Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/233

 9. s. xii. SEPT. 19, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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" 1 have through life been entitled to adopt old Beattie of Meikledale's answer to his parish minister when the latter was eulogizing him with respect to the same faculty : * No, Doctor,' said the honest border laird, 'I have no command of my memory ; it retains only what happens to hit my fancy ; and like enough, sir, if you were to preach to me for a couple of hours on end I might be unable at the close of the discourse to remember one word of it.' Perhaps there are few men whose memory serves them with equal fidelity as to many different classes of subjects, but I am sorry to say that while mine has rarely failed me as to any snatch of verse or trait of character that had once interested my fancy, it has generally been a frail support not only as to names and dates and other minute tech- nicalities of history, but as to many more impor- tant things."

No, it is pretty certain that we have not got good memories for this and bad memories for that, in any other sense than that we remember that which interests us and forget that which interests us not.

I will not insult readers of ' N. & Q. ' by reproducing here the good old chestnut as to Dugald Stewart's contribution to the conver- sation of certain of his friends who were com- paring notes as to their earliest recollections. But it may be lawful to recall Fred Locker's capital verse rendering of it : I recollect a nurse called Ann

Who carried me about the grass ; And one fine day a fine young man

Came up and kissed the pretty lass. She did not make the least objection :

Thinks I, "Aha! When I can talk I '11 tell mama " ; And that 's my earliest recollection.

PATRICK MAXWELL. Bath.

MARCO POLO'S PORTRAIT. In his intro- duction to his magnificent edition of Marco Polo Col. Yule, while discussing the extant portraits of the great Venetian traveller, omits to mention one in the Doria Gallery, Rome, nor does his later editor, Prof. Cordier, refer to it. It has been excellently repro- duced by the Autotype Company. It shows a white-haired old man standing by a table on which his right hand rests. On the table are also a rose and a jewel. It is said to be of the school of Titian. Of course, it is no more authentic than the portrait in the Badia Gallery, a reproduction of which is given in Yule. H. C. L. MORRIS.

Bognor.

A STINGING MEMORANDUM. Add. Charter 1251, British Museum, is an acquittance given to a famous Yorkshire baron in 1182 by Solomon of Paris, acting for his master, "dominus meus," the celebrated Aaron of Lincoln. The debtor was Richard Malebisse (* Diet. Nat. Biog.,' vol. xxxv.), who signalized

himself eight years later by organizing and leading the savage attack made on the Jews of York in March, 1190. William of Newbury, recounting this lamentable episode, speaks of Malebisse in these terms :

"The leaders of the conspiracy, among whom was a certain Richard with the truthful surname Evil Beast, a fellow of audacious character, were moved by no feelings of pity for these unfortu- nates."

This is, of course, a mere pun on the name but it shows the estimate of Richard's con- temporaries. Solomon of Paris scribbled a Hebrew memorandum on the back of the receipt. This 1 have copied. It reads: "I have received four pounds from Richard Evil Beast," appending the Hebrew date and the words " part of his big debt." Another two Hebrew words blurred puzzled me for a long time, but I have at length mastered them. They well denote the feelings of the writer, for he says in Hebrew, without circumlocution, "and may the d 1 take him." M. D. DAVIS.

WEATHER LORE, 1788. Those interested in this engrossing subject may be glad to see the following note. It is to be found recorded inside the cover of one of the Naseby regis- ters, in the handwriting of the Rev. John Mastin, the historian of Naseby and its cele- brated battle :

"The autumn of the year 1788 was exceedingly dry, no rain falling for several months ; the country was exceedingly distressed for water, wells and pits being dry that had not been so in the memory of the oldest man then living. Cattle was drove in some places by several miles to water, and at Hinckley and Daventry the washing of houses was prohibited. Tubs and troughs were set in many grounds, and water brought in pails to them from a great distance. A frost set in about the 25th November and continued to the middle of January, which added to the calamity. In the middle of November the clay roads were so hard three tons or upwards might be drawed upon them with as great ease as at Midsummer. The lanes about Sibbertof t, which in June [?] are very bad at this time of the year, were as good as summer. The ground was so hard and dry hounds could not hunt; in short, such a season at this time of the year had not been remembered. John Mastin, vicar."

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

"ANNUNCIATOR." An extended meaning

to that given in ' H.E.D.' "Annunciator,

specially applied to : 6, an indicator used

in hotels, &c., to show in which direction the attendance summoned by bell or telephone is needed "is supplied in an answer given in the House of Commons on 6 August by Mr. Victor Cavendish, M.P., as representing the First Commissioner of Works, to a question