The Christmas tree, as stated in the query, was originally “made in Germany," whence it was brought over to this country in the early decades of last century. Since then it has attained so great a popularity among us that, as regards devotion to the Christmas tree, Britain may now be said to be more German than Germany itself. The Christmas bough, however, preceded the Christmas tree, and has more claim to be regarded as a British institution. For a discussion of the tree as well as the bough, see the various articles on Christmas in Chambers's Book of Days,' vol. ii. With regard to literary references, does not Washington Irving, in his 'Sketch Book,' say something about the Christmas bough as a feature in Christmas observances ? The reason probably why the owls were called "cherubims was the resemblance between owls and the winged faces that passed for "" cherubims on headstones and elsewhere about village churches. I have heard a story of a lad who ran home to his father in a terrible fright, saying, “Father, father, I've shotten a cherubim," thinking he had committed some unheard-of impiety. The father at once consoled him by telling him it was nowt but a hullat (owlet) that he had shot. Winterton, Lincs. J. T. F. In the late Mr. Bosworth Smith's 'Bird Life and Bird Lore,' published by John Murray, may be seen a reproduction of an old print in Sporting Anecdotes' (1804, Albion Press) entitled Cherubim Shooting.' The white owl, which looks at times all head and wings, is not unlike the representation of cherubim in Christian art, in which the head represents the fullness of knowledge implied in the name, the wings the angelic nature. FRANK E. COOPE. Thurlestone Rectory, Kingsbridge, S. Devon. AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (11 S. ii. 488). The lines quoted by MR. H. S. BRANDRETH are an incorrect version of a well-known passage in Tennyson's 'May Queen: Conclusion,' stanza 7 :— The trees began to whisper, and the wind began to roll, And in the wild March-morning I heard them call The oratio recta of the poet has been changed The original couplet is in Tennyson's May Queen.' The garbled version of it appears, I feel sure, in a novel by either Charles or Henry Kingsley. It is there applied to the Guards leaving London for the Crimea: Surely there was many a fine G. W. E. RUSSELL. fellow who," &c. 2. 66 JOHN BRIGHT'S QUOTATIONS (11 S. ii. 508). One evening two miners borrowed a gun, and went out for some unaccustomed sport. Presently something flew across the path in front of them; the man with the gun fired, and the bird fell. But when the miners went to pick it up, they were first amazed, then terrified, for it was a big white owl; they had never seen anything like it before, and could not believe that it was a bird. So they came to the dread conclusion that they had shot a cherub. Filled with horror, they rushed off to the rector, confessed their crime, and asked what they should do to save themselves from punishment. Thereupon the rector, who loved a 3. Fortune came smiling," &c., will be joke, said that on Sunday they must walk found in Dryden's' All for Love.' through the village to the church, each clad in a white sheet, as a sign of penitence. Which was done, and no evil consequences resulted to the slayers. G. H. WHITE. St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk. 412. W. SCOTT. 4. The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes " is from "Childe Harold,' iv. 79. THOMAS BAYNE. now 'GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE': NUMBERING berries are not red, but a reddish-black, and yield a violet juice. The Anemone pulsatilla or pasque-flower, found in abundance near Ashwell, Herts, is also known locally as Danes'-blood. Mr. E. V. Methold in his 'Notes on Stevenage, Herts,' remarks that in the hedges of the field known to this day as Danes' Blood Field there grows a plant called "monkshood," in which, during the spring, the sap turns W. B. GERISH. OF VOLUMES (11 S. ii. 388, 477).-I am in- 66 Another correspondent points out that in the Preface to the Obituary Index printed in 1891 an attempt is made to defend the numeration by reckoning the issue for 1782 as composed of two volumes instead of one. But is there any justification for this? The numbers for 1781 run to 633 pages. The numbers for 1782 run to 631 pages. The numbers for 1783 run to 1067 pages. It thus appears that the increase in bulk suggesting the breaking-up of each year into two parts took place in 1783, not 1782. Further, I find that the caption-heading of the number for July, 1783, is "The Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1783: being the first number of the second part of vol. 53"; while the heading of the number for July, 1782, lacks the italicized part. Our copy of July to December, 1783, has an independent title-page: The Gentleman's Magazine.... for the year 1783. Part the second." Does a corresponding title-page exist for July to December, 1782 ? P. J. ANDERSON. 66 Aberdeen University Library. DANES'-BLOOD, A FLOWER (11 S. ii. 488).— This is a local name in Hertfordshire and Essex applied to several plants which are supposed to owe their origin to the blood of slaughtered Danes. My first acquaintance with a plant of this denomination proved to be the Danewort or dwarf elder, which grew fairly freely in places by the side of the main road between Anstey and Barkway. Weever in his 'Antient Funeral Monuments,' 1631, p. 707, referring to Bartlow, Essex, says:— "Danewort, which with bloud - red berries commeth up here plenteously, they still call by no other name than Danesbloud, of the number of the Danes that were there slaine." Camden in his 'Britannia,' 1607, refers to the same plant as the wall-wort or dwarf elder. It should be noted that the elder In Tongues in Trees,' a work on plantlore published by George Allen in 1891, I read at p. 48 : "The pasque-flower, Anemone pulsatilla, a native in the fields near Royston, is there supposed to have grown from the blood of Danes slain in battle. The dwarf elder, Sambucus Ebulus; though at the High Cross on Watling Street near Leicester it is recorded as having been planted by the Romans as a preservative against dropsy." W. T. same idea attaches in Wiltshire to the Danewort or It is not only the clustered bell-flower (Campanula glomerata) that is known as Danes'-blood. The dwarf elder, Sambucus Ebulus, is also known both as Danes'-blood and Danes'-wort (Berkshire), and, as may be seen in Salmon's 'London Dispensatory,' was a common remedy for various ills. The popular belief that the flower sprang originally from the blood of the Danes which stained the ancient battle-fields is still common in Wiltshire, North Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Cumberland, North Essex, and Norfolk. In Northamptonshire the plant is known also as Dane-weed, and Defoe in his Tour through Great Britain' speaks of his going a little out of the road from Daventry to see a great camp called Barrow Hill, and adds : of the neighbouring Daventry, which they suppose There is a full account of the tradition in [G. F. R. B. also thanked for reply.] Lord Campbell in the introduction to his 'Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England,' 1845, vol. i. p. 20, cites 5 Eliz. c. 18, which declares that "the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal for the time being shall have the same place, pre-eminence, and jurisdiction as the Lord Chancellor of England." He continues :- "Since then there of course never have been a Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal concurrently, and the only difference between the two titles is, that the one is more sounding than the other, and is regarded as a higher mark of royal favour." Will MRS. SUCKLING give her reference for the statement that Roger Gollop was M.P. for Southampton in 1659, and say whether Southampton means the county or the borough? There is no Roger Gollop in the Index of the Official (Blue-book) Return of Members of Parliament. This does not prove that there was no such member, as the seventeenth-century lists are not perfect. George Gollopp, or Gollop, or Gallopp, alderman, sat for Southampton borough in the Parliaments of 17 May, 1625—12 August, 1625; of 6 February, 1625/6-15 June, 1626; of 17 March, 1627/8-10 March, 1628/9; and of 1640 (Long Parliament). corder of Southampton, appears alone as member for the borough. In the lists of the next three Parliaments, viz., of 1656, 1658/9, and 1660, the borough does not appear. It reappears in that of 1661 with two members. In the list of the Parliament of 1658/9, which lasted less than three months, there were two members for Southampton county: one of unknown name ("Return torn "), the other Robert Wallopp, Esq., of Fare Wallopp, co. Southampton. About that time a Wallopp generally sat for the county. ROBERT PIERPOINT. There was no Lord Chancellor in 1671. Clarendon surrendered the Great Seal on 30 August, 1667. It was given to Shaftesbury on 17 November, 1672. During the intervening period Sir Orlando Bridgeman was Lord Keeper. EDWARD BENSLY. A great deal of valuable matter relating to High Stewards will be found in Webb's English Local Government, vols. ii.-iii. ROLAND AUSTIN. Public Library, Gloucester. [G. F. R. B., DIEGO, M., and MR. W. SCOTT also thanked for replies.] DANTE, RUSKIN, AND A FONT (11 S. ii. 469).-Dante says himself ('Inferno,' xix. 19-20), when speaking of the punishment of the Simonists : "I saw the livid stone, on the sides and on the bottom, full of holes, all of one breadth; and each was round. Not less wide they seemed to me, nor Giovanni made for stands to the baptizers; one of larger, than those that are in my beauteous San which, not many years ago, I broke to save one that was drowning in it: L'un delli quali, ancor non è molt' anni, MISS SUMNER: MRS. SKRINE OR SKREENE (11 S. ii. 389, 475).—I have a copy of the Chippendale book-plate of Wm. Brightwell Sumner of Hatchlands, East Clandon, Surrey, with a bequest label attached, “The Bequest of my Brother, the Revd Dr Rob Carey Sumner," which is enclosed in a In the Parliament of 13 April, 1640- floral wreath, c. 1770. The arms Єre: 5 May, 1640, Southampton borough was Ermines, two chevronels or, a crescent gu. represented by Sir John Mill, Bt., and for difference, impaling....a stag trippent Thomas Levingstonne, Esq. In the next-....for Holme. Crest, a lion's head erased the Long Parliament-one of the two members was George Gollopp (see above). In the next, 3 September, 1654-22 January, 1654/5, John Lisle, Esq., one of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, and Re ..ducally gorged... There is another book-plate of this family, viz., a festoon armorial, c. 1780, for Geo. Holmne Sumner, armiger, of Hatchlands ; but I have not a copy of it. ELIZABETH WOODVILLE AND THE KINGS OF COLOGNE (11 S. ii. 449). The attempt to connect Elizabeth Woodville with one of the three Kings of Cologne is, I fear, a hopeless undertaking. It was doubtless through her mother, Jaquette or Jacqueline, that the connexion (if such there was) existed. But the difficulties in the way of tracing her descent seem insuperable. In Cologne, I believe, the names assigned to the three Kings are Gaspar (or Jaspar), Melchior, and Balthazar. There are, however, at least four other accounts, in every one of which the names are different. From an origin so obscure and nebulous, it appears impossible to deduce the pedigree of the Lady Elizabeth Woodville with anything approaching W. S. S. accuracy. : LOWTHERS v. HOWARDS A SUPERSTITION UPSET (11 S. ii. 504).-I first heard the saying mentioned, "A Lowther cannot beat a Howard," during the recent election. If it is of long standing ("a century and a helf," The Morning Post says), it is difficult to see how it could have any foundation on fact. In the Parliaments of 1695, 1698, 1700, 1701, and 1780 Carlisle, and in those of 1679, 1806, 1807, 1812, and 1818 Cumberland, each of which was a two-seat constituency, returned both a Lowther and a Howard. This must have meant either a compromise or such a balance of power as gave no advantage to either family. The expression "A Lowther cannot beat a Howard," or, as I heard it, A Lowther has never beaten a Howard," implies a number of contests at the polls in which a Howard was uniformly successful over a Lowther. I do not find that the political history of Cumberland and Westmorland affords any confirmation of such a view. DIEGO. Mr. THIS Volume marks the conclusion of the valuable and scholarly work upon which Miss Toulmin Smith has been long engaged. Of its contents, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wilts, Somerset, Glouces one part only, Part X.--having to do with tershire, and Dorset is in the nature of continuous narrative. The remainder consists of miscellaneous notes in Latin and English, those in Part XI. having formed to some extent the earlier portions of the Itinerary. basis of the more connected disquisitions in the An interesting Appendix to Part X. sets forth a Note' by Thomas Hearne on the building of the bridge between Culham and Abingdon, concluding with Richard Fannand, iron-monger," in the Hall of the citation of a table put up by St. Helen's Hospital, wherein the details of the enterprise-labour, material, and dimensions-are set forth in pious and enthusiastic verse. This, the final volume, is supplied with everything necessary towards perfecting the work as a whole, and facilitating references. The Preface contains an additional note of the Leland MSS. in the British Museum; there is a Conspectus of English and Welsh Counties touched upon by the traveller; a list of the Maps and Illustrations in the Five Volumes'; A Concordance of the Present Edition of Leland's Itinerary with Hearne's Printed Text, Second Edition, 1744; and a Glossary of Archaic Words and Senses while the two general Indexes, of Persons and Landowners' and Places and Subjects' respectively, which have reference to the volumes preceding as well as the present, are, so far as we have been able to test them, wonderfully accurate. By her thorough and painstaking performance of a task which has demanded infinite patience critical insight of a high order, Miss Toulmin and scrupulous care, no less than learning and Smith has earned the gratitude not only of antiquaries, but also of those less responsible persons who love to dabble in local history and tradition for the romance that is in them. IN The Cornhill Magazine for the new year Mrs. Humphry Ward begins a new novel, The Case of difficulties, and Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle Richard Meynell,' another story of theological a lively story, The Lost Iphigenia.' Mr. J. Meade Falkner has a pleasant poem on Oxford.' Mrs. Woods's Pastel' is concerned with Black and White,' and finds something to say in favour of deals with the odd sayings of Serjeant Arabin, an the former. Sir Frederick Pollock in Arabiniana' original character who administered justice from 1827 till 1841. His best-known saying, and we think his best-the others are nothing like so current in words as some such witty-is instead of which you go about the country stealing Prisoner, God has given you good abilities, ducks." For good abilities we have generally heard "health and strength." Mrs. S. A. Barnett has a short, but sensible article Hugh Pearse, is suggestive, but rather too much Town Planning.' Marlborough's Men,' by Col. of a summary to please us. 'Q." has a lively 66 66 ' Of account of The Election Count' in his own district, the hopes and fears and amenities of such occasions. Sir James Yoxall in A Great Game at Hide and Seek' explains how Bruslart worried Napoleon. His fantastic style is full of affectation. Mr. A. C. Benson's personal sketch this month is concerned with J. K. S.,' and gives a highly interesting view of that brilliant and eccentric figure. The first of a series of " Examination Papers on famous authors is begun this month by a number of questions on Lamb which are set by Mr. E. V. Lucas. For the best answers two guineas are offered. The Fortnightly for the year is an exceptionally interesting number. Mr. J. L. Garvin's notes on the present political situation are not convincing, and are spoilt for us by idle repetition. Mr. Walter Sichel in Second Thoughts is also on the Conservative side, while Mr. Belloc in The Change in Politics' abuses both sides, and has good reason, we think, for much that he condemns. Mr. Granville Barker has an account of Two German Theatres which suggests abundant reflections concerning the mismanagement of our own stage and the recent failure of repertory. What Mr. Barker says should be carefully considered by all who care for the drama in this country. Post - Impressionists supply Mr. Walter Sickert with a subject for incisive criticism. A painter himself, Mr. Sickert writes with marked ability and verve on the artists who have come after the Impressionists of his earlier days. In Impressions of Congress' Mr. Sydney Brooks brings out very well the free and easy manners of American politicians as compared with our own. Washington and Westminster are widely different in their observances. Any one can go past the doors of the national Capitol, smoke in corridors, and take any seat in the great public galleries which happens to be vacant. In the House of Representatives "each member has a revolving arm-chair and a spacious desk in front of it. A Candid Colloquy on Religion' should attract attention, as it exhibits cleverly three typical points of view, the believer of the party being a Roman Catholic. Mr. Sidney Low writes on The End of the Old Constitution' with the experience of an old hand; and Mr. Whitelaw Reid reprints an address on Byron' delivered to inaugurate a proposed Byron Chair of English Literature. Mr. Francis Gribble has an article on Tolstoy' which brings into relief some of the important points and inconsistencies in the career of that thinker and artist. Benlian,' a story by Mr. Oliver Onions, is a weird and effective study in morbid influences; and Mr. Lennard's fourth section of his hero In Search of Egeria' deals with a modern, neurotic type of woman. Is the two opening papers of The Nineteenth Century Lord Ribblesdale and Lord Dunraven discuss the results of the recent election. Mr. Harold Cox speaks of the Referendum as A Great Democratic Reform' necessary to cope with misrepresentation....by groups of log-rolling politicians.' He hopes it may come into force in a few years. Lady Paget's 'Recollections of Copenhagen in the 'Sixties' are chiefly concerned with the difficulties in the choice of the Danish King of Greece, whose father Prince Christian was, at first, decidedly opposed to separation from his son. Sir Edward Clayton considers The Home Secretary and Prison Reform,' providing, we think, some useful and shrewd criticism. Capt. G. S. C. Swinton is in favour of A "King Edward Bridge' as a memorial. Hungerford Bridge and Charing Cross Station are, it is argued, unworthy of their prominence. They are either to make way altogether, the station moving bodily to a more convenient position elsewhere," or to be included in one great reconstruction scheme. This might be very fine, but the expense would be prohibitive. The second part of The Married Working Woman: a Study,' is well worth reading. Of Carillon Music,' as Mr. E. B. Osborn says, little is known in England. He speaks of the triumphs achieved by various artists at the meeting of bell-masters in Mechlin. M. Denyn is the master of them all, and performs, we learn, on a set of thirty-five bells at Cattistock in Dorset every year on the last Thursday in July. This is the only keyboard carillon of any consequence in the country, but perhaps some of our Mrs. Watherston gives a lively and interesting latest towers will be provided with bell-music. account of An Outpost of our Empire,' viz., Tamale in West Africa, which she was the first white woman to inhabit. cerned with English sculpture, education, small Other articles are conholdings, and democracy, but we regret to find that no single paper deals with letters. The IN The Burlington Magazine the Editorial" deals with National Memorials and Selection Committees.' The competition for the statue of King Edward should, it is said, be thrown open to all artists of the British Empire, and the designs be on show in some large central building during the period of the Coronation this year, when Colonial and Indian officials may be able to select. those of them suitable for local requirements. The jury of selection is then discussed. We agree that it should be possible, and is desirable, to get eminent foreigners to help; and we also applaud the idea of using the services of "a certain number of men of general critical knowledge and familiarity with the masterpieces of older sculpture." statue, after all, is not to be viewed mainly by sculptors, who, like other artists, are apt to ignore the claims of general design in favour of some technical subtlety or merit. Mr. Roger Fry writes on A Portrait of Leonello D'Este by Roger Van der Weyden which is figured in colours in the frontispiece, the coat of arms on the reverse side being also reproduced on a plate. Mr. Lionel Cust continues in his 'Notes on Pictures in the Royal Collections' discussion of Van Dyck's splendid equestrian portraits of Charles I. M. Paul Lafond has discovered an interesting subject for discussion in Ox-Yokes in the North of Portugal,' the designs on which approach a primitive character, though the actual specimens secured are, in fact, contemporary work. They are certainly beautiful, and offer a fascinating field for the tracing of design down the ages. similar study is afforded by a plate in which Sir Martin Conway puts together pictures of two fourteenth-century chests. A Of the remaining articles and notes we mention by Mr. A. Clutton-Brock, and information from a specially a clever plea for the Post-Impressionists foreign correspondent concerning forthcoming letters of Van Gogh. Sebastian' of Mantegna has been moved from It is noted that the 'St. the village of Aigue-Perse to the Louvre. |