Notes and Queries, Number 136, June 5, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 136, June 5, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
The guildhall of Leicester is _within_ one of the most picturesque old
structures of the country, and is well described by your correspondent KT.
As you enter, its rude rafters rise directly from the ground on either
hand, and embrace over the head of the visitor, forming pointed arches. As
you advance along the floor the beams widen, and the Tudor timbering and
architectural detail are clearly discernible; two staples still remaining
on one of the braces, which tradition says sustained the scenery of the
players in the time when theatrical performers were allowed to act there,
and when even Shakspeare figured in the histrionic group. Having reached
the western end you find yourself in front of the bench on which the mayor
and magistrates sit to dispense justice, the ancient gilded frame for the
mace (now tenantless) surmounting the chief magistrate's chair. The rich
old mantelpiece of the mayor's parlour, and the fragments of painted glass
in its windows, enhance and complete the antiquarian attractions of this
relic of Edwardian and Elizabethan architecture.
JAYTEE.
* * * * *
THE SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON.
Amongst the oddities which cross our path, I recollect one which, at the
time it occurred, caused no small surprise to the young, of which I then
was one. I think it must be about forty-six years ago, a man travelled
about Hampshire professing to cure the blind, sick, and lame; and although
he did not belong to the medical order, yet numerous cures were attributed
to him, and he had quite a collection of crutches and walking-sticks, left
by his patients, who, it was said, no longer required his {533} or their
aid. I well know that he was looked upon by the common sort of people with
wonder, and almost awe. The notion prevalent amongst them was, that, being
the seventh son of a seventh son, he was endowed by nature with
extraordinary healing powers. After a few months his fame, such as it was,
evaporated, and I have not heard of him since, nor have I read of any
pretender acting like him since then. Can any of your readers enlighten my
darkness on the above, or on any other seventh of a seventh? and is there
any account or tradition of a similar impostor in any other county of
England? Also, if ancient or modern history records any such wonderful
attributes in reference to a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter?
The above was written before I saw MR. COOPER's allusion to the subject, in
Vol. iii., p. 148. I hope to be favoured with that gentleman's further
notice of the seventh son of a seventh son.
I should esteem it a favour if some one of your numerous and learned
readers would inform me if that word denoting seven, which is in such
frequent use in the Old and New Testaments, is susceptible of being
rendered "several," "many," or some other indefinite quantity?
Seven appears also to be a favourite number in modern days. I subjoin a few
of the many instances of its popular adoption:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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