Replies to Minor Queries.
Marcarnes (Vol. viii., p. 365.).—Can this curiously sounding name be an archaic form of Mackarness, a name, I think, still borne by living persons?
Francis John Scott.
Tewkesbury.
X on Brewers' Casks (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—Your correspondent B. H. C., though ingenious, is in error. The X on brewers' casks originated in the fact, that beer above a certain strength paid 10s. duty; and the X became a mark to denote beer of that better quality. The doubling and tripling of the X are nothing but inventions of the brewers to humbug the public.
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