Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/105

 9* s. xii. AUG. i.im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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graves were rifled of their contents, which were returned in the churchyard. My good friend the sexton informed me that the skulls which were unearthed were all buried together in one unmarked common grave, and that he had no doubt some successor of his would some day come across them and be quite unable to account for their presence there.

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

"TORY" (9 th S. xii. 9). This appears to be a "ghost- word," or misprint. The original Spanish text has, ** Paz sea en aquesta casa ! y a este proposito un cuento," i.e. " Peace to this house ! and not only that, but a story besides." I have not seen the English version, but in the Spanish a short tale follows.

JAMES PLATT, Jun.

This word has appeared in all the series of ' N. & Q.' (excepting the fourth), and that on twenty-sevenoccasions. Doubtless POLITICIAN will find an answer to his question if he will examine the indexes carefully.

EVERARD HOME GOLEM AN.

71, Brecknock Road.

THE LIVING DEAD (9 fch S. xi. 427, 497 ; xii. 14). ME. J. FOSTEK PALMER appears to think that haschisch deteriorates when brought to this country, but I do not see why it should. The extract of Indian hemp used in medicine will retain its virtue unimpaired for years in any climate. The best description I know of the effect of this drug in producing intoxi- cation is that of Bayard Taylor in * Pictures of Palestine,' which may almost be compared with De Quincey's account of his experience as an opium-eater. The first effects of hemp appear to be very similar to those of opium. Says Taylor (I quote him at second hand) :

" The sense of limitation, of the confinement of our senses within the bounds of our own flesh and blood, instantly fell away. The walls of rny frame were burst outward and tumbled into ruin, and without think- ing what form I wore losing sight even of all idea of form I felt that I existed throughout a vast extent of space."

The description is too long to quote as a whole. It is enough to say that with this sense of illimitableness there came also that of a

" sensuous elysium which was perfect, because no sense was left ungratified. But, beyond all, my mind was filled with a boundless feeling of triumph. My journey was that of a conqueror, not of a conqueror who subdues his race either by love or by will, for I forgot that man existed, but one victorious over the grandest, as well as subtlest,

forces of nature I was master of the universe.

The fullness of my rapture expanded the sense of time, and though the whole vision was probably not more than five minutes in passing through my

mind, years seemed to have elapsed while I shot under the dazzling myriads of rainbow arches."

The effect on some of his companions was, however, quite different, and one of them imagined, whileunder theinfluenceof the drug, thathe was a steam-engine. Ludicrous images, indeed, presented themselves to Taylor ; and it is said to be an almost invariable effect of the drug when taken in sufficient doses, that it excites to laughter. Its power over Europeans is, for some reason or other, usually much less than over Orientals, its action being greatly modified by both race and climate. It is not immediately followed by the hurtful effects of opium, but its continued use, says my authority, induces both physical and mental weakness.

In the notes to the English version of Abulghazi's 'Genealogical History of the Tatars ' (London, 1729) there is no mention of haschisch in connexion with the assassins of the "Old Man of the Mountains," but they are said to have been transported when in a state of sleep to the most magnificent gardens, which were afterwards represented to them as a foretaste of the Paradise they were to enjoy as a reward for their deeds. The name " assassin " the translator derives from "Arsacians," on the alleged ground that these people traced their descent from Arsaces ! Opium is said by Rauwolff to be used by Turks, <fec., much as haschisch was by the assassins. C. C. B.

7). F. W. Fairholt, in his ' Costume in Eng- land,' 1860, describes it as a nightdress for ladies. In Middleton's * Mayor of Quin- borough ' it is said, " Books in women's hands are as much against the hair, methinks, as to see men wear stomachers or nightrails." They were worn in daytime in the streets in the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). Archdeacon Nares, in his 'Glossary of the Works of English Authors,' gives the following examples of the use :
 * NIGHTS, AIL AND NOTABLENESS " (9 th S. xii.

Sickness feign'd

That your niyhtrails of forty pounds a-piece Might be seen with envy of the visitants.

Massinger's 'City Madam ' (1659). " Upon her toilet the overplus of her complexion in the print of three red fingers upon the corner of a caliconiyhtrail." Gibber's ' Woman's Wit' (1697). Here every night they sit three hours for sale, With dirty nightrail, and a dirtier tayl.

Gould's 'Poems' (1689).

" Q. What 's the necessary stock of our pro- fession ?

" A. A tatter'd nightrail, a red top-knot, and a pair of French ruffles, but one smock, and a clean one, every day ; a quartern of grounds, a paper of patches, a pot of Tower-hill, and a pennyworth of scochaneel. ' The Town Misses Catechism ' (1703).