Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/75

 9"- S. IV. July 15, '99.] 55 NOTES AND QUERIES. the most famous preface in modern literature. It contains his address to Oxford—" home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and un- popular names, and impossible loyalties"— and is referred to as " the famous preface to the 'Essays '" in the Times of 17 April, 1888, where his obituary notice may be found. As Mr. Marshall quotes Dean Paget as men- tioning " one of the three most famous pre- faces which the world has ever seen," I may Eresume to hazard the suggestion that the lean might consider Matthew Arnold to be the writer of one of the other two. Ed. Philip Belben. Endsleigh, Suffolk Road, Bournemouth. Green Ribbons used at a Funeral (9th S. iii. 486).—The churchyard attached to what is now known as Christchurch, Victoria Street, is doubtless what is meant. The original chapel was built early in the seven- teenth century on what must then have been the extreme outskirts of Westminster. Wenzel Hollar, the engraver, who lived in Gardener's Lane (now called Palmer Street) adjacent, was buried here; and so late as 1848 or 1849 the building was ordinarily called by Westminster folk the " New " or the " Broadway Chapel." Its legal designation might have been then, as now, Christchurch ; but, I can answer for it, it was seldom, if ever, spoken of by that name. H. R. J. Green ribbons were used at Lockyer's funeral because sea-green was the colour of the badges of the Levellers, possibly because their late political leader, Rainsborough, was a sailor ; but this is no more than a conjecture. Samuel R. Gardiner. "' True, true,' said Cromwell, ' they shall be removed to the churchyard, and every soldier shall attend with cockades of sea-green and blue ribbon.'" —' Woodstock,' chap, xxxvii. Jonathan Bouchier. Houses without Staircases (9th S. i. 166, 210, 356, 418 • ii. 89 ; iii. 116).—In Germany it is considered necessary that a child should " go up " before it goes down in the world, so it is carried upstairs as soon as born. In case there is no upstairs, the nurse mounts a table or chair with the infant. Frederick Lawrence Tavare. 30, Rusholme Grove, Rusholme, Manchester. Blaisdell (9th S. iii. 488).—Being a collector of directories both ancient and modern, I have had unusual opportunities of attempting to answer this query; but unless there is some one bearing this name resident in some of our hamlets and villages remote from the reach of the modern directory maker, I am afraid Mr. Blaisdell's query must be answered in the negative. There are Blease- dales, Bleasdales, Blasdales, and Blaydells, but no Blaisdells or Blasdels. If Mr. Blais- dell is ancestor-hunting, and will give some clue as to where he thinks his forebears spring from, I shall be glad to assist him still further. Mr. H. A. Blasdale and Mrs. M. Blaydell reside in London. Chas. F. Forshaw, LL.D. Hanover Gardens, Bradford. A Long Tenure of Office (9th S. iii. 226). —A much longer tenure of office terminated by the death of Charles Bridgeman on 3 August, 1873. He was eighty-one years organist of All Saints' Church, Hertford, having been appointed at the age of fourteen in succession to his sister. It is believed that he officiated for her from the age of ten, and it is well known that he performed his duties after his ninetieth birthday, though an assistant had been appointed a few years before. His tombstone is to be seen, with a record of his services, on the north side of the present church. A. A. " Eale " (9th S. ii. 227). — I was told at Dunmor Head, in the extreme west of Kerry, that such a bit of land as Mr. Mayhew de- scribes is sometimes called in Gaelic by a word (I forget now which) meaning eyot. May it be, then, that eale is a Keltic application, and the English sound, of old Frencli isle ? Such a bit of land often becomes literally an islet when its river runs high. Or is it so called because it is slippery, like an eel ? Palamedes. Relics of Charles I. (8th S. vi. 226, 315; 9th S. ii. 513 ; iii. 130, 314).—I regret that I have not made my remarks intelligible to Mr. Jonas. When he has an opportunity of referring to the edition of the' Secret History' to which the auctioneer had access he will find the pagination to be as stated. Had the edition seen by the auctioneer been the first one, the mention he made of it would have been inexcusable. He seems to have substituted the word vest for wastcoat in order to suit the garment offered for sale, according to modern haberdashery parlance. In some newspapers the paragraph recording the sale was headed 'Charles the First's Undervest.' As to the relative value of 'The Secret History'and 'The Tragical History,' what I had intended to convey was that while for the former the author lays claim to exclusive sources of information, and asserts that the greater part of the events described were