W. Sparrow Simpson.
Footnote 7:[(return)]
It appears from a note in Pepys's Diary, June 23, 1660, that the library of the Duke of Sussex contained four several editions of the Book of Common Prayer, all printed after the accession of the House of Hanover, and all containing, as an integral part of the service, "The Office for the Healing."—Ed.
Creole (Vol. vii., p. 381. Vol. viii., p. 138.).—I have never met with any satisfactory explanation of the origin of this word; its meaning has undergone various modifications. At first it was limited in its application to the descendants of Europeans born in the colonies. By degrees it came to be extended to all classes of the population of colonial descent and now it is indiscriminately employed to express things as well as persons, of local origin or growth. We say a creole Negro, as contra-distinguished from a negro born in Africa or elsewhere; a creole horse, as contra-distinguished from an English or an American horse; and we speak "Creole" when we address the uneducated classes in their native jargon.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Daughter pronounced "Dafter" (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—This pronunciation is universal in North Cornwall and North-west Devonshire.
J. R. P.
Richard Geering (Vol. viii., p. 340.).—If Y. S. M. will favour me with the parentage of "Richard Geering, one of the six clerks in chancery in Ireland," I shall be better able to judge whether he was of the family of Geering, Gearing, or Geary, of South Denchworth in the co. of Berks, of which family I have a pedigree. I can also supply their coat of arms and crest. Any information of the Geerings, ancestors of the said Richard, the chancery clerk, will be acceptable to your occasional correspondent
H. C. C.