Notes and Queries, Number 198, August 13, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 198, August 13, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
_Legends of the County Clare._--On the west coast of Ireland, near the
Cliffs of Moher, at some distance out in the bay, the waves appear
continually breaking in white foam even on the calmest day. The tradition
among the country people is, that a great city was swallowed up there for
some great crime, and that it becomes visible once every seven years.
And if the person who sees it could keep his eyes fixed on it till he
reached it, it would then be restored, and he would obtain great wealth.
The man who related the legend stated farther, that some years ago some
labourers were at work in a field on the hill side in view of the bay;
and one of them, happening to cast his eyes seaward, saw the city in all
its splendour emerge from the deep. He called to his companions to look
at it; but though they were close to him, he could not attract their
attention: at last, he turned round to see why they would not come; but
on looking back, when he had succeeded in attracting their attention, the
city had disappeared.
The Welsh legend of the Islands of the Blessed, which can only be seen
by a person who stands on a turf from St. David's churchyard, bears a
curious coincidence to the above. It is not impossible that there may
have been some foundation for the vision of the enchanted city at Moher
in the _Fata Morgana_, very beautiful spectacles of which have been seen
on other parts of the coast of Ireland.
FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES.
_Moon Superstitions_ (Vol. viii., p. 79.).--In this age of fact and
science, it is remarkable that even with the well-informed the old faith
in the "change of the moon" as a prognostic of fair and foul weather
still keeps its hold. W. W. asks "have we any proof of" the "correctness"
of this faith? To suppose that the weather varies with the amount of
{146} illuminated surface on the moon would make the change in the
weather vary with the amount of moonshine, which of course is absurd,
as in that case the clouds would have much more to do with the question
than the moon's shadow. But still it may be said the moon may influence
the weather as it is supposed to cause the tides. In answer to this I
beg to state the opinion of Dr. Ick, who was for upwards of ten years
the curator of the Birmingham Philosophical Institute, an excellent
meteorologist, geologist, and botanist. He assured me that after the
closest and most accurate observation of the moon and the weather, he had
arrived at the conclusion that _there is not the slightest observable
dependence between them_.
C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.
Birmingham.
_Warwickshire Folk Lore._--The only certain remedy for the bite of an
adder is to kill the offending reptile, and apply some of its fat to the
wound. Whether the fat should be raw or melted down, my informant did not
say, but doubtless the same effect would be produced in either case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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