"The opinion long prevailed in Northumberland, that the Picts had the art of preparing an intoxicating liquor from heather bells, and that the secret died with them." I may mention that "gale beer," brewed from a plant growing on the moor above Ampleforth, in Yorkshire, is made and sold by Mrs. Sigsworth of the "Black Horse," the best public house in that long village. It bears a high local celebrity for its regenerative properties. G. H. of S. I remember, some years ago, observing in a window close to " Murdering Lane" (near Kilmainham Hospital), Dublin, a notice that "heather beer" was to be had within. Not long after, either in Blackwood or the Dublin University Magazine, I found, in an article on the remains of round towers in the Highlands of Scotland, an account of the brewing of heather beer (evidently of some peculiar description) having been a national secret amongst the Picts; the supposed last of which race, having outwitted his conqueror, died with the secret. The story it is needless to give at length; as, though romantic, it appears to be little worthy of credit. SPAL. N.B. A very curious work might be written on the intoxicating drinks made in ancient and modern times from various vegetable productions. Amongst others, that from the soma, or moor plant; daroo, from the Mahua tree; samshoo, from millet; arrack, &c., &c. Classical literature and Norse would contribute materials. The tradition is common in Scotland. I have heard it frequently in Forfarshire, but the making of an intoxicating liquor from the heath is ascribed to the Picts both there and in Caithness. In the latter county, the curious structures called "Picts' Houses" are very common, and evidently belong to a pre-historic age, as evidenced by the stone and bronze implements, rude pottery, and shellheaps found in connection with them. A more important query is-Who were the (so-called) Picts? I subjoin a version of the tradition referred to by J. L. as it exists in Caithness. It is copied from one of a series of papers on the "Pre-Historic Races and Relics of Caithnessshire," which appeared last year in the columns of the John O'Groat Journal (Wick). The writer, after describing a curious structure not far from Wick, says: "The name of this place is Garrywhin, and a tradition exists in connection with it, which says that here the last of the Picts existed. The story goes on to say that the race of Picts was reduced to three persons-an old blind man and his two sons; but before continuing the story it is necessary to mention that a notion still exists that the Picts made ale from heather, and that it can still be made, only we want the knowledge of any barm or yeast suited for it. Now the Picts were said to have guarded this secret with great care from the race that succeeded them, and it seems that these three poor Picts were much persecuted by their conquerors, who wished to get possession of their secret. At last the old man, worried almost to death by being so frequently urged to reveal what barm would suit 'heather crop,' consented to tell on condition that his two sons should first be put to death. To this proposal the cruel conquerors readily consented. The sons were slain, but the old man, wishing some of his oppressors to shake hands after they had completed their bargain, they became suspicious of his intentions, and held out to him the bone of a horse's leg, which, with a firm grasp of his old withered hand, he crushed to powder. Made aware by this that it was not over safe to shake hands with the old fellow, they kept at a respectful distance, but still insisted that he should now reveal his secret according to bargain, but they which we often still hear repeated. could get nothing out of him but the doggrel couplet 'Search Brochwhin well out and well in, And barm for heather crop you'll find therein,' The place mentioned here as Brochwhin is a glen close by, and the tradition is still believed." J. A. At p. 60 of Dr. Bruce's Wallet Book of the Roman Wall is the following passage, which may probably interest your correspondent J. L.: "To the west of the farm-house (at Rutchester, near Heddon-on-the-Wall, in the county of Northumberland) on the brow of the hill a trough-like excavation has been made in the solid rock. Its use is not known. It was once popularly called the Giant's Grave. Another account of its use is recorded in Sir David Smith's MSS. now preserved in Alnwick Castle. The old peasants here have a tradition that the Romans made a beverage somewhat like beer of the bells of heather (heath), and that this trough was used in the process of making such drink. The opinion long prevailed in Northumberland, that the Picts had the art of preparing an intoxicating liquor from heather-bells, and that the secret died with them." "Kircudbright. He assumed the title in 1730, on the death of a distant relation; but, though he always voted at the election of the Representative Peers, his title was not legally allowed till 1773, when it was restored to his son John. He used to stand in the lobby of the old Assembly Rooms, selling gloves to those who frequented this fashionable resort, except on the night of the Peers' ball, when he assumed his sword, and took his place as a noble among those who, on other days, were his customers." The "distant relation" mentioned in the note was James, sixth Lord Kircudbright. The M'Lellans of Bombie, Lords Kircudbright, bore, Or, two chevronels sable. P. F. has the same right to his paternal coat as the second line of the M'Lellans had to their coat and peerage. May I add to this reply, corrections of some errors on p. 234? In number " 8. Messire Pierre de Luxemberg" &c., "couronnée et armée d'or" should be "couronné et armé d'or." In number 6. "le bordure" is printed in error for "la bordure." D. P. Stuarts Lodge, Malvern Wells. avi nobilitas, per patrem, quantumvis ignobilem, in nepote cum vita transmittatur. "Quidni vero cum is ipse qui mechanicas artes exercuit, si ab antiqua prosapia nobilis fuerit, sola desinentia recuperet nobilitatem, neque ulla indigeat rehabilitatione; qua procul dubio indigeret, qui ex privilegio et sola principis concessione primus sibi suisque nobilitatem quæsivisset. "Quod pater meus, qui nobilitatem a genere habebat, eam amiserit per actus mechanicos, non debet mihi nocere, licet natus sim eo tempore quo jam amissa erat nobilitas: neque mirum, quia etiam is ipse qui amisisset nobilitatem avitam, recuperaret eam per solam desistentiam, quæ saltem tum evenit cum is moritur; cur ergo mihi nocebit, quod ei, si hodie viveret, non noceret? non idem est, si pater nobilitatem habuit duntaxat ex privilegio; amittendo enim privilegium et sibi noceret et posteris; nisi proponas nobilitatem a principe datam ei et ejus posteris; tunc enim factum patris nocere filiis non deberet."" In a note to his History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, chapter xxvi., Prescott says: "A whimsical distinction prevails in Castile in reference to the more humble occupations. A man of gentle blood may be a coachman, lacquey, scullion, or any other menial, without disparaging his nobility, which is said to sleep in the meanwhile. But he fixes on it an indelible stain if he exercises any mechanical vocation." In the Ordonnances which Zypoeus has inserted in his treatise De Notitia Juris Belgici; and which are quoted by Menestrier in his Recherches du Blason (Paris, 1673), p. 217, the following oc As the query of P. F. is not, as he imagines, sufficiently abstruse for the "learned correP. F. may very properly resume the use of his spondents," I take upon myself the responsibility family arms under the circumstances mentioned of answering it. Although his grandfather proby him. The following quotation from the Analy-bably lived before by "sending name and county," sis of Nobility by the Baron von Lowhen, p. 307, exactly meets the case in point: "As to any mechanic trade or service, all civilians are unanimous on the incompatibility of these stations with the dignity of a nobleman; it becomes utterly extinguished by them, but the most solid (and I am sure the most humane) civilians hold that posterity is not involved in this debasement; particularly Faber expresses himself very strongly on this head, whose sense, that I may not wrong, I shall give in his own words: Qui nobilitatem habet ab avis et proavis, non idcirco eam amittit, quod patrem habuerit, qui mechanicas forte et obscuras artes exercuit; absurdum enim sit, a patre soli auferri filio, quod non a solo patre filius habet: nec quod eo ipso tempore conceptus filius fuit, quo pater eam nobilitatem amiserat, ad rem pertinebit: nam quod dici solet per medium, quod vocant inhabile impediri extremorum conjunctionem, ad hunc casum non pertinet, in quo fieri non potest, quin ensigns at the low figure of 3s. 6d., it does not he could, as now, be accommodated with armorial at all stand to reason that because he "bore arms" he was entitled to do so. If, however, he did, of right, so bear them, and begat the father of P. F. in lawful wedlock, his child most indubitably inherited that right from him, despite his wild inclinations, his running away from home, and the obtaining of his livelihood as a mechanic. By the same rule, P. F. is equally entitled to his coat armour; and I may express my belief, from the account he gives of himself, that he will bear it with honour. If titles are not lost, though resuscitated through the sieve of the lowest grade, surely the lesser hereditary honor of a grant of S. T. arms cannot be so. ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON'S LIBRARY (3rd S. iv. 63, 131.)-I beg to thank you, Mr. Editor, and those of your correspondents who have kindly answered some of my Queries. To Axeus, to whom I am especially indebted, I should have replied before, but that I was absent from home. The "no doubt," in my sentence, referred to the identity of The Puritan turned Jesuit in Leighton's Catalogue with the treatise so named which was published in 1643; and was not intended for an "unhesitating" assertion of the authorship, of which I knew nothing, except that Dr. Watt assigns it to Dr. John Owen, though I certainly received Dr. Watt's statement without question. I fear that I published my Queries at an unfavourable time, when everybody almost had left town and books behind them. By-and-by, however, I trust to get some further replies; especially to my query about Sir Roger L'Estrange, and The Naked Truth whipped and stripped. EIRIONNACH. "The Ryding of the fraunches and liberties of the Citty of Dublin according to the auncient custome, and lately perambulated in the yeare of Sir John Terrell's maioralty." A literary friend has kindly furnished me with a carefully corrected copy of this curious document. Messrs. Whitelaw and Walsh (good and useful as their publication is in other respects) were undoubtedly very careless in transcribing, and consequently (as I have said) made many strange blunders. One specimen must suffice for the present. In p. 102, 1. 9 from bottom, the Mayor is represented as causing the Sword-bearer "to sit on the King's sword"; but his lordship did no such thing. Instead of " the mayor caused the sword-bearer to sit on the king's sword," read, through a window" [which words are omitted], the king's sword"—which gives a very different "the mayor caused the sword-bearer to sett in meaning. 66 GUIDO FAWKES (3rd S. iv. 249.)-8. can see at the State Paper Office the Confession (so called) of Guy Fawkes, to which he affixed his signature, "Guido Fawkes." The letters are well shaped, and large, but written evidently by a hand weak and tremulous, from torture, as it may be pre- let me refer to another, of which all traces have Having said so much of one "ancient custom," sumed, for the original authority, or order, of disappeared; and as it was of an interesting chaKing James is likewise to be seen, directing tor-racter, perhaps some reader of " N. & Q." may ture to be applied " usque ad imum." These remarkable documents were brought to light about thirty years ago, when the State Paper Office was in Great George Street, and when Mr. Lemon began to introduce order into the chaos which at that time reigned in the collection of old State Papers. J. G. W. LORD CHATHAM; SPANISH LANGuage (3rd S. i. 506.) The Saturday Reviewer was certainly wrong in making Lord Chatham "learn Spanish at seventy," as he wanted some months of that age when he died on May 11, 1778. Guildford. D. M. STEVENS. history. It is referred to in the following terms be able and willing to throw a little light on its in Sleater's Public Gazetter, October 3rd, 1761:— 291, a large quantity of oysters were brought into town "According to annual custom [on Tuesday, September [Dublin], with colours on the several carriages, and ABHBA. music." PAUL JONES (3rd S. iv. 269, 300.)-I apprehend the object of LOYAL is to obtain either a sight of the original letter, dated April 24, 1778, and written by the Countess of Selkirk-detailing the particulars of Paul Jones's piratical inroad upon the domain of that noble family on the north shore of the Solway Frith, on the previous dayor to be referred to any publication of that letter in any magazine or work of that period. Among the copies which were taken of her ladyship's admirably written letter there was one, many years ago, in the possession of Mr. John Nicholson, a respectable bookseller of Kirkcudbright; and which, no doubt, will have been preserved by his descendants if he be not now living. I should think there is also very little doubt that such a valuable document has been consigned to the archives of the family, and so preserved as a heirloom; and, should this be the case, as the present Earl is a very courteous and obliging nobleman, I think a perusal of it might be obtained through the application of some respectable channel to his Lordship at St. Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright. I may also be permitted to allude to one of the most audacious impertinent letters ever penned, from the above arch-pirate to the Countess of Selkirk, to extenuate his robbery of the plate on April 23, 1778. Our language has not a more perfect specimen of the mock-heroic; but should any reader of "N. & Q." think it worth perusal, he will find it in Colburn's United Service Magazine for January, 1843 (pp. 68-70), in an article by that very respectable gentleman and author Mr. Allen, who observes: "We do not remember to have seen anything at all approaching the above in egotism, ignorance, or impudence, except perhaps in the celebrated compositions of Tittlebat Titmouse, Esquire, in Ten Thousand a Year." ADJUTOR. BIBLE TRANSLATORS (3rd S. iv. 228.)-Thanks for three dates of deaths. Could not the registrars of dioceses kindly furnish a few dates to fill up remaining lacunæ. Dr. Francis Burleigh was Vicar of Bishops' Richard Thompson was of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Edward Lively was Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge. Francis Dillingham was parson of Dean, and Vicar of Wilden, Bucks [Beds ?]. Thomas Harrison, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Robert Spalding, Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge. Dr. Andrew Byng, Archdeacon of Norwich. Dr. John Harding, Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford, Rector of Halsey, Oxon.† Dr. Ralph Hutcheson, President of St. John's, Oxford. Michael Rabbett, Rector of St. Vedast's, Foster Lane, London. Dr. Thomas Sanderson, Archdeacon of Rochester. Could not the MESSRS. COOPER, who are at once so accurate and so communicative, oblige me with the Cambridge names? X. Y. Z. THE MONOGRAM OF CONSTANTINE (3rd S. iii. 235, 259.)-I must own that I have not seen any coin or medal of Constantine the Great with the sacred monogram upon it. I made the assertion [John Mountford was instituted to the Rectory of Thorley 3rd of May, 1619, upon the death of Dr. Francis Burley.-Clutterbuck's Herts, iii. 272.] [Dr. John Harding would seem to have died in 1610; for in that year he was succeeded by others in both his offices of President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Regius Professor of Hebrew in that University.-E. H. A.] that it appeared on his coins from what the learned and accurate Alban Butler says in his note on the Labarum (Sept. 14), where he speaks of several medals which Constantine and his successor struck, from which, he says, it appears that he ascribed his victories to the miraculous sign of the cross. Aringhi also, speaking of the sacred monogram of the name of Christ, says:— tibus innotescat, in ipsis videlicet numismatibus tum a Con"Cuique ad hæc usque tempora oculis ultro exploranstantino Magno, tum ab Arcadia Augusto olim editis sacrum Christi nomen Græcis duabus litteris militari labaro sub Crucis forma X insculptum, designatumque fuisse. (Roma Subterranea, lib. vi. cap. xxiii.)" I have no pretensions to numismatic science, and my collection of coins is very limited; but it contains one copper coin of Arcadius, with the labarum, as alluded to above. It resembles the cimens of which were found in the rubbish of the gold coin figured in the above work, several speLateran palace when under repairs by Pope Sixtus V., and so highly valued by that pontiff as a particular favour. and certain bishops, to whom he gave specimens I shall be curious to see what reasons a Christian can show for doubting whether the sacred shall, I hope, be ready to consider them in a monogram is in reality a Christian emblem; and proper spirit. Notwithstanding the positive assurance quoted seek in vain for any Christian emblems on the from Mr. Humphrey's Coin Manual, we do not Labarum upon them. A coin of the first Christian coins of Constantine, though we may not find the 23) from the Museum of Francis Angeloni, bearemperor is figured in Aringhi (t. ii. lib. vI. cap. ing the head of Constantine on one side, and on standing upon it, and the inscription, Virt. Exerc. the other a broad cross, with a figure of Victory victory. plainly intimating the sacred source of power and F. C. H. P.S. I take this opportunity to mention that in my late communication on the subject of St. Patrick and the shamrock, I wrote, or certainly intended to write, wood-sorrel, not wild sorrel. in his statement, that the labarum appears on the SPES PVBLICA. the labarum surmounted by the monogram of Christ, placed upon a serpent. In the exergue, coNs. (Mionnet.) A brass medallion of Crispus, the son of Constantine is described at p. 240 (No. 6), inscribed "SALVS. ET. SPES. XRPVBLICAE (sic). The effigy of Christ, full-faced, seated, the right hand raised, the left holding a cross; on each side a soldier, standing. In the exergue S. P. (Mionnet, from Mus. Sanclementiani," p. 182.) Constans likewise adopted the Christian emblems, and also Constantius II., which proves that the good example set by Constantine had not been lost on his sons. 昶. FLAMBOROUGH TOWER (3rd S. iv. 231.)-I hardly think the opinion given in Knox's Antiquities respecting the Danes' Tower at Flamborough Head is correct. There are no traces of Saxon work in the building, and it is totally unlike a religious edifice, being square and apparently more than one story high. There would have been windows and openings to give light, not mere slits. A few hundred yards off is the church, which contains traces of the former one having been built by the Normans. A curious old Norman font still stands at the west end. JNO. A. BROWN, Arch. a 86, King Street, Manchester. DERIVATION OF PAMPHLET (2nd S. ii. 409, 460, 477, 514.)—“Minshew derives it from the Greek, Táν wλnow, all full [as filling all places, which all vulgar and popular things have the property of of doing]; Skinner from pampire, Fr. from papyrus; Cole from pampier, paper: all very improbable. It is clear that we are not yet on the right scent" (p. 460). Another original has been sug gested from πᾶν and φλέγω! "Another idea of the radix of the word pamphlet is, that it is derived from wav, all, and pixéw, I love; signifying thing beloved by all."-Myles Davies's Icon Libellorum, quoted in Richardson's Dictionary, and in a "Dissertation upon Pamphlets" subjoined to Phoenix Britannicus. To the writer of this Note, another derivation has been suggested by the manner in which the word is spelt in "N. & Q." (3rd S. iv. 185), viz. "phamphlett." May it not be compounded of fame (Græce phun, Dorice páua, Latine fama), and the common term of diminution -let. "Thus, in French, the diminutive of the word livre is livret; and thus, in English, we have aglet, amulet, bracelet, chaplet, corslet, eaglet," &c. (Phoenix Brit., p. 554). In the French dictionaries, s. v. "Pamphlet," besides brochure, is the definition "libelle diffamatoire;" but in accordance with the etymon of the word now proposed, it is applied not only to what is libellous and defamatory, but to the eulogistic and laudatory. Thus of scurrilous and abusive pamphlets to be burned in 1647, we read in Rushworth; and by the name of Pamphlet, is the Encomium on Queen Emma called in Hollinshed. I have not succeeded in finding this passage in Hollinshed. Let it further be remembered that in former days newspapers were not "folios of four leaves," but tiny pamphlets; and sometimes single small quarto sheets. Another derivation has occurred to me, which some perhaps will think the best; if satisfied with the insertion, euphoniæ gratiâ, of a letter or two before -let. What is the most obvious property of a pamphlet? Is it not to be held or kept in the palm, to be touched with the palm, to be handled? Greek exeipídior, the Latin manuale, and our own Thus it is only a term corresponding to the hand-book: adopted lately, but perhaps not unnecessarily from the German. BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM. SIEGE OF BELGRADE (3rd S. iv. 88.)-This remarkable literary tour-de-force certainly did not first appear in Bentley's Miscellany for March, 1838. I have it before me, printed at p. 244 of the Hampshire Magazine, published at Winchester A.D. 1828, with the following heading : "These lines having been incorrectly printed in a London publication: we have been favoured by the Author with an authentic copy of them." If my memory is not very treacherous, the person whom the editor of the Hampshire Magazine believed, and who believed himself, to be the author, was the Rev. B. Poulter, Prebendary of Winchester. Mr. Poulter, well remembered by old Wykehamists, was, I believe, a Westminster man: and hence the compatibility of this statement with the account given more than once in the last Series of "N. & Q.," that the lines first appeared in a magazine started at Westminster, in opposition to Canning's Microcosm. C. W. BINGHAM. ARMS OF PIZARRO (3rd S. iv. 8, 55.) The charges in the arms of Pizarro are not generally described as pigs under an oak, but, as the following extracts will show, as bears or wolves beneath a pine-tree. As given by Rietstap in the Armorial Général (Gouda, 1861), p. 818, the arms are: "D'arg. au pin de sin. fruité d'or, accosté de deux ours au nat., grimpant contre le fût de l'arbre, et deux ardoises de sa. au pied." This coat is borne as a surtout on the following escutcheon: "Parti: au I. coupé: i. d'or, à l'aigle de sa: cour: du champ, et tenant dans chaque serre une colonne avec la légende: Plus ultra,' de sa.; ii. de sa., à la ville d'arg: posée sur des ondes du même; le tout à l'orle de sin. ch. de 8 lamas d'arg.-Au II. coupé : au i. parti (a) de sa: à un village dans une île d'arg: les clochers sommés d'une même, tenant de la patte dextre un F du même; au ii. couronne impériale d'or; (b) de gu. au lion d'or, cour. du d'arg. au lion de gu. cour. d'or. L'écu enté en pointe, |