Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/143

 gths.ix.FKB.i5.i902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the "Buffs." It occurs in the 'Finish of Tom and Jerry,' by Pierce Egan. Joe Lisle, the founder of the society though now, alas ! forgotten by all save print collectors was in his day regarded as almost the equal of Seymour. His clever caricature sketches (printed from stone, coloured by hand, pub- lished, I believe, at one shilling each, by, I think, Tregear of Cheapside) are now very scarce. As they were mostly purchased for screens or scrap-books, the few surviving prints would probably be "cut down," and therefore, according to trade usage, of little value at the present day. The complete extract from Pierce Egan would, I fear, be far too long for insertion in the pages of 4 N. & Q.' ; but I will venture upon the chance offer of a few lines from the 'Finish.' I might add, before concluding, that when "Buffalo Bill" visited London in 1887 Mr. J. W. Rowley utilized the chorus, hereafter mentioned, in a topical-burlesque sort of way, as applied to the snow at Earl's Court :

Now we mash the ladies, a shilling for the show ; In the Wild West of Kensington we chase the Buffalo.

"The initiated Buffaloes are waiting outside the door; the orator being decorated with a wig for the occasion. On a given signal they all enter the room with what they term the kangaroo leap, and jump round the chair of the ' degraded wretch ' (as the victim is termed).

Come, all you young fellows who's a mind for to

range Unto some foreign country, your station for to

change,

Your station for to change, away from here to go, Through the wide woods we '11 wander to chase the buffalo.

Chorus. We '11 lay down on the banks of the pleasant shady

Wo, Through the wide woods we '11 wander to chase the

buffalo.

" This is succeeded by a solemn march and the fol- lowing chant, the Buffaloes carrying brooms, shovels, mops, and a large kettle by way of a kettle-drum Bloody head and raw bones ! Bloody head and raw bones ! Be not perplexed, This is the text, Bloody head and raw bones !

" The charge is then given to the ' victim ' by the Primo Buffo, accompanied by the most extravagant and ridiculous gestures.

" At the ' Harp,' in Great Russell Street, opposite Drury Lane Theatre, the Buffalo Society was first established, in August, 1822, by an eccentric young man of the name of Joseph Lisle, an artist, in con- junction with Mr. W. Sinnett, a comedian, to per- petuate, according to their ideas upon the subject, 'that hitherto neglected ballad of "We'll chase the Buffalo."'"

HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

If your correspondent will refer to 4 th S. iii. 106, 267 ; iv. 124, 372, he will find all the information respecting this society which he can require. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

LECTERN IN DURHAM CATHEDRAL (9 th S. yiii. 483). If the inquiry is not strictly limited to lecterns, it may be useful to draw attention to this extract from Parker's ' Con- cise Glossary ' (1869, p. 185) :

" The representation of this bird [pelican! vulning herself occurs not unfrequently as a sacred emblem among the ornaments of churches. A beautiful specimen is preserved at Ufford, Suffolk, at the summit of the elaborately carved spire of wood which forms the cover of the font; and another occurs over the font at North Walsham, Norfolk."

Tyack's 'Lore and Legend,' &c. (p. 152), states that at Wimborne, and formerly at Waterford, were lecterns such as the Durham example. RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

The late Frederick George Lee, D.C.L., in his ' Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms,' London, 1877, describes the pelican in her piety as a mediaeval symbol or Chris- tian emblem, representing a pelican feeding her young from the blood of her own breast a symbol of our Blessed Saviour giving Himself for the ransom and redemption of the whole world. This symbol is frequently found represented both in sculpture and painting in ancient churches, and is now very commonly used in chapels dedicated in honour of the Blessed Sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church.

The subject has been discussed in ' N. &Q.' on more than one occasion. See 1 st S. v., vi. ; 4 th S. iv. ; 7 th S. vii., viii.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

The pelican in her piety, with "wings addorsed and feeding her young with her own blood," forms the lectern from which the lessons are read in St. Mary's Cathedral, in Edinburgh. So far as I remember, it was made of latten. In St. Peter's Church, Con- gleton, above the reredos, is a representation of the pelican in her piety, excellently carved in oak, the probable date of which may be 1740 The coat of Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester (1501-1529), founder of Corpus Christ! College, Oxford, is a pelican in her piety. Bishops usually impale the arms of the see with their own paternal coat.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

ANAGRAMS (9 th S. viii. 521). C. E. D. says of the anagram given, "It is difficult to ima-