Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/447

 leni

S. I. MAY 28, '98.]

NOTES AND QUEEIE8.

439

iry VII. of 2QL, fully equal to 240Z. in modern alue. He is supposed to have died in 1498, during ] tis second voyage ; but this is not certain. The balance of probability is in favour of Sebastian Oabot having been born in Venice rather than Bristol. There is, Mr. Beazley holds, no reason 'or supposing that he ever returned to Italy .ifter he came finally to live in England in 1547. The voyage of 1553, which discovered Russia to English politics and trade, is the most important of Cabot s ventures, though he himself, who was ng eighty years of age. took no actual The instructions were, however, his, and are given, with some unimportant omissions, in chap. xii. Considerations of space prohibit our following further this useful and entertaining volume, which deserves, and will obtain, the full attention of all interested in American exploration. It is illustrated by a portrait of Sebastian Cabot and by maps. When it was written the author had not had the opportunity of consulting Mr. Harrisse's latest work, 'Did Catjot return from his Second Voyage?' which is but just issued.

Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey. Edited by

Thomas Arnold. Vol. III. (Stationery Office.) THE concluding volume of this valuable collec- tion of memorials of a great monastic house leaves little to be desired so far as editorship is con- cerned. The rule that notes are not to be admitted is necessary in the case of works issued by the authority of the State ; but the public has suffered in this case, for we feel sure that if Mr. Arnold had had a free hand, he would have enriched his pages with much learning of which we have been deprived. This is especially the case as re- gards the present volume, which is made up of short pieces, many of them excerpts from manuscripts which contain much that the editor has been unable to give. We are most of us acquainted with the charters in a poetical form, which some antiquaries of past times appear to have been simple enough to regard as being as old as they made themselves out to be. Mr. Arnold has printed some of these curious pieces. We are not aware that they have ever been edited before ; but in this we may be in error. In any case we are glad to find them here. The editor dates them at about 1440. We ourselves should put them a little later ; but there is no doubt that he is about correct. When, however, he says that it seems probable that Lydgate was their author we cannot follow him. They are not unlike his manner, we admit; but Lydgate, though he wrote some things of very small merit, and never rose to high- class poetry, could not at his worst, we think, ever have sunk so low as the versifier who turned out these charters. Why, it has been asked, were verses of this sort ever manufactured ? It is hard to believe that they could ever give pleasure to any one. The motive, probably, was that they might be committed to memory. Mediaeval people were very fond of remembering things by the aia of jingles, both in Latin and the vernacular tongues. The habit is not dead yet, or, if it is, has expired very recently.

Bury was proud of possessing the mortal remains of St. Edmund, but, as was often the case, another place claimed to own the relics also. Toulouse was thought to have made out a strong case ; but Mr. Arnold, who has investigated the question with great care, believes that the body of the saint remained in its natural resting-place until the

Reformation, when it was destroyed; unless in- deed, it was hidden away by the monks ere the spoliation of the shrine occurred. The editor gives in the introduction, slight sketches of the lives of the abbots from the fourteenth century down- wards. The list of the abbots from Uvinus, who was elected in 1020, to John Reeve, otherwise Melford, who resigned in 1539, is complete and accurate The glossary is also good, and will be found of service to all who take an interest in the Latin ol the Middle Ages. Some English words occur therein.

Folk-lore : Old Customs and Tales of my Neigh- bour*. By Fletcher Moss. (Didsbury, the Author. ) THE district with which Mr. Moss deals, in a rambling, agreeable, and, on the whole, instructive book, is the south-eastern corner of Lancashire, on the confines of Cheshire, and not far from Stafford- shire. In collecting the folk-lore of Didsbury and its neighbourhood he has been assiduous, and he has already, in addition, given us 'A History of Didsbury, ' Didsbury in the '45,' and ' The Chro- nicles of Cheadle.' Most of the superstitions, beliefs, customs, &c.. he chronicles are familiar to readers of' N". & Q., 5 but there are some which to many ot them will, we fancy, be strange. Here, for instance, is a custom of which we never heard " My aunt, who still lives at Standon Hall, and is long past the fourscore years, has all her long life religiously taken the first pancake on Shrove Tues- day and given it to the gamecocks." It is supposed to make the hens lay. We are curious to know if the practice prevails elsewhere. Mr. Moss is not satisfied with the derivation of carling peas which are eaten on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, from care (a derivation favoured by the ' H. E. D.'), the vulgar pronunciation being different, but is disposed to think it comes from carl or churl. He is, however, prone to heresy in derivations, and accepts the origin of bloody m by'r Lady. He would, apparently, also derive fuddle from foot ale, paid by a stranger entering the harvest field. He is, moreover, not careful to verify his quotations.

Let laws, religion, learning die is not correct. The line is

Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die, hic JV is a different matter. In scraps of folk-song Mr. Moss quotes from memory and at second hand Jf one stanza which he quotes he says he is afraid the third line is wrong. It is. The third and fourth lines are as follows :

An - the J 6 ^ 1 flew awa y with the little tailor boy, With the broadcloth under his arm.

We could give him, an it were necessary, variants which we think improvements of many rimes he supplies. He is right, none the less, to give us the verses as he heard them. Mr. Moss writes dis- cursively on many subjects ghosts (of which he claims to have had many experiences), migrations ot birds, domestic experiences, canvassing at elec- tions, what not. He describes bicycling rides and misadventures, visits to celebrated spots (including Hawarden), and innumerable things besides He is expansive, and fond of giving us his views on all sorts of themes. He is, in fact, a thorough gossip. His book is, however, entertaining enough and we were sorry when its perusal was completed. The illustrations, which are from photographs, add greatly to its attractions. Some things he tells us are sad enough, as when he says of what must still