Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/80

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. JAN. 22, '98.

for the character of Napoleon in the contem- porary pages of the Quarterly Revieiv, or for the truth of any work advocating his cause written by some one else and reviewed in its pages. In sum, Mr. Warden was a naval medical officer of high character on board the North- umberland with Napoleon ; his narrative is credible, not highly coloured, and bears every njark of internal truth. He was dismissed firom his employment for writing it, but shortly reinstated in a better position, show- ing that he had done nothing unworthy or dis- honourable. John Wilson Croker, one of the men who, or whose friends, had dismissed him, writes, in the bludgeonly style^of the day, that the letters are forgeries, which they cer- tainly are not, and a writer at the end of the nineteenth century accepts this ephemeral expectoration of spleen as historical disproof.

W. SYKES, M.D., F.S.A. Bury Place, Gosport, Hants.

In connexion with a threatened invasion of this island from France, it may be well to point out that there exists a rare engraving of a machine said to have been made for this purpose in 1798. The only copy of it I have ever seen is preserved in the collection of broadsides belonging to the Society of Anti- quaries. This is the description of it as given in the catalogue :

"The real view of the French Raft, as intended for the invasion of England, drawn from the original at Brest. This surprising machine was 2,100 feet long and 1,500 feet broad, and was to be propelled by four windmills, which gave a revolving motion to four wheels. It was armed with 500 pieces of cannon, and was to convey 60,000 men. Published by P. & J. Gaily, London."

Those who examine the engraving will pro- bably agree with me that no such structure ever existed at Brest or elsewhere. It was evidently intended either as a joke or a fraud. EDWARD PEACOCK.

_ Should any reader believe in communica- tions from persons in the spiritual world to those living in the natural world, he may find an account of unimpeachable authority, from Buonaparte himself, which, merely as a lite- rary curiosity, is worth giving :

" Buonaparte came next, and spoke in the most humble and thankful manner of his change. He asked me what the religion of the Hollanders is, and why the English are so much against a Catholic king. He then spoke satirically of the English in sending him to so fertile a country, arid commented on the state they are now in, and of their buying the victory of Waterloo with money. He also said that, like others, he was too ambitious. But his principal motive was to establish a friendly inter- course between all nations for the benefit of each other. Further, it was his intention to have con- quered England, and to have let the people choose

bheir own plan of government. He next spoke of his taking the images out of the churches and turn- ing them into money, which he thought more useful." -' Diary of the Mission, Spiritual and Earthly, of the late James Johnston,' p. 247.

My copy of this curious and remarkable work has the title-page and portions of the preface torn out, and the only details I can give of James Johnston are what he supplies in the diary, from which it appears that he was a workman in a dyeing establishment in Man- chester, and when out of employment travelled round Lancashire and Derbyshire playing the bagpipes. He records many conversations with people in the spiritual world whom he had heard or read of in the natural world. The first entry in the diary is 5 January, 1817, and the last 3 May, 1840. On pp. 498-9 are several copies of certificates, extending from 1798 to 1806, giving him an excellent character for sobriety and nonesty. To prevent mis- conception, I may add that I am simply speaking of the book as a literary curiosity, without vouching for the authenticity of recitals, or presuming to sit in the chair of the scorner. AYEAHR.

When I was at Boulogne, some years ago, I recollect seeing a monument near that placev raised by Napoleon to commemorate the capture of England by his forces. They also have in the museum there medals which he had struck to commemorate the same event. These facts would seem to leave no doubt as to his intentions. H. J. B. CLEMENTS.

Killadoon, Celbridge.

SCAFFOLDING IN GERMANY (8 th S. xii. 509). Hoisting a branch of a tree upon the topmost pole of the scaffolding around a new house is in no way peculiar to Germany. It is general, more or less, almost everywhere. Mr. G. W. Speth, in two published lectures delivered at Margate in 1893, on ' Builders' Kites and Cere- monies,' refers to the custom and its possible origin. After speaking of shovelfuls of oats thrown out, at Yuletide, in Danemark for St. Kiaus's horse, and saying, " When a per- son is convalescent after a dangerous illness he is said to have given a feed to Death's horse," he adds :

"And this leads us to a curious building custom. In Norway and Denmark according to Baring- Gould and in the Black Forest, as I have myself seen, a sheaf of corn is fastened to the gable of a house. It is now supposed to be an offering to the birds. But it is obviously a feed for Woden's horse, or perhaps for Hell's. I prefer to think it was in- tended for Woden's, because I have myself asked the meaning of it in the Black Forest, and been told that it was a charm against the lightning...... On

Gothic buildings we often see hip-nobs or finials, bunches of flowers or corn, imitated conventionally