heard that it was made of elder, and we look carefully into the faggots before we burn them, for fear that there should be any of this wood in them."

My Query is, Whether this is a common superstition?

Rubi.

Minor Notes.

The Word "Party."—Our facetious friend Punch has recently made merry with the modern use of the word "party," as applied to any absent person concerned in any pending negotiation. It was used thus, however, by William Salmon, professor of physic, in his Family Dictionary, 1705:

"Let the party, if it can be agreeable, rub frequently his teeth with the ashes that remain in a pipe after it is smoaked."—P. 315.

"Having cooled it, rub the party's mouth with a little of it," &c.—P. 321.

E. D.

Epitaphs.—Churchyard literature presents to us some curious specimens of metaphor; and it is interesting to observe how an old idea is sometimes unintentionally reproduced. The following lines may be seen on a gravestone in the churchyard at Kinver, Staffordshire:

The writer was probably not aware that Spenser says, in his Faerie Queen, iii. 3. 30.:

And again, Faerie Queen, ii. 1. 59.:

A Leicestershire poet has recorded, in the churchyard of Melton Mowbray, a very different conception of our "earthly Inn." He says:

You may, perhaps, consider this hardly worthy of a place in your paper; but I act upon the principle which you inculcate in your motto.

Erica.

Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope."—It has often occurred to me that in two lines of the most celebrated passage in this poem,—

the author has confounded Prague, the capital of Bohemia, with Praga, the suburb of Warsaw. The bridge over the Moldau, at the former place, is a stone one of European celebrity; and to it Campbell must have referred when using terms not at all applicable to that over the Vistula, which is of much humbler form and material.

In Campbell's "Ode to the Highland Society on 21st March," he describes the 42nd Regiment as having been at Vimiera, which it assuredly was not; and no Highland regiment was in the battle except the 71st. I suspect he confounded the "Black Watch" with the distinguished corps next to it on the army list,—an error into which the author of Charles O'Malley also must have fallen, as he makes Highlanders form a part of the Light Division, which consisted of the 43rd, 52nd, and 95th.

J. S. Warden.

Palindromical Lines.—In addition to the verses given by your correspondent H. H. Breen (Vol. vi., p. 449.), I send you the following, as perhaps the most remarkable of its kind in existence. It is mentioned by Jeremy Taylor as the inscription somewhere on a font. Letter by letter it reads the same, whether taken backward or forwards:

"ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ."

"Wash my guilt, and not my face only."

Agricola de Monte.

"Derrick" and "Ship's Painter."—The following Note may perhaps interest some of your readers:—The ancient British word derrick, or some such word, still exists in our marine. It is used in sea phrase to define a crane for temporary purposes, and is not unusually represented by a single spar, which is stepped near a hatchway, provided with a tackle or purchase, in order to the removal of goods from the hold of a vessel. The use of Derry, both as a termination in the names of places, and in the old ballad chorus of Down derry down, is familiar to every one.

Some other of our sea terms might receive apt illustration in "N. & Q.;" and I should beg to suggest "unde derivatur" a boat's painter,—the name of the rope which confines a ship's boat to the vessel, when at sea.

Turner gave a world-wide interest to the phrase when he called, in his eccentric manner, one of his finest marine pictures "Now for the painter."

J. C. G.

Tavistock Square.

Lord Reay's Country.—Formerly the parish of Durness comprehended the whole of the district known as "Lord Reay's country," or, as it is called in Gaelic, "Duthaic Mhic Aoi," i. e. the land of the Mackays, extending from the river of Borgie, near Strathnaver, to the Kyle of Assynt, and comprehending a space of about 800 square miles! Since 1734 it has been divided into three parishes, viz. Eddrachillis, Durness, and Tongue, with the parish of Farr: it was disjoined from the presbytery of Caithness, and by an act of the Assembly attached to the presbytery of Tongue.

Kirkwallensis.

Queries.

UNANSWERED QUERIES.

I think it may be permitted to Querists, who may fail in obtaining answers, to recur to their questions after the lapse of a reasonable time, in order to awaken attention. I asked a question at page 270., Vol. vi., in which I was, and still am, much interested. Perhaps Mr. Collier will do me the favour to answer it, particularly as his annotated folio is remarkably rich in "stage directions."

Before taking the liberty of putting the question so directly to Mr. Collier, I awaited an examination of his recently-published volume of selected corrections, in which, however, the point upon which I seek information is not alluded to.

In glancing over that volume, I perceive that Mr. Collier, in his notes at the end (p. 508.), does "N. & Q." the honour to refer to it, by alluding to an emendation "proposed by Mr. Cornish" ("N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 312.).

When that emendation appeared I recognised it at once as having been proposed by Warburton and applauded by Dr. Johnson. I did not, however, then think it of sufficient importance to trouble the editor of "N. & Q.," by correcting a claim which, although apparent, might not perhaps be intentional.

But now, since the ownership (quantum valeat) has deceived even Mr. Collier, and is endorsed by him, it is time to notice it.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

P.S.—I may add that, with respect to these words "happy low lie down," from my habit of looking for solutions of difficulties in parallels and antitheses, I have arrived at a different conclusion from