Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/50

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. JULY 13, 1901.

some reason Ragnar has been altered to Regnar ; Thorir to Thori and Thore ; while, as a last instance, Olaf Tryggvi's son (Icel. O'lafr Tryggvason) has seen many strange phases. Besides Olaf and Olave (the former of which is quite legitimate, to adapt the name to our language), we find Trygg- vason, Tryggveson, Tryggvison, and worst of all Trygveson. Many other instances might be quoted. The marvel is what induces people to adopt these wonderful transformations. One would imagine that a man professing to write on a subject would at least make himself acquainted with the correct forms of his proper names, and, on being acquainted with them, would not so carefully avoid communicating his knowledge to others. E. R. E.

MERCY TO ANIMALS. A writer in the Athenaeum for 25 May, alluding to Hogarth,

"He was the first of English painters (we might, indeed, write European artists) who frequently and urgently pleaded for mercy to animals in the service of man/' P. 669.

To this it may be well to append the following passage from the Quarterly Review of last October. The writer, referring to Leonardo da Vinci, says :

" He could tame the most fiery horses, and would never allow any living creature to be hurt or ill- treated." P. 398.

ASTARTE.

LIME-TREE. Prof. Skeat remarks in his

lime as applied to the tree now generally so called (formerly it was always united as one word with tree, often, e.g. in ' Rees's Cyclopaedia,' without hyphen) is the result of two successive corruptions, lind becoming line, and line afterwards becoming lime. He says, "The change from line to lime does not seem to be older than about A.D. 1700." Apparently, however, he forgot to consult Evelyn's 'Sylva,' for in that work, the first edition of which is dated 1 664, chap. xiii. is
 * Etymological Dictionary ' that the word

out. W. T. LYNN.
 * Of the Lime-tree,' which is so spelt through-

Blackheath.

THE TRYSTING OAK IN ' IVANHOE.' The following recent cutting is deserving of pre- servation in ' N. & Q.' :

"In a short time, remarks the Leeds Mercury, a unique ceremony of interest to readers of Sir Walter Scott will take place on the confines of the West Riding and Derbyshire. Some time ago the old Trysting Oak in Harthill Walk, so frequently men- tioned in 'Ivanhoe,' was felled to the ground in order to preserve the trunk. The tree was one of the oldest in England, and is described by Scott as

being venerable when siege was laid to the Castle of Torquilstone. The tree stood on the estate of the Duke of Leeds, whose agent, Mr. Mozey, is devoted to Scott. By his instructions the tree was taken down, and the trunk will be preserved on the lawn in front of Mr. Mozey's house. A young oak tree is to be planted by the Duchess of Leeds on the site of the Trysting Tree. At the ceremony some interesting information will be given regard- ing Scott's connexion with the neighbourhood, which he so vividly describes in the pages of ' Ivanhoe ' ; and the sites of Torquilstone Castle, Rotherwood, and Copmanhurst will be located. Several places lay claim to the honour of having suggested Torquilstone notably the castle of the Salvins, at Thorpe-Salvin in Yorkshire, and Castle Hill Farm, an old farmhouse in Whitwell, Derby- shire, and the old Manor House at Todwick, in Yorkshire. Thorpe-Salvin Castle is mentioned in the novel most probably under the pseudonym of Rotherwood, whilst Copmanhurst is believed by many to be identical with St. John's Church, Throapham. However, these and other questions will be settled when the ceremony above alluded to takes place."

J. B. McGovERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

RIDING THE STANG. The Craven Herald of 31 May records the observing of an ancient custom that appears to be less frequent (happily) than in former days :

"This queer custom, to mark disapproval of the breaking of the marriage contract, was observed [at Redmire] on the evenings of the 20th, 21st, and 22nd inst. Rumour had been rife for some time past, and the inhabitants, though quiet and passive in the ordinary way, showed their feelings in an unusual manner. In accordance with the ancient custom a man of straw was made, then a cart was obtained, and the young bloods of the village, in all the glory of war paint, and with grim determination stamped on every feature, proceeded to parade the streets with the usual war cry : 'It's neither for your part nor my part that I ride the stang.' This was renewed on three successive nights, and then, after he had tried to commit suicide by taking 'gun- powder pills ' or a ' paraffin bath,' the man of straw was burnt amidst the cheers and groans of some hundreds of onlookers, many from the surrounding villages. One of the 'protectors of the peace' was present, but this did not act as a deterrent. The proceedings closed somewhere about midnight. Older inhabitants say it is about twenty-five years since a similar scene was witnessed in a case of wife-beating."

B. BELCHEE.

Bibury, Glos.

[See 2 nd S. x. 477, 519 ; xii. 411, 483 ; 3 rd S. iv. 371 4 th S. iv. 160 ; 5 th S. v. 109, 253 ; xi. 66 ; 6 th S. vi. 425 ; 7* s. iii. 367 ; 8 th S. iv. 267.]

WILLIAM FITZ ALDELINE. Concerning this historic personage, in my note at 9 th S. vii. 123 I stated that though it was quite certain that he was a son of Aldeline. of Thorpe, near Pontef ract, and had a brother named Ralph, I had seen nothing actually to prove that he was the brother William of Ralph itz Aide-