Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/93

 9* s. x. AUG. 2, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

85

et Fatti del valorosissimo Capitan Astorre

Baglione da Perugia con la Guerra d

Cypro.' Astorre was governor-general o; Cyprus, having been specially appointed by the Venetian Senate in April, 1569, for the defence of that island against the Turks, anc was slain, by Mustapha Pasha's treachery, after the capitulation of Famagosta which terminated Venetian rule in Cyprus.

In his concluding observations on the causes of this catastrophe the author of the book attributes it to fear on the part of the Venetian republic of its inability to cope singly with the overwhelming force of the Turks, whose army outnumbered the Vene- tian by more than ten to one* Fear, he adds, is always commendable, but with regard to the Turk Venice ought not to fear, because, among other reasons, " 1' arrne, le Galee, e i danari fanno paura a tutt' il mondo. La Republica ha 1' arme : Ha i Nauilij : Ha i Tesori : Ha g]' Huomeni." However, ships, men, and money notwithstanding, Cyprus remained the prize of the Turks, who ruled it until 1878, when it was transferred to the British.

It is surely one of the curiosities of history that an Italian of the sixteenth and a Briton of the nineteenth century, each nation having dominion in Cyprus, should utter the same brag in connexion with Turkey, the one as an enemy, the other as a friend.

F. ADAMS.

FABUL.E IN FABULIS. That consummate artist E. A. Poe, in the ' Fall of the House of Ulster,' gives a list of books, besides quoting from the ' Mad Trist ' of Sir Launcelot Can- ning in such a manner as to make every imaginative reader long for the complete romance.

A customer in a bookshop is said not long since to have asked for ' The Idols of the Market-Place,' which book-title Mrs. Hum- phry Ward quotes in one of her novels. The title is, of course, Bacon's ' Idola Fori,' which Bacon himself borrowed from Roger Bacon, from whom he also borrowed much beside.

As a French criminal lawyer is said to have used one of Balzac's novels as a treatise on bankruptcy, so an American novelist represents the following books as being upon the shelves of a student (and professor) of American criminal law : Poe's Works ; ' The Moonstone,' by Collins; 'A Confidential Agent,' by James Payn ; 'The Leaven worth

"Certo neir acquisto del Regno di Cypro il Turco mand6 piii di trecento mila Soldati Turchi. I Nostri in tutto il Regno tra buoni, <k non buoni, nonerano trenta mila (p. 96).

Case,' by A. K. Green ; .'His Natural Life,' by Marcus Clarke ; ' The Mark of Cain,' by Andrew Lang ; ' The New Arabian Nights,' by Stevenson ; and ' Memoires de Vidocq.' Then come tales by Gaboriau and Fortune du Boisgobey, and ' Les Morts Bizarres,' by Jean Richepin.

In Miss Ferrier's 'Inheritance' there are some delightfully suggestive titles, such as The Enchanted Head," The Invisible Hand,' 'The Miraculous Nuptials,' 'Bewildered Affections ; or, All is not Lost,' and ' The Mid- night Marriage.' It is no wonder that Lady Betty was impatient to find the missing volume of the last-mentioned work ; it must have been interesting. THOMAS AULD.

"QUICK " = ITALIAN-IRON. In one of the lodges of Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire, I happened to see an Italian-iron, or tally-iron, such as is still used on the frills of caps. An old body of eighty-eight, who had been a laundress in the establishment of one of the marquesses, and who, judging from her regu-' larity of feature and relatively good com- plexion, must have been a very charming rustic damsel in her youth, told me that she knew the instrument not only as a tally-iron, but as a "quick," the latter because work was done expeditiouly by its means. I do not find " quick ' with this meaning in any Cheshire or other glossary.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

"RAISING THE WIND." The following cut- ting from the Irish Times of 19 April may not be without interest for students of folk- ore and old superstitions :

" It seems incredible, but is nevertheless a fact, ,hat as late as the year 1814 an old woman named Bessie Millie, of Pomona, in the Orkney Islands, sold favourable winds to seamen at the small price of Qd. a vessel. For many years witches were sup- )osed to sell the wind. The Finlanders and Lap- anders made quite a trade by selling winds. The old women, after being well paid by the credulous sailors, used to,, knit three magical knots ; the >uyer was told he would have a good gale when he untied the first knot, the second knot would bring a strong wind, and the third a severe tempest. At one tinate .winds were sold at Mont St. Michel, in STormandy, and arrows were sold at the same time o charm away bad storms."

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

CORONATION : ITS POSTPONEMENT. Very puzzling to future historians and antiquaries will be the mass of evidence existing to point ,o 26 July, 1902, as the date of Edward VII.'s joronation. Surely, however, ' N. & Q.' should ,ake the lead in doing what can be done to minimize the risk of error. Yet not only is