Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/180

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NOTES' AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. AUG. 24, 1901.

This writer, who was in the service of the West India Company of France, gives an account of the " baptism " at sea as witnessed by himself during a voyage from Havre de Grace to the island of Tortuga in the year 1666. He says that when off the coast of France, in latitude 48 10', the master's mate, whose face had been blackened with soot, having donned a long garment reaching to his feet, a cap of a burlesque fashion, and a collar made of small pieces of wood, com- manded all who had not sailed those seas before to be brought into his presence. This being done, he ordered them to kneel, and, after making the sign of the cross upon their foreheads with ink from a pot which he held in his left hand, he gave each one a blow on the shoulder with a wooden sword ; the fortunate few or many, as the case might be, who had sailed that way before, amused themselves by throwing bucketfuls of water over those who had just gone through the ordeal of inkpot and wooden sword. An offering of a bottle of brandy, to be placed near the mainmast without speaking, was expected from each of the newly baptized. If the ship had not passed that way before, the captain was expected to distribute wine among the passengers and crew.

A similar custom was observed by the Dutch in the same latitude, and also off the coast of Portugal in latitude 39 40', but the ordeal seems to have been more trying, as the unfortunate individual was hoisted up at the mainyard's end and dipped into the ocean three times ; a passenger of distinction was dipped a fourth time in the name of the Prince of Orange or the captain of the ship. The first dipped had the honour of being saluted with a gun. Those who were not willing to undergo this somewhat rough form of baptism could compound by paying a sum of money one of the crew paying twelve pence, an officer of the ship two shillings, and a passenger according to his means or pleasure. The money so obtained was handed to the master's mate, and on reaching port was spent in wine for the seamen. As in the French service, if the ship had not sailed that way before, the captain was bound to distribute wine ; failing this, the seamen had the right of cutting off the stem of the ship. ALBERT GOUGH.

Glandore Gardens, Antrim Road, Belfast.

Your readers may be interested in the following extract from my diary of 1862 :

"Nov. 19th. This evening Neptune's avant-courier hailed the ship from over the bows and informed us that His Highness would come on board to- morrow.

' 20th. Crossed the Line under sail [the ship was an auxiliary - screw three-master]. There was a grand * masque ' : Neptune, Amphitrite, Tritons, and attendants came on board in character, N. and A. drawn on a gun-carriage. The orthodox shaving was carried out on all of the ship's company who had not crossed the Line before. We passengers escaped by paying up. After being shaved the 'shavee' was tumbled back into a large sail stretched amidships and half full of water ; emerg- ing with difficulty from which, owing to its wet slanting sides, he was dried with a sooty towel brought from the funnel, which had been lowered, as we were under sail in a light wind."

The Line" was the equator. Neptune had a long white beard and hair, with a tin crown, and held a trident. Amphitrite was a sailor boy, who made a very good-looking young woman. MICHAEL FERRAR,

Little Gidding, Baling.

An interesting and amusing account of this ceremony may be found in a book very easy of access, Chambers's 'Book of Days,' vol. ii. pp. 653, 654, to which let me refer your corre- spondents. It is accompanied by an engrav- ing 'Marine Ceremonies at "Crossing the Line.'" JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

"GENTLIER" (9 th S. vii. 468; viii. 114). Shakspeare has kindlier as a comparative adverb in the fifth act of the 'Tempest.' Parolles, in ' All 's Well that Ends Well,' says : " Man will be quicklier blown up." Milton has wiselier :

Doubt not but God

Hath wiselier armed his vengeful ire than so To be forestalled.

' Paradise Lost,' book x. lines 1022-4.

Shakspeare, in the ' Tempest,' has the same word : "You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should." Milton has rightlier ; and, without inquiring further, we can see that Tennyson was quite right in using the form gentlier as a comparative adverb. For a superlative adverb formed in the same way see ' Cymbeline,' IV. ii.:

To show what coast thy sluggish crare Might easiliest harbour in.

The verses of Tennyson remind me of some by Ben Jonson :

And fall like sleep upon the eyes, Like music on the ear.

But I do not say that the thought expressed by one poet is identical with that of the other. I should say that in quoting the lines of Ben Jonson I am relying on my memory.

E. YARDLEY.

'THE TRIBAL HID AGE' (9 th S. vii. 441; viii. 99). It is stated by J. B. that the Wocen scetna, with a hidage of 7,000, have