Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

_Latin Riddle._--Aulus Gellius (_Noctes Atticæ_, lib. XII. cap. vi.) proposes the following enigma, which he terms "Per hercle antiquum, perque lepidum:"

"Semel minusne, an bis minus, non sat scio,
An utrumque eorum, ut quondam audivi dicier
Jovi ipsi regi noluit concedere."

The answer he withholds for the usual reason, "Ut legentium conjecturas in requirendo acueremus."

Is there among the readers of "N. & Q." an Œdipus who will furnish a solution?

R. PRICE.

St. Ives.

_D. Ferrand--French Patois._--Hallman, in the 7th chapter of his _Poesie und Beredsamkeit der Franzosen_, gives several specimens of the French provincial poets of the sixteenth century, and among these the following from a poem on the dispersing of a meeting of Huguenots by the soldiers:

"Quand des guerriers fut la troupe entinchée
Non n'aleguet le dire du Prescheux,
Que pour souffrir l'ame est de Dieu tombée,
Femme et Mary, comme le fianchée,
Pour se sauver quitest leu zamoreux
En s'enfiant ocun n'avet envie,
De discourir de l'Eternelle vie,
Sainct Pol estet en alieur guissement
No ne palet de Bible en Apostille
Qui en eut palé quand fut en un moment
Les pretendus grippez par la Soudrille.

"Le milleur fut quand la troupe enrangée
Fut aux Fauxbourgs, hors de lieu perilleux,
Car tiel n'estet o combat qu'on Pygmée,
Qui se diset o milieu de stermée
S'estre monstre un géant orgueilleux
Les femmes ossi disest ma sœur, m'amie,
De tout su brit ie sis toute espamie,
Petit troupeau que tu as de tourment,
Pour supporter le faix de l'Evangile
Souffrira-t-on qu'on vaye impudement
Les pretendus grippez par la Soudrille."

D. Ferrand, _Inv. Gen._, p. 304.

Hallman gives no farther information. I shall be glad if any of your readers can tell me who D. Ferrand was, what he wrote, and of what province the above is the _patois_.

B. SNOW.

Birmingham.

_"Fac precor, Jesu benigne," &c._--In the _Sacra Privata_, new edition, Bishop Wilson quotes the following lines:

"Fac precor,
Jesu benigne, cogitem
Hæc semper, ut semper tibi
Summoque Patri, gratias
Agam, pieque vos colam,
Totâque mente diligam."

Can any of your readers inform me where they come from?

WILLIAM DENTON.

_The Arms of De Sissonne._--Can any of your correspondents inform me where I could find a copy of _Histoire Généalogique de la Maison Royale de France_, or any other work in which are blazoned the arms of "De Sissonne" of Normandy, connected with that regal house?

J. L. S.

_Sir George Brown._--Sir George Brown, of West Stafford, Berks, and of Wickham Breaux, Kent, married Eleanor, daughter of Sir R. Blount, of Maple Durham, Oxon; and by her had issue several children, and amongst them one son Richard, who was a child under five years of age in 1623. I shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can tell me where I can find a pedigree of this Richard, and in particular whether he married, {244} whom he married, and the names of his several children, if any.

NEWBURIENSIS.

_Professional Poems._--Can you tell me who is the author of _Professional Poems by a Professional Gentleman_, 12mo., 1827, published at Wolverhampton; and by Longman, London?

GW.

_"A mockery," &c._--Whence is the quotation, "A mockery, a delusion, and a snare?"

W. P.

_Passage in Whiston._--In _Taylor on Original Sin_, Lond. 1746, p. 94., it is said:

"Mr. Whiston maintains that regeneration is a literal and
physical _being born again_, and is granted to the faithful at
the beginning of the millennium."

The marginal reference is, _Whiston on Original Sin, &c._, p. 68.

I cannot find the book or the doctrine in any collection of Whiston's writings which I have met with; but as he was a copious writer and a versatile theologian, both may exist. Can any reader of "N. & Q." tell me where to find them?

J. T.

_Shoulder Knots and Epaulettes._--What is the origin of the shoulder knot, and its ancient use? Has it and the epaulette a common origin?

GETSRN.

_The Yew Tree in Village Churchyards._--Why did our forefathers choose the yew as the inseparable attendant upon the outer state of the churches raised by them? Apart from its grave and sombre appearance, I cannot help recognising a mysterious embodiment of the spirit of evil as the intention of the planters. We know that in all mediæval edifices there is an apparent and discernible endeavour to place in juxta-position the spirits of good and evil, to _materialise_ the idea of an adversative spirit, antagonistic to the church's teachings, and hurtful to her efforts of advancement. I look upon the grotesque cephalic corbels as one modification of this, and would interpret many equally mysterious emblems by referring them to the same actuating desire. Now the yew is certainly the most deadly of indigenous productions, and therefore would be chosen as the representative of a spirit of destruction, the opposite to one that giveth life by its teachings, of which the building itself is the sensible sign. I crave more information from some learned ecclesiologist on the subject, which is certainly a most interesting one.

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

_Passage in Tennyson._--

"Or underneath the barren bush,
Flits by _the blue seabird of March_."

In _Memoriam_, xc. What bird is meant?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_"When the Maggot bites."_--A note will oblige to explain the origin of the phrase, that a thing done on the spur of the moment is done "When the maggot bites."

ANON.

_Eclipses of the Sun._--Where can I find a list of solar eclipses that have taken place since the time of the invasion of Julius Cæsar? I am greatly in want of this information, and shall be grateful to any correspondent who will give me the reference required.