,
S. I* FEE* 12, } 9S.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
131
uite apart from any question of hand-
riting. I do not envy them their confidence ;
nd I must point out once more that the
rinciple " suum cuique " has in the case of
ly labours been somewhat clumsily violated.
D. C. TOVEY.
SHAMROCK AS FOOD (8 th S. xi. 505 ; xii. 37,
97). My thanks are due both to MR. HENDER-
ON for procuring, and to Mr. Colgan for
ending me a copy of the latter's interesting
u nd valuable article on the shamrock. I had
10 intention of writing any more on this
ubject, but MR. HENDERSON'S note at the last
eference compels me to disclaim the right to
uch prominence as is there given to my
>pinion, and to say why, nevertheless, I am
unable to " swallow " this " shamrock bread."
n the first place, it is inherently incredible
- hat the wild Irish described by Spenser,
Campion, and other writers of their time, should have been able to dry and grind this lerb in sufficient quantity to be an important ^read-stuff, and yet have had no means of procuring a better and more generally known
- ood ; and, in the second place, it passes
relief that a custom so extraordinary snould lave been so little known to their English contemporaries. There is evidence enough in Mr. Colgan's paper that when driven to extremity they were in the habit of eating shamrocks and other herbs ; but Mr. Colgan appears to contend for much more than this, and here I cannot follow him. Lobel's actual words as quoted by Mr. Colgan are :
"Nee aliud ab isto [he is speaking of Trifolium pratense] est quo mortales meri Hybernise, delitias irritamentaque palati spreti, placentas, laganas et panes pinsunt exque butyro subigant quse latranti obtrudant stomacho."
Does this mean more than that these sham- rocks were pounded into a paste with butter ? They may have been more or less dried, when occasion served, and the cakes pressed into various shapes ; but this is a different thing from being "ground" into "meal," and used as " bread-stuff." Campion (also quoted by Mr. Colgan), writing in Dublin in the year following the publication of Lobel's work, says of the food of the Irish,
Shamrotes, water-cresses, and other herbes they feed upon: oatemele and butter they cramme together." Spenser, another first- hand witness, says of the fugitive rebels,
They did eate of the dead carrions and
yf they founde a platte of water-cresses or sham-rokes there they flocked as to a feast for the time." Mr. Colgan admits that all we know about the shamrock as a food really rests on these three statements. Possibly
the first of them (Lobel's) amounts to no
more than the other two. Some such report
as Campion's reaching him may account, at
all events, for his use of the word laganas,
which seems to have suggested to Mr. Colgan
the idea that the shamrocks were " ground "
into " meal." Is it not more likely that they
used oatmeal along with their shamrocks?
Be this as it may, it is easier to believe that
Lobel misunderstood and bungled his infor-
mation than that his account, as Mr. Colgan
interprets it, is literally true. If it is true,
or if Gerard had thought it credible, he
would assuredly have mentioned it. Lobel
and he were acquainted with each other, and
Gerard made considerable use of the 'Adver-
saria' in the writing of his own 'Herball.'
In conclusion, I do not wish to undervalue
Mr. Colgan's contribution to the history of
this subject : it is most valuable, and, like
MR. HENDERSON, I hope it will lead to yet
further discoveries. C. C. B.
CORNWALL OR ENGLAND ? (8 th S. xii. 466.) About a month ago I said to a woman named Prescothick, who had recently come into the parish, "I suppose your husband is a Cornishman 1 " "No," she replied, "my husband is an Englishman, but his father came from Cornwall."
T. LEWIS O. DA VIES.
Pear Tree Vicarage, Southampton.
REGISTERING BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN ENGLAND (8 th S. xii. 109, 214, 435, 511). It may be noted that in Catholic registers of baptisms, "ex prsescripto Ritualis Romani," the maiden name of the mother is always inserted. GEORGE ANGUS.
St. Andrews, N.B.
By the new Registration Act 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 86, the parent of every child born after June, 1837, might obtain for it the advantage of a legal registry of its birth without payment of any fee, provided it was registered by the registrar of the district in which the child was born within six weeks after the birth. A birth might be registered at any time within six months after the birth, but after six weeks the expense of registering it was 7s. 6d, and after six months it could not be registered at all. Thus registration of birth was optional ; but when did it become compulsory ? I cannot ascertain. M.A.OxoN.
ENIGMA (9 th S. i. 29). The solution of the riddle quoted from the ' Life of Cardinal Wiseman,' reviewed in the Standard of December last, is " Vulturnus," the river now called Volturno, in Italy. (1) " Totum sume,
