Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/160

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. AUG. 17, IDOL

and near the mountain, and they were so specified by A FOLK-LORIST. At any rate, convinced of the truth' of this story, that tradition in both these cases seems to have whenever they saw the wool of a sheep's side rested on a solid substratum of fact and it Tinged with yellow, they thought it had would be interesting. to hear of other in- acquired that colour from having lain above stances of similar survivals. the gold of the mine. A great many years W. *. TRID

ago a ghost made its appearance on the spot, supposed to be laden with the secret of the mine, and Chambers proceeds to tell the story of a shepherd who plucked up courage to accost it, and received the following reply to his demand to learn the reason of the spectre's presence :

If Auchindownie cock disna craw,

And Balmain horn disna blaw,

I'll tell ye where the gowd mine is in Largo Law. Not a cock was left alive at the farm of Auchindownie, but man was more difficult to control, for just as the ghost appeared, ready to divulge the secret, Tammie Norrie, the cow-herd of Balmain, heedless of all injunc- tions to the contrary, "blew a blast both loud and dread," on which the ghost immediately vanished, after exclaiming :

Woe to the man who blew the horn, For out of the spot he shall ne'er be borne In fulfilment of this denunciation the un-

Authentic particulars of burnt sacrifices in an and elsewhere will be found in Principal Rhys's recently published 'Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx.' If your correspondent will refer to the index volume of Archceo-^ logia Cambrensis, under the heading ' Mold,' he will find a full account of the giant who was buried in " golden armour "; and he will, I think, be satisfied that the case furnishes an example of a genuine ancient tradition verified by archaeological research.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS. Town Hall, Cardiff.

MANX WORDS (9 th S. viii. 83). According to Jamieson's ' Scottish Dictionary ' " maze " is a term applied to herrings, denoting the number of five hundred. Under "mese of herring," ibid., several derivations are given. Skene is quoted as of the opinion that, as herrings are so numerous that they are com-

fortunate horn-blower was struck dead upon monly numbered by thousands, the " mese the spot, and it being found impossible to is the /*eo-oi/, medium, or half thousand. In remove his body, which seemed, as it were, pinned to the earth, a cairri of stones was raised over it, which, grown into a green hillock, was denominated Nome's Law (A.-S. hlceiv, a tumulus or barrow), and for long was regarded as uncanny by the common people. But it appears that in 1819 a man digging sand at Nome's Law found a cist or stone coffin containing a suit of scale-armour, with shield, sword-handle, and scabbard, all of silver. This discovery was recorded by Chambers in later editions of his work, in which it is further stated that the finder kept the secret until nearly the whole of the pieces had been disposed of to a silversmith at Cupar ; but on one of the few that remain it is remarkable to find the " spectacle orna- ment," crossed by the so-called "broken

sceptre," thus indicating a great though un- certain antiquity. Further details will be found in Dr. John Stuart's book on 'The Sculptured Stones of Scotland.' In this case, as in the Bryn-yr-Ellyllon one,

the abridged edition of 1818 Jamieson had been satisfied with but one derivation, and that from the Icelandic " meis, a bag in which fish are carried." "Mar- fire" may mean phosphorescence of the sea, or marsh -fire = ignis fatuus, according to the context. The latter is on the lines of a more exact ety- mology. ARTHUR MAYALL.

THE TRYSTING OAK IN 'IVANHOE' (9 th S. viii. 42). Concerning the identity of the "trysting tree" in 'Ivanhoe' there is in this district a great difference of opinion, and this has existed for many years. There were two large oaks in Harthill Walk, one in the vicarage garden at Tod wick, the other at some distance from it the one, in fact, which Mr. Mosey, the present agent of the Duke of Leeds, claims as Scott's trysting oak. As far as I know, the oldest inhabitants have for years considered the tree at Tod wick to be the one mentioned in 'Ivanhoe,' and they have ever looked upon it with pride. The

we have not only a long-standing tradition of portion of Harthill Walk at Tod wick is now the burial of one of the precious metals, for the a private road, and the tree is a very fine conversion of silver into gold would offer no one, worthy of the belief with which it is in- difficulties to the popular imagination, but | vested. Mr. Mosey has long been engaged also of a spectre which apparently filled the office of guardian of the treasure ; and the

3uestion would seem to present the same ifficulties of solution as those that are

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in seeking information, and he pins his faith to the trunk which he has had taken down and transferred to the grounds of his re- sidence; but it will require some strong