Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/81

 9 th S. II. JULY 23, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

73

Mai. Hamilton by his first wife Mary, daugh- ter of Robert Wilkie of Sachtonhill, and was sent by his father to join the Swedish army in 1624, and died in 1679. He was joined in Swe- den in 1654 by his nephew, Malcolm Hamilton. This later Malcolm became a Swedish general, was ennobled in 1693 as Baron Hamilton de Hageby, and was buried at Gothenburg ; he was elder son of Capt. John Hamilton of Ballygawley, co. Tyrone, who was a younger son of the archbishop. John's grandfather was Archibald Hamilton of Dalserf, Lanark- shire, who is said to have been grandson of James Hamilton, second Earl of Arran, but this relationship is not clearly proved (' Dic- tionary of National Biography/ q.v.).

HENRY T. POLLARD.

"DOWN TO THE GROUND" (9 th S. i. 145, 291). " It suits me down to the ground " is an expression often used. It means something which is entirely or completely satisfactory from " head to foot," " from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot," " from top to toe," and so on. A lady's new dress and a man's new suit, if they look well and are appro- priate to the wearer, suit them " down to the ground." A bargain, or an arrangement, or an amusing incident or story, suits some one or other " down to the ground."

THOS. KATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

PATCHES (9 th S. i. 347). This custom appears to have been introduced into England during the reign of Elizabeth, and to have prevailed through succeeding reigns down to the early days of the present century. According to 'Bygone England,' the first to practise the custom were the fops of the Elizabethan era, " who embellished their faces with patches shaped in the form of stars, crescents, and lozenges." In the same work we are told that the earliest mention of English women adopting the fashion occurs in Bulwer's 'Artificial Changeling,' 1653. He says :

" Our ladies have lately entertained a vain cus- tom of spotting their faces, out of an affectation of a mole, to set off their beauty, such as Venus had ; and it is well if one black patch will serve to make their faces remarkable, for some fill their visages full of them, varied into all manner of shapes and figures."

In an article entitled ' Patching and Paint- ing,' in Chambers's 'Book of Days,' we read :

" They [patches] seem to have fallen from their high estate towards the beginning of the present century, for the books of fashion of that period make no allusion to them whatever, but they did not become utterly extinct even then. A writer in 1826, describing the toilet table of a Roman lady, says : ' It looks nearly like that of our modern belles, all loaded with jewels, bodkins, false hair,

fillets, ribbands, washes, and patchboxes ' ; and the present generation may possibly witness a revival of the fashion."

For further information on the subject see 'Bygone England' (London, 1892), art. 'A Foolish Fashion'; Chambers's 'Book of Days,' vol. ii. pp. 593-5 ; Nares's ' Glossary,' s.v. ' Patches ' ; Pepys's ' Diary.'

H. ANDREWS.

Another instance of reference to patches worn by men occurs in the Spectator ; No. 321:

"If withal she observes a pair of Red-Heels, a Patch, or any other particularity in his dress, she cannot take too much care."

For its existence in 1754, the article in. Chambers's ' Book of Days,' vol. ii. p. 594, refers to a writer in ' The World ' for its pre- valence. Anstey enumerates "velvet patches a la Grecque" among the necessities of a fine lady in 1766 (ibid.). Also, without express reference, there is in a writer of 1826 a com- parison of the toilet table of a Roman lady with that of " our modern belles," in which there is the mention of patches (patchboxes).

ED. MARSHALL.

In France mouches, as they are called, came into fashion about the end of the sixteenth century, and they were probably not long in finding their way across the Channel. M. Franklin, who has some pleasant pages on them (' Les Soins de Toilette '), prides himself on having discovered the origin of these little artifices. He finds from Louis Guyon's ' Diverses Le9ons ' (1625), t. ii. p. 138, liv. i. ch. xx.. that it was customary to comfort toothache by putting on the temples little plasters spread on tafiety or velvet.

" II ne fallut pas longtemps a une coquette poiir remarquer que ces taches noires faisaient ressortir la blancheur de sa peau, et que si le remede 4tait inefficace centre 1'odpntalgie, il jouissait d'une vertu bien autrement pre"cieuse, celle de donner de 1'^clat au visage le plus fane"." P. 92.

M. Franklin cites (p. 96) from ' La Mouche et la Fourmi ' of La Fontaine :

Je rehausse d'un teint la blancheur naturelle, Et la derniere main que met a sa beaute"

Une femme allant en conquete, C'est un ajustement des mouches emprunte,

ST. SWITHIN. [Other replies are acknowledged.]

SAN LANFRANCO (9 th S. i. 364, 435, 478). Assuredly both Dean Hook and Murray have blundered, as ST. SWITHIN and MR. PEACOCK have shown, concerning the two Lanfrancs, having in fact confused two totally distinct centuries and personages.

The interesting thirteenth-century church visited by ST. SWITHIN took the place of