Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/20

 6 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* b. iv. j™ i, -sol but also show that dire portents are not invariable precursors of calamity, I commend them, without further preface, to my fellow- readers of ' N. & Q.' "In 1886, when we were living in the mountains of Bavaria, my younger sister was married, and I was told that, in accordance with local usage, I must be offered up as a sacrifice. I was clad in a single white, sleeveless garment, and then thrust within the room occupied by my sister, so that I lay prostrate at her feet. After a brief interval 1 was taken out and placed upon a pile of fagots, on which I was supposed to be burnt. One girl went so far as to prepare to light the sticks, but at this point I had had enough of it, and terminated the proceedings. I understood the idea to be that my sacrifice would in some way benefit and strengthen my sister. The bridegroom gave me a pair of green silk stockings, which I wore at the wedding; but I think he got this idea from my stepmother, who is a Scotchwoman, and that it is not a German custom. " About the year 1885 I was in Silesia, where 1 saw a curious procedure. Prior to the marriage of a betrothed girl her relatives heaped up all manner of rubbish before her door. Over this she was required to step. If she stepped clear, all was well; but should she touch the heap, it was evident that she was not the suitable bride and that the marriage would not be a happy one. " It is a curious coincidence that thrice within the two or three months before my father's death the glass of his framed photograph was found broken, and without any ostensible cause. It is true that it stood between a door and a window, and therefore in a draught; but it has stood in a similar draught for ten years since his death, and the glass has never gone again. "I was not quite nine years old when my own mother died, and, in order to keep the house quiet during her illness, we children were sent to stay with friends. In the night I was heard calling out, ' Mother, mother, don't go!' and on the servants assuring me she was not there, I declared that I had seen her in her nightdress, with flowing hair and a very white face, that she had kissed me and had stood waving her hands, as if to bid me fare- well, when I called out. It may have been a dream ; but the incident occurred on the night of my mother's death. " In 1879 my father and an old manservant were simultaneously awakened by a tremendous crash, which came from the dressing-room. Forcing open the door with much difficulty, they found a large mantel-glass fallen, which bad shattered not only itself, but a marble-topped washing-stand and some chairs. No ill luck followed. " In 1886 we were at an out-of-the-way place in the Bavarian Highlands, and my stopmother had gone for the day to shop in the nearest town. I went to my father's study to ask him to speak to the gardener, and, as we reached the door of the room, a large portrait of mv stepmother fell upon the chair from which my father had jnst risen. Neither the glass nor the cord of the picture was broken, and the nail from which it had been sus- pended remained firmly in the wall; indeed, the picture was put back again on to the same nail. My father was greatly perturbed, and telegraphed for news of his wife. She, however, returned safely, and, os no ill happened, was, after a considerable interval, told of the occurrence. I myself had a looking- glass broken, and the sheet of silvered glass which was to replace it cracked right across as it was put into the frame : but I am unconscious of any parti- cular bad luck having ensued. " In 1896 my sister had a baby, and I was looking after her. In the middle of the night there was a loud knocking at her bedroom door—as if the knuckles of a closed fist were pounding upon it. The monthly nurse and I called out, at the same moment, ' Come in,' but no one came, only the knocking was repeated. We then looked out, but the passage was empty. The children's nurse and my brother-in-law, who had heard the noise, came to inquire its cause, and disaster to my sister or her infant was feared. They both did well, however, and, although the origin of the noise was never explained, no one was the worse for it." Frank Rede Fowke. 24, Victoria Grove, Chelsea. French Proper Names. —The following quotation, since it gives the pronunciation of many well-known French names, would seem to deserve enshrinement in these columns. It is from a book called 'Dick Moon en France,' by Francis Wey, chap, xxi.:— " II est facheux d'ignorer, quand on se frotte a la societe, que le due d Escars se prononce (TEears, et s'ecrit aujourd'hui des Cars; que Fenelon se prononce Fen/on; Coigny, Coyny; Talleyrand, Talle- rawl; Duras, d'Uzes, cFUzi, Dura' Saint-Priest, Saint-Pri; Broglie, Castries, Broille, Castre* ; de Croy, de Gram- Craon, Cran; Sully, Suilly, en mouillant les I; Lamoignon, Lamognon; Coetlogon, Cotlogon; Beam, Bear; Soyecourt, Socourt; Chastellux, CMldu ; Bezenval, BizvaX, &c." James Platt, Jun. Epitaph : Right Hon. Edward Weston.— A memoir of this eminent official will appear in due course in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' The following epitaph on his monument in Somerby Church, not hitherto in print, was sent to me by Mr. C F. Weston- Underwood, of Somerby Hall, and is worthy of preservation in the columns of ' N. & Q.':— " Under this chancel, in a vault built by himself for the interment of his family, lieth Edward Weston, Est]., one of His Majesty's most honourable Privy Council in the kingdom of Ireland, Second son of Stephen, late Lord Bishop of Exeter, who having served the Crown twenty-two years in public offices, viz., eighteen under Lord Viscount Towns- end and the Earls of Harrington, Granville, and Chesterfield, Secretaries of State in Ireland, and the last four as Chief Secretary in Ireland under the same Lord Harrington, then Lord-Lieutenant, Retired in the year 1751 to this place, his own purchase; and having continued his residence hero till the death of King George II., returned in 1761 to his former post of Under-Secretary of State, upon the invitation of the Earl of Bute, and after serving under his lordship, George Granville, Esq., and the Earl of Halifax till the month of May, 1764, he was obliged by ill health to quit public business entirely, and retired once more to this place. He was twice married: first to Penelope, eldest