Minor Queries with Answers.
Cateaton Street.—I am anxious to ascertain the meaning and derivation of this word: the London Cateaton Street, I believe, is changed into Gresham Street. I have lately learnt that there is a Cateaton Street in Liverpool also.
Etymo.
[Cateaton Street, or "Catteten Street," says Stow, "is a corruption of Catte Street, which beginneth at the north end of Ironmonger Lane, and runneth to the west end of St. Lawrence Church." In 1845, this street was renamed Gresham Street.]
Portrait of Lee, Inventor of the Stocking-frame.—In Hatton's History of London (published in 1708), it is stated that a picture (by Balderston) of Lee, the inventor of the stocking-frame, hung in the hall of the Framework Knitters' Company. The inquirer wishes to ascertain whether the picture is yet in existence or not; and, if still in existence, where it can be seen.
M. E.
[In Cunningham's Handbook of London, p. 527., s. v. Weavers' Hall, Basinghall Street, is a quotation from the Quarterly Review for January, 1816, in which the picture is spoken of as then existing in the Stocking Weavers' Hall.]
Cocker's Arithmetic (Vol. iv., pp. 102. 149.).—Some correspondence appears in "N. & Q." about the first edition of "Old Cocker." I should be glad to ascertain the date of the latest edition.
Tyro.
[The British Museum contains the following editions of Cocker's Arithmetic:—the 20th, Lond. 1700; the 37th, perused and published by John Hawkins (with MS. notes), Lond. 1720; 41st, Lond. 1724; 50th, corrected by Geo. Fisher, Lond. 1746. Watt notices one revised by J. Mair, Edinb. 1751. In Professor de Morgan's Arithmetical Books, p. 56., where a full history of Cocker's book is given, mention is made of an Edinburgh edition, 1765, and a Glasgow edition of 1777.]
Lyke Porch or Litch Porch.—What is the proper name for the porch found, not unfrequently, at the churchyard gate under which the body was, I believe, supposed to rest before the funeral? Is it lyke or litch? The derivation may be different in different parts of England, as they were originally Saxon or Danish. Lüg Dan., lyk Dutch, and leiche Ger., are all different forms of the same word. The first two approach nearer to lyke, the latter to litch.
J. H. L.
[In most works on ecclesiastical architecture it is called lich-gate, from Anglo-Saxon lich, a corpse: hence Lich-field, the field of dead bodies. In the Glossary of Architecture we read "Lich-gate, or corpse-gate, leichengang, Germ., from the Ang.-Sax. lich, a corpse, and geat, a gate; a shed over the entrance of a churchyard, beneath which the bearers sometimes paused when bringing a corpse for interment. The term is also used in some parts of the country for the path by which a corpse is usually conveyed to the church.">[
Henry Burton.—Henry Burton was born in 1579; studied at Oxford, and was at one time minister of St. Matthew, Friday Street. In 1636, he drew upon himself the vengeance of the Star-Chamber, by two discourses in which he severely inveighed against the bishops. For this offence he was fined, deprived of his ears, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was liberated by
the parliament in 1640, and died in 1648. What theological works did he write?—From the Navorscher.
Dionysius.
[Burton's pen was so prolific, that we cannot find room for a list of his works; and must refer Dionysius to the Bodleian Catalogue, where they fill nearly a column, and to Watt's Bibliotheca, s.v.]
British Mathematicians.—I am anxious to learn if there is any book which contains an account of the lives and works of eminent British arithmeticians and mathematicians?
Euclid.
[Consult the following:—Biographia Philosophica: being an Account of the Lives, Writings, and Inventions of the most eminent Philosophers and Mathematicians, by Benjamin Martin: London, 1764, 8vo. There is also a Chronological Table of the most eminent Mathematicians affixed to John Bossut's General History of Mathematics, translated from the French by John Bonnycastle: London, 1803, 8vo. Some notices of our early English mathematicians will also be found in the Companion to the Almanac for 1837, and in the Magazine of Popular Science, Nos. 18. 20. and 22.]
"Les Lettres Juives."—Will any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of Lettres Juives? The first volume of my edition, in eight volumes 12mo., has the portrait of Jean Batiste B., Marquis de ——, né le 29 Juin, 1704.
J. R.
Sunderland.
["Par le Marquis D'Argens," says Barbier.]