Notes and Queries, Number 68, February 15, 1851 | Page 4

Mrs. Goodwin. A scrap of paper which

accompanies it gives the following account of it:
"It was given by an old lady to Mrs. Goodwin; she obtained it from one
of the Strafford family, who was an attendant upon the Queen. The
other half Mrs. Goodwin has seen at High Fernby, in Yorkshire, a place
belonging to the family of the Rooks, in high preservation. In its
original state, it was lined with a rose-coloured lutestring, with a
flounce of the same about a quarter deep. The old lady being very
notable, found some use for the silk, and used to cover the china which
stood in the best parlour with this remains of antiquity."
The christening cloth is of a thread net, worked in with blue and yellow
silk, and gold cord. It must have been once very handsome, but is now
somewhat the worse for wear and time. It is about 2½ feet wide and 3½
feet in length, so that the entire length must have been about 7 feet.
Can any one inform me whether the remaining half of this interesting
relic STILL exists; as the notice attached to it, and mentioning its
locality, must now be fifty years old at least?
H. A. B.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
The Breeches Bible.--The able and interesting article on the Breeches
Bible which appeared in a late number of "NOTES AND QUERIES"
(Vol. iii., p. 17.) is calculated to remove the deep-rooted popular error
which affixes great pecuniary value to {116} every edition of the Bible
in which the words "made themselves breeches" are to be found, by
showing that such Bibles are generally only worth about as many
shillings as they are supposed to be worth pounds. It is worth noting,
with reference to this translation, that in the valuable early English
version, known as Wickliffe's Bible, just published by the university of
Oxford, the passage in Genesis (cap. iii. v. 7.) is translated "thei
soweden togidre leeues of a fige tree and maden hem brechis."

EFFESSA.
Origin of the present Race of English.--In Southey's Letters of Espriella
(Letter xxiv., p. 274., 3rd edit.), there is a remark, that the dark hair of
the English people, as compared with the Northern Germans, seems to
indicate a considerable admixture of southern blood. Now, in all
modern ethnological works, this fact of present complexion seems to be
entirely overlooked. But it is a fact, and deserves attention. Either it is
the effect of climate, in which case the moral as well as the physical
man must have altered from the original stock, or it arises from there
being more "ungerman" blood flowing in English veins than is
acknowledged. May I hazard a few conjectures?
1. Are we not apt to underrate the number of Romanised Celts
remaining in England after the Saxon Conquest? The victors would
surely enslave a vast multitude, and marry many Celtic women; while
those who fled at the first danger would gradually return to their old
haunts. Under such circumstances, that the language should have been
changed is no wonder.
2. Long before the Norman Conquest there was a great intercourse
between England and France, and many settlers from the latter country
came over here. This, by the way, may account for that gradual change
of the Anglo-Saxon language mentioned as observable prior to the
Conquest.
3. The army of the Conqueror was recruited from all parts of France,
and was not simply Norman. When the men who composed it came
into possession of this country, they clearly must have sent home for
their wives and families; and many who took no part in the invasion no
doubt came to share the spoils. Taking this into account, we shall find
the Norman part of the population to have borne no small proportion to
the then inhabitants of England. It is important to bear in mind the
probable increase of population since 1066 A.D.
TERRA MARTIS.
True Blue.--I find the following account of this phrase in my note-book,

but I cannot at present say whence I obtained it:--
"The first assumption of the phrase 'true blue' was by the Covenanters
in opposition to the scarlet badge of Charles I., and hence it was taken
by the troops of Leslie in 1639. The adoption of the colour was one of
those religious pedantries in which the Covenanters affected a
Pharisaical observance of the scriptural letter and the usages of the
Hebrews; and thus, as they named their children Habakkuk and
Zerubbabel, and their chapels Zion and Ebenezer, they decorated their
persons with blue ribbons because the following sumptuary precept
was given in the law of Moses:--
"'Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make to themselves
fringes on the borders of their garments, putting in