gth 8. IX. JAN. 4, '96.) NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1896. To detail the manner of life of the French officer in the enemy's country would occupy too much space; but it is important to notice the plain NOTES :-Napoleon I.: La Grande Armée, 1–Portrait of admissions made by General Fantin of the extra- First Karl of Nottingham-The Yule of Saxon Days, 2- Jeremy Taylor, 4— The Sea-Serpent-Mottoes for Sundiale ordinary extent to which marauding was carried -Folk-lore--Matthew Arnold's "Oromwell,' 5–M.B. Coats by the French armies, and the manner in which -Oral Tradition-Happy Text-Cryptogram, 6. it recoiled upon them. The author writes, in 1805, QUERIES :-Spider Folk-lore-Taafe-R. Cosway-French -Poem Wanted—“ Brucolaques," 9. desordres, qui ne peuvent avoir que des suites funestes," REPLIES :-Vatican Emerald, 9-Maypoles, 10—Smoking prophesying thoroughly the frightful murders and in Church, 11-'A Newspaper Editor's Reminiscences reprisals afterwards described in the Peninsular “Woful"-" Luck Money,"17_Keats's Ode to a Night- bringing terrible results to the miserable inhabit- ingale'-The Roll of Battle Abbey-"The Beautiful Mrs. French service. Later on, in Spain, nothing is more noticeable than the ominous allusions made NOTES ON BOOKS:-Baring-Gould's “English Minstrelsie,' in 1808 at Vittoria to the “goût da pillage que nos soldats ont contracté depuis longtemps, et qu'ils ont à peine réprimé en traversant leur patrie," the fear being lest it should revive, and exasperate un peuple fier et irascible.” In Portugal, in 1809, the general mentions the series of assas- sinations by and reprisals upon the desperate in- habitants, winding up with the pithy remark, " Au diable la gloire quand elle mène à la potence.” I have been reading the “ Journal du Général He sums up the position of the French in Spain with the wars of the Empire from the observation of Austerlitz and the Russian losses, adds, “Une a simple captain, and is taken in many respects leçon si vertement donnée paraît donc devoir être from a standpoint different from those of Marbot fructueuse, et dégoûter pour longtemps les hordes and Thiébault. There are many points which are du nord de se mêler des affaires du midi de critically dealt with ; and while much detail is in l'Europe." To the ambitious schemes of Soult he a single volume necessarily omitted, there are gives some space, and he aims a dart at the enmity several features which delineate clearly the oba. between that marsbal and Ney, while he denounces racteristics of the better class of French officer of the artifice Murat employed to gain possession that day. The book also throws a decisive light on of the all-important bridge over the Danube in the Emperor's methods of warfare, particularly as 1805. He also mentions, with the business-like the general treats everything in a plain business- regret of a soldier of fortune, the light band like fashion, marked almost throughout by an exercised by Saint Cyr over the inhabitants of absence of that sentiment which has given too high Dresden in 1813. He makes & droll allusion to : appears to have been too confidential over the of the Commons in 1575, and Lord Chief Baron of amiable indiscretions of Madame Lefebvre. the Excbequer) acquired it by_parchase from his In his lighter vein the author speaks, in the kingman, Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham course of his campaigns, of the many attractions of (son of the first earl above mentioned, and grandthe fair sex in Vienna and in Poland, in Silesia son of the marriage of Sir Heneage Finch, Speaker and in Berlin, as opposed to those of Baden and of the Commons in 1625, with Frances Bell, grandSuabia, on which latter subject he is more candid daughter of the before-named Speaker, Sir Robert than polite. Finally, the worthy general's criticisms Bell), and it passed by devise from Philip Bell , on things musical and theatrical in the capitals and who died s.p. in 1677, to bis nephew Philip Bell, great towns of Europe are worthy of note. The then to bis nephew's son Henry, and afterwards comedies and opéra-bouffes of Vienda and its to Henry's son, my great-grandfather Henry Bell faubourgs especially attracted his attention, in spite above mentioned, after the death of whom it was of an occasional shock given to his modesty. He sold by his widow. The portrait in question hung gives warm praise to the musical capabilities of in Wallington Hall, and was removed thence when the Bavarians of 1805, and, passing through a the place was sold by my great-grandmother. church of Landshut, thus far sinks bis patriotism From the connexion between the Finck and Bell and speaks his mind : families it seems to be very probable that the “ J'ai été surtout ravi de l'barmonie du chant. Il y portrait in question may be that of the first Earl a bien loin de semblables accords aux beuglements des of Nottingham, and bave come into the possession cbantres de nos cathédrales et au bruit rauque des of Philip Bell when he purchased Wallington Hall serpents qui les accompagnent. Les Français, d'ailleurs from the second earl as above stated. si rarement dotés par la nature, sont, je pense, le peuple I should be glad of any information which may de l'Europe qui chante le plus mal.” W. H. QUARRELL. tend to corroborate my theory, and also to ascertain who may have been the artist by whom the portrait was painted. Are there in existence any SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF FIRST EARL OF well-authenticated portraits of the first Earl of NOTTINGHAM. Nottingham; and where? I have recently parI am owner of a fine oil painting, a life-size chased an engraving parporting to be that of a half-length portrait of a gentleman, or nobleman, portrait of bim, dated A.D. 1681 ; but it appears, dressed in a black doublet, apparently velvet, so far as one can judge from an engraving, to be richly adorned on the shoulders and arms with that of a dark rather that of a fair haired man, heavy gold bullion lace, and wearing a deep collar and I cannot distinctly identify the features in the and cuffs of fine lawn. He is an elderly man, two portraits, although there seem to me to be large-framed and stout, and has fair hair, worn some points of resemblance between them. long under a black skull cap, a thin fair moustache Joan H. JOSSRLYN. Ipswich. and small chin tuft, a well-shaped and slightly aquiline nose, and a double chin. He stands by [A portrait, attributed conjecturally to Luttrell, is a table on which lies a massive gold or gilt mace, described in Smith's. Catalogue of Engraved Portraits," p. 1665.] on which the letters C. R. are plainly readable, and holds in his right band a paper or parobment THE YULE OF SAXON DAYS. scroll, bearing an inscription, of which so much as is visible identifies it with the title of the statute (Continued from 8th S. viii. 483.) 13 Car. II, c. 1, viz., “An Act for Safety and Norse tradition points us to the far Asaland-most Preservation of His Majesty's Person and Govern- probably Asia - from which Odin came, and the ment against Treasonable and Seditious Practices underlying affinities of race and language attest its and Attempts"; which fixes the date of the portrait truth. How much of Scandinavian mythology, as not before 1661, and probably within a few years with its constant warfare between good and evil, after that date. is akin to Persian belief, and how much of Hebrew I have arrived at a conclusion that the portrait tradition underlies them both is a question too may be that of Sir Heneage Finch, Lord Keeper wide for so brief an essay. But a clearer light is in 1674, Lord Chancellor in 1675, and first Earl thrown upon the worship of Thor when we rememof Nottingham, for the following reasons :- ber him as the Beskytter, the protector, the shelter, The portrait came to me through my late mother, and find that Houssa, Uzzi, or Husi is the divine daughter of Scarlet Browne Bell, eldest son of proteotor among the tribes of the Euphrates Henry Bell, which Heory and his malo lineal and the descendants of Ishmael. From this name ancestors owned Wallington Hall, Norfolk. the Gothic huse, English house, is evidently Wallington Hall came into the Bell family in derived, showing tbat the “sheltered hearth," the seventeenth century, when Philip Bell (eighth that is the house, literally bore his name. son of Sir Robert Bell, of Beaupré Hall, Norfolk, Philology takes us still further when it traces and great-grandson of Sir Robert Bell, Speaker Thor or Thorah to the Hebrew for law or 8 order received from Sinai. Thus, as far back as called “the men of the three ships," " the short we can go, among the earliest vestiges of the faith sword men," or Saxons. Their leaders, the brothers of our Scandinavian forefathers, we find these Hengist and Horsa, are spoken of as the greatideas in close association–Thor, the embodiment grandsons of Odin, and, as their old songs express of protection, law and order, united with thunder it, “They followed gaily the track of the swans. and fire ; the blazing pile of pine-logs; the as- The lapse of time between the arrival of the three sembling of the free ; the rejoicing of the reunited ships and the escape of the exiles suggests the family at the feast of the home, when children, identity of their ancestral Odin with the leader of followers, and bondmen were gathered around the that gallant band. The Northmen held the transfather and king. migration, or rather the reincarnation of souls. The Thorsthing or Housethings, now shortened They believed by giving a child the name of into Hustings, only survives amongst us as the a distinguished man, especially of his own forename of the polling place. But in Yarmouth, the fathers, the soul of his name-father was transfused oldest seaport on the Norfolk coast, where the into the child. Thus we find St. Olaf was named Danish element prevailed long after the Conquest, after his most famous ancestor King Olaf Gurstadwe find the ancient chartered court of the borough Alf, and in his day the common people believed was formerly called the Court of Husting, now the that the old king was really born again in St. Olaf. court of record; all the crimes committed within Among a race cherishing ideas like these the the borough being tried there. heroic mariner could not fail to be regarded as Amongst the Teutonic nations he who gave the the incarnation of their god Odin, the heaven father largest entertainments was held in the most esteem. and victor king. These feasts commonly lasted several days. No We must now recall the familiar story of Henguest thought of departing until the empty bowls gist's first winter in England. The feast he gave and the increasing heap of bones showed that the to Vortigern, when Rowena presented the wassail. abundant provisions were consumed. Athenaus bowl to the British king, was undoubtedly the describes a Gaulish feast which lasted a year first Yaletide ever kept within our white-faced without interruption. Not only every individual isle. Many have ascribed the origin of the Saxon of the tribe, but every stranger also who chanoed wassail to the daughter of Hengist. Others identify to pass through the country, was made welcome. it with the grace-cup of the Greeks and Romans ; It was a belief sanctioned by long established but there seems more reason to suppose the custom that at the festive board men spoke out presentation of the wasgail-bowl was as closely their real thoughts with greater boldness and associated with the Saxon Yule as the ivy with formed their most daring plans. which the bowl was wreathed. " When they wanted to reconcile enemies, to form Kentish villages, for which he can offer no explana- it as the Grantra. Therefore we may conolude it Such were the traditionary customs which was a symbol dear” to Hengist and Rowena regulated the Saxon Yuletide. If in this spirit before their winter in Britain. Brand adds, the the father and king of the nation deliberated with holly and ivy which decorated the Kentish farm. his eldermen and warriors, 80 likewise the father houses at Christmas were never taken down until consulted with his song. We must now turn to Sbrovetide. Was this the limit of the ancient Kentish customs for additional light upon the Yule ? The village maidens then collected the early Yule, for the Saxon settlement upon the witbering ivy and bound it into a bundle, which Kentish shore bad grown into a kingdom before they denominated the ivy-girl. Meanwhile the the descendants of Odin cast the lance against village boys bad got possession of the holly, which their idols and listened to the gentler teachings of they had twisted into the rade effigy of a man. By Christianity: About one hundred and seventy nightfall their respective bonfires were lighted; . years after the daring escape of the Northmen from but the holly-boy was nowhere to be found. the legions of Probus, the cowardly Vortigern Girlish craft had stolen him away, and all the requested Saxon aid. In answer to his invitation stealthy canning of the lads was now exerted to 1,500 men landed on the coast of Kent. Three get possession of the ivy-girl by way of reprisal. ships brought them over, and they were therefore Of course they succeeded, and by the time the Sivine hrates name dently earth," traces ая о |
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