A. T. M. heirloom; but in any case their christening year ago, and I have since found many scheme suggests a feasible manner of upsetting instances of it. social distinctions, for the titles of "Sir," Marquis of," Lady," "Judge," or even "Lord Justice," might be selected without infringing any known statute. 66 CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D. There was a Doctor David Dickenson who kept the Waterloo Hotel in Burnley in 1896. I noticed while in that town the use of Admiral, General, Major, and Squire as Christian J. HAMBLEY ROWE. names. BROTHERS BEARING THE SAME CHRISTIAN NAME (9th S. i. 446; ii. 51, 217, 276, 535; iii. 34, 438; iv. 74).-Mr. James Gairdner, in his introduction to 'The Paston Letters,' says that John Paston, son of the justice of the Common Pleas, temp. Henry VI., "had a considerable family, of whom the two eldest sons, strange to say, both bore the same Christian name as their father. They were also both of them soldiers, and each in his time attained the dignity of knighthood." F. L. MAWDESLEY. Women folks--especially those of country married life would be "full of luck" if they places certainly used to consider their were married at the church where they were baptized. My mother often spoke of this as being a common belief when she was a girl, and she was a "98" woman. With men it did not signify much, but women ought to be married, if possible, in the church in which they were baptized. There were no railways Derbyshire villages into towns in those days. and other things to take young people from THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop. "SOFT AS A TOAD " (9th S. iv. 516).—The popular antipathy to the toad is well illustrated in the story of the rustic who, finding one in his path, smashed it with his spade, saying as he did so, "Thou varmint! I'll larn thee to be a to-ad." This is said to have occurred in this neighbourhood. The word toady, however, implies no dislike of the The following is perhaps the most remark- creature; it is merely a corruption of toadable case in England. The sixth Earl Fitz-eater. Does MR. RATCLIFFE know the pudding william had eight sons all named William, favourite dish in farmhouses in Nottinghamcalled "toad-in-a-hole," which used to be a seven of whom had second or third names shire? It is, if I remember rightly, a batteralso, by way of necessary distinction. liam, son of William," has been perpetuated pudding with a hole in the middle containing for many generations. meat, beef by preference. Epworth. "Wil A. H. On p. 45 of a charming book entitled "Quelques Légendes Poétiques du Pays de Soule, par Jean de Jaurgain," printed at Ligugé (Vienne) in 1899 we are told, "Il ressort donc des conditions de ce retour de dot que Pierre d'Irigarai mourut le jour même où il avait épousé Gabrielle. Ses deux frères se nommaient Pierre, comme lui." PALAMEDES. MARRIAGE AND BAPTISM SUPERSTITIONS (9th S. iv. 518).-There is a basis for the usage of bringing babies to be baptized in the church where the parents were married, which is quite apart from any superstition, but which is worth noting, the more so as it applies usually only to the firstborn. The mother would go to her parents' house in order to be under the care of her own mother in the first confinement. Thus it happens that the baptism of the eldest child of a family will often have to be sought for in the church where its mother was married, even when the baptisms of the subsequent children are to be found in the parish where their parents resided. My attention was called to this usage by a correspondent of N. & Q.' when he was showing me some registers a C. C. B. [The rustic's remark and the pudding "toad-inthe-hole" are both widespread.] I entirely agree with MR. RATCLIFFE in his statement that toads are capable of appreciating kindness. I have one or two in my garden here, and as we invariably treat them with kindness, they seem to be quite fearless, and have occasionally even visited the times noticed that whistling affects them kitchen. I may mention that I have several strangely, and from this I judge that in some small degree they possess a musical ear. a boy I remember being assured by a farmhand that toads spat fire if teased. I have often since found this idea rampant amongst children. I have not heard the expression "a soft toad " or "a silly toad" here, but “a dirty toad" and " a nasty toad are in common use. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. As THOMAS BROOKS (9th S. iv. 478).—An account of Thomas Brooks, with a list of his works, appears in Calamy's 'Abridgment' and in Palmer's 'Nonconformist's Memorial,' 1802, i. 250-53; also in the Rev. A. B. Grosart's collective edition of Brooks's com DELAVAL (9th S. iv. 417, 486).-MR. PITMAN will find accounts of the battles of Plassey and Biderra in Orme's History of Hindostan,' vol. ii.; Stubbs's 'History of the Bengal Artillery,' vol. i.; and in Capt. Arthur Broome's Rise and Progress of the Bengal Army.' Malcolm's 'Life of Clive' also gives accounts of both battles. DUNCAN PITCHER, Col. Gwalior Residency, Central India. Robert and Henry Delaval were the sons of Capt. Francis Blake-Delaval, R.N., M.P., of Seaton Delaval, co. Northumberland, by Rhoda Apreece his wife. Mr. Cole, in his 'History of Doddington,' gives a very full account of the family, and on p. 132 states:"In 1758 we read in a Newcastle paper that Captain Robert Delaval sailed from Shields with a number of recruits he had enlisted for the Honorable East India Company.' According to the statement of his sister, Lady Mexborough, he lost his life at the capture of Quebec, in Sept., 1759. This is so far confirmed by the fact that his will, dated at his brother John's house, King's Square Court, Soho, 11 May, 1758, was proved by his said brother John Hussey-Delaval, as sole executor, 16 October, 1759......Henry, an officer, was killed in battle in the East Indies......He was recruiting soldiers at Bellingham in 1755, and was a Captain in the 73rd Regiment from 1757 to 1762. His portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, representing him half-length in a cuirass, is now at Ford Castle, and has been engraved." V. L. O. "POLDER": "LOOPHOLE" (9th S. iv. 347, 426). -Judging by the nature of the locality of the three Polders on the banks of the Forth, polder might perfectly well mean marshy land, the locality indeed being Flanders Moss. There is a hamlet called Polders in Kent, and a description of its locale might be of service. WALTER M. GRAHAM EASTON. BROWNING'S LURIA' (9th S. iv. 516).– When Luria declined to open Braccio's intercepted letter, Tiburzio instantly expressed his appreciation of his magnanimity by asking to be allowed to grasp his hand. Then, he added, "If you fall, beside, the better"; that is, there is a further reason for approval of your attitude, for should you fall when we encounter each other, as no doubt we shall do, in the forefront of the battle, then I shall be in a position to state and uphold your manly and independent resolution. You commend yourself to me by your present decision, and, besides, should you I lead the vanguard.-If you fall, beside, The better: I am left to speak! Sometimes ambiguity is caused by the use of "beside" when besides might be more explicit and definite. DR. SPENCE's proposed emendation would make a very good text, and one not foreign to Browning's method; but as the passage is the same in all the editions of the poem, and as it is susceptible of a reasonable and convincing interpretation, there would appear to be no necessity for the alteration. THOMAS BAYNE. It The only word that requires explanation is the word "beside." This I take to be a dramatic indication of an unspoken thought of Tiburzio's. I should write his thought at large thus: "Give me your hand! would have been good to have had you for a comrade, but it is something to have so noble a foe. Beside, if you fall it will be better that you were matched with a kindred spirit: I shall be there to speak for you. My duty required me to win you to our side if it were possible; but I am not sorry to have failed, for you will look gallantly found dead with that unopened letter in your breast." C. C. B. The following passage from the 'Antiquary,' the scene of which is supposed to be the ruins of St. Ruth, near Arbroath, in Forfarshire, may prove illustrative : "It's travell'd earth that,' said Edie, 'it howks sae eithly-I ken it weel, for ance I wrought a simmer wi' auld Will Winnet, the bedral, and him in winter, for it was unco cald wark; and then howkit maur graves than ane in my day; but I left it cam a green Yule, and the folk died thick and fast-for ye ken a green Yule makes a fat kirkyard.'"-Chap. xxiii. The meaning of "howk" is, of course, to dig. Halliwell in his 'Dictionary' gives the meaning as "to dig, to scoop. North." JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. BLEEDING IMAGE IN CHRIST CHURCH, DUBLIN (9th S. iv. 127, 311, 407, 527).—Your correspondent regards Robert Ware as "an honourable and valuable historical compiler." I, on the other hand, have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that the bleeding-image story and much else that he gave to the world are spurious documents. I agree with the late Rev. T. E. Bridgett in thinking that these things formed "a part of Commarin; and in the evening, or in case of the Titus Oates movement." The fact that wet, in "la Salle du Château," or great hall Strype, Lingard, and many other con- of the castle. I remember some forty or scientious writers have been misled by them forty-two years ago a cherry bough in is to be deplored, but is not surprising. blossom being plucked for the Queen of the Persons who study history in a profitable May. My mother used to tell me that it was manner do so with the sole object of arriving the custom for the young men to place may at truth; they are, however, no more pro- boughs in the windows of their sweethearts. tected from the wiles of the forger than She used to speak also of a song being sung other people. We may smile, but we do not called, I think, 'La Raie d'Amour.' In this seriously blame those who, on their first a "laurel tree" is mentioned. She told me appearance, accepted as genuine relics of the also that when her mother was married the past Macpherson's Ossian,' 'Ossian,' Chatterton's then Comte de Vogüé presented her with a Rowley,' or Ireland's 'Shakespeare.' crimson sash and a wreath of myrtle. THOMAS J. JEAKES. To discuss these Ware documents on their merits would require many pages, and must of necessity lead the writer to dwell on matters unfit for the pages of 'N. & Q' Therefore, in case I have anything further to say on the subject, as possibly I may have, those who desire to follow the controversy will have to look elsewhere. EDWARD PEACOCK. Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. THE GOLD COINS OF THE FORUM (9th S. iv. 513). This note well illustrates the facilis descensus of money values. The solidus or solid coin, not plated, is the French sou. Is it not also our shilling? Further, is not the shilling a true representative of the A.S. silver penny, value 10d., twenty such pennies making a "pound Scots"? Here the survival of the word "pound " equates the Roman aureus, our pound sterling. A. H. 66 MEMORIZE" (9th S. iv. 438). From inquiries made here and in Edinburgh this Americanism does not seem to be in use yet, but it will probably find quarters soon, as Americanisms are readily assimilated by the ordinary Scotch, although they look contemptuously when a native "puts on his English." The phrase "That takes the cake" is in every-day use and has developed some remarkable local forms, such as "That cops the cookie," "That taks the bannick." I suppose the abuse of "awful" came originally from Americans; for this alone they deserve some mild kind of plague in addition to the "awful" one. A. F. H. Perth. "MAYS" (9th S. iv. 147, 233).-The patronal fête of Châteauneuf coincides with May Day, and is always spoken of as "Le Mai." It is, or used to be, celebrated with dancing on "La Chaume," a grassy avenue continuing the high street into the coppice woods of M. le Comte de Vogue, the owner of the semi-ruinous castle, whose own château is at Tower House, New Hampton. "HOON AFF" (9th S. iv. 517).-This signifies "hold off" or "delay." Jamieson gives the same verb under the form hune, and interprets it as meaning in Ayrshire "to stop, not to go on," and in Clydesdale "to loiter." The sb. hune, in the phrase" withoutin hune," equivalent to "without delay," is quoted by Jamieson from Dunbar; and the form hone occurs in Gavin Douglas's translation of 'Æneid,' vii. 430. Prof. Saintsbury, in his 'Short History of English Literature,' p. 191, risks the assertion that Douglas "does not embroider on his text "; but this view seems remarkable for its courage rather than for its accuracy. Let us see how the matter stands here, premising that Douglas's gratuitous but hone denotes "without delay." Alecto, in disguise of Calybe, thus addresses. Turnus: Quare age, et armari pubem portisque moveri pulchro Consedere, duces, pictasque exure carinas : As given by Douglas this passage stands Haue done therfor, assembill this cuntre, CORRESPONDENCE OF ENGLISH AMBASSADORS TO FRANCE (9th S. v. 7).- Viscount Scudamore was ambassador at Paris 1635-9, and perhaps for a longer period. Some of his unpublished correspondence will be found in dent Christie, which plied between Bergen The "Christie" referred to by MR. PICK- 'PICKWICKIAN STUDIES' (9th S. iv. 492, 525; v. 10). The colour of the turban is not an important point. I was aware of the slender authority for "blue"; but Dickens was responsible for the later colour, and in such a case the author's second thoughts are more acceptable. Surely we have grown out of A PASQUIL (9th S. v. 5).-Please to correct talking about the few slips-Sun Court," an error in my note on the above subject. and the rest of the hackneyed list in the The pamphlet in question, printed in 1533, original edition. I certainly never ventured like those earlier pasquinades printed 1512to "explain that Sam Weller was called one 1526, and described by Brunet, belongs, of of Frederick William's big grenadiers." I course, not to the fifteenth, but to the sixleave an explanation of that kind to HIPPO-teenth century, unless the fifteenth century CLIDES and to Mr. Fitzgerald, of whom it is were understood to be identical with the quite worthy. Since it seems to be necessary Italian "Cinquecento," or the period from to return to preliminaries, I may mention 1501 to 1600. H. KREBS. that "Prooshan Blue" occurs in chap. xxxiii.; and that it did not refer to Sam, but to his father. Every idea we have of old Weller, including Dickens's description, only tends to prove how applicable a simple explanation would be. England had acquired, through troublesome experience, some knowledge of Frederick William's recruiting methods. It should not be possible to mix the sayings of Sam with those of his father. They are quite separate; but HIPPOCLIDES in his note shows how easily they may be confounded for purposes of "correction." GEORGE MARSHALL. Sefton Park, Liverpool. "BOER" (9th S. v. 3).-May I direct SIR HERBERT MAXWELL'S attention to the articles Bower,' sb. 7, and 'Bowing,' sb., in the 'New English Dictionary'? He will there find the real origin of the words to which he refers, as well as evidence of the fact that they occur in Jamieson. Q. V. Travels in Tartary,' &c., there is frequent "THE BEURRE" (9th S. v. 9).-In Huc's beverage in Tibet. I know this book only in mention of "buttered tea" as a common Hazlitt's translation (London, office of the "Illustrated London Library," 2 vols., n.d.), but I presume that the beurré must be the original of "buttered tea," i. e., tea with butter Turenne reasons thus: The Tibetans and the in it (vol. i. pp. 39, 49). Possibly M. Auziasthe Tibetans put butter in their tea; thereEnglish are barbarous tea-drinking nations; fore, so do the English. S. G. HAMILTON. THE OLD CHURCH AT CHINGFORD (9th S. iv. 537).-While staying at Buckhurst Hill in the autumn of 1898 I was conducted to this old church, as one of the sights of the neighbourrelating to it. I have no access to any works hood, but could obtain no local information on Essex, and if the matter has not already been treated of in 'N. & Q.,' in which case a repetition would perhaps only take up valuable space, I shall feel obliged for some particulars as to the history of the edifice. At what date was it erected? S. A. D'ARCY, L.R.C.P. and S.I. Rosslea, Clones, co. Fermanagh. STATUE IN BERGEN, NORWAY (9th S. iv. 514). -The statue as to which MR. PICKFORD in quires is that of a member of a well-known family of Bergen which still exists, and is represented at present or was a few years since by a distinguished architect of the name. The statue is probably that of Wilhelm JAMES COX'S MUSEUM (9th S. ii. 7, 78; iv. Frimann Karen Christie, born in 1778, died 275, 337; v. 17).-MR. JOHN HEBB says I am in 1849, who was president of the Storthing, mistaken in thinking that Wigley's Room in and as such was very popular. His name Spring Gardens stood on the site now occuwas some years since well known to tourists pied by the offices of the London County in Norway from that of the steamboat Presi-Council, offices of which, by the way, MR. HEBB himself was long one of the greatest ornaments. I confess never to have dreamt that so ambitious and aggressive a body as the Council in question would be content with a site so small as that of Wigley's Rooms, and I do not contest the statement that the multitudinous officials who look after everybody's business there are partly accommodated on the site of Berkeley House. Nevertheless, as an authority, I prefer the contemporary woodcut to which I alluded to the Hon. Grantley T. Berkeley's rickety recollections, as set forth in the 'Life' named by MR. HEBB. F. G. S. ENGLISH TRAVELLERS IN SAVOY (9th S. iv. 537). Many English works relating to Savoy are mentioned in the 'Bibliographie Nationale Suisse (fascicule iii., 'Récits de Voyages'), compiled by A. Woeber, and published by K. J. Wyss at Berne, 1899, a considerable contribution to the bibliography of travel in Switzerland and neighbouring countries. The Catalogue of the Library of the Alpine Club (23, Savile Row, London, W.) might also be consulted. H. C. The 'Saggio di una Bibliografia Ragionata dei Viaggi e delle Descrizioni d'Italia e dei Costumi Italiani in Lingue Straniere,' appended to Prof. D'Ancona's edition of Montaigne's journal of his travels in Italy (published at Città di Castello), might be consulted. It, however, only contains books before 1815. The edition of D'Ancona's book which I have is that of 1889, but a second edition has been published. R-N. "WITCHELT"=ILL-SHOD (9th S. v. 9).-I strongly suspect that there is a regular muddle as to this supposed use. Surely the word referred to is the perfectly common word often pronounced nearly as wetchud, though it really should be wet-shod, i. e., wet in the feet, well known in Lancashire and Yorkshire. In Shropshire it is wetchet, and in Oxfordshire watcherd. Wet-shod occurs in Piers Plowman,' C. xxi. 1; and dry-shod is in our Bibles, Isaiah xi. 15. WALTER W. SKEAT. This is apparently a form of wet-shod-wet in the feet, which is very common all over the Midland counties as wetched. A child paddling about in boggy places will say, "It won't hurt me, I've got good boots on; I shan't get wetched." C. C. B. AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (9th S. iv. 499). His time a moment, and a point his space. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Complete Works of John Gower. Edited by G. C. Macaulay, M.A.-Vol. I. The French Works. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) · to NOTHING was further from our expectations than a complete edition of the works of John GowerMoral Gower, as he is called by Chaucer; "Ancient" Gower, as he is styled by Shakespeare. So well known are the shortcomings of the only available edition of the 'Confessio Amantis' that we were prepared for the appearance of an authoritative text. Such alone was, indeed, meditated by Mr. Macaulay when he first approached the Delegates of the Oxford University Press. To them is due the extension of the scheme by which we are to receive, in four volumes, the entire works, in Engif not too plenarily inspired, poet whose remains lish, French, and Latin, of the grave and worthy, repose in the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the north aisle of the nave of the church of St. Mary Overies. That such an edition is now in course more to the claims of publication adds one on our gratitude of that noble and spirited which philology, history, and other branches of corporation the Oxford University Press, scholarship are under equal obligation. In the monument to Gower in St. Mary Overies the effigies of the poet has the head resting upon three works the Speculum Meditantis, the Vox Clamantis,' and the Confessio Amantis. Of these works the last, which was printed by Caxton, and again by treats of the servile insurrection in Kent, is a Latin Berthelet, is well known. 'Vox Clamantis," which elegiacal poem in seven books, in which Gower describes himself as "" senex et cæcus.' It was printed in 1850 by H. O. Coxe for the Roxburghe Club from the fine MS. in the library of All Souls' College, Oxford. The 'Speculum Meditantis,' meanwhile, has long been regarded as lost. Gower's latest biographer, Mr. Sidney Lee, declares, so late This work, originally called Speculum Hominis,' as 1890, that it "has disappeared and left no trace." Mr. Macaulay has recognized in the 'Mirour de l'Omme,' upon which he came during his researches among the Cambridge MSS. That he is right in there is no reason to doubt, and no controversy on his judgment that the two works are the same the point is to be expected. This recovery of a mislaid treasure of literature-for such, in a sense, the book is-is a subject of congratulation. Not quite perfect is the MS., five opening leaves, comprising, it is supposed, 564 lines, having been cut out. A few leaves are also wanting from the end, and there are other shortcomings. These deficiencies are to be deplored, though the reader who misses a thirty thousand may be congratulated upon his few hundred lines from a poem extending to some appetite. Now that the title under which the book appeared is known it is possible that other MSS., filling up the lacunæ, may be traced. "Mirrors" were common in mediæval literature: see the · 'Miroir de lame,' the 'Mirouer de lame Pecheresse,' the 'Mirouer des Femmes Vertueuses,' the 'Miroir own Mirour for Magistrates.' The work is a species du Temps,' and many others before we come to our of religious allegory concerning Sin and its offspring, the influence of these latter upon various classes of human beings, and the manner in which man is to be reconciled to his Maker. Mr. Macaulay fails, |