Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/394

 386

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. ix. MAY 17, 1902.

ascertained that this mysterious muntjac belongs to the latter. Thus Riggs, 'Sunda Dictionary,' 1862, has " Minchek, an animal of the deer kind, called in Malay kidang"

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

COLNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS AND WED- DINGS. Perhaps the following may be of interest, and be worth preserving now that Colne Grammar School is extinct. The build- ings were sold recently. I take it from the
 * Literary Corner ' of the Burnley Express :

" Weddings at the Parish Church seem to have been recognised as having a special claim for the boys of the Grammar School. At Burnley, in the days gone by, it was the custom of the pupils of the Grammar School to mulct the happy bride- groom in a donation, and the same custom prevailed at Colrie. It was formerly the custom here, says Mr. Carr, whenever there was a fashionable wed- ding, for the senior scholar of the adjoining Grammar School to come into the church at a given signal, arid thus address the newly married pair as they left the altar :

God prosper these your nuptials

With much peace ;

And grant that love

Between you may increase.

May happy minds and virtuous hearts

Unite in virtuous love,

And may you love your bridegroom,

And you your lovely bride,

And ever bless the day

The nuptial knot was tied.

May happiness on earth Your portion be, And may you always live In endlesse felicitie. We wish you health, Wealth, worth, and gold, As apples in bright Orchards may be told. We wish that you May never disagree Till lambs and wolves Do dwell in unitie.

At the close the bridegroom was expected to give the boy at least one of the larger silver coins. In fact, one hardly sees how he could be churlish enough to refuse, after such a poem of good wishes and flattery."

J. LANGFIELD WARD. Weston Lawn, Bath.

[For the Burnley custom see MB. LANGFIELD WARD'S contribution at 9 th S. vii. 273.]

YARROW UNVISITED. There are evidently others besides Wordsworth who meditate on the glamour of Yarrow from afar. Speaking of conspicuous pictures now on exhibition in the Koyal Academy, a writer in the Academy of 29 March, p. 327, overflows in this fashion :

"One of Mr. David Murray's large canvases shows ' The Dowie Dens ' of Yarrow, in whose vale the Ettrick shepherd [sic] was born and lies buried,

a romantic district associated alike with the Border Minstrelsy, the writings of Thomas Logan, Scott, and Wordsworth. It was also the birthplace of Mungo Park, the house of whose sisters, shadowed by trees, is seen in the right of the picture."

When Yarrow is visited it is readily found that there is a considerably far cry from the birthplace of the Ettrick Shepherd to that of Mungo Park. The Ettrick Shepherd was a native of Ettrick, as his familiar desig- nation indicates, although he farmed in Yarrow Vale, and a monument to his memory appropriately overlooks St. Mary's Loch and the historic hostelry of Tibbie Shiels. But who is " Thomas Logan " 1 This reference seems to call up him who left half told the story of Michael Bruce and the * Ode to the Cuckoo,' and, if so, one trembles for what may yet befall. Logan under his own colours was serious enough, but his activities when protected by an alias may imply in- finite complications. Absit, procul absit.

THOMAS BAYNE.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

CEILING INSCRIPTION IN SHROPSHIRE. In the old house of Wilderhope, in the parish of Rushbury, in Shropshire, which was erected by the Smalman family and finished in 1593, are some fine plaster ceilings with various devices and inscriptions. Amongst others these occur : fleur-de-lis, portcullis, roses, the three feathers, IESU on a shield, also FS in a circle, and QEV. EST. VEM. IAM. DROIT round. This last inscription is difficult to make out, the ceiling having been re- peatedly whitewashed. What is its meaning ? Another rendering of it is v. IST. VEM. AN. DROIT. The letters FS in the centre stand for Francis Smalman. There were also formerly shields of the Smalman arms, with "Deus est meus mali defensor" round the shields. The ceilings are very fine, and some have thought they were done by Italian workmen. Any suggestions as to the meaning of the inscriptions will be welcomed.

W. G. D. F.

ARMS OF DUTCH AND FLEMISH TOWNS. I should be glad to know of any illustrated work, either English or foreign, dealing with the municipal heraldry of the Continent, and more especially of Holland and Belgium, with a view to identifying the various town marks stamped on antique Dutph and fl