extraction, and to have derived the title Hamper, Birmingham, 1814," the collections from De Burgo, one of De Courcy's followers. were probably sold by Thomas Blore himself. Can any one explain who this De Burgo was, I should be greatly obliged to any one giving and the connexion of the Quillins with him? me a hint of the present whereabouts of the

On the other hand, I cull from the State missing volumes. Answers may be sent Records, "May 22nd, 1542,” “M‘Quillin, a direct.

G. B. BERESFORD. Welsh adherent of O'Neil, craves pardon. - 76, Cambridge Road, Ilford.

I am desirous of tracing the arms of the family; but here, unfortunately, one has not

CURTIS : HUGHES: WORTH. Hugh Kenaccess to Irish pedigrees, and, if I am rightly nedy, of Cultra, co. Down (1711-63), married informed, such things were kept in a very

-80 Burke's 'Landed Gentry' informs meslipshod fashion in Ireland in the years that Mabel Curtis, coheiress with her sister, Mrs. have gone. Any information on this subject Forbes. Beyond this I fail to find anything would much oblige.

concerning the family. Can any one help BERNARD LORD M'QUILLIN.

me here? 3, Garendon Street, Leicester.

A certain "Thomas Hughes, of Tipperary," DANTE'S SONNET TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI.—

married, about 1780, Dorothea Newenham,

daughter of Sir Edward Newenham, of CoolIn the ninth line of Dante's well-known sonnet addressed to Guido Cavalcanti two Thomas Hughes a son, or a grandson, of the

Was the above-mentioned

more, co. Cork. ladies are referred to among those whom Thomas Hughes, of Archerstown, co. TippeDante wished to accompany him on his enchanted bark :

rary, who married, in 1720, Elizabeth Annes

ley, daughter of Francis Annesley (Valentia) E monna Vanna e monna Bicè poi.

by his wife Deborah Paul ? Any information The second name has been held by most concerning the Hughes family will be gratecommentators, down to Mr. Paget Toynbee, to fully received. be the abbreviated name of Dante's Beatrice,

Edward Worth, Chief Baron of the Exchewho is so named in her father's will, notwith

quer in Ireland, at the close of the sevenstanding the improbability that Dante, who teenth century, married-according to Lodge, always speaks of his lady in terms of the ed. 1789–“Dorothy......died 6th of May, 1732." deepest reverence, should make use of such a Can any one kindly give me her surname ? familiar address when alluding to her.

KATHLEEN WARD. Dean Plumptre, in a note to the sonnet, Castle Ward, Downpatrick. observes :“It may be noted that in some MSS. Lagia takes

GRAHAM FAMILY BIBLE.-From the family the place of Bice, as though the sonnet had been Bible-one of the first block prints (1604 ?) written by Cino da Pistoia, who addressed many of of the Grahams of Edenbrows, Cumberland, his poems to a Selvaggia, a name of which Lagia of which the late Lieut.-General Sir Gerald may have been a dininutive."

Graham, G.C.B., was the head, six of the flyIn the Oxford Dante' Lagia is substituted leaves are missing. These leaves, which con, for Bice; but as this edition has no notes, no tain the record of the family, were removed reason is assigned for the change, and the by some member of it about thirty years ago ; same reading is adopted_in the American and should they be in existence the possessor * Dante Concordance," by E. S. Sheldon and of them would oblige by communicating with A. C. White, printed at the Oxford Uni-me, so that they may serve their purpose in versity Press.

connexion with the genealogy and history of Monna Lagia is said by some to have been the house of Graham, on which I am engaged. the beloved of Dante's friend Lapo Gianni,

W. M. GRAHAM EASTON. who is mentioned in the first line of Dante's Great Russell Mansions, W.C. sonnet to Cavalcanti. I should like to have some explanation of

DETACHED BELFRIES. What other exthese changes in the received text of Dante. amples exist in this country of the above,

JOAN HEBB. besides Chichester, East Dereham, and BLORE'S STAFFORDSHIRE COLLECTIONS.

-Can

Evesham ? I have illustrations and plan and any one indicate the present owner of the section of the one that used to exist at early volumes of Collections for a History of Salisbury. Of course, I only require mention

of old ones still extant. Staffordshire, made by Thomas Blore, the

JOHN A. RANDOLPH. eminent topographer ? Vol. iv. is especially wanted. But vol. vi.--a solid quarto-is in “BUSH AND GREASE."—What is the mean. the Salt Library at Stafford ; and, as this ing of this expression ? It occurs in the

; volume has within it the name of * W. excellent German novel 'Jörn Uhl,' by

a

Gustav Frenssen, at p. 487, in the clause THE PURPOSE OF A FLAW.-In Inner "Indem ich ihm mit Hundefuhrwerk, bush Jerusalem' Miss A. Goodrich-Freer notes of and grease, vors Haus fuhr.” This novel has Jewish dwellings (p. 59) :just been translated by F. S. Delmer, and “In reminder of the Temple destroyed, no house published in London and Boston, but the is ever entirely finished: one stone at least is left translator has dropped the phrase. My guess unplastered, and shows conspicuous in its native is that “ bush " is the bush, sb.?, bouche, sb.:, baseness in some prominent part of hall or chamber.” of the Oxford Dictionary,' meaning "metal I suspect that this defect may have filling,' nave-box," and that the whole double debt to pay": it may not only serve phrase means “ with well-greased axle,” fig. as a memorial, but may be supposed to act at full speed."

AMERICUS. as a charm against the Evil Eye. What says

Dr. Gaster as to that? St. SWITHIN. AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED.

“ JUST BEFORE She has come unarray'd in the pomp and the Some weeks ago I was standing at my gate,

THE BATTLE, MOTHER.”— That royalty throws round the steps of a queen ; when, after a lapse of thirty years, the And turns to her foes without guard or defender, melody of this song of my childhood came Majestic in sorrow, in danger

serene.

into my head. I have since asked several These are the first four lines of a poem con- friends if they could repeat the verses or cerning Queen Caroline, "at this time (1820) tell me who was the author of this quaint written on the distressing situation of her melody, which I fancy is a reminder of the majesty.”. It appears in Memoirs of her terrors of the Crimean war. Will some kind late Majesty Caroline, Queen of Great reader of ' N. & Q.' refer me to the complete Britain,' by Robert Huisho (London, 1821), song and tell something of its history? vol. ii. p. 430.

ROBERT PIERPOINT. Many of these old songs would well repay I who a decade past had lived recluse

republication by some enterprising firm. Left for a while the smoke and dust of town.

M. L. R. BRESLAR. I thought they were by Calverley (C. S. C.),

Percy House, South Hackney. but cannot find them. E. P. WOLFERSTAN.

[" Just before the battle, mother," was composed

by G. F. Root, and is published in a cheap form by FADED DAGUERREOTYPES.-Can they be Mr. W. Paxton, of 19, Oxford Street. We have restored ? If so, the address of the restorer

forwarded a copy to MR. BRESLAR. The song was will oblige.

a production of the American civil war, not the EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. Crimean war. The titles of other popular songs by 71, Brecknock Road.

this American composer may be seen under his

name in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia.'] WELSH POEM.—These four lines of Welsh poetry, consisting entirely of vowels, have,

GEOFFREY WHITNEY'S AUTOGRAPH.—I have I believe, never appeared in ‘N. & Q. They before me a page from a book catalogue are attributed to Goronwy Owen (eighteenth issued by Mr. Francis Harvey, of 4, St. James's century). As my knowledge of the language Street, but no date given, describing a copy is slight, I shall be glad if any Welsh reader of 'Suidæ Historica, folio, 1581, containing will tell me if I have given them correctly, on the title-page the autograph of Geoffrey and favour with a literal translation. I have Whitney. The price of the book (which was heard these lines recited at an Eisteddfod.

rebound in dull blue morocco) was 51. 5s.

Where is the book now?
O’i wiw wy a weuae,
leuau o ia, ai e yw ?

T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.
Ai o au wedau a we

Lancaster.
A'i au i wau ei we wyw?

WAITCOMBE FAMILY. - At gth S. v. 515
JAS. PLATT, Jun.

appears a query as to Whitcombe or WhetBOBBY DAZZLER.”—This is a very common combe. I wrote to MR. J. J. WITOOMBE at expression in the Midlands. A boy or girl, the address he gave at Bath, but since June, or indeed any person, putting on new or fine 1900, he had moved, and my letter was articles of clothing, becomes “a regular bobby returned.... May I repeat his query with dazzler," and is told that he or she is so. It some additions? I shall value date of death is the same with other things, and a child's of Williain Whitcomb, of London, who was new bright-looking toy is "a bobby dazzler." High Sheriff of Radnorshire in_1674. He is What may be the origin of the term? I have stated to have been ancestor of Robert Whitalways supposed it to be in some way con- combe (died 1 July, 1811, aged seventy-nine ?), nected with bobby=& policeman.

who is given as having married one of the

Thos. RATCLIFFE. daughters of Richard Hooper, of the WhitWorksop.

tern, in the parish of Lyonshall, Hereford

6

a

I copy the

shire. Robert Whitcombe appears to have I fell into this error myself-though this had a son named Robert, who married his is the general supposition. first cousin on his mother's side, Sarah, front page of the original song. Please note daughter of Sir Henry Gott, of Newland the spelling of the word that has puzzled so Park, Buckinghamshire, and died at the many:Whittern, Lyonshall, 24 June, 1790. His

Pop goes the Weazel widow married, secoudly, also a first cousin,

Comic Song Harford Jones, son of Harford Jones (who

Written by W. R. Mandale

And died 1798) and Winifred, another daughter

Sung with unbounded Applause of Richard Hooper, and had issue. Harford

at Jones, Ambassador at the Court of Persia,

The Theatre Royal Sadlers Wells a Privy Councillor, was created a baronet

And 9 October, 1807, and assumed 4 May, 1826,

Nightly at the Royal Cremorne Gardeus

By the additional surname of Brydges. He died

Mr. W. L. Edmonds March, 1847, and is buried at Norton, near

And also by Presteigne, Radnorshire. A Sir Samuel Whit- Mr. Austin at the London Concerts. combe, son of John Whitcombe, of Birts

London morton, Worcestershire, was at one time of

Joseph Williams

24, Berners Street W. Gloucester, afterwards of Blackheath, Kent, and later resided in London. He died 4 June, mention of the Grecian. Hereunder I give

It will be observed that there is no 1816, having married, at Dorton, Buckinghamshire, 7 May, 1792, Mary Aubrey, who the words of the song in extenso. The title died 19 August, 1843, and had issue at the inside is · Pop goes the Weasel,' so I presume least five sons and two daughters. In the

“Weazel” to be an error on the part of the late Col. J. L. Vivian's edition of the Visi- engraver. tations of Devonshire' is given the marriage,

In ev'ry street, on ev'ry wall, on 1 January, 1793, of Milborough Anne,

In ev'ry lane with hoarding, daughter of the Rev. John Huyshe, of Clis

In shop and stall, both great and small,

In windows-on door boarding, thydon, with Richard Whitcombe, of Bolling- Placarded high, and posted low, ham, Herefordshire. Can either or all of In letters large I see still, these families of Whitcombe be linked with Where'er I turn, where'er I go, the pedigrees in the Visitations of Essex,

This “ Pop goes the weasel." 1612 and 1634, and of London, 1634 ? I shall

Tol de rol de riddle ol, be greatly indebted for information as to

Pop goes the weasel.” any of the name of Whitcombe.

Tol de rol de riddle ol,
REGINALD STEWART BODDINGTON.

Pop goes the weasel.”

Now folks who daily move about, SHATFORD'S 'HISTRIOMASTIX.'-Charles Lee

And keep up locomotion, Lewes in his "Memoirs' (1805, i. 95) makes

Of popping in a certain way

Have got a tidy notion. allusion to an occasional theatrical journal, The author pops his polyglotof a satirical nature, published in Dublin The artist pops his easel about the year 1773, and called presumably

And Brown his boots and Green his coat, Histriomastir. Shatford was apparently the

But who Pops the weasel ? prime mover in this. No copies are to be I called up

a friend last week found in any Dublin library. Are any known

To ask an explanation to be extant ?

W. J. L.

Of this strange phrase, which now-a-days
Dublin.

So charms the population.
Quoth he, “I do apply it thus,

My wife, sweet soul (ahem !), she's ill,
Beplies.

Now if she pop off, what then? of course,

Then Pop goes my weasel." “POP GOES THE WEASEL."

Not feeling satisfied with this (10th S. iii. 430, 491 ; iv. 54.)

Queer piece of information, I SHOULD like to add that which may prove

I went unto Cremorne that night

For a little recreation. a concluding word concerning this curious While saunt'ring there a lady said, phrase and song, about which there has been “Ma frent, sare if you please veel so much discussion of late. A copy of the

You comb join a partnaires wis me song lies at my elbow as I write. In the first

In Pop him go de veesel.” place the quatrain as quoted by various

“What is the meaning of this slang ?” writers in various journals was never sung

Cried I in desperation, at the Grecian Saloon or Theatre at all

When a pop bottle cork came bang

On my bump of consternation:

6

66

revue

Quite sharp it hit me in the eye,

many a weasel in the English Midlands, and When a waiter cried, “Sir, be still, I didn't mean to let it fly,

it certainly does not “pop.", "Weasel,”

, as But 'Pop went the weasel.'”

I explained in ‘N. & Q.;' is slang for silver

of a “pop-able” nature, watches, plate, forks Disgusted with the horrid sound, I rushed from forth the place, sirs,

and spoons-anything that uncle would take. And sought a lonelier spot of ground,

Variations of the soug were sung in all the There thinking to find peace, sirs :

burlesques of the day, and in particular When clarionets and loud trombones

James Robinson Planché introduced several My very blood did freeze all,

in his extravaganzas; as in 'Once upon a Time By squeaking, braying, bursting out

there lived I wo Kings,' produced at the With “Pop goes the weasel."

Royal Lyceum Theatre, 26 December, 1853, I fled the spot-I left Cremorne,

but notably in 'The New Haymarket Spring And jumped into a bus quick, And tired and fevered, sad and worn,

Meeting,' an Easter extravaganza, done at Found myself at Charing Cross quick.

the Haymarket Theatre, 9 April, 1855, by I dreamt that night, quite in a fright,

John Baldwin Buckstone. This was the last That I was ill with measels,

that J. R. Planché wrote for the And all the spots were just the shape

Haymarket, and deserves remembrance on And had the eyes of weasels.

account of its connexion with Pop goes Since then I've asked what it doth mean, the Weasel.' It was a purely topical piece, Of folks in every station;

and amongst the characters introduced were Some grin and laugh, some jeer and scoffAll's bother and vexation.

genii of the various London theatres, includFor, I'm still as wise as e'er I was,

ing the City of London, with song Oh, such As full's an empty pea-shell,

a Town'; the Standard, to the tune of The In as far as the true history goes

Standard-Bearer,' and a special reference to Of “Pop goes the weasel.”

Mr. Douglass, the lessee; the Royal Italian Yet popping here, and popping there,

Opera, Foreign Opera, Strand, Adelphi, And popping all about, sirs,

Haymarket, Princess's, the Britannia, and 'Mong Poplar trees, in Poplar airs,

the Eagle or Grecian. Mr. Clark (referred It still keeps popping out, sirs.

to by Mr. Coote) was the genius of the Eagle. Pop north and south, pop east and west, The lines are :

Pop right and left, I see still,
Pop up and down, thro' all the town

The drama then one consolation sees,
"Tis “Pop goes the weasel.”

Her audience sup porter, if they please. In regard to the history of this song, I (An eagle appears over the portico of the Eagle may state that I gave much information in

T'avern.) 1900. Many writers have drawn upon the Song, Eagle, 'Pop goes the Weasel.' particulars supplied. My friend Mr. Charles Coote, who has recently retired from the

I'm the Bird of Conquest, made

First by Romans famous, directorship of Hopwood & Crew, wrote Though Grecian my Saloon was called me the following letter, 2 April, 1900:

By some ignoramus. "I forward you copies of Pop goes the Weasel'

Up and down the City Road, and 'All Round ny Hat.' You will see the verse:

In and out the Eagle,

That's the way the money comes,
Up and down the City Road,

Pop goes the weasel.
In and out the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes-

The Conquest referred to was, of course,
Pop goes the weazel,

B. 0. Conquest, father of George. Planché is not in this version. This verse was sung in a says

comes"; consequently, the song must burlesque at the

Haymarket by a comedian named have been popular, or rather the lines, before Clark. Of this I feel pretty sure; but it is a great he made use of the verse. Apart from the many years ago, quite fifty I should say.

slang, my own impression is that it was Before I go further I should like to say originally a dance-melody, with words sung to the gentleman who suggests in ‘N. & Q to a hopping game. I was guilty of the that the weasel is the weevil," an insect practice myself as a child in the late sixties. of the family. Curculionidæ,” common in The now famous quatrain decidedly dates America, that the “weasel" is a well-known from the forties. little quadruped, of the genus Mustela, By the way, at the Globe Theatre, 16 June, about six inches in length, with a tail 1878, was produced a burlesque on 'The Lyons about two inches long: "It is remarkable Mail, then running at the Lyceum Theatre, for its slender form and agile movements. called 'The Lion's Tail, and why he wagged It preys upon small animals, as moles, it.' In this Miss Rachel Sanger sang a song, rats, mice, and the like." I have seen the refrain of which I recall :

66

a

6

Did you ever catch a weasel asleep?

married in February, 1840, Madame Taglioni Did you ever for a sprat catch a whale? Did you ever, in a word, catch a knowing old bird the date of publication is guessed at as

retired in 1845, and in the Library Catalogue With a little bit of salt upon his tail? S. J. ADAIR FITZ-GERALD. "[1855 ?]."

L. L. K. As in the case of your correspondent been adduced, not yet been satisfactorily

The phrase has, in spite of all that has H. K. St. J. S., my knowledge of any verse of this song, save

the lines referring to the explained. That explanation which takes City Road and "The Eagle,” is derived from in the collective sense of French vaisselle,

“ weasel

as a popular corruption of “vessel,” the teaching of a nursemaid to my children

That “ vessel” and to that regarding the twopenny rice and plate, seems to me the best. the treacle the girl in my employ used to add, in Chaucer's Monke's Tale,' 3338 (see Prof.

once had this meaning is proved by the line about 1884 :

Skeat's edition in the Clarendon Press Series):
Black Sal and Dusty Bob,
Lord and Lady Teazle ;

The vessel of the teniple he with him ladde,
That's the sort of folks we meet,

with the editor's note ; furthermore, line Pop goes the weasel.

3494 : This verse, I would suggest, tends to Her riche array ne myghte nat be told, "date" the song, for Black Sal and Dusty As wel in vessel as in hir clothing. Bob were popular characters in Pierce Egan's But it must be shown either that the phrase

Tom and Jerry,' which was dramatized in goes back to the time when it still had its various versions, and often played at London old French signification, or that the word has theatres between 1820 and 1840.

preserved it somewhere down to a modern ALFRED F. ROBBINS. age.

G. KRUEGER.

Berlin. There is a version of this song in the British Museum (press - mark 11621, b. 20) The following version of this song may be printed by "E. Hodges, Printor [sic], etc. of interest to the querist, although, perhaps, 26, Grafton St., Soho," and commencing shedding no light on the etymology or meanSome time ago the people said that English sports ing of the word weasel. It was quite popular were dying.

among the children in a country village in It is clear from the whole context that in Western Ontario, Canada, twenty or more this case “Pop goes the weasel was the years ago. I have not heard it recently. name of a dance which was no doubt per- There were only the two lines :formed to the words and tune of a song, I went around the tailor's shop to buy a tailor's as explained by one of your correspondents. That's the way the money goes, and “ Poppy goes

needle, Some short extracts will prove this :

the weasel. Pop goes the weasel !

W. J. WINTEMBERG. This dance is very popular, it is without deception.

Toronto, Canada. Pop goes the weasel has been to Court and met a good reception.

[T. G. sends the music as he recollects it. We Our Queen she patronized the dance, no music could have forwarded it to MEDICULUS.]

be riper. Says Albert, let them dance away, John Bull must pay the piper,

Sir ROBERT HOWARD, THE DRAMATIST, AND This dance will cure you of the blues, &c.

HIS FAMILY (10th S. iv. 141).-MR. BRENAN'S Its headquarters was evidently the Eagle. interesting and valuable article, while casting In this song, too, we are told that

considerable light upon some of the obscure A country lad came all the way from Barkshire.....: leaves in my nind one or two minor matters

points in the life of this Howard worthy, yet He read the playbills up and down and then went of doubt, to which I venture to ask his

to the Eagle : Says he, I am blowed if I don't sport a bob to attention. First as to his honours. His see the Weasel!

knighthood seems to have been conferred According to the song the “ weasel dance" some eighteen months earlier than alleged was also on the programme at the Surrey, by MR. BRENAN. According to 'Symonds's the * Vic.," the Pavilion, the Standard, Diary' he was " knighted in the field” near Britannia, and other playhouses. There is Banbury, 29 June, 1644. In another page also a reference in it to "Madame Taglioni's the diarist states that the event took place tricks."

at Cropredy Bridge, near Banbury, "for With regard to dates, this sheet and others taking 'Wemes, the Scots general of Sir in the same volume were acquired by the William Waller's artillery:” Museum on 11 June, 1862; Queen Victoria was The statement that Sir Robert received