Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/368

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NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. v. MAY 5, 1900.

the pig with the family in Paddy's cabin, where in virtue (!), or in spite, of his presence the inmates are often very healthy. I have never met with an instance of a goat being kept with sheep.

S. A. D'ARCY, L.R.C.P. and S.I. Rosslea, Clones, co. Fermanagh.

A few weeks ago a strange donkey strayed into my orchard. On making inquiries I found it had been bought that day by a neighbouring farmer, and I was told that it was considered beneficial to the milch kine to have a donkey with them. This is in Worcestershire. ' W. C. B.

T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, in his * English Folk- lore,' says :

" There is a popular notion relative to goats ; they are supposed, says Brand, never to be seen for twenty-four hours together ; and that once in that space they pay a visit to the devil, in order to have their beards combed. This is common both in Eng- land and Scotland. Martin, in his ' Description of the Western Islands,' says it was an ancient custom among them to hang a he-goat to the boat's mast, in order to ensure by this means a favourable wind."

'N. & Q.,' 3 rd S. ix. 118, 330, contains a letter published in the Manchester Courier of 29 January, 1866, showing the belief in goats keeping diseases from farmyards which formerly prevailed.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

I have not read that in days of old it was the office of the goat to resist witches. The goat, however, was sometimes their support ; for the devil was said to take the form of this animal. He often presided at their nightly meetings in the form of a black goat. The leaders of the witches were supposed to be the pagan gods and goddesses become devils. And one of these leaders was Bacchus, who used to change himself into a goat, as he did when Typhceus frightened the gods out of heaven. E. YARDLEY.

TWENTY - FOUR - HOUR DIALS ON CLOCKS (8 th S. xii. 9, 109, 171, 292, 494 ; 9 th S. v. 234). I wonder that, in correcting the misprint oi " Sous " for Sono, I did not also correct the misprint in the same sentence (which MR PIERPOTNT indicates) of " ventre " for venti I certainly wrote " venti," as did the author whom I quoted. ALDENHAM.

St. Dunstan's.

GRAMMATICAL USAGE (9 th S. v. 288). The answer to the question is that we must noi depend upon logical considerations, but con descend to examine it historically. If reader.*

would consult such historical grammars as hose by Matzner, or Koch, or Fiedler and Sachs, they would frequently find that these >oints have long ago been considered and llustrated by long lists of examples.

Of the construction in question I have observed several examples in the works of ing Alfred, especially in his translation of Orosius. The actual historical usage is care- ully ignored in many English grammars, Because the writers will not condescend, as a rule, to examine what forms of syntax were actually in use in the Middle-English and Anglo-Saxon periods. If instead of looking at such a question logically we really consult our old authors, we shall find a usage which may be thus formulated. When a verb occurs as the second word in a sentence, and .s preceded by such words as it, that, what, where, here, and the like, such a verb is usually employed in the singular number, irrespective of the number of the substantive which follows it. Examples of such usage are common, from the ninth century onwards. Hence a ballad may begin with "It was a over and his lass," or we may begin a sentence with " There is tears " or " Here is pansies." There are many examples in our dramatists. This is the right explanation of the famous line in 'The Tempest': "What cares these roarers for the name of king 1 " Yet the commentators have sometimes quarrelled over it ; and, if I remember rightly, the form cares has been explained as "a Northern plural." But what had a Warwick- shire man to do with a Northern plural 1

WALTER W. SKEA.T.

A SHIELD OP BRAWN (9 th S. v. 247). For the meaning of the expression "a shield of brawn," with quotations for its use, see ' N. & Q.,' 7 th S. x. 129, 235, 353.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

HORSE EQUIPMENT (9 th S. v. 148, 213). It is possible only to give approximate dates for the separate parts.

Saddles, in some form, are of the greatest antiquity. Under Tiglath-Pileser III. the Assyrian cavalry were provided with them (see Prof. Sayce's * Babylonians and Assy- rians : Life and Customs ') ; and the early Komans used a covering of cloth, hide, or skin, which was no doubt very similar. These early examples would probably represent light saddles. The heavy war-saddle seems to be much later, one of the earliest instances of its use being by the Visigoths in A.D. 340. Theodosius the Great, fifty years later, effected great improvements.