Replies to Minor Queries.
Belike (Vol. viii., p. 358.).—The reasoning by which H. C. K. supports his conjecture that "belike" in Macbeth is formed immediately by prefixing be to a supposed verb, like, to lie, is ingenious, but far from satisfactory. In the first place, we never used to like in the sense of to lie, the nearest approach to it is to lig. And in the next place, the verb to like, to please, to feel or cause pleasure, to approve or regard with approbation, as a consequential usage (agreeably to the Dutch form of Liicken (Kilian), to assimilate), is common from our earliest writers. Instances from Robert of Gloucester, Chaucer, and North, with instances also of mislike, to displease, may be found in Richardson and others in Todd's Johnson.
Now, when we have a word well established in various usage (as like, similis), from which other usages may be easily deduced, why not adopt that word as the immediate source, rather than seek for a new one? That like, now written ly, is from lic, a corpse, i.e. an essence, has, I believe, the merit of originality; so too, his notion that corpse is an essence, and the more, as emanating from a rectory, which probably is not far removed frown a churchyard.
H. C. K., it is very likely, is right in his conception that all his three likes "have had originally one and the same source;" but he does not appear inclined to rest contented with the very sufficient one in our parent language, suggested by Richardson (in his 8vo. dictionary), the Gothic lag-yan; A.-S. lec-gan, or lic-gan, to lay or lie.
I should interpret belike (for so I should write it with H. C. K.) by "approve."
Q.
Bloomsbury.
Stage-coaches (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—The following Note may perhaps prove acceptable to G. E. F. The article from which it was taken contained, if I remember rightly, much more information upon the same subject:
"The stage-coach 'Wonder,' from London to Shrewsbury, and the 'Hirondelle' belonged to Taylor of Shrewsbury. The 'Hirondelle' did 120 miles in 8 hours and 20 minutes. One day a team of four greys did 9 miles in 35 minutes. The 'Wonder' left Lion Yard, Shrewsbury, one morning at 6 o'clock, and was at Islington at 7 o'clock the same evening, being only 13 hours on the road."—The Times, July 11, 1842.
W. R. D. S.
Birthplace of King Edward V. (Vol. viii., p. 468.).—
"1471. In this year, the third day of November, Queen Elizabeth, being, as before is said, in Westminster Sanctuary, was lighted of a fair prince. And within the said place the said child, without pomp, was after christened, whose godfathers were the abbat and prior of the said place, and the Lady Scrope godmother."—Fabian's Chronicle, p. 659., Lond. 1811.
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
Fuller, in his Worthies, vol. ii. p. 414., says Edward, eldest son of Edward IV. and Elizabeth his queen, was born in the sanctuary of Westminster, November 4, 1471.
A.
Ringing Church Bells at Death (Vol. viii., p. 55. &c.).—The custom of ringing the church bell, as soon as might be convenient after the passing of a soul from its earthly prison-house, in the manner described in "N. & Q.," existed ten years ago in the parish of Rawmarsh, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and had existed there before I became its rector, twenty-two years ago. First a brisk peal was rung, if I mistake not, on one of the lighter bells, which was raised and lowered; then, upon the same, or some other of the lighter bells, the sex of the deceased was indicated by a given number of distinct strokes,—I cannot with certainty recall the respective numbers; lastly, the tenor bell was made to declare the supposed age of the deceased by as many strokes as had been counted years.
John James.
What is the Origin of "Getting into a Scrape?" (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—It may have been, first, a tumble in the mire; by such a process many of us in childhood have both literally and figuratively "got into a scrape." Or, secondly, the expression may have arisen from the use of the razor, where to be shaved was regarded as an indignity, or practised as a token of deep humiliation. D'Arvieux mentions an Arab who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose rather to hazard his life, than allow the surgeon to take off his beard. When Hanun had shaved off half the beards of David's servants, "David sent to meet them, because they were greatly ashamed: and the king said, 'Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return'" (2 Sam. x. 4, 5.). The expedient of shaving off the other half seems not to have been thought on, though that would naturally have been resorted to, had not the indignity of being rendered beardless appeared intolerable. Under this figure the desolation of a country is threatened. "In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, by them beyond the river, even by the King of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall consume the beard" (Isaiah vii. 20.). Again, as a token of grief and humiliation: "Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his beard," &c.—"There came fourscore men, having their heads shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves," &c. (Jer. xli. 5.). Or, thirdly, the allusion may be to the consequence of becoming infected with some loathsome cutaneous disease. "So Satan smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal" (Job ii. 7, 8.).
J. W. T.
Dewsbury.
High Dutch and Low Dutch (Vol. viii., p. 478.).—Nieder Deutsch, or rather Neder Duitsch, is the proper name of the Dutch language; at least it is that which the people of Holland give to it. Low German does not necessarily mean a vulgar patois. It is essentially as different a language from High German, or rather more so, as Spanish is from Portuguese. I believe German purists would point out Holstein, Hanover, Brunswick (not Dresden), as the places where German is most classically spoken. I wish one of your German (not Anglo-German) readers would set us right on this point. The term Dutch, as applied to the language of Holland as distinguished from that of German, is a comparative modernism in English. High Dutch and Low Dutch used to be the distinction; and when Coverdale's Translation of the Bible is said to have been "compared with the Douche," German, and not what we now call Dutch, is meant. Deutsch, in short, or Teutsch, is the generic name for the language of the Teutones, for whom Germani, or Ger-männer, was not a national appellation, but one which merely betokened their warlike character.
E. C. H.
Discovery of Planets (Vol. vii., p. 211.).—I should wish to ask Mr. H. Walter, who has a learned answer about the discovery of planets, whether the idea which he there broaches of a lost world where sin entered and for which mercy was not found, be his own original invention, or whether he is indebted to any one for it, and if so, to whom?
Quæstor.
Gloves at Fairs (Vol. viii., pp. 136. 421.).—This title has changed into a question of the open hand as an emblem of power. In addition to the instances cited by your correspondents, the following may be mentioned.
The Romans used the open hand as a standard.
The Kings of Ulster adopted it as their peculiar cognizance; thence it was transferred to the shield of the baronets created Knights of Ulster by James I.; to many of whose families recent
myths have in consequence attributed bloody deeds to account for the cognizance of the bloody hand. The Holte family of Aston Hall, near this town, affords an instance of such a modern myth, which has, I think, already appeared in "N. & Q." The subject of modern myths would form a very interesting one for your pages.
An open hand occurs on tombs in Lycia. (Fellowes' Lycia, p. 180.)
The Turks and Moors paint an open hand as a specific against the evil eye. (Shaw's Travels in Barbary, p. 243.)
The open hand in red paint is of common occurrence on buffalo robes among the tribes of North America, and is also stamped, apparently by the natural hand dipped in a red colour, on the monuments of Yucatan and Guatemala. (Stephen's Yucatan.)
Eden Warwick.
Birmingham.
Awk (Vol. viii., p. 310.).—H. C. K. asks for instances of the usage of the word awk. He will find one in Richardson's Dictionary, and two of awkly:
"The auke or left hand."—Holland's Plutarch.
"They receive her aukly, when she (Fortune) presenteth herself on the right hand."—Ibid.
"To undertake a thing awkely, or ungainly."—Fuller's Worthies.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
Tenet (Vol. viii., p. 330.) was used by Hooker and Hall, and is also found in state trial, 1 Hen. V., 1413, of Sir John Oldcastle. Sir Thomas Browne, though he writes tenets in his title, has tenent in c. i. of b. vii. But these variations may be generally placed to the account of the printers in those days. (See Tenet, in Richardson.)
Q.
Bloomsbury.
Lovett of Astwell (Vol. viii., p. 363.).—Since I wrote on this subject, I have consulted Baker's excellent History of Northamptonshire, and I find the pedigree (vol. i. p. 732.) fully bears out my strictures on Betham and Burke's account of Thomas Lovett, and his marriage with Joan Billinger. With regard to Elizabeth Boteler, Mr. Baker simply states that Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell, married to his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Boteler, Esq., of Watton Woodhall, Herts; but I observe that (Idem. vol. i. p. 730.) there is in Wappenham Church (the parish of which Astwell is hamlet) a brass to the memory of "Constance, late the wife of John Boteler, Esq., and sister to Henry Vere, Esq., who died May 16, 1499:" this lady, I conjecture, was the mother of Elizabeth Boteler, afterwards Lovett; and her daughter must have been heir to her mother, as the arms of Vere and Green are quartered on her grandson Thomas Lovett's tombstone in the same church; as well as on another monument of the Lovetts, the inscription of which is now obliterated. The pedigree of the Botelers in Clutterbuck (Herts, vol. ii. p. 475.) does not give this marriage; but John Boteler, Esq., of Watton Woodhall, who was of full age in 1456, and whose first wife Elizabeth died Oct. 28, 1471, is said to have married to his second wife Constance, daughter of —— Downhall of Gedington, co. Northamptonshire. Can this be the lady buried at Wappenham? She was the mother of John Boteler, Esq., Watton Woodhall, Sheriff of Herts and Essex in 1490; therefore her daughter would not be entitled to transmit her arms to her descendants. Or could the last-mentioned John Boteler, who died in 1514, have had another wife besides the three mentioned in Clutterbuck? There can be no question that one of the two John Botelers of Watton Woodhall married Constance de Vere, as the marriage is mentioned on the monument at Wappenham. I hope some of your genealogical readers may examine this point.
Tewars.
Irish Rhymes (Vol. viii., p. 250.).—In "The Wish," appended to The Ocean of Young (afterwards suppressed in his collected works, but quoted by Dr. Johnson), are the following rhymes:
"Oh! may I steal
Along the vale
Of humble life, secure from foes."
And again:
"Have what I have,
And live not leave."
And yet again:
"Then leave one beam
Of honest fame,
And scorn the labour'd monument."
And in his "Instalment" (which shared the same fate as "The Wish"):
"Oh! how I long, enkindled by the theme,
In deep eternity to launch thy name."
Young was no "Milasian:" so these rhymes go to acquit Swift of the Irishism attributed to him by Cuthbert Bede; as, taken in connexion with those used by Pope and others, it is clear they were not uncommon or confined to the Irish poets. At the same time, I cannot think them either elegant or musical, nor can I agree with one of your correspondents, that their occasional use destroys the sameness of rhyme. If poets were to introduce eccentric rhymes at pleasure, to produce variety, the shade of Walker would I think be troubled sorely.
Alexander Andrews.
Passage in Boerhaave (Vol. vii., p. 453.).—As the passage is incorrectly given from memory, it
is not easy to say where it is to be found. I venture, however, to lay before the Foreign Surgeon the following, from the Institutiones Medicæ cæt. digestæ, ab Herm. Boerhaave (Vienna, 1775), p. 382.:
"Unde tamen mors senilis per has mutationes accidit inevitabilis, et ex ipsa sanitate sequens."
And from Ph. Ambr. Marhesz, Prælectiones in H. Boerh., Inst. Med. (Vienna, 1785), vol. iii. p. 44.:
"Tum vivere cessat decripitus senex, sine morbo in mortem transiens, nisi senectutis vitium ineluctabile pro morbo habeas."
See also § 475. Possibly the required passage may be found in Burton's Account of the Life, &c. of Dr. Boerhaave (London, 1743). Allow me, however, to quote the following from a discourse of Joannes Oosterdijk Schacht (Boerhaave's cotemporary), delivered by him September 12, 1729, when he entered on the professorship at Utrecht. From this it will appear that the words ascribed to Boerhaave may be attributed to other learned men:
"Nemini igitur mirum videatur, si innumeris stipata malis superveniat senectus, quam nec solam nec morbis tantum comitatam obrepere, sed ipsam morbum esse, et olim vidit vetustas, et hodierna abunde docet experientia."—Joann. Oosterdijk Schacht, Oratio Inauguralis cæt. (Traj. ad Rhenum, 1729).
From the Navorscher.
L. D. R.
Ginnekin.
Craton the Philosopher (Vol. viii., p. 441.).—
"At that time two brothers, who were extremely rich, sold their inheritance by the advice of Crato the philosopher, and bought diamonds of singular value, which they crushed in the Forum before all the people, thus making an ostentatious exhibition of their contempt for the world. St. John, happening to be passing through the Forum, witnessed this display, and, pitying the folly of these misguided men, kindly gave them sounder advice. Sending for Crato their master, who had led them into error, he blamed the wasteful destruction of valuable property, and instructed him in the true meaning of contempt for the world according to Christ's doctrine, quoting the precept of that teacher, his own Master, when, in reply to the young man who inquired of Him how he might obtain eternal life, He said, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.' Crato the philosopher, acknowledging the soundness of the apostle's teaching, entreated him to restore the jewels which had been foolishly crushed to their former condition. St. John then gathered up the precious fragments, and, while he held them in his hand, prayed for some time with his eyes raised to heaven. His prayer being concluded, and all the faithful present having said Amen, the broken pieces of the jewels became so closely united, that there remained not the slightest appearance of any fracture. Then Crato the philosopher, with all his disciples, threw himself at the apostle's feet, believed, and were baptized; and Crato, preaching openly the faith of the Lord Jesus, became a true philosopher. Moreover, the two brothers who before destroyed their property to no purpose, now, in obedience to the evangelical precept, sold their jewels, and distributed the price in alms to the poor of Christ. And a multitude of believers began to attach themselves to St. John, and to follow his steps."—Ordericus Vitalis, b. II. ch. v. (Mr. Forrester's translation), Bohn's edit., vol. i. pp. 240, 241.
J. Sansom.
The Curfew (Vol. vii., pp. 167. 539.).—Add to the already long list of places where the curfew bell is still rung the following:
St. Werburgh's (Cathedral) Chester, Acton, Audlem, Nantwich, Wybunbury; all in Cheshire and adjoining parishes.
Madeley, Staffordshire. In this place also (Audlem) the very ancient custom of chiming at funerals is still maintained.
T. H. Kersley, B.A.
Audlem, Nantwich.
Thomas Blount (Vol. viii., p. 286.).—Since forwarding the monumental inscription inserted as above, which makes this gentleman's death to take place on Dec. 26, I find that Sir William Dugdale, with whom Blount was on terms of intimacy, as he calls him "my very worthy friend," has the following notice of him in his Diary under the year 1679:
"December 16. Mr. T. Blount dyed, at Orlton, Herefordshire, of an apoplexie."
Thus making a difference of ten days, which is probably an error made by the engraver of the inscription. It may be interesting to know from the same authority, that Mr. Blount's chamber was in Fig Tree Court, on the back side of the Inner Temple Hall, London, his country residence being at Orlton. From his correspondence with Sir William, it appears that he rendered him much assistance in his works.
J. B. Whitborne.
Pronunciations of "Coke" and "Cowper" (Vols. iv. and v. passim; Vol. vi., p. 16.).—So much, and so well to the purpose, has already been said in "N. & Q.," in support of the averment that the former of these names was originally pronounced Cook, that it may appear needless to adduce additional evidence; still, considering the source from which the testimony I am now bringing forward is derived, I think I may stand excused for recurring to the subject. It is from the Court Books of the manor of Mitcham (the birthplace of Sir Edward Coke), and from the parochial registers; in which, and, indeed, in all cotemporary records where sound was followed in the spelling, I find the name of this family written
Cook or Cooke. The great Sir Edward's own baptismal register is thus entered—1551, Feb. 7. "Edward Cooke genero." Surely this is conclusive. The same pronunciation was vulgarly followed almost up to the present time. There must be many who remember at the Norfolk elections the cry of "Cook for ever," as well as that of the opposite political party who threw up their caps for Woodhouse; for so Wodehouse was in like manner pronounced. Again, the Hobarts, another Norfolk family, were always called Hubbarts; and more anciently Bokenham, Buckenham, Todenham, Tuddenham, and others I could name, showing that in the Norfolk dialect the usage was in pronunciation to soften the o.
Now as regards the sound of Cowper, the same class of authorities, old deeds, court rolls, and parish registers, appears to lead to a different conclusion from that of your other correspondents. We have now no Cowper family of Norfolk origin; of Coopers we have multitudes: the names of whose forefathers were written Couper or Cowper; and if written as pronounced, the analogical inference is that the original pronunciation was Cowper, Cooper being merely the modern way of spelling; and curiously enough, the parish of Hoo, in this county, is called and now usually spelt How.
G. A. C.
Unkid (Vol. viii., p. 353.).—Unketh, uncouth, are different writings of the same word. Jamieson has uncoudy, which he explains, dreary; and coudy, i. e. couth, couthy, nearly allied to cuth, notus (see couth (could), uncouth, unketh, in Richardson; and coudy, uncoudy, in Jamieson). Lye has "Uncwid, solitary; whence, perhaps, the not entirely obsolete unkid." Grose also tells us that, in the north, uncuffs and uncuds mean news. It is very plain that these are all the same word, differently written and applied.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
To split Paper (Vol. viii., p. 413.).—
"Procure two rollers or cylinders of glass, amber, resin, or metallic amalgam; strongly excite them by the well known means so as to produce the attraction of cohesion, and then, with pressure, pass the paper between the rollers; one half will adhere to the under roller, and the other to the upper roller; then cease the excitation, and remove each part."—From the Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal.
A. H. B.
La Fleur des Saints (Vol. viii., p. 410.).—The work which Molière intended was in all probability the French translation of a Spanish work entitled Flos Sanctorum. The author of it was Alonso de Villegas. It was first printed at Toledo in 1591, and an English version appeared at Douay in 1615. Some idea of the contents may be gathered from the following title: Flos Sanctorum, Historia General de la Vida, y Hechos de Jesu Christo Dios y Señor nuestro; y de todos los Santos, de que reza, y haze fiesta la Iglesia Catolica, &c. My copy is the Madrid edition of 1653.
C. Hardwick.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
Dr. Butler and St. Edmund's Bury (Vol. viii., p. 125.).—Could this have been Dr. William Butler, of eccentric memory, born at Ipswich about 1535, and buried in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, 1618?
G. A. C.
Major André (Vol. viii., p. 174.).—Two nephews of Major André, sons of his sister, Mrs. Mills, are resident in Norwich, both being surgeons there. Perhaps, on application, your correspondent Serviens would be able to obtain from them some serviceable information regarding this unfortunate officer.
G. A. C.
Wooden Tombs and Effigies (Vol. viii., p. 255.).—In the church of Chew-Magna, co. Somerset, is the effigy of Sir John Hautville, cut (says Collinson, vol. ii. p. 100.) in one solid piece of Irish oak. He lies on his left side, resting on his hip and elbow, the left hand supporting his head. The figure is in armour, with a red loose coat without sleeves over it, a girdle and buckle, oblong shield, helmet, and gilt spurs. The right hand rests on the edge of the shield. This monument was brought many years ago from the neighbouring church (now destroyed) of Norton Hautville. Sir John lived temp. Henry III. The popular story of him is that he was a person of gigantic strength, and that he carried, for a feat, three men to the top of Norton church tower, one under each arm, and the third in his teeth! (Collinson, vol. ii. p. 108.)
J. E. J.
Froissart's Accuracy (Vol. viii., p. 494.).—The accuracy of Froissart as an historian has never been questioned, says T. J. This assertion ought not to pass without a note. If T. J. will look into Hallam's Lit. of Europe, ch. iii., he will find that judicious and learned critic comparing Froissart with Livy for "fertility of historical invention," or, in other words, for his unhesitatingly supplying his readers with a copious and picturesque statement of the details of events, where they were palpably out of the reach of his knowledge.
As a gleaner of chivalrous gossip, and a painter of national manners, Froissart is perhaps unequalled. Take up his account of a campaign on the Scottish borders, and he relates the proceedings in his amusing style, as if he had been behind every bush with the Scotch, and hunting for them in vain with every English banner. But if his accuracy be inquired into, he tells you that Carlisle, which he calls Cardoel en Gales, is on
the Tyne, and was garrisoned in vain with "grand planté de Galois," to prevent the Scotch from passing the Tyne under its walls (vol. i. ch. xviii. xix. xxi.).
So much by way of note; but there is a Query which I should be glad to see answered. Bayle (art. Froissart) quotes a German critic as affirming that in the Lyons edition of Froissart, by Denys Saulvage, 1559: "Omnia quæ Aulæ Gallicæ displicebant, deleta, vixque decimam historiæ partem relictam esse." Does Col. Johnes notice this inaccuracy in the edition generally procurable? And does he state whether he saw, or consulted, or received any benefit from the existence of the MS. copy of Froissart, once in the library of Breslaw?
Henry Walter.
Nursery Rhymes (Vol. viii., p. 452.).—I fear J. R.'s anxiety to find a Saxon origin to a nursery rhyme has suggested unconsciously a version which does not otherwise exist. The rhyme in my young days used to be,—
"Hushaby, baby, on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock."
—a sufficient rhyme for the nursery.
Eden Warwick.
Birmingham.
"Hip, hip, hurrah!" (Vol. viii., pp. 88. 323.).— Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in answering Mr. Brent's observation at p. 88., seems to have been fighting a shadow. Upon reference to Mr. Chappell's Collection, vol. ii. p. 38., quoted by Mr. Brent, it appears that a note by Dr. Burney, in a copy of Hawkins's History of Music, in the British Museum, is the authority for the reading:
"Hang up all the poor hep drinkers,
Cries old Sim, the King of skinkers."
In the folio edition of Ben Jonson's Works, published by Thomas Hodgkin, London, 1692, in which the "Leges Convivales" are I believe for the first time printed, the verses over the door of the Apollo are given, and the couplet runs:
"Hang up all the poor hop drinkers,
Cries Old Sym, the King of skinkers."
Probably Mr. Chappell misread Dr. Burney's MS. note: at all events Mr. Brent's ingenious suggestion is without foundation.
A. F. B.
Diss.
Dodo (Vol. vii., p. 83.).—Dodo or Doun Bardolf married Beatrix, daughter of William de Warren of Wormegay. She was a widow in 1209, and remarried the famous Hubert de Burgh.
Anon.
Oaths (Vol. viii., p. 364.).—Your correspondent assumes that the act of kissing the Bible, or other book containing the Holy Gospels, by a judicial witness, is a part of the oath itself. Is it such, or is it merely an act of reverence to the book? In support of the latter supposition, I would quote Archdeacon Paley, who says, that after repeating the oath,—
"The juror kisses the book; the kiss, however, seems rather an act of reverence to the contents of the book, as in the Popish ritual the priest kisses the gospel before he reads it, than any part of the oath."—Mor. and Pol. Ph., p. 193., thirteenth edition.
In none of the instances given by C. S. G. does kissing the book appear to be essential. Does not this rather favour Dr. Paley's explanation? which, if it be correct, would, I think, afford grounds for concluding that the practice of kissing the book accompanied the taking of ancient oaths, and is not, as C. S. G. suggests, an addition of later times.
Again, may I bring forward the same authority in opposition to that quoted by your correspondent with reference to the origin of the term corporal oath:
"It is commonly thought that oaths are denominated corporal oaths from the bodily action which accompanies them, of laying the right hand upon a book containing the four gospels. This opinion, however, appears to be a mistake, for the term is borrowed from the ancient usage of touching upon these occasions the corporale, or cloth, which covered the consecrated elements."—P. 191.
R. V. T.
Mincing Lane.
The old custom of taking the judicial oath by merely laying the right hand upon the book, is undoubtedly, thinks Erica, of Pagan origin. In my humble opinion it is far too common with us to ascribe things to Pagan origin. I would venture to assert that the origin of this form of judicial oath may be traced to Deuteronomy xxi. 1-8., where at the sacrifice offered up in expiation of secret murder, the rulers of the city nearest the spot where the corpse was found were in presence of the corpse to wash their hands over the victim, and say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it."
Ceyrep.
Mayors and Sheriffs (Vol. viii., p. 126.).—In answer to a Subscriber, there can be little or no doubt, I consider, but that the mayor of a town or borough is the principal and most important officer, and ought to have precedence of a sheriff of a town or borough. By stat. 5 & 6 Wm. IV. cap. 76. sec. 57., it is enacted, "That the mayor for the time being of every borough shall, during the time of his mayoralty, have precedence in all places within the borough." As sheriffs of towns, and counties of towns, do not derive their appointments from the Crown, but from the councils of their respective towns, &c. (see sec. 61. of the
above Act), I do not imagine that they can legally claim precedence of mayors, on the alleged ground of any "representation of Majesty," in the face of the particular enactment above quoted; which, indeed, seems to me to give to the mayor within his own borough precedence of a high sheriff of a county, if present on any public occasion. I am not aware that the sheriff of borough, as such, can "claim to have a grant of arms, if he has not any previous;" although I have no doubt he may readily obtain one, upon payment of the usual fees.
C. J.
Mousehunt (Vol. viii., p. 516.).—
"A Mousehunt is a little animal of the species of weasel; it has a very slender body, about the length of a rat, with a long hairy tail, bushy at the end; the back is of a reddish-brown colour, the hair long and smooth; the belly is white, as are also its feet; it runs very swiftly, swaying its body as it moves along from side to side. The head is short and narrow, with small ears, like those of a rat; the eyes are black, piercing, and very bright. Their chief food is rats, mice, young chickens, little birds, and eggs. They frequent mole-hills, and are often caught in the traps set for the moles; they are destroyed by ferrets and dogs. These mousehunts live, for the most part, in holes beneath the roots of trees, or in old buildings."
The above description of the Mousehunt is given in The History of a Field-mouse by Miss Black. Should it be thought of sufficient authority to deserve a place in "N. & Q.," the coincidence which led "Little Downy" to be read to a little girl on the morning of Nov. 26 will amuse.
E. B. R.
"Salus populi," &c. (Vol. viii., p. 410.).—Selden, in his Table Talk (art. People), states, on what authority I know not, that this was part of the law of XII Tables.
E. S. T. T.
Love Charm from a Foal's Forehead (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—The word which H. P. wants is Hippomanes. The reference which the Lexicons give is to Aristotle's History of Animals, viii. 23. 5.
I shall be glad to have some of H. P.'s references to Tacitus, as I cannot now call one to mind. In connexion with the subject, I should like to know if the white star, which used to be so fashionable on horses' foreheads, was always or generally produced artificially.
W. Fraser.
Tor-Mohun.
Land of Green Ginger (Vol. viii., pp. 160. 227.). —So named, in all probability, from green ginger having been manufactured there. Green ginger was one of the favourite conserve of our ancestors, and great quantities of it were made in this country from dried ginger roots. In an old black-letter work without date, but unmistakeably of the sixteenth century, entitled The Book of pretty Cōceits, taken out of Latine, French, Dutch, and English, there is a receipt "To make Green Ginger," commencing thus:—"Take rases of cased ginger and use them in this sort." I need not quote the long-winded receipt. Suffice it to say that dried ginger was placed in alternate layers with fine white sand, and the whole mass kept constantly wet until the ginger became quite soft. It was then washed, scraped clean, and put into sirup. There can be no greater difficulty in finding a derivation for the Land of Green Ginger, than for Pudding Lane, or Pie Corner.
W. Pinkerton.
Ham.