NOTES AND QUERIES.

Evening Star, Issue 7367, 12 November 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Asmodeus, properly Aschmedai —The des troyer, an evil genius, or demon mentioned in the later Jewish writings. AsmodeUa is described as the author of many evils. In the book of Tobit he is represented as slaying the seven husbands of Sara, and hence, in modern times, has been jocularly spoken of as the destroying demon of matrimonial happiness. In the Talmud Asmodeus is described as the prince of demons, and is said to have driven Solomon from his kingdom. Boyle Lectures. —So called from Hie founder, the Hon. Robert Boyle, who settled an annual salary, charged upon bis dwellinghouse in St. Michael’s, Crooked lane, London, for “some preaching minister” who shall preach eight sermons in the year for proving the Christian religion against Atheists, Deists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahommedans, not descending to any controversies among Christiana themselves. Archbishop Tennyson procured a yearly salary of LSO, to be charged upon a farm at Brill, instead of the original endowment. The office is tenable for three years. Blue Gowns. —The name given to aprive leged class of mendicants in Scotland. The proper name of these paupers was the King'* Bedesmen or Beadsmen. In ancient times a beadsman was a person employed to pray for another. From practices of this , kind there sprang up a custom in Scotland ;of appointing headsmen, with a small royal bounty, who ultimately degenerated into a class of authorised mendicants. Each of ike beadsmen on His Majesty’s birthday received a gown of blue cloth, a loaf of bread, a bottle of ale, and a leathern purse containing a penny for every year of the King’s life. Every birthday another beadsman was added to the number. A large pewter badge was attached to the breast of the gown, with the name of the wearer, and the inscription “ Pass and repass,” thus inferring the privilege of begging for a night’s lodging. The practice of appointing beadsmen was discontinued so late as 1833, at which time : there were sixty on the roll. The whole h'ave since died out. The last drew bis allowance from the Exchequer in Edinburgh in M&y, 1863.

Cuirassiers were heavy horsemen wearing body armor over buff-coats. They canned swords and pistols, and the reins were strengthened with iron chains; the name is now often given to the heaviest cavalry. The only cavalry in the British Army wearing the cuirass are the Life Guards (red) and Horse Guards (blue), and it is regarded more as a matter of show than of use. ■ Consols, or Consolidated Annuities!— In incurring the national debt, the governments of the day at different periods borrowed money on special conditions, being generally the payment of an annuity of so much per cent, on the sum borrowed. Cfreak confusion arose from the. variety of stocks thus created, and it was thought expedient to strike an average of their value and consolidate them into one fund, kept in one account at the Bank of England. The Consolidated Annuities Act was therefore pained in 1757. The name consols is merely a contraction of the first word.

Doit— A small copper coin current In, Sobtland during the reigns of the Stewarts. In value it was only equal to the eighth of a penny. The expressions in common use It is not worth a doit” and “ I would not give a doit for it ” are expressive of the value attaching to a thing in conversation. Demosthenes The greatest oyator of Greece, and, indeed, of the ancient world. According to Thirlwall, author of the ‘History of Greece,’and other authorities, his father was a wealthy man, but died early, leaving his. fortune and children-to the care of three guardians, who cruelly abused the trust committed to them. As soon as Demosthenes came of age he resolved to prosecute at law the unfaithful stewards. He gained his case, but much of the property had been already squandered, and he only recovered enough to save him from poverty. He resolved to devote himself to public life, and set himself to master the law and politics of his country with unparalleled labor and perseverance. His first care was to conquer the physical disadvantages under which he labored. His health was naturally feeble, his voice harsh, and his action ungraceful. To strengthen his lungs ho used to climb steep hills, reciting as he went,; or declaim on the shores of the sea in stormy weather. To improve his delivery he took instructions from the aotor Satyrua, and did not even disdain to study effects' before a mirror. He first began to take part-in public affairs when about twenty-seven years of age, and from that time till his death his history is the history of Athens. His services to his country entitle him to a place among the highest and noblest men of antiquity. Men in all ages have considered him as the prince of orators. John Barleycorn— Used jocularly, and also in many humorous poetical effusions, as a personification of the extract of barley—inalt liquor, or the barley brea. There exists a whimsical English tract of old date, under the title of “ The Arraigning rind Indicting of Sir John Barleycorn, Kmght,” printed for Timothy Tosspot, in which-Sir John is described of noble, blood,-.well beloved in England, a great supporter ofthe Crown, and a maintainer of both rich and poor.— ‘ Everyday Book.’ . The Peasant War, in German history, is the name given to that great insurrection of the peasantry which broke out in the beginning of the year 1525, and which Zeefaockke has described as the “terrible soream of oppressed humanity.” The oppression of the peasants had gradually increased in severity as the nobility became more extravagant, and the clergy more sonsnaPind degenerate. Tae Reformation, by the mental awakening which it produced, and the diffusion of sentiments favorable (to freedom, must be reckoned amongst >the causes of the great insurrection itself; although Luther, Melancthon, and the other leading reformers, whilst urging the .nobles to justice and humanity, strongly reprobated the violent proceedings of -the peasants. Towards Easter there appeared a manifesto which set forth the grievances and demands of the insurgents; They demanded the free election of. their parish clergy, the appropriation of the tithes of grain, after competent maintenance of the parish clergy, to the support of the poor, and to purposes of general utility ; the abolition of serfdom, and of the exclusive hunting and fishing rights of the nobles; the restoration ofthe community of forests, fields, and meadows, which the secnlar and ecclesiastical lords had appropriated’ to themselves; release from arbitrary augmentation and multiplication of services, duties, and rents ; 4he equal administration of justice, and Ahe abolition of some of the most Odbraa exactions of the clergy. The peasants,-after having been subjugated, were everywhere treated with terrible cruelty. -In ohe instance a great body of them were perfidiously massacred after they had lain down their arms. Wurzburg and other towns which had joined the insurgents suffered ' the terrible revenge of the victors. Multitildes were hanged in the streets, and many put to death with the greatest torture. is supposed that more than ISO.OdO 'porsbna lost their' lives in the Peasant War; flourishing and popnlons districts were desolated j and the lot of the defeated insurgents became harder than ever, as many burdens of the peasantry originated at this i period. The cause of the Raformationi was very injuriously affected; thereby;