Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/380

 314 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. VL OCT. 20, woo. looking awhile at the gambling foreigners, remarked slowly to a fellow-sailor, " Blessed if these here foreigners ain't got a rum taste, 'specially that fat 'un, a-laying there all the livelong day on that there corpse!" Then it came out that this particular box contained a coffin, in which was the body of some inhabitant of Bordeaux, who had died in London, and whose remains were being taken home upon our ship. The way those Frenchmen — the fat man in particular— jumped up when they learnt this and crossed themselves I shall never forget. It is a stern fact, if a first-class return ticket is taken upon any of the big Atlantic liners, and its owner dies on the other side, the return half does not clear the corpse upon the homeward voyage. Should friends wish the body to be brought back, it costs an additional 1001. to do so. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. PARODY ON 'THE MISTLETOE BOUGH' (9th S. vi. 229).—This song was, I think, one of a series of songs sung either at the "Cider Cellars" or "Coal Hole" about 1850, and was, I fancy, entitled 'Bill Jen- kins; or, the Burning of the Houses of Parliament.' About that time it was the custom of young men to give suppers at their rooms, generally of tripe, porter and gin, with long clay pipes and tobacco, and each one was expected to add to the harmony of the evening by singing some- thing new; and, so far as my memory now serves, the song in question ran thus :— The engines they came, the busses they rolled, And the military came out with their helmets like gold, When a lanky policeman called out in a fright, " Ain't we better find out the covey as set this 'ere alight?" Oh. what a flare up! Crikey Bill, what a stunning flare up! They came to a door and at it they knocked, But they couldn't get in, 'cos why, it was locked, When this lanky policeman bust it in with a pole, And there was Bill Jenkins slap bang down the hole. Oh, what a flare up! Crikey Bill, what a stunning flare up 1 As it went on it became very indecent and not worthy of preservation. I do not fancy it would be found in print, as at that time it was thought the thing to order a copy of the song from the singer, who used to supply it in MS. There were several others ol the same nature, not without humour, bul decidedly coarse, such as 'Joe Buggiris's Wedding,' 'Joe Buggins's Donkey,' 'The Woman who studied the Stars,' 'Mr. ant Mrs. Johnson,' »fcc. ROBERT BURNINGHAM. 15, WhiUingstall Road, 8.W. BROKEN ON THE WHEEL (9th S. vi. 251).— Sully, in his ' Memoirs,' relates that this ba.r- mrous mode of death was of great antiquity. About 1535 it was introduced into France DV Francis I. as a punishment for robbers- Henry IV. of France was murdered on 14 May, 1610, by Ravaillac, who was exe- cuted on 27 May, when, after undergoing various other inflictions, his limbs were torn asunder by horses. The article referred to by your correspondent is entitled ' Penal Legis- lation,' and appeared in All the Year Round for 14 November, 1874; but no account is a;iven of any such mode of punishment being inflicted so recently as the century now draw- ing to its close. EVERARD HOME COLEMAU. 71, Brecknock Road. "CHINK' (9th S. v. 432, 498; vi. 154, 236).— The evidence in favour of the mediaeval use of chestnut at Rodmersham in Kent differs very materially from that in the case of Fordington. The Kentish case is a chancel screen of fifteenth-century design retaining much of its original colouring, proving that chestnut was then used there. At Fording- ton Vicarage a lintel, no doubt of chestnut, was found behind plaster on the inner side of an ancient window opening; but there is nothing to show that this was more than one or two centuries old. Chestnut was used with oak near Bicester in the seven- teenth century. But none of this evidence really touches the question raised by Wren, and frequently cropping up, of its use in mediaeval roofs, of which no specimen has been found that will bear examination. SENGA has done good service by sending you specimens which, to any ordinary mina, are conclusive as to the difference between chest- nut and oak in the way I pointed out. THOS. BLASHILL. A LONG AND YOUNG FAMILY (9th S. v. 333; vi. 234).—It may be interesting to record the use of a similar expression, viz., a " long weak family," by country people in Ireland. A good example of this use occurs in a recently published and extremely humorous book, 'Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.' (Longmans & Co.), where, at p. 159, a small horsedealer so describes his family, and a bystander retorts, " Three fine lumps of daughters in America paying his rent for him. That's the long weak family!" L. LLOYD. Blandford Lodge, Chiswick. " ADELPHI DRAMA": "ADELPHI GUEST"(9U'S. vi. 186).—The origin of " Adelphi guest" that