Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/63

 9- s. ix. JAN. is, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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woman named Kilda, who may perhaps have reached this lonely rock and left her name attached to it, is mentioned by Bede in his ' Ecclesiastical History ' and also by Camden ; but he does not say what editions he used, and so I have not been able to verify his references. T. P. ARMSTRONG.

A SIMILE IN * SAMSON AGONISTES ' (5 th S. vii. 186, 296, 437). The comparison of a woman in movement with a full- rigged vessel

But who is this ? what thing of sea or land ?

Female of sex it seems, &c.,

may be traced back to Aristophanes. In Iris coming through the air, he asks whether this is a vessel or a petasus.
 * The Birds,' 1. 1192, when Peisthetairos sees

'QvofJLa 8e (rot ri lore TrAoiov, 17 Kvvrj I am indebted for this note to the edition put forth by Prof. Felton of Harvard (the triend of Charles Dickens) in 1849. He illus- trates the Greek line by the passage from Milton. RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

ENGLISH CONTINGENT IN THE LAST CRUSADE (9 th S. viii. 343). 'The English Crusaders,' by James C. Dansey, gives an account of all the English knights who engaged in Crusades also their arms. In the seventh (?) Crusade, under Prince Edward, Dansey states that the under-mentioned persons were his followers : Walter de Molesworth, Hugh Kynnardsleye, Herbitus Chaworth, Pain Chaworth, Patric Chaworth, John St. Lo, Ralph Gorges, Otho de Grandeson, William de Latimer, Roger Leiburne (?), Sir John Hautville, William de Rythie, Brian Fitzalan, Lord of Bedale, John de Gay ton (chamber valet to Prince Edward), William de Fienes (?). MR. ROWE might find some information in Bentley's 'Excerpta, Lond., 1831. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

EARLIEST EUROPEAN MENTION OF VEDAS (9 th S. viii. 464). The passage in the book 'De Tribus Impostoribus' for which MR. CROOKE inquires is, no doubt, the following :

" Et Sectarii istorum, ut et Vedae et Brachman- norum ante MCOC retro secula obstant collectanea, ut de Sinensibus nil dicam. Tu, qui in angulo Europse hie delitescis, ista negligis, negas ; quam bene videas ipse. Eadem facilitate enim isti tua negant. Et quid non miraculorum superesset ad convincendos orbis incolas, si mundum ex Scorpionis pvo conditum et progenitum terramque Tauri capiti impositam, el rerum prima fundanientis ex prioribus III Vedse libris constarent, nisi invidus aliquis Deorum films hfiec III prima volumina furatus esset ! "

I think this is the only specific reference to the Vedas, though the Brahmins are namec elsewhere. The authorship of the tract ' De Tribus Impostoribus ' has excited much

curiosity and controversy, and its biblio- graphy is intricate. Of the original edition, iated MDIIC, only some three copies are tnown, but there are modern reprints : that of Philomneste Junior (i.e., Gustave Brunet), printed at Brussels in 1867, is based on the >py in the French Bibliotheque Nationale, hilst that of Emil Weller, printed at Heil- bronn in 1876 (and earlier in 1846), is from the exemplar in the Koniglichen Bibliothek at Dresden. There are also others.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester.

MR. CROOKE will find a full bibliographical account of the book, or supposed book, ' De Tribus Impostoribus ' in the work ' Le Traite* des Trois Imposteurs, et precede d'une notice philologique et bibliographique par Philom- neste Junior' (i.e., Brunet), Paris and Brus- sels, 1867. A. COLLINGWOOD LEE.

Waltham Abbey.

"YCLEPING"THE CHURCH (9 th S. viii. 420, 486). The spelling of this word by the news- paper writer quoted in the first reference is mere priggishness ; he deviates into right when he says "or, as it is now put, 'clip- ping' the parish church." "Clippan," to clasp or embrace, is, of course, a real old English word, and is still the word most in use here in the West Country. (See ' West Somerset Word-Book,' E.D.S.)

The custom of "clipping the tower "was practised within living memory in the parishes of Wellington and Langford Bud- ville, but there is much uncertainty as to the dates on which it was observed. This is to be accounted for by the confusion of tradi- tion when the purpose of a custom became forgotten, and when, from some cause or other, the original dedication of the church became changed : a change that has happened at both the above parishes Wellington, originally and down to 1500 St. Mary the Virgin, is now St. John Baptist; while at Langford St. James has become St. Peter.

Functions of forgotten origin in connexion with churches usually came to be associated with the patron saint, and it should be noted that the traditional name of this one is not "clipping the church," but "clipping the tower "; and thus I submit the true meaning is preserved.

So far as I can ascertain, Hone's account is correct. Whether at Easter or at Lady Day (as we say), it was a spring per- formance, and both sexes took part in it, the essential point being the clipping, or sur- rounding the tower with joined hands. Thence the tower represented the same idea