expressions having a remarkable resemblance in teners; it might be wholly omitted without injury common, viz.: "multiplying spawn," "multitudinous tongue," "bosom multiplied," and the concurrence of these three is strongly presumptive of the authenticity of any one of them. 3. Because, in the speech wherein bosom multiplied occurs-the matter in discussion being the policy of having given corn to the people gratis when Coriolanus exclaims, "Whoever gave that counsel, nourished disobedience, fed the ruin of the state;" these two words, of themselves, seem intended to be metaphorical to the subject: but when he goes on to inquire, "how shall this bosom multiplied digest the senate's courtesy," it becomes manifest that digest continues the metaphor which nourished and fed had begun. And if, in addition, it can be shown that bosom was commonly used as the seat of digestion, then the inference appears to be irresistible, that bosom multiplied is a phrase expressly introduced to complete the metaphor. Now, that bosom was so used, and by Shakspeare, is easily proved. Here is one example, from the Second Part of Henry IV., Sc. 1.: "Thou beastly feeder disgorge thy glutton bosom." But I shall go still further: I assert that Shakspeare nowhere has used digest in the purely mental sense; that is, without some reference, real or figurative, to the animal function of the stomach. Certainly there is one seeming exception; but even that, when examined into, arises from a palpable misinterpretation, which, when corrected, returns with redoubled force in favour of the assertion. I refer to the apologue of "the belly and the members," already alluded to, in which the following passage is, in all the editions, as far as I am aware, pointed in this way: "The senators of Rome are this good belly, And you the mutinous members: For examine Their counsels and their cares; digest things rightly, Touching the weal o' the common; you shall find No public benefit, which you receive, But it proceeds, or comes, from them to you, And no way from yourselves." If this reading were correct, it would doubtless afford an example of the use of digest in the abstract sense; but it is in reality a gross misprision of the true meaning of the passage, and is only another proof of how far we are still from possessing a correctly printed edition of Shakspeare. The proper punctuation would be this: "The senators of Rome are this good belly, And you the mutinous members! - For examine Their counsels, and their cares digest things rightly Touching the weal o' the common !-you shall find"&c. "For examine" is introduced merely to diversify the discourse, and to fix the attention of the lis to the sense: but in the passage as it now stands, examine is made an effective verb, having for its objects the counsels and cares of the senators; while digest is made auxiliary to and synonymous with examine, and, like it, is in the imperative mood, as though addressed to the people, instead of being, as it ought to be, in the indicative, with counsels and cares for its agents. It is a curious instance of how completely the true sense of a passage may be distorted by the misapplication of a few commas. Digest, therefore, in this passage, as elsewhere, is in direct allusion to the animal function.. The very essence and pith of the parable of "the belly and the members" is to place in opposition the digestive function of the belly with the more active offices of the members; and the application of the parable is, that "the senators are this good belly," their counsels and their cares digest for the general good, and distribute the resulting benefits throughout the whole community. This is the true reading; and no person who duly considers it, or who has compared it with the original in Plutarch, but must be satisfied that it is so. 4. Because, since digest is thus shown to have been invariably used by Shakspeare with reference to the animal function, bosom multiplied, having close relation with that function, is in strict analogy with the prevailing metaphor of the play; while, with it at all; and therefore, had the latter been on the other hand, bisson multitude has no relation ciated, not with digest, but with some verb bearing the genuine expression, it would have been asso more reference to the function of sight, than to that of deglutition or concoction. 5. Because I cannot perceive why there should be any greater difficulty in the metaphorical allusion to the bosom multiplied digesting the senate's courtesy, than to the multitudinous tongue licking the sweet which is their poison. There is, in fact, two expressions, that one can scarcely be doubted such a close metaphorical resemblance between the so long as the other is received as genuine. The foregoing arguments in favour of the old reading may seem to be unnecessarily elaborate; the more especially so that none of the early commentators appear to have suspected anything wrong in it; not even Monk Mason, although he was he proposed to substitute motive for native. But meddling with the very passage in question when when a sort of superconjectural authority is claimed for a questionable and unnecessary innovation, on the score of presumed internal evidence of authenticity ("N. & Q.,” Vol. v., p. 485.), it is time for every true conservative of Shakspeare's text to bestir himself in its defence. Leeds. A. E. B. P.S. Since writing the foregoing, the following passage has occurred to me as furnishing an ex pression almost identical with "bosom multiplied." There are few disputed phrases of Shakspeare to which so happy a parallel, from his own text, could be cited. "the old and miserable king- King Lear, Act V. Sc. 3. RUBY GLASS. Many of your readers and writers being earnest admirers of ancient painted glass, and interested in the revival of the art, it is much to be desired that some method should be devised, through the medium of your publication, for its encouragement. The reform must commence at the glass-house, and happily a movement in the right direction has been already made. The grand desideratum is a good ruby; for perhaps there is little or no inferiority in other colours, the difference of effect being attributable to corrosion, lichens, texture, dust, and other causes. Early ruby is of exquisite brilliancy, and can only be represented in drawings by vermilion. The intensity was well described by the remark on a fragment, that "it was like a soldier's jacket!" The later ruby generally bears more resemblance to the gem, and is copied on paper by carmine. The best of both sorts is usually streaked or mottled, sometimes showing a large portion of the white, on which it forms a thin coating, this glass being, as it is technically called, "flashed" or "overlaid." This appearance has been lately well imitated; but the colour contains a fatal degree of orange, although the manufacturers unfortunately protest that it equals the finest of medieval times. The modern ruby in comparison is commonly, in the opinion of connoisseurs, more or less heavy, dull, and muddy, with an injurious tinge of yellow. So long as it is assumed that perfection is already attained, there is a bar to all improvement; and I would therefore propose that some plan be adopted for the exhibition of specimens, and the award of prizes. Probably the authorities at the Museum of Practical Geology, or at the Polytechnic Institution, would obligingly consent to admit the specimens, a competent jury being appointed. If some patriotic persons would present or lend pieces of the finest old ruby as a challenge to the manufacturers, the object would be facilitated; for it is only by juxtaposition that the comparative merits can be ascertained. Another difficulty to be surmounted, is to convince the public, as well as the makers and glass painters, that uniformity of tint and thickness, purity, and transparency, are not qualities which render the material most suitable for ecclesiastical windows; and that uneven, streaky, clouded ruby is the most to be admired. Such assurances are requisite, for instances are known of the employer insisting upon the removal of such "imperfect and offensive glass!" Strange, indeed, must it be if, with our superior scientific knowledge, "with all appliances and means to boot," modern skill should long fail in reaching the depth, richness, and splendour of the ancient reds. Surely if there was an eager demand for the most appropriate sort, if its excellence was duly appreciated, and if emulation was exci'ed, chemistry would be brought to bear more effectually upon the subject, exertions would be redoubled, and success fully achieved. The important Query, as a preparatory step, is this, Will some public spirited individuals present specimens of the best old ruby to the Museum of Geology (Jermyn Street), where modern potmetal is already displayed, or to another similar institution? And it is hoped that it will receive a satisfactory practical answer. C. T. FOLK LORE. Springs and Wells.- Near to Wooler, in Northumberland, on the flanks of the Cheviots, there is a spring of water locally known as Pin Well. The country maids, in passing this spring, dropa crooked pin into the water. In Westmoreland there is also a Pin Well, into the waters of which rich and poor drop a pin in passing. The superstition, in both cases, consists in a belief that the well is under the charge of a fairy, and that it is necessary to propitiate the little lady by a present of some sort; hence the pin as most convenient. The crooked pin of Northum berland may be explained upon the received hypothesis, in folk-lore, that crooked things are lucky things, as a "crooked sixpence," &c. There are many interesting superstitions connected with springs and wells, and, like most of superstition, there is a basis of truth when understood. There were sacred wells in ancient days, and there are numerous holy wells in Christian times. One well is reputed as "good for sprains," another spring is "good for sore eyes." There is a spring about five miles from Alnwick in Northumberland, known as Senna Well, and many other medicinal springs and wells may be enumerated. There are the world-renowned waters of Bath, of Buxton, of Matlock, of Harrowgate, of Cheltenham, of Malvern, &c., in England; but there are also springs and wells in the by-ways, having old legends connected with them, and it is to these I wish to draw attention through the pages of “N. & Q." The larger wells on the highways may be left to the puffing guide books, and to their day light fame; but I, for one, should like to be made - to shamefacedness, though the connexion of the passage shows it to have reference to the attire and not to the countenance. Query, has not Miss Strickland, in her life of Mary of Lorraine, fallen into the same error, in a quotation which states that while the court ladies were dressing gaily on one occasion, the princess (afterwards queen) Elizabeth_preferred keeping to her own shamefacedness? This must surely be an alteration from shamefastness. Cap-à-pie, armed from head to foot: this has given rise to the homely term of apple-pie order. Folio-capo (Italian), first size sheet, suggestive of foolscap. Asparagus, popularised into sparrow-grass. Lathom. Chateau-vert hill, near Oxford, well known as Shotover hill. Lathom. Girasole artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke. Lathom. The notion of their con Furced-meat balls. "Let me tell you a story that I have heard from a reverend man out of the pulpit, a place where none should dare to tell a lye, of an old man above sixty, who lived and died in a parish where there had bin preaching almost all his time, and for the greatest part twice on the Lord's day, besides at extraordinary times. This man was a constant hearer as any might be, and seemed forward in the love of the word: on his death-taining essence artificially concentrated has occasioned the spelling forced, whereas the meaning is bed being questioned by a minister touching his faith and hope in God: you would wonder to hear what simply chopped. answer he made; being demanded what he thought of God, he answers that he was a good old man; and what of Christ, that he was a towardly youth; and of his soule, that it was a greate bone in his body; and what should become of his soule after he was dead, that if he had done well he should be put into a pleasant green meadow.” The resemblance of the old heathen's heaven to the sacred fields "where souls do couch on flowers" of Hellenic mythology is curious. Had he derived his notions of futurity from a miracleplay, or is it a genuine relic of Saxon heathendom? T. STERNBERG. FALSE SPELLINGS ARISING OUT OF SOUND. A curious list might be compiled of English words conveying in their present form meanings totally in discordance with their derivatives.. What I mean is this. The sound of such words has given birth to a new idea, and this new idea has become confirmed by a corresponding, but of course erroneous, mode of spelling. Such are the following, some of which have been already noticed by Dr. Lathom in his large grammar. Many of your readers could doubtless supply additional instances. Dent de lion has been corrupted to dandylion, from an idea of the bold and flaunting aspect of the flower, whereas its name has reference to the Spar-hawk (or rock-hawk), sparrow-hawk. Satyr and Bacchanals, a public-house sign, Satan and the Bag of Nails. Double-doré, double-gilt; from his bright yellow spot, the bee called in the west of England the dumbledoor, still further softened into humble-bee. Gut-cord, cat-gut. Engleford, or the Englishman's ford, modernised into Hungerford; but the corruption in the names of places is a very wide field. Laak (Ang.-Sax.), play, has been turned into lark, and even tortured into sky-lark. Lathom. Sambuca, altered (through a French medium), though certainly not euphonised, into sackbut, treated by Miss Strickland in the work above mentioned as a Scottish bagpipe. Her version is not positively disputed, but merely the doubt raised whether or not the original chronicler intended to suggest the mode of inflation. Furthermore, is it likely that, as Miss Strickland surmises, the bagpipe was used at church? meanings of ancient musical terms are doubtless very obscure. In some parts of England the sackbut is even identified with the trombone. CATHEDRALS IN NORWAY. The J. WAYLEN. Persons acquainted with Norway will remember the two towns of Stor Hammer and Lillehammer, both anciently bishoprics, which stand on the borders of the Miosen Lake. Stor and Lille are obviously great and small; but what is the meaning of Hammer? Has it the same derivation as the terminations of such names as Clapham, Twickenham, Wickham, &c.? Stor Hammer is often called simply Hammer, and there is manifestly some sort of relation between the two names, though I cannot make out what. I have full and curious accounts of the ancient cathedral of Stor Hammer, but should be glad to know whether there was éver a cathedral at Lillehammer? and, if so, where it stood, and whether any vestiges of it remain, and where any account of it can be met with? of Roundstone, Connamara, which overhangs Bulard Lake,) by Messrs. M'Calla and Babington; and on Cahir Couree Mountain, near Tralee, by Mr. Andrews. Dr. Caleb Threlkeld, who wrote Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum. with their Latin-English and Irish Names... the First Essay of this kind in the Kingdom of Ireland, 1726, 12mo., does not mention this fern, but the Trichomanes only. I find it first noticed in the Botanologia Universalis Hibernica, authore Joh. K'Eogh, A.B., Corke, 1735, sm. 4to., where the writer says: "The best in this kingdom is brought from the rocky mountains of Burrin, in the co. of Clare, where it grows plentifully; from thence it is brought in sacks to Dublin, and sold there: it is pulmonic, lithontriptic ... and it wonderfully helps those afflicted with asthmas, shortness of breath, and coughs, occasioning a expectoration; it is also good against the jaundice, dropsy, diarrhoea, hæmoptysis, and the bitings of mad dogs."-P. 74. The towers and spire of Hammer Cathedral in the days of its glory were profusely decorated with gilded vanes, a fact which may interest your correspondent B. B. (Vol. v., p. 490.), who inquires about the antiquity of vanes. This must have been many centuries ago, but I have not at this moment access to the date. It was, at all events, in Catholic times, when this fine old church was richly ornamented with all manner of costly aids to spiritual devotion; among the rest with a mira-free culous crucifix, which had in its head a cavity big enough to contain a quart of water, and conduits of porous wood from thence to the eyes. Was any similar contrivance ever known to exist elsewhere in the North, or was it that the pious constructiveness of the monks of Hammer was stimulated to such ingenuity by a more than commonly devotional turn of mind? The length of the cathedral at Drontheim is variously stated. Mr. Laing says, 346 feet; and the author of the Norge fremstillet i Tegninger says, 350 Norwegian feet, which is equal to 360 feet English within a fraction. Which of the two is right? And can any of your correspondents inform me whether any and what steps are being taken for the restoration of this beautiful cathedral, and how it is purposed to proceed in so doing? WILLIAM E. C. NOURSE. 28. Bryanston Street. THE TRUE MAIDEN-HAIR FERN. Of the sixty-three species contained under the genus Adiantum (asíarros), perhaps the most beautiful is the Cupillus Veneris, or True Maiden-hair Fern, with its fan-shaped, serrated leaflets of deep green, and its long black stems, shining and wiry, from four to eighteen inches high. This plant has been found at Port Kerig, Glamorganshire (verified 1834); on the banks of the Carron, a rivulet in Kincardineshire (Professor Beattie); in a small cave on the east side of Carrach Gladden; a cove on the north coast of Cornwall, between Hayle and St. Ives (Prof. Henslow); in South Europe: Isles of Bourbon, Teneriffe, Jamaica, and His paniola; and, I have also heard, on the Andes. In Ireland it has been found, though not abundantly, on Erris-beg (one of the fine mountains* These are covered with beautiful mosses, ferns, and heaths; here Mr. Mackay found the Erica Mediterranea, not indigenous to the sister kingdoms. Dr. Wade says "This is the plant which gave name to the syrup called capillaire; but I may venture to assert that it never has any of this plant in its composition, being usually made with sugar and water only, and sometimes with the addition of a little orange-flower water.' Planta Rariores in Hibernia inventa. Dubl., 1804, 8vo. p. 92. I doubt that Dr. Wade has given the true receipt for capillaire, even though he be right as to the Adiantum's not being one of the ingredients. In the Transactions of the Medico-Philosophical Society of Dublin, in the middle of the last century, Dr. Rutty says, that this fern was exported in large quantities to London, whilst its use was unknown in Dublin. And Mr. Bride, a druggist, informed Dr. Smith (author of the Hist. of Waterford, Kerry, and Cork) that he had at that time shipped two hogsheads to London from Arran. The wild isles of Arran form a favourite habitat of this beautiful fern: they lie about forty miles from Galway Bay, and nine from the nearest abounds in flat table rocks, or fields of stone, mainland. Ara Mor, as the largest is called, which are intersected occasionally by deep fissures or rifts in these the Adiantum grows; the natives call it Dubh-chosach, or "Black-footed." These isles abound in botanical treasures: samphire (Crithmum maritimum), for instance, grows more abundantly there than I have ever seen it elsewhere, and may be gathered in most accessible places. It is called Grylig (Grioloigín, O'R.) in other places Geirgin, Greigin, Greineog, Greimric, Luo-na-canamh, &c. Dr. Threlkeld, who in his amusing little work indulges in religious and political gossip, often most irrelevant, praises the Herba S. Petri or S. Pierre, and adds: "That whoever gave it the name of sampire, seemed to have reason on his side if he believed one apostle to have a primacy over the rest, and that he was Peter who had the pre-eminence." The Irish language is rich in names of plants, yet Threlkeld and K'Eogh alone make use of the native terms. The two latest works are deficient in this respect: The Irish Flora, comprising the Phonogamous Plants and Ferns, Dublin, 1833, 12mo., and the valuable Flora Hibernica, Dublin, 1836, 8vo.; the former, I believe, by Sir Robert Kane's lady (born Miss Baillie), the latter by Dr. Mackay. For a full technical description of the Maiden-hair, see Francis's Analysis of the British Ferns and their Allies, 3rd edit., 1847, to which I am indebted for its British and foreign EIRIONNACH. habitats. CRANES IN STORMS.-CREDIBILITY OF THE ANCIENT NATURALISTS. (Vol. v., p. 582.) The Query of your correspondent Rr. respecting the "Custom of Cranes in Storms" might have been better worded "The Custom attributed by the Ancients to Cranes in Storms." It cannot be necessary to inform your readers, that almost every bird, beast, and fish mentioned by ancient naturalists has some marvellous story appended to its history; and in this respect the crane is by no means deficient. To pass over its famous battles with the Pygmæi, so beautifully described by the Prince of Poets, who tells us "That when inclement winters vex the plain With piercing frosts, or thick descending rain, Philemon Holland, in his translation of Pliny's Natural History, renders his author's account of the migrations of these birds in these words: "They put not themselves in their journey, nor set forward without a counsell called before, and a generall consent. They flie aloft, because they would have a better prospect to see before them: and for this purpose a captain they chuse to guide them, whom the rest follow. In the rereward behind these be certaine of them set and disposed to give signall by their manner of crie, for to range orderly in ranks, and keep close together in array : and this they doe by turnes, each one in his course. They maintaine a set watch all night long, and have their sentinels. These stand on one foot, and hold a little stone within the other, which falling from it, if they should chance to sleep might awaken them, and reprove them for their negligence. Whiles these watch all the rest sleep, couching their heads under their wings: and one while they rest on one foot, and otherwhiles they shift to the other. The captaine beareth up his head aloft, and giveth signall to the rest what is to be done. These cranes, if they be made tame and gentle, are very playful and wanton birds: and they will one by one dance (as it were), and run the round, with their long shankes stalking full untowardly. This is surely known, that when they mind to take a flight over the sea Pontus, they will fly directly at the first to the narrow streights of the sayd sea, lying between the two Capes Criu-Metopon and Carambis, and then presently they ballaise themselves with stones in their feet, and sand in their throats, that they flie more steadie and endure the wind. When they be halfe way over, down they fling these stones: but when they are come to the continent, the sand also they disgorge out of their craw." The historian Ammianus Marcellinus tells us, that in imitation of the ingenuity of this bird in accustomed to rest with a silver ball in his hand, ensuring its vigilance, Alexander the Great was suspended over a brass basin, which if he began to sleep might fall and awake him. The circumstance related by Nonnus, in your correspondent's communication, is without doubt taken from Pliny's account of the passage of these birds over the Pontus; but not having Elian's History of Animals at hand, nor the works of any other ancient naturalist, except Pliny, I am unable to trace the reference of Bishops Andrews and Jeremy Taylor. It is only due to Aristotle, and the other ancient naturalists, to observe that most of their legends respecting animals arose from the necessarily imperfect knowledge they possessed of the habits and faculties of the animal creation, and from their inability to distinguish one species from another: this led them frequently to attribute to one the properties which in reality belonged to another, as well as to mistake the motive of the particular action they were desirous of describing. A remarkable instance of this kind occurs in the mention of the hive-bee by Pliny (lib. xi. cap. x.): "If haply there do arise a tempest or a storm whiles they be abroad, they catch up some little stony greet to ballance and poise themselves against the wind. Some say that they take it and lay it upon their shoulders. And withall, they flie low by the ground, under the wind, when it is against them, and keep along the bushes, to breake the force thereof." This notion was first entertained by Aristotle, and repeated by Virgil, to whose poetic imagin ation such a trait in the habits of his favourite insects would be highly grateful: "sæpe lapillos, dissertations on the natural history of the bee, and This fable has also been frequently found in later adduced as a surprising instance of bee-instinct, notwithstanding the corrections of Swammerdam and Reaumur and later naturalists, all of whom have shown that the mason-bee has been mistaken for the honey-bee; the former being often seen hastening through the air, loaded with sand and |