Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/389

 .V.MAY 12, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

381

next visit, only a year after, he found manj of them almost naked again, and raised monej and had them reclothed. Anton says :

" The prison was fenced round with a double rov of stockades ; a considerable space was appropriatec as a promenade, where the prisoners had freedom to walk about, cook provisions, make their markets, anc exercise themselves at their own pleasure, but under the superintendence of a turnkey, and in the charge

of several sentries The prisoners were far from

being severely treated : no work was required at their hands. Some were occupied in culinary avocations and as the guard had no regular mess the men on duty became ready purchasers Others were em- ployed in preparing straw for plaiting ; some were manufacturing the castaway bones into dice, dominoes, paper-cutters, and articles of toy-work

and realized considerable sums of money

Those prisoners were well provided for in every re- spect, and treated with the greatest humanity ; yet, to the eye of a stranger, they presented a miserable

Eicture of distress, while some of them were hoard- ig up money Others were actually naked, with

the exception of a dirty rag as an apron and

strangers who visited the prison commiserated the apparent distress, and charity was frequently be- stowed to clothe their nakedness ; but no sooner would this set of despicables obtain such relief than they took to the cards, dice, or dominoes, and in a

few hours were as poor and naked as ever When

they were indulged with permission to remain in their hammocks when the weather was cold, they drew the worsted out of the rugs that covered them, wound it up in balls, and sold it to the industrious knitters of mitts, and left themselves without a

covering by night The inhabitants of Penny-

cuick, previous to the establishment of this depdt of prisoners, were as comfortable and contented a class of people as in any district in Britain. The banks of the Esk were lined with prospering manu- factories When the militiamen were first quar- tered here they met with a welcome reception : in a few years those kindly people began to consider the quartering of soldiers more oppressive than they had anticipated. Trade declined as prisoners increased. One of the principal factories, Valley- field, was converted into another depot for prisoner's, and Esk mills into a barrack for the military ; this gave a decisive blow to trade." Pp. 28-35.

W. S.

Several years ago a query appeared in 4 N. & Q.' regarding the above. I understood that the querist (MR. MACBETH FORBES, if I remember rightly) was working on this sub- ject, but, so far as I have seen, no book or article has yet appeared. Undoubtedly a great deal of interesting information might be gleaned. A numberof prisoners were stationed in this district in the second decade of the century, and the impression they made seems to have been wholly pleasing. The officers were refined and gentlemanly, and those of lower rank seem to have been extraordinarily clever with their hands. I have a silhouette portrait of my grandfather which was exe- cuted by one of them. A friend has a beau- tiful model of an old three-decker made of

pieces of bone and finished with wonderful detail. In the museum here there is a model of a guillotine, also made of bone, with its guard of soldiers and even the decapitated body lying in situ. There is also an excellent sketch in Chinese ink of a view of the town as it looked in the beginning of the century. There are also two families here of the names of Diener and Domingo, whose ancestors are said to have been French prisoners who settled down in the district and did not leave it after peace was declared ; but on this point I cannot speak with certainty. In the ' Life and Times of George Lawson, D.D.,' by Macfarlane (Edinburgh, Oliphant & Co., 1862), on pp. 222-3, there is an interesting letter written by a French officer, Augt. Bouard, who was stationed at Melrose. Possibly some readers might be able to supply additional information. W. E. WILSON.

Hawick.

ME. THORP will find the information he requires in the Edinburgh volume of the 'New Statistical Account of Scotland ' (1845), p. 33, from which the following is extracted :

"The paper mills at VaUey^ 6 ^ near Peni-

cuick, Midlothian, were in 1810 fitted up by Government for the reception of 6,000 French prisoners. On the close of the war in 1814 the mills

^eturned to their former proprietors and purposes. The only memorial which remains is a very chaste and appropriate monument erected by the pro- prietor of Valleyfield to the remains of 300 prisoners

)f war who were interred in a beautiful spot amidst

lis grounds."

H. A. P.

Valleyfield is close to Culross, on the north hore of the Firth of Forth. SHERBORNE.

"ROTATORY CALABASH" (9 th S. y. 186). an this custom have had its origin in the Homan practice of suspending oscilla, little leads of Bacchus, supposed to bring fertility to whichever direction they looked? The >ractice is alluded to in the * Georgics ' lib. ii. 388) :

Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina Iseta, tibique Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu.

Dhere is an oscillum of white marble engraved n Smith's * Dictionary of Antiquities,' which s said to be preserved in the British Museum.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

A long extract from Egerton's 'Tour hrough Spiti,' entitled ' Praying by lachinery,' will be found in the Christian Remembrancer, No. cxxviii., and * N. & Q.,' rd S. viii. 66. A Japanese pray ing- wheel is escribed in the Sunday at Home for 1858.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.