[Probably some of our correspondents may know the origin of this phrase; and as many of them, perhaps, are not acquainted with its meaning among the slang literati, we may as well enlighten them with a quotation from the Lexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicum of Master Jon Bee: "Peckham, going to dinner. 'All holiday at Peckham,' no appetite. Peckish, hungry."—Ed.]
Arthur de Vere.—What was the after history of Arthur (Philipson) de Vere, son of John, Earl of Oxford, and hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel
Anne of Geierstein? Was Sir Walter Scott justified in saying, "the manners and beauty of Anne of Geierstein attracted as much admiration at the English Court as formerly in the Swiss Chalet?"
Σ.
Master of the Nails.—It appears from the Historical Register, January, 1717, "Mr. Hill was appointed Master of all the Nails at Chatham Dock." Can any of your readers favour me by stating the nature of the above office?
W. D. H.
Nattochiis and Calchanti.—few days since an ancient charter was laid before me containing a grant of lands in the county of Norfolk, of the date 1333 (temp. Edw. II.), in which the following words are made use of:
"Cu' omnib; g'nis t natthocouks adjacentib;" &c.
In a later portion of the grant this word is spelt natthociis. Probably some of your learned readers can throw some light on what is meant by the words granis et nattochiis as being appurtenant to marsh lands.
In a grant I have also now before me of Queen Elizabeth—