CURIOUS CUSTOMS AND FACTS EXPLAINED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 111, 29 August 1876, Page 2

CURIOUS CUSTOMS AND FACTS EXPLAINED.

[Compiled for The Evening Mail] Godwin's Oath.—" Take care you =>, not swearing Godwin's oath." This ca tion to a person taking a voluntary J intemperate oath, or making vio] a , protestations, had its rise in the° follouin, circumstances : —Godwin, Earl of K e J was tried for the murder of Prince Alfri the brother of Edward the Confessor, jS pardoned, but died at the King's tab] while protesting with oaths his innocent of the murder. He is supposed by rians to have been choked by a judgment from Heaven, he having prayed that*itW lie was eating might stick in his throat ar,.] choke him if he were guilty of the murd fr Guineas, why so Called. —Guineas at? so named from having been first coined of gold brought by the African Compaq from the Coast of Guinea, in 1G63, juj then valued at 205.; in .1605, however they were worth 30s. From this time they varied in value. In 1810 guineas [ were sold at 225. Cut., and in IBIG for27s, 6d. In 1821, however, ail act was pasaej forbidding their exportation, and their sale also at a price above their cuiTeat value of 21s. The first guineas bore the impression of an elephant. None h ave been coined since the year ISI7. De Courcy's Privilege.—This was the privilege of standing covered before tie King, granted by King John to Jolm D e Courcy, Baron of ICingsale, and his successors, in 1203. He was tiie first noble, man created by an English sovereign, and was entrusted with the government of Ireland, by Henry 11., in ilßs. On the Occasion of the visit of George IV. to the Irish capital, in 182] , the then Baron claimed liis privilege at the Court, held by that monarch at Dublin. Origin of the Goon win Sands.— Sand banks oft* the east coast of Kent, so-called because the land belonged at one t'.mc to Goodwin, Earl of Kent, the father of King Harold 11. The ground was given totheMonesteryof St. Augustine at Canterbury, but the Abbot neglecting to keep in repair wall defending it from the sea, the tract was submerged in tlfe year 1100, leaving these sands, which have sines become a terror to mariners. Gretna Green Marriages.—llim-amr

marriages were contracted for many yean at Gretna Green, as the Scotch law ruled that au acknowledgment before witnesses made a legal marriage. John Paisley, i tobacconist, and termed the matrimonial blacksmith, who officiated from 1760, died in 1814. His first residence was at Hill, on the common or green beW* Gretna and Springfield, to the last oi which villages he removed in 1782. A man named Elliot was lately the principal officiating person. The General Assemblr in 1.826 in vain attempted to suppress this system ; but tin Act of Parliament, passed in 1856, made such marriages illegal after that year, unless one of the persons nuirried had lived in Scotland twenty-ow days.

Origin of the Exemption of bers of Parliament from Ajrrest duiiing the Session. —ln March, 1542, Mr, George Ferrars, a Member of Parliament,! being in attendance on the House, was taken in execution by a Sheriff's office! for debt, and committed to the Compter Prison. The House despatched their Sergeant to require his release, which to resisted, and an affray taking place, his mace was broken. The House repaired in a body to the Lords to complain, whet the contempt was adjudged to be ven great, and the punishment of the offender! was referred to the Lower House, Ob another messenger being sent to the Sheriff by the Commons, they delivered up the senator, and the civil magistrates and the creditor were committed to the Tower, the inferior officers to Newgate, and an Act was passed releasing Mr, Ferrars from liability for the debt. The King, Henry VIII., highly approved oi all these proceedings, and the transaction became the basis of that rule of Parliament which exempts its members from arrest during Session. The Olrest Papers is Great Britain

—lt may not be uninteresting, in conneC' tion with the growth of the newspaper Press, to present a classification of existing journals, showing in what years they were started. It appears that five papers date further back than the year 1700 ; 75 were issued between 1700 and 1799, 34 between 1800 and 1810, 29 between 1811 and 1820, 43 between 1821 and 1850, 100 between 1831 and 1840, 132 between 1841 and 1850, 475 between 1851 and 18G0, 4111 between 1861 and 1870, 24.9 and 1874 ; while in tho year 1875 asniany

as 84 papers Ayeve started, ancT still exist. Cats ass Carriers. —Since the siegg fit Paris a great deal of interest in the breeding and training of homing pigeons has been created by the admirable service rendered by those swift flying messenger* from the besieged inhabitants of that city to friends outside. The birds in which the homing powers were found to be the most strongly developed were of a breed of Belgian pigeons, now pretty generally know!) as Antwerps. This homing faculty, >' seems, a Belgian society is now endeavoring to develop in the domestic felines of that country, by inaugurating cat-races on much the same principle as the pigeonflying matches. A cat-race was very recently instituted in Liege. There were thirty-seven competitors, all of which were liberated some distance from the town, and the prize was awarded to the animal which reached its home in that town first. They were started at two p. m., but the distance they had to traverse is not stated ; suffice it to say the 4&st-. prize animal won in a canter, as he arrjod home at 6.48 the same evening, the second cat not appearing until 2.24 the following morning.

THK AMI" 1 I'"' ".•"Y to tit''- votar:.> "f nil'." a:ml lilv mil... 'lit t,. k:».vv n.atf thr ,f m ,h .-i:'-!'!-. h:>.s a.l"- " / V( , n |;i. 1(1 and 11-• K • "hitt* -V • t !. t y.ars i, F...V f.!u! ! 11l( | l-.lic I* * Mian.-* <irr credited w:. » -•* 'in»l11! 1 'in■*: »i |.;u»fcUm* ihuU'l- r.lu: * f and 'ttwniTa. Kt»*r, ttu» r i,,K u:- l.ti.MlM that in th« KiM"M of S.:okl;i.mt iUfl Fnuttv. Hnn- (>ni,a Kiii-oM'yL'n.H.M, a v.s.t 1,, K«hv.-tr<l HI., a i-i'iTak tournament was i in SmithCu'M. sut'l aftorwanlM piuar'l, M;w<»r of L«>mU>iu " l kfpfc b\* IwtU ~riiust all " comurs chat wtrw wtliui-' to play at dicu iiuil Itazanl. Th« L'wly Mpt„!Urk, his wife. "lilt kci'i' htT rhambrr r>. flic .-tiHiie int'.'Til!." Thf Major, it tr . could rattlatli's " lx.ru-* t" for lie i|uickly tiascd kli" man j,f ('ypi-iiM of fifty in ark*. (iiwi'-s, Ammknt ,\m> 3-t<>i>D.n>*. - ilu' lumen of ifiankn, seventeen, eighteen, uvenkv. iui<l cvoii thii'tv tWfc_ vvvre once ko have fur si found ; but (:"it no faith iu tlw an.l ama-fc Hiat. thry w*>rw the rwiwuij «>t ;;r(!!it animals. tu» U'KWitrt in Holy Writ., mention is made of ♦ >u'. Em M t Uunlian,. whose ?»<■•(fttki'svl was nm« titbits j lontf, or somewhere about sixteen fet t anil ;i ..|mlf: also of Uo!iat.!u who was six k-.vMu iiikl a span. Tlu; KnipoPor Maxiiuin, wlu> Ht.nri.MluMl in Hi* year ISKV. is saidto Uv« lit'iMi ei'dik feet !>.rtd a-li.'ilf. and of fi nt.miini bulk. John Midd-letou-. horn in J LiHioushiri'! in tSTH, and fawttf»n»ty styled Hw Child of flaic, was nin.' feet three iniilu'H iu hrijilifc. Hlit> UuvffcU of Uis harul .stivrntiH-'n iru'hos, atul its bn-atlfh fi.tjUt inches and a-halt?. iW.cn:k th« Iriftli who tlictl in tHOU, was t'i<„'ht fcift: scvun iiu:!u-'S iu lu:i'4'ht ; his 111i< l<Ili■ Ihitjl'i' iiifasurt'd just twlvy Ifiu 't' l . and- ui» ftn.k niucCctti. i'iif Sjiiu. fch-) P"rktT of j (lie t'riiHH! of Willi's at. t'iU'lton I al;ic \ j iv.'is uriir IVt t: and Mr. «-tio j t:. <I hiiusi'lf in Londou in E*♦>:£, , nitsisurt'd sovwii t't-'t'i- si v ui'jlu'S. ir< | Hiulcs,. known as thf \orkshiro ♦riant, j ilifl ar. tho aifks of forky-thr'-f. ilw | wvch ft't:k six inclu's,. and-I'liiuiiX-Wt"»-(low, who visitt'd Austi'a-- I linn rolonifs a ft'W yea-rs sini'-e. was. at «h-e I ii!»« of niufi.i-un, sewn tVi'ts

'CIIK t>t.<T,VSCK KIT Tl-tE Sl'N DUU'W 'V'FiR. ISahtil —lf a railway train had been started in f.lu! vf:t'• I ■">-£, 6U» t-iffccvntU V(-in* <'f the n of Itenry \ IfT., and it 'were hi> I'VU), at. tins rate of thirty nulvs £>ev hour, it would not 1 . have reached the sun until the pmwrvfc year. In.iw iVtaR-iit vt<-K,i 4, f Uk-.tober, trot, and the t-tixof February, or a term of four months,. there were wlebrated in fchw FU'ot no less tn.au marriages, without, license or eertttieate of Iximiss. Twenty or thirty couple v\> re imttictunes joined in ope day, l ui their niunes concealed by private tuarks', if they chose to |.iiv an e\ttti ft:*'. Pennant, lit a later period, describes* thy daviti};' manner in which, hist; nefarious traffic w.w rii.TOcilM.il, H> "ays that iti- walking hy the prison in hi.* youth, he has often been iiix-nnted with, •' Sir, will you please walk in ami l»t? marvitd ! ' and he states that puintcd. siijus of a male and female luwut conjoined, with, the riiiycs performed wirhin, wpre common thy hnihlin;;'. Tin l abused, hfvvhvm\ irett abolished by the Marriage Act in 1. " («np Hvvk 'CttK Ki'nh. Thi.4 nuJody i« .mid to have been composed by John Bull, Mns. E>., in tor a dinner <:iven ti> ,)':inu s [. at, iWereh.'Hit Tailors' Efall ; i.llu'i'M ascribe it, to Henry t ;uvv\ the iiukhi.t of •• Sully in our Ally." tvln> died 11 cinitnry arid a-lialt' later in t)KKKNPKU olf 'I'HK E'A tTtt. -Ik i-» a .«muwltal! singular t'ai fc that the title of If hi,■ I. t !ff'r innn\ or tVfender ft' the Faith. \v;i!i In stowed itpoti Henry V f it. by Leu X., for his tract in deftnee of tin* f'omau Cl.'iwlv against t 1 e attacks of l.ut.Fur.. lint sini t-'i'ity could he af.tr'buti dto thy ivntin'.jft of f.he kindly author may be tflwuted from his conduct fis;:iinsh the Church of whicU he oneu v.a., tlio champion.