Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/325

 9* 8. XL APRIL 18, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

317

upper classes. Possibly the * Ballad of the Worthy London Apprentice,' among the "Roxburghe Ballads," and ' The Honour of a London Apprentice,' in the Bagford Collec- tion, where he is represented "robbing the lion of his heart," might afford some inkling as regards details.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

INN SIGNS BY CELEBRATED ARTISTS (9 th S. xi. 89). A list of these, by artists celebrated or otherwise, would be a long one ; many a bill for board and lodging has been paid in such coin. David Cox painted a sign for the "Royal Oak" at Bettws-y-Coed which is now preserved inside the hotel. Sam Bough, R.S.A., about thirty years ago, took umbrage at the hideous sign of the " Rose and Thistle " public-house at Morningside, Edinburgh. It was near his residence, and the daily contem- plation of it so annoyed him that he offered to paint another. He produced a picture of a marksman aiming at a target, and the public - house accordingly became " The Volunteer's Rest." There is a tolerably well- painted sign at the " Bull " Inn, Llanbedr-y- Cennin (in the Con way Valley), but I do not know who executed it. Probably such things are common not only in this country, but on the Continent. There is a picture by Meis- sonier of an artist engaged in painting a

ivern sign. E. RIMBAULT DIBDIN.

" The Man loaded with Mischief," said to painted by Hogarth, used to be in Oxford Street, nearly opposite Rathbone Place. Hogarth also furnished designs for, if he did not paint, certain supper-boxes in Vauxhall Gardens. Morland painted several signs to discharge a reckoning. But see 'The History of Signboards/ by Larwood and Hotten, 1867. ADRIAN WHEELER.

If your correspondent requires a list of tavern signs which may be classed under this head, he should refer to ' N. & Q.,' 2 nd S. iv., vii., viii., ix. ; 3 rd S. x. ; 4 th S. iii., iv. ; 5 th S. vii. ; 6 th S. ii. Each volume contains more than one reference to this subject.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

THE ASRA (9 th S. xi. 207). In the prefatory note to his poems * Weddah and Om-el- Bonain ' and ' Two Lovers ' James Thomson (B. V.) says :

"I found this story, and that of the short piece

following in the ' De 1' Amour ' of De Stendhal

(Henri Beyle), chap, liii., where they are given among 'Fragments extracted and translated from an Arabic Collection entitled " The Divan of Love," ' compiled by Ebn - Abi - Hadglat. From

another of these fragments I quote a few lines by way of introduction : ' The Benou-Azra are a tribe famous for love among all the tribes of Arabia. So that the manner in which they love has passed into a proverb, and God has not made any other creatures so tender in loving as are they. Sahid, son of Agba, one day asked an Arab, "Of what people art thou ? " " I am of the people who die when they love," answered the Arab. " Thou art then of the tribe of Azra?" said Sahid. "Yes, by the master of the Caaba ! " replied the Arab. "Whence comes it, then, that you thus love?" asked Sahid. "Our women are beautiful and our young men are chaste," answered the Arab.'"

Thomson goes on to mention Heine's poem ' Der Azra,' and offers a translation, the last verse being

Then the slave replied : " My name is Mohammed, I come from Yemen, And my kindred are the Azra, They who when they love must perish."

These poems, written in 1867-9, were sub- mitted to Fraser's Magazine in 1869-70, but not accepted by Froude. They were even- tually published in the National Reformer.

For the Azra see also Burton's translation of ' The Arabian Nights,' where there may be found two notes indexed under " Banu-

Uzzah."

E. G. B.

In addition to the editorial note, see 9 th S. iii. 268, 375. JAMES PLATT, Jun.

HEDGEHOG (9 th S. xi. 247). If your corre- spondent will turn to * N. & Q.,' 4 th S. ix. 38, 229, he will find some particulars of the families of Kyrle and A.brahall of Hereford, who bore the hedgehog in their shields ; also of the families into which they intermarried. Abrahall de Abrahall was High Sheriff of Hereford in 1571.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

"Mrs. Harris's husband's brother," concern- ing whom Mrs. Gamp has given many inter- esting particulars, may have had a hedgehog for his crest, but, if so, the fact is not recorded. Nothing, however, can be inferred with regard to a man's family connexions from the mere fact of his using a crest which is the same as one used bv some one else.

J. T. F.

Winterton, Doncaster.

PICTURE IN BERLIN ARSENAL (9 th S. xi. 207). The picture clearly relates to the march of Frederick William of Brandenburg, the " Great Elector," in 1679, when he attacked the Swedes on the Curische Haf. This event is described in Carlyle's 'Frederick,' book iii. chap, xviii. ICTA.