Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/268

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of works of so supreme beauty and interest, we have been naturally anxious for its inclusion in that "Cathedral Series the praises of which we con- tinuously sing. It has now appeared in a volume no less satisfactory in all respects than its prede- cessors or companions. Forty or so well-executed designs illustrate its features of beauty or interest, and a capital account of the rise and history of the structure and the edifices contiguous to or con- nected with it has been compiled from the works of Freeman, Canon Church, and other authorities. In churches Somersetshire is perhaps happier than any other English county, and among Somerset- shire churches Wells stands foremost. Its anti- quarian interest may, perhaps, be impaired by the neighbourhood of Glastonbury. As the one cathe- dral in England complete in every part and detail it will always retain its charm ; and its sweet and picturesque surroundings, its tranquillity, and its calm further endear it to the heart. Devoted admirer of it as he was, Mr. Freeman wrote some terrible heresies concerning its west front. Of this great work of the pious and devoted Jocelin, which a score of writers since Fuller have declared un- rivalled, and which can, indeed, only be paralleled at Chartres and at Rheims, Freeman said : " It is doubtless the finest display of sculpture in Eng- land ; but it is thoroughly bad as a piece of archi- tecture. I am always glad when I get round the corner, and can rest my eye on the massive and simple majesty of the nave and transepts." We will not join issue with so ingenious an advocate, who is also so devoted a lover. We are "always glad," however, when we " get round the corner and rest [our] eye on the" lovely west front, with its " imagery in just proportion," as says Fuller, so "that we may call them vera et sperantia signa. England affordeth not the like." On the happy day when we are thus regaled we shall be well content to have Mr. Dearmer's excellent guide as a com- panion.

IN addition to continuations of various articles published in earlier numbers, Melusine for July- August supplies a critical text of ' La Courte Faille,' a French folk-song which is known to occur in at least twenty-five versions. It also gives some notes on contemporary legends, by the editor, followed by a brief, out amusing account of ' Saint Getorix,' furnished by M. Doncieux. It would seem that about forty years ago Napoleon III. caused a colossal bronze statue of Vercingetorix to be erected near the village of Laumes (Cote d'Or), on the supposed site of the Gaulish oppidum of Alesia. In 1872 an inhabitant of Dijon, being at Laumes, encountered some good women who were praying to St. Getorix near the monument ; and in response to his questions on the subject, he was informed at the village auberge that the statue was that of a great saint. It would be interesting, as M. Doncieux observes, to know the ulterior destinies of St. Getorix, and whether his local cult has prospered. The version of ' Little Red Riding-hood ' picked up in Touraine by M. Legot has a very ugly man, afterwards referred to as "ce mauvais diable," for villain instead of the evil-minded wolf with which English childhood is familiar.

THE number of the Interme'diaire for 30 August contains a good deal of information about the celebrated Jean Ango, shipowner, of Dieppe, who became the richest man or his time, and received Francis I. with such splendour that the king

created him Viscount of Dieppe, and gave him the captaincy of the town and castle. Some time after- wards Ango's fleet laid siege to Lisbon, the Portu- guese having taken one of his vessels, and the King of Portugal found it necessary to send ambassadors to treat with him as with a sovereign prince. But the audacious Dieppois ended badly, for he died a ruined man in 1551. The same number of the Intermediaire also contains several replies relative to St. Edme, otherwise St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, it may be remembered, died an exile in France, having defended the rights of the Church too zealously for his safety against Henry III. The body of the saint still rests at Pontigny, and for many years his tomb was a place of pilgrimage resorted to by childless wives. In the end, however, the flagstone on which it was customary for them to tread to ensure the fulfil- ment of their prayers had to be removed, for. " jouvenceaux et jeunes femmes s'y rencontraient," with the result that scandal arose, and pseudo- miracles of the most disgraceful kind became con- nected with the name of the holy man to whom an angel of light had once brought a miraculous ring to consecrate his marriage with the Virgin.

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To secure insertion, of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate."

A. R. BAYLEY ("The Clink Prison"). -This edi- fice was on the Bankside, in the Liberty of the Clink. John Bradford M'as imprisoned there in J555. A full account, derived from Stow, Strype, Selden, Henslowe, &c., will be found in Wheatley and Cunningham's ' London Past and Present.' It was ruinous in 1745, and a house erected on its site was destroyed by the mob in 1780.

G. MOUNT (" There is a budding morrow," &c.). ' Posthumous and Fugitive Poems of Keats,' in a sonnet on Homer. See ' N. & Q.,' 7 th S. iv. 380.

CORRIGENDUM. P. 196, col. 2, 1. 24 from bottom, for " 24 July" read 24 June.

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