NOTES AND QUERIES.

Evening Star, Issue 7188, 16 April 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Awkward to Answer.— Herbert Spencer, in his “Social Statics,” remarks: “Were the shopkeepers put upon their examination, how would they excuse their trade practices? Is it moral to put potatoes or alum in bread ; to add salt, tobacco, and colchicmn to beer; to mix lard with butter; to manufacture fwilir in various known and unknown ways ; to adulterate oils, chemicals, colors, wines—in short, everything capable of adulteration ? Does the existence of inspectors of weights and measures indicate morality ? Or is it honest to sell over the counter goods whose quality is inferior to that of tho samples ticketed in the window ? ”

Biography is the only history. Political history as now written and hitherto, with its kings and changes of tax gatherers , la little (very little) more than a mockery of our want.—Carlyle. 4 .... By Georoe —An exclamation similar to By Jove, The term is older than is frequently imagined — vide 'Bacchusand Venus (p. 117), 1737. “Fore (or by) George, Id knock him down”—originally in reference to St. George, the patron saint of England, or possibly to the House of Hanover. CANDLES.— The Roman candles were composed of string, surrounded by wax, or dipped in pitch. Splinters of wood, fatted, were used for light among the lower classes in England five centuries ago. Wax candles were then little used, and dipped candles were usually burnt. The wealthy company of Wax Chandlers in London was incorporated in 1483. Mould candles are said to be the invention of a Frenchman. The great improvements in- the manufacture are due to the chemical researches on oils and fats by Chevreul, the French chemist. Palm and cocoanut oils are now extensively used. In 1860, at the Belmont works, 900 persons were employed, and 100 tons of candles were manufactured weekly. Candles are made also at Belmont from the mineral oil of tar brought from Rangoon, Burmah. Dolly Shop.— The name popularly given in London to a shop where rags and other kinds of old articles are bought, and over the door of which a black doll is usually suspended. It is understood that dollyshops are in many instances a kind of unlicensed pawnbroking concerns. For small articles a few pence are given, on the understanding that the seller can buy them back at an advance some days after. In Glasgow they are known by the name of wee paums. Drowning. —Anancient punishment. The Britons inflicted death by drowning in a quagmire, before 450 b.c .—Slow. _ It is said to have been inflicted on eighty intractable bishops near Nicomedia, a.d, 370; and to have been adopted as a' punishment in France by Louis XL The wholesale drownings of the Royalists in the Loire at Nantes, by command of the brutal Carrier, November 1793, were termed Noyades. Ninety-four priests were drowned at one time. He was condemned to death in 1794. Societies for the recovery of drowning persons were first instituted in Holland, in 1767. The second society is said to have been formed at Milan in 1768, the third at Hamburg in 1771, the fourth in Paris in 1772, and the fifth in London in 1774. The motto of the Royal Humane Society in England is: “ Lateat scintillula forsan” (a email spark may perhaps lie hid).—Haydn. Early Local Newspaper. ‘Handbook to Newcastle-upon-Tyne,’ it is stated that “The earliest instance of the printing of a newspaper in any prominent town of Great Britain occurred in Newcastle during the sojourn of Charles I. in the North in 1639. He was attended by Robert Barker, the Royal printer, who issued a news-sheet from time to time.” Earthquakes. Mrs Somerville states that about 255 earthquakes have occurred in the British Isles; all slight. To avoid the effects of a shock predicted by a madman for the Bth April, 1750, thousands of persons, particularly those of rank and fortune, passed the night of the 7th in their carriages and in tents in Hyde Park. Gold Coinage of England.— The gold coinage of England commenced in the reign of Edward 111., the quality of the gold being 23 carats fine, or nearly pure. A pound weight (troy) of this gold was made into coins of the current value of LI 3 3a 4d. The price of gold gradually rose, until at the accession of Henry VIII. the product of one pound of gold was L 22 10s. Henry, as in the ease of silver, debased the gold, and raised the amount of coinage per pound. He reduced the standard to twenty carats, which be made to produce L3O in money, making enormous profits by the change. His successor gradually fell back upon the ancient standard, but in 1604 James I. again reduced it to twenty-two. carats, at which it still remains. In 1604 the pound troy produced L 37 4s; the present coinage value of a pound of standard gold (22) is L 46 14s 6d.

Jubilees.— The Jews were commanded to celebrate a jubilee every fifty years, 1491 B.c. (Lev. xxv., 8). Among the Christians a jubilee every century was instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. in the year 1300. It was ordered to be celebrated every fifty years by Pope Clement VI.; by Urban VI. every thirty-third year $ and by Sixtus V. every twenty-fifth year.—Haydn, The word “jubilee” is derived from the Hebrew gobel, a horn. Its application to the peculiar institution known amongst the ancient Jews as the Yobel or Jubilee comes from the fact that the commencement of the Year of Jubilee was proclaimed on tho Day of Atonement—the 10th of the seventh month the sound of a peculiar horn oalled the gobel. It is a current error that the Jubilee occurred every forty-ninth year. The forty-ninth year expired before the Yohel commenced.—Edwards.

Kissing Hands.—This custom Is not only very ancient, and nearly universal, but has alike been participated in by religion and society. From the remotest times men sainted the sun, moon, and stars by kissing the hand. Job assures us that he was never given to this superstition, and Scripture also informs us that the same honor woe rendered to Baal. In ancient Greece the gads were offered various sorts of sacrifices by the rich; the poor adored them by the simpler compliment of kissing their hands. This custom os a religious rite, however, declined with Paganism. Under the Roman emperors kissing hands became an essential duty. This custom appears to be practised in every known country in respect to sovereigns and superiors—even amongst the negroes and tbe people of the New World. Cortez found it established at Mexico, where more than a thousand lords saluted him in touching the earth with tiu-fr hands, which they afterwards carried to their mouths. This practice would become obsolete if lovers were not solicitous to preserve the custom in their fervent emotions and ardor. Mulberry Trees.—The alleged firstplanted mulberry trees in England are in the garden of Sion House, Shakespeare planted a mulberry tree with his own hands at Stratford-upon-Avon; and Garrick, Macklin, and others were entertained under it in 1742. Shakespeare's house was afterwards sold to a clergyman of the name of Gastrel, who cut down the mulberry tree for fuel in 1765; but a silver-smith purchased _ the whole, and manufactured it into memorials. —Haydn. Mental Acquirements.—The wealth of each mind is proportioned to the number and to the precision of its categories and its points of view.—Amiel. March. The verb •“ to march ” is probably derived from the Celtic tnave, Welsh march, a horse. To march, if this derivation is correct, was originally to ride on horseback.

Romance —The Latin language ceased to he spoken in France about the ninth century, and was succeeded by a mixture of the language of the Franks and bad Latin, which was called the Romanic language or dialect. Most of the early tales of chivalry being written in that language, were called romances*'; hence the name given to marvellous and half-fabulous stories or poems. Tbam-boads. — An abbreviation of Outramrooda, tbe name being derived from Mr Beniamin Outram, who, in 1800, made improvements in the system of railways for common vehicles then in use in the north of England. The iron tram-road from Croydon to Wandsworth was completed on July 24 1891 ‘Mr Outram was father of ,the late Sir James Outram, the jtndian Onpqral. —Chambers. TJT Taverns. —ln the reign of Edward 111.* only three were allowed m London, one in Chepe, one In Walbrok, and tbe other in Lombard street. -