Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/284

 276

NOTES AND QUERIES,

s. VIL AFML a, woi.

character of his surroundings is borne in mind, and the adverse fortune that was* his habitual lot during his brief life of thirty years, an additional interest pertains to his verse verse that is invariably in all his work (and he issued several small volumes) above the level of mediocrity. Macfarlan was a master of verbal melody, and to the exalted thought and rich fancy that charac- terized his poems he united an appropriate though somewhat ornate diction. I subjoin the opening stanza of ' The Lords of Labour' and two typical verses from 'The Poet ' :

THE LORDS OF LABOUR. They come, they come, in a glorious march ;

You can hear their steam-steeds neigh As they dash through Skill's triumphal arch

Or plunge 'mid the dancing spray. Their bale-fires blaze in the mighty forge,

Their life-pulse throbs in the mill, Their lightnings shiver the gaping gorge, And their thunders shake the hill. Ho ! these are the Titans of toil and trade,

The heroes who wield no sabre ; But mightier conquests reapeth the blade That is borne by the lords of labour.

THE POET.

Love had he felt in one wild rush of dawn,

That, bright'ning, deepen'd into lustrous day, Then slowly pass'd, o'er life's stern hills withdrawn In sunset rich away.

With calm, stern Nature in the wilds he trod

Felt the commanding joy that awes and thrills When some wild sun-burst, like the glance of God, Smote all the wond'ring hills.

JOHN GRIGOR. 105, Choumert Road, Peckham.

In 'The Poets and Poetry of Scotland' (Blackie) is a short notice of James Macfarlan. Six of his poems are also given, including 'Book- World' and 'The Lords of Labour.' 1 shall be pleased to send MR. HEMMING a copy of ' The Lords of Labour ' if he will give me his address. JOHN PATCHING

139, Ditchling Rise, Brighton.

MAY-WATER (9 th S. vii. 149). The notion is very widely diffused. See Pepys's 'Diary' 28 May, 1667 ; 11 May, 1669. And what says the poet ?

With the dew from May-buds shaken

Oft the damsel wets her face, Oft she bathes her golden ringlets ;

Shines she then with heavenly grace. Many an eye that 's red with weeping Finds how fresh the dew-drops are ; Soon beholds how friendly shineth,

Dim with mists, the morning star. The poet is LThland ; the translation is mine.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

This belief is not uncommon in the Mid- lands, with this difference that it is attached,

not to the month of May, but to Ascension Day only. Rain-water falling on that day, caught as it falls from heaven in a clean vessel, will keep sweet any length of time, and is good for many ophthalmic troubles so it is said. It is sometimes called " holy water," because it falls on Holy Thursday.

W. C. B.

In Lincolnshire June- water, which should be caught as it comes down from the clouds, is a remedy for ej^e diseases.

In Sweden the rain which falls in May is thought to be peculiarly beneficial ; and (2er- man children run out into May-rain, crying, " May-rain, make me tall " (Rochholz, ' Drei Gaugottinnen,'p. 55). According to the same authority, April-rain and May-dew are highly esteemed in France (p. 57), and Easter-dew, in common with midsummer-dew, is still credited with curative properties among the Teutonic nations of the Continent ; probably because several solar superstitions, properly belonging to the spring-tide equinox, or to some more ancient sun-festival falling about that time, have become linked with Easter. The summer solstice, sacred among Christians to the great baptizing saint, seems to have been connected with well- worship and other water superstitions for unknown ages ; and it would appear that the spring-tide rain, which helps to feed and develope vegetable life while the sun is progressing towards his midsummer glory, is held by many nations to have eminently beneficial qualities. The idea is natural enough, for the waxing power of the great luminary and the spring- tide rain and dew, taken together, fill the world with a luxuriant growth of blades, leaves, and flowers such as is seen at no other time. P. W. G. M.

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

"In the neighbourhood of Banbury, in Oxford- shire, the rain which may happen to fall on Holy Thursday is carefully preserved and bottled as a specific remedy for sore eyes."

As Ascension Day or Holy Thursday happens forty days after Easter Sunday, it is only on occasions that it does not occur during the month of May, which may account for the extension of the period for which the virtue is to be found in the rain-water falling in Wales. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

ANGLO-HEBREW SLANG : " KYBOSH " (9 th S. vii. 188). MR. HEBB asks the meaning of the phrase " to put on the kybosh." It has two meanings, depreciative and appreciative. The former is the only one in the dictionaries,