a repetition of the charge of the coat on a wing of the same tincture as the coat. Thus the family which for four hundred years inhabited this old place bears as arms a red mountain on a silver field. The crest is the same red mountain on a silver or white wing. A neighbour has for arms a red crosslet on a silver field. The crest is the red crosslet on a similar wing; and many like instances might be quoted. The families are in no way connected, and one can hardly say there is any resemblance in the " crests," the distinguishing mark being the " charge," or red mountain or red crosslet, and the wing being as common to most crests as the wreath is with us. J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC,

Colonel and A.D.C. to the Queen. Schloss Wildeck, Switzerland.

" NOBODY'S ENEMY BUT HIS OWN " (8 th S. x. 395, 498 ; xi. 312). There is mention of this proverb, together with an occasional variant, at p. 53 of ' Diseases of the Soule,' written by Thomas Adams, and published in 1616 : " His father was no mans friend but his owne ; and he (saith the Prouerbe) is no mans foe else." This is not quite so old as the example quoted at the last reference ; it bears witness, how- ever, to the vogue of a proverb hitherto met with but rarely in our older literature, and derived perhaps, as I have some reason to suspect, from the writings of Chrysostom.

F. ADAMS.

STONYHURST CRICKET (9 th S. i. 361). MR. NORMAN will find full information about this game in the ' Stonyhurst Centenary Record,' by Rev. J. Gerard, pp. 179-182 (Marcus Ward). MR. NORMAN'S difficulty about " missing catches " is caused by his not having noticed that Mr. Fitzgerald, whose ' Stony- hurst Memories' he is quoting, has passed, between the two passages quoted, from one game to another quite different. For two different passages are quoted in the note,

taken from distinct paragraphs, but without any mark of omission. Stonyhurst cricket was played on gravel ; and as the batsman had always to hit hard merely stopping a ball (" blocking ") was out there was a very large amount of catching to be done by the three or four fielders " fags " they were called. Hence Stonyhurst catching was famous in those days. I may add that the balls were made by the boys themselves during Lent, with wool dipped in glue wrapped tightly round a core of list. These were then covered by the shoemaker, who complained of sometimes having to cut off projecting knobs !

The other game alluded to in MR. NORMAN'S quotation was "second bounce," a peculiar form of handball, played with the delicate india-rubber balls mentioned in the note. A good player would hit these with such force against the wall that they went out thirty or forty yards. Hence there was a great amount of ground to cover, and the game required great skill. It was a special development of Stonyhurst " handball," played only on a few occasions by picked players (see * Stonyhurst Record,' p. 189). PREFECT OF STUDIES.

SOURCE OF QUOTATION WANTED (9 th S. i. 249). The following quotation from Cardinal Newman is in my commonplace book. I send it on because it is so much like that given by G. S., but I regret that I am unable to locate it :

" It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment, but not in matters of conscience. In matters of duty first thoughts are commonly best. They have more in them of the voice of God."

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

The author of the ' Characteristics ' made frequent use of Jeremy Taylor's works, and may have derived the sentence about first thoughts from him. The 'Ductor,' bk. i. c. i. rule vi., has :

" In matters of conscience, that is the best sense I which every wise man takes in before he hath, sullied his understanding with the designs of sophisters and interested persons." Vol. ix. p. 45, Eden. It is at least a parallel passage.

The passage from the ' Characteristics ' is i from ' Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour.' Sect. i. is :

"In the main, 'tis best to stick to common sense, and go no further. Men's first thoughts in this matter are generally better than their second : their natural notions better than those refin'o^by study, or consultation with casuists." Vol. i., 1749, p. 89.

ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.