Notes and Queries, Number 37, July 13, 1850 | Page 6

usage. It is equally probable that

the tonne was originally built for the purpose to which it was ultimately
applied; and that some delay arose in its use from the difficulty
experienced in the hydraulic part of the undertaking, which was only
overcome in 1401. The universality of the punishment of "ducking"
amongst our ancestors is at least a circumstance in favour of the view
taken in the text.]
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Midsummer Fires._--From your notice of Mr. Haslam's account of the
Beltein or Midsummer fires in Cornwall, I conclude you will give a
place to the following note. On St. John's eve last past, I happened to
pass the day at a house situate on an elevated tract in the county of
Kilkenny, Ireland; and I shall long remember the beauty of the sight,
when, as dusk closed in, fire after fire shot up its clear flame, thickly
studding the near plains and distant hills. The evening was calm and
still, and the mingled shouts and yells of the representatives of the old
fire-worshippers came with a very singular effect on the ear. When a
boy, I have often passed through the fire myself on Midsummer eve,
and such is still the custom. The higher the flame, the more daring the
act is considered: hence there is a sort of emulation amongst the
unwitting perpetrators of this Pagan rite. In many places cattle are
driven through the fire; and this ceremony is firmly believed to have a
powerful effect in preserving them from various harms. I need not say,
that amongst the peasantry the fires are now lighted in honour of St
John.
X.Y.A.
Kilkenny.
* * * * *
MINOR NOTES.
_Borrowed Thoughts._--Mr. SINGER (Vol. i., p. 482.) points out the
French original from which Goldsmith borrowed his epigram
beginning--
"Here lies poor Ned Purdon."
I find, in looking over Swift's works, a more literal version of this than
Goldsmith's:--
"Well then, poor G---- lies under ground, So there's an end of honest
Jack; So little justice here he found, 'Tis ten to one he'll ne'er come

back."
I should like to add two Queries:--Who was the Chevallier de Cailly (or
d'Aceilly), the author of the French epigram mentioned by Mr. Singer?
And--when did he live?
H.C. DE ST. CROIX
_An Infant Prodigy in 1659._--The following wonderful story is thus
related by Archbishop Bramhall (Carte's _Letters_, ii. 208.: Dr.
Bramhall to Dr. Earles, Utrecht, Sept. 6-16, 1659):--
"A child was born in London about three months since, with a double
tongue, or divided tongue, which the third day after it was born, cried 'a
King, a King,' and bid them bring it to the King. The mother of the
child saieth it told her of all that happened in England since, and much
more which she dare not utter. This my lady of Inchiguin writeth to her
aunt, _Me brow van Melliswarde_[4], living in this city, who shewed
me the letter. My Lady writeth that she herself was as incredulous as
any person, until she both saw and heard it speak herself very lately, as
distinctly as she herself could do, and so loud that all the room heard it.
That which she heard was this. A gentleman in the company took the
child in his arms and gave it money, and asked what it would do with it,
to which it answered aloud that it would give it to the King. If my Lady
were so foolish to be deceived, or had not been an eye and ear witness
herself, I might have disputed it; but giving credit to her, I cannot
esteem it less than a miracle. If God be pleased to bestow a blessing
upon us, he cannot want means."
It can hardly be doubted that the Archbishop's miracle was a
ventriloquist hoax.
CH.
[Footnote 4: The name of the Dutch lady, mis-written for De Vrouw,
&c.]
_Allusion in Peter Martyr._--Mr. Prescott, in his History of the
Conquest of Mexico vol. i. p. 389. (ed. 8vo. 1843), quotes from Peter
Martyr, _De Orbe Novo_, dec. 1. c. l., the words, "Una illis fuit spes
salutis, desperasse de salute," applied to the Spanish invaders of
Mexico; and he remarks that "it is said with the classic energy of
Tacitus." The {102} expression is classical, but is not derived from
Tacitus. The allusion is to the verse of Virgil:--
"Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem."

_Æn._ ii. 354.
L.
_Hogs not Pigs._--In Cowper's humorous verses, "The yearly Distress,
or Tithing-time at Stoke in Essex," one of the grumblers talks
"of pigs that he has lost By maggots at the tail."
Upon this I have to remark that an intelligent grazier assures me that
pigs are never subject to the evil here complained of, but that lambs