Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/453

 9* s. VIIL NOV. so, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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horse," a king and queen (both men) in quaint costume, and last of all a man with a " property " bow and arrow, so constructed as to be " let off with a clack," in time with the music of an accordion. The whole perform- ance consists of a dance "in step to music up and down the street." The horns and dresses are said by my informant to be kept in the church, and to be given out annually at " the wake about the middle of September." Moreover, all are the property of the parish. This singular and interesting survival is not apparently in connexion with any Church festival, seeing that the dedica- tion (according to Ecton) is to St. Nicholas, 6 December. It must, then, be intended to be held at the equinox, and thus be a remnant of the old nature - worship of the spirit of vegetation.

I should be very glad to hear from- your numerous correspondents if any analogous custom is still observed in other places ; also if the horns appear elsewhere as part of the performance, and if so, what meaning or local significance is attached to them in connexion with this so-called dance. There is, of course, at Abbot's Bromley the usual collection of money for "cakes and ale," which latter are placed in what is called the "Reeve's pot." In the photograph the pot is carried by the king. F. T. ELWORTHY.

Foxdown, Wellington, Somerset.

A RIME ON EDWARD VII. In the first leader in the Church Times of 1 February last was the following :

" A foolish rhyme has been current for some years, purporting to bean ancient prophecy, which connects with the name of the 7th Edward a revival of things lost since the reign of the 6th Edward. The pro- phecy cannot be traced, we believe, beyond a con- troversialist of our own day, who is reported to be the author also of much imaginary evidence for the history of the past."

It would be interesting to know something more about the rime and its supposed author. JAMES HOOPER.

MARRIAGE FOLK-LORE. There is a very widespread belief in this republic that the marriage of two sisters by the same ceremony is unlucky. " One of the two is sure to carry away all the blessings which Mother Church bestows on such occasions, to the detriment of the other sister." Is this belief prevalent in other countries 1 M. M. L.

Costa Rica.

NICHOLAS COURTENAY, M.P. for Saltash 1679, and for Camelford 1685-7, was a barrister of the Inner Temple, and " received a patent from the infant son of James II.

to act as his Attorney-General within the Duchy " (see ' Parliamentary History of Cornwall,' by W. P. Courtney). From which of the numerous branches of the house of Courtenay was he descended ? The youngest son of William Courtenay of Tremere, Corn- wall, bore the name of Nicholas, and, as he was born after 1620, might possibly be the M.P. who was still alive in 1692, when Roger Boyle the philosopher made his will.

W. D. PINK.

BYROM'S EPIGRAM. In an article on 'Our National Songs ' in the Church Monthly for November, Prof. H. C. Beeching cites God bless the King ! I mean the State's defender ; God bless no harm in blessing the Pretender ! But which Pretender is, and which is King, God bless us all, that's quite another thing

in proof of "the general indifference" that existed as to which dynasty bare rule when George II. was on the throne. I had regarded this as a covert form of doing honour to " Charlie over the water " by a toast when his adherents met over the wine. How do others view it ? I thought; too, that the first line ran, God bless the King ! I mean the Faith's defender.

ST. SWITHIN.

[At 2 nd S. ii. 292 the reading is "the Faith's Defender"; but SIR J. A. PICTON at 5 th S. iii. 31 read " our faith's defender."]

" PROSPICIMUS MODO." The following Latin verse, which is composed with much in- genuity, affords two very opposite meanings, by merely reversing the order of the words : Prospicimus modo, quod durabunt tempore longo Foedera, nee patrise pax cito diffugiet. Diffugiet cito pax patriae, nee fcedera longo Tempore durabunt, quod modo prospicimus.

The foregoing appears without any transla- tion in ' Relics of Literature,' by Stephen Collet, A.M. (London, Thomas Boys, Ludgate Hill, 1823), a very interesting little work. If it has not already been noticed in * N. & Q.,' I should be thankful for different trans- lations from contributors, which may be of interest to some of your readers. In the advertisement thereto at its commencement the learned compiler of ' Relics,' inter alia, states "he is merely an amateur who in course of reading somewhat desultory and extensive extracted for his private portfolio such articles as he deemed curious or interesting "; and towards the conclusion thereof, that although it consisted "chiefly of gleanings from the works of others, he would be want- ing did he not avow his responsibility for some few original articles." On a perusal of the entire book, I opine he culled the above from some other author or writer. It can