Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/33

 9*s. xii. JULY ii,

NOTES AND QUERIES.

keep B., or keep B. and lose A. 1 " which is no exactly an alternative. W. T. LYNN.

Blackheath.

THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX. The answe returned to this riddle by (Edipus we raaj pass over as too well known. De Quincey ir one of his essays, 'The Theban Sphinx, elaborately proves that the real answer was (Edipus. Emerson has his answer, as also Dumas in c The Countess de Charny.' Though far from "equalled with them in renown," I too, have an answer. The Sphinx was not sc foolish as to commit suicide on the strength or weakness, of a false answer. The answer as given by (Edipus ("Man!") is correct but solved as follows : In the morning, in primal times, he goes upon four feetPithecils intelligent or by whatsoever name he may be called ; in the noontide on two feet, as man did for many ages ; and in the evening, or in modern times (as prophets talk of " these latter days," &c.), on three : his own two, plu the bicycle.

This seems quite as sound as many a read- ing of the Apocalypse. THOMAS AULD.

"BY-WORD." It is startling to find "by- word " used in a good sense ; yet so it was in the Yorkshire Herald of 15 October, 189- (figure illegible), which, in recording the triumphs of the Sheffield Musical Festival, declared :

"Dr. Coward's unremitting labours and extra- ordinary success call for more than ordinary con- gratulation. His somewhat unusual method of chorus-teaching has worked wonders, which will make his name a by-word among chorus masters, and we shall look forward with pleasurable antici- pation to the next sample of his training."

ST. SWITHIN.

LONG LEASE. Leases for 999 years are not infrequently met with, but the extract below (from the Evening Standard of 4 July) seems worthy of perpetuation in the pages of

"A freehold estate, Kingsfold, near Billingshurst, feussex, comprising a substantial family residence, believed to date from the fifteenth century (the title commences with an indenture of lease for 10,000 years from the second year of King James I. at a

i ren h f one red rose )> and 166 acres was disposed of by Messrs. Fox & Bousfield for 6.400^."

R. B.

Upton.

IMMUREMENT ALIVE OF RELIGIOUS. In an article which I published last year on the 'History of Lindisfarne' I mentioned the above subject, with special reference to bir W. Scott's account in ' Marmion ' of the trial and punishment of Constance Beverley,

in the following terms : " There is no doubt that the punishment of immurement alive was awarded in the Middle Ages to such of the religious as broke their vows."

My statement was challenged as being an uncharitable and unfounded aspersion upon the character of the religious men and women of that age, and I replied by quoting Sir W. Scott's note upon the passage in * Marmion,' in which he refers to the fact that " among the ruins of the abbey of Coldingham were some years ago discovered the remains of a female skeleton, which, from the shape of the niche and position of the figure, seemed to be that of an immured nun."

That such practices were not altogether unknown, even in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, may be discovered by a reference to Temple Bar for May in the pre- sent year. In a striking story entitled ' A White Night' is given an account of the burial alive of a nun in a Spanish church, which was unexpectedly witnessed by two English gentlemen and an English lady in the year 1876, and I think it is worthy of mention in * N. & Q.'

In this case the unhappy victim was not immured in the wall, but was buried alive in a grave previously prepared in front of the ligh altar, after the burial office had been performed with all the gorgeous ceremonial of the Roman Church.

It would be interesting to ascertain whether any documentary evidence contemporary with the event exists, testifying that this punishment was actually inflicted in some )articular case previous to the Reformation.

H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY. East Rudham.

[See 6 th S. iv. 426, 473 ; 8 th S. iv. 168.]

SUNFLOWER. Dr. Brewer in his ' Reader's land book ' states (under * Errors of Authors, ?hos. Moore') that

'the sunflower does not turn either to the rising r setting sun. It receives its [English and German] ame solely because it resembles a picture sun. It s not a turn-sun or heliotrope at all."

hat may be so ; but what about girasol n Spanish, tournesol in French, girasole in talian, napraforg6 in Hungarian, &c. 1 all f which prove that there are many people >esides the author of 'Irish Melodies' who

rmly believe that the sunflower does turn owards the sun. L. L. K.

[George Wither (' Emblemes ') ascribes to the marygold the habit of turning to the sun. See also le numerous articles in 5 th S. ii., viii., ix., xi. ; h S. L]

JOHN WILKES BOOTH, PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSIN. In the absence of an American