Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/201

 9* s. viii. AUG. 31, i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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root what she called a foolish superstition, furnished (or induced her husband to furnish) in different shades of green an entire wing just added to the family mansion. Within six months the lady deserted her husband and home, and died abroad soon afterwards under very tragic circumstances. Needless to say, the popular belief as to the unlucki- ness of green survives unshaken.

OSWALD HUNTER- BLAIR, O.S.B. Oxford.

A nursery governess who tended my remote youth was wont to chant over her ribbons :

Oh ! green is forsaken, and yellow forsworn, But blue is the prettiest colour that 's worn.

EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.

CRAWFORD FAMILY (9 th S. viii. 64). The Norman origin of the above family pro- pounded by Burke is the accepted theory, and the conjecture of their descent from an Anglo-Danish chief is considered erroneous. For a clear and interesting account see Anderson's ' Scottish Nation.'

JOHN KADCLIFFE.

" MERE MAN " (9 th S. vii. 506). Surely the circumstance of an Irishman coming to the help of an Englishman in search of a joke alleged by a Scotsman is sufficiently unique to be worthy of an apotheosis in ' N. & Q.'

J. L. ANDERSON. Edinburgh.

ST. EDMUND (9 th S. viii. 103, 134). The news freely advertised that the relics of St. Edmund, king, virgin, and martyr, had been taken to Arundel appears to have caused considerable surprise to some of the gentlemen of the press who are called upon, on very short notice, to write on subjects which they can approach with that complete openness of mind which is begotten only of ignorance. In this particular instance it may be urged by way of excuse for those to whom the history of St. Edmund is new, that, beyond his own kingdom of East Anglia, he was not generally held in great esteem, and few churches beyond the boundary of his former realm were dedicated to his protection. In the west of England he was practically unknown. One church in London bears his name. In East Anglia the case is quite different, and few educated East Anglians are ignorant of the principal legends asso- ciated with the life of the saint, of his fights with the Danes, his tragic death, and of the shrine at Bury which was for so long the chief object of pilgrimage in the east of England.

A few years ago a member of the Italian mission in England wrote a book on St. Ed- mund, which dealt very fully, not only with the events of his life, but also with the " translations of his incorrupt body." * The book is a curious and interesting one, but it was not apparent to every reader with what object it was written. "You may depend upon it there is some little game up," said a well-known Anglican antiquary, "and we shall not have long to wait to see what it is." The prophecy has come true. The news we now have is that the relics of St. Edmund have been brought from Rome, and that the supporters of the Italian mission in England wish to have them conveyed to the large new edifice which they have erected in Westminster. This project must have been under consideration for some time, and the secret has been well kept.

Mr. Mackinlay, the author of the book pre- viously referred to, gives a picturesque account of the alleged stealing of the relics of St. Edmund from Bury, and states that they were presented to the church of St. Servin at Toulouse. The story as related is by no means convincing to the ordinary mind ; but possibly those of the faith who believe that St. Edmund was capable of the crime of assassination after his deaththat is to say, those who believe the story recorded by Mr. Mackinlay that St. Edmund returned to earth to commit a murder may be con- vinced by evidence which might not appeal to Lord Salisbury's friend " the man in the street."

However this may be, the matter of the supposed relics of St. Edmund has a serious side. If the relics are, as stated, the mortal remains of a king of East Anglia, and if, as alleged, they were stolen from Bury, they should be returned for decent interment to the place whence they came. If, on the other hand, the mortal remains are not those of St. Edmund, it is not seemly that such things should be deposited in this way at West- minster. R. S.

If the casket now reposing at Arundel really contains the bones of St. Edmund it should be one of the most cherished relics of the early history of Christianity in this country. Since reading about its arrival in the newspapers I have been searching in my

of his Life and Times, with an Account of the Translations of his Incorrupt Body, &c. From original MSS. By the Rev. J. B. Mackinlay, O.S.B. London and Leamington Art and Book Company. 1893." y
 * " Saint Edmund, King and Martyr. A History