Various

“ Why then should that point in the moon's course, which we agree to call "the new" when it begins to emerge from the sun's rays, have any influence on our weather. Twice in each revolution, when in conjunction with the sun at new, and in opposition at the full, an atmospheric spring-tide may be supposed to exist, and to exert some sort of influence. ”

“ Then taking two large pins, he pierced the dowlas in opposite directions; and still keeping silence, entered his cottage, locked the door, placed the bloody rag upon the fire, heaped up some turf over it, and reading a few verses of the Bible, waited till the dowlas was burned. As soon as this was done, he returned to the pigsty; found his pig perfectly restored to health, and, mirabile dictu! as the white witch had predicted, the old woman, who it was supposed had bewitched the pig, came to inquire after the pig's health. The animal never suffered a day's illness afterwards. ”

“ It may be hoped that the time is not far distant when a scientific meteorology will dissipate the errors of the traditional code now in existence. Of these errors none have greater or more extensive prevalence than the superstitions regarding the influence of the moon on the atmospheric phenomena of wet and dry weather. Howard, the author of The Climate of London, after twenty years of close observation, could not determine that the moon had any perceptible influence on the weather. ”

“ The bourne at Croydon is one of the most remarkable of those intermitting springs which issue from the upper part of the chalk strata after long-continued rains.
All porous earth-beds are reservoirs of water, and give out their supplies more or less copiously according to their states of engorgement; and at higher or lower levels, as they are more or less replenished by rain. ”

“ It will be apparent from this quotation, that in England, at any rate, the prejudice spoken of is not of very recent development; and that it has not yet vanished before the intellectual progress of our race, will, I think, be painfully evident to many a bearer of this unenviable distinction. It seems to be generally supposed, by those who harbour the doctrine, that red-headed people are dissemblers, deceitful, and, in fact, not to be trusted like others whose hair is of a different colour ”

“ The highest sources of the Test, Itchen, and some other of our southern rivers which take their rise in the chalk, are often dry for months, and their channels void of water for miles; failing altogether when the rains do not fill the neighbouring strata to repletion.
In the case of long intermissions, such as occur to the Croydon bourne, it is not wonderful that the sudden appearance of waters in considerable force, where none are usually seen to flow, should give rise to superstitious dread of coming evils. ”

“ Indeed, the coincidence of the running of the bourne, a wet summer, a worse sowing-season, and a wet cold spring, may well inspire evil forebodings, and give a colourable pretext for such apprehensions as are often entertained on the occurrence of any unusual natural phenomenon. ”

“ Rain percolates through the chalk rapidly at all times, it being greatly fissured and cavernous, and finds vent at the bottom of the hills, in ordinary seasons, in the perennial springs which issue there, at the top of the chalk marl, or of the galt (the clay so called) which underlies the chalk. But when long-continued rains have filled the fissures and caverns, and the chinks and crannies of the ordinary vents below are unequal to the drainage, the reservoir as it were overflows, and the superfluity exudes from the valleys and gullies of the upper surface ”

“ There are only one or two places of Scotland proper where merks are in use,—Stirling and Dunfermline, I think. As these two places were the occasional residences of our ancient Scottish kings, it is possible this plan of estimating land may have obtained there, to equalise and make better understood some arrangements relating to land entered into between the kings of Norway and Scotland. ”

“ These merks are quite indefinite as to extent. It is, indeed, clear that the ancient denomination of merk land had not reference to superficial extent of surface, but was a denomination of value alone, in which was included the proportion of the surrounding commonty or scattald. Merk lands are of different values, as sixpenny, ninepenny, twelvepenny,—a twelvepenny merk having, formerly at least, been considered equal to two sixpenny merks; and in some old deeds lands are described as thirty merks sixpenny, otherwise fifteen merks twelvepenny land. ”

“ Merle d'Aubigné says, in his letter, that both the printed and manuscript correspondence of Calvin, in the public library of Geneva, had been examined in vain by himself, and by Professor Diodati the librarian, for any such topic; but he declares himself disposed to believe that the assertion, respecting which C. D. inquires, arose from the following passage in a letter from Calvin to the English primate:
"Sic correctæ sunt externæ superstitiones, ut residui maneant innumeri surculi, qui assidue pullulent. ”

“ The manuscript is said to be in good preservation, and the form of the characters assigns the tenth, or perhaps the ninth century as its date. It is said to contain, in the Latin tongue, several episodes of Norwegian history, relating to important facts hitherto unknown, and which throw much light on feudal tenures, holdings, superstitions, omens, &c., which have been handed down to our day, with their origin involved in obscurity, and on the darkness of the centuries that preceded the introduction of Christianity into Norway. Has this manuscript ever been printed? ”

“ Humbug (Vol. vii., p. 550.) .—A recent number of Miller's Fly Leaves makes the following hazardous assertion as to the origin and derivation of the term Humbug:
"This, now common expression, is a corruption of the word Hamburgh, and originated in the following manner:—During a period when war prevailed on the Continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were fabricated at Hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his disbelief of a statement, he would say, 'You had that from Hamburgh;' and thus, 'That is Hamburgh,' or Humbug, became a common expression of incredulity." ”

“ Such a publication as "N. & Q." is not the place to discuss fully the question of lunar influence. Your correspondent J. A., Jun., and all persons who have inconsiderately taken up the popular belief in moon-weather, will do well to consult an interesting article on this subject (I believe attributed to Sir D. Brewster) in The Monthly Chronicle for 1838; and this will also refer such inquirers to Arago's Annuaire for 1833. There may be later and completer disquisitions on the lunar influences, but they are not known to me.
M.
ROCOCO. (Vol. i., pp. 321. 356.) ”

“ All assessments have, however, for a very long period, been levied and all privileges apportioned, according to merks, without relation to whether they were sixpenny or twelvepenny. The ancient rentals of Shetland contain about fourteen thousand merks of land; and it will be noticed that, however much the ancient inclosed land be increased by additional improvements, the number of merks ought to be, and are, stationary. The valued rent, divided according the merk lands, would make a merk land in Shetland equal to 2l. ”

“ The word other-some occurs in the authorised version of the Bible, Acts xvii. 18. "Other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." It does not occur in any of the earlier versions of this passage in Bagster's English Hexapla. Halliwell says that it is "a quaint but pretty phrase of frequent occurrence," and gives an example dated 1570. Unneath, according to the same authority, is used in Somersetshire. Other-some is constantly used in Norfolk. ”

“ The figures have their hands joined, and appear to be in argument: their ample drapery is worthy of a study for apostles.
"Undertake nothing beyond your Strength" is emblemised by the giants scaling the heavens: one very fine figure, full of action, in the centre, is most admirably drawn.
"Education and Habit" is another, full of meaning. Two dogs are running: one after game, and another to a porringer. Some one has translated the verses at the bottom on the back of the print as follows. ”

“ The weakest lamb of Christ wades without fear.'"
The Ter Tria was originally published in 1658; its author, F. T., was the father of the better known Nahum Tate, the co-translator of the last authorised version of the Psalms,—a Teat which, following the metaphor of Mr. Chishull, has nourished not a few generations of the godly, but now, like a sucked orange, thrown aside for the more juicy productions of our modern Psalmists. ”

“ WEATHER RULES. (Vol. vii., p. 522.)
Your correspondent J. A., Jun., makes a Note and asks a question regarding a popular opinion prevalent in Worcestershire, on the subject of a "Sunday's moon," as being one very much addicted to rain. In Sussex that bad repute attaches to the moon that changes on Saturday:
"A Saturday's moon,
If it comes once in seven years, it comes too soon." ”

“ These intermittent rivulets have no affinity, as your correspondent E. G. R. supposes, to subterraneous rivers. The nearest approach to this kind of stream is to be found in the Mole, which sometimes sinks away, and leaves its channel dry between Dorking and Leatherhead, being absorbed into fissures in the chalk, and again discharged; these fissures being insufficient to receive its waters in times of more copious supply. The subterraneous rivers of more mountainous countries are also not to be included in the same category. ”

“ A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. "When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE. CONTENTS. Notes. WITCHCRAFT IN SOMERSETSHIRE.
Perhaps the following account of superstitions now entertained in some parts of Somersetshire, will be interesting to the inquirers into the history of witchcraft. I was lately informed by a member of my congregation that two children living near his house were bewitched. I made inquiries into the matter, and found that witchcraft is by far less uncommon than I had imagined. ”

“ PARVISE. (Vol. viii., p. 528.)
Parvise seems to have been a porch, used as a school or place for disputation. The parvise mentioned in the Oxford "Little-Go" (Responsions) Testamur is alluded to in Bishop Cooper's book against Private Mass (published by the Parker Society) . He ridicules his opponent's arguments as worthy of "a sophister in the parvyse schools." The Serjeant-at-law, in Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims, had been often at the paruise. ”

“ For the information sought by your correspondent R. L. P., I would refer him to the following extract taken from Sutherland's History of the Knights of Malta, vol. ii. pp. 114, 115.:
"To increase the despondency of L'Isle Adam [the Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem] , Henry VIII. of England having come to an open rupture with the Pope, in consequence of the Pontiff's steady refusal to countenance the divorcement of Catherine of Arragon his queen, commenced a fierce and bloody persecution against all persons in his dominions, who persisted in adhering to the Holy See. ”

“ I. cap. 18.:
"Whereas the sea-sand, by long triall and experience, hath bin found to be very profitable for the bettering of land, and especially for the increase of corne and tillage, within the counties of Devon and Cornwall, where the inhabitants have not commonly used any other worth, for the bettering of their arable grounds and pastures."
I am not aware of any other instance of the use of this word in this sense.
C. H. Cooper.
Cambridge.
"Elementa sex," &c. (Vol. vii., p. 572.) .—The answer to the Latin riddle propounded by your correspondent Effigy, seems to be the word putres ”

“ Not to mention minor errors, they sometimes crowd into a given time more generations than could have possibly existed, and sometimes make the generations of a length that has not been witnessed since the patriarchal ages. ”

“ The practice is still common in the East for merchants on a large and small scale to spend a whole season or year in trafficking in one city, and passing thence to another with the varied products suitable respectively to each city ”

“ Duke William cries "Dex aie," and Raol Tesson "Tur aie;" on which there is a note that M. Pluquet reads "Thor aide," which he considers may have been derived from the ancient Northmen. Surely this is the origin of our modern hurrah; and if so, perhaps the earliest mention of our English war-cry.
J. F. M.
Purlieu (Vol. vii., p. 477.) .—The etymology of this word which Dr. Johnson adopted is that which many others have approved of. The only other derivation which appears to have been suggested is from perambulatio. Blount, Law Dict., s. ”

“ One reads the voyages of these two great wits with as much astonishment as the travels of Ulysses in Homer, or of the Red Cross Knight in Spenser. All is enchanted ground and fairy land."
Biographical sketches of Mandeville and Pinto are attached to this paper in the excellent edition of the Tatler ("with Illustrations and Notes" by Calder, Percy, and Nichols) , published in six volumes in 1786. Godwin selected this quotation from Congreve as a fitting motto for his Tale of St. Leon. ”

“ Scotch or Irish, however, I maintain that my derivation is the right one. J. L. says he prefers that of Dr. Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, who "derives it from Su.-G. Fogde, formerly one who had the charge of a garrison." In thus preferring a Scottish authority, J. L. shows himself to be a true Scot ”

“ Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;'
and it was left to Mr. Keightley to bless the world with the information that it was things."
In all the modern editions that I have been able to consult, these lines are thus printed and punctuated:
"Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;
When great things labouring perish in the birth:"
and their is referred to contents. ”

“ There (p. 204.) your correspondent will find, by authority of "a German," that mangold is field-beet or leaf-beet: and that mangel is a corruption or pretended emendation of the common German appellation, and most probably of English coinage. Such a thing as mangel-wurzel is not known on the Continent; and the best authorities now, in this country, all use mangold-wurzel.
M.
P.S.—Since writing the above, I have seen Mr. Frere's note on the same subject (Vol. vii, p. 463.) . The substitution of mangel for the original mangold, was probably an attempt to correct some vulgar error in orthography ”