Abhba.
"Predeceased" and "Designed."—J. Dennistoun, in his Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, ii. p. 239., says—
"His friend the cardinal had lately predeceased him."
Can any of your readers give me an instance from any one of our standard classical authors of a verb active "to decease"?
The same author uses the word designed several times in the sense of designated. I should be glad of a few authorities for the use of the word in this sense.
W. A.
Lady Fights at Atherton.—A poem, published in 1643, in honour of the King's successes in the West, has the following reference to a circumstance connected with Fairfax's retreat at Atherton Moor:
"When none but lady staid to fight."
I should be glad to learn to what this refers, and whether or not the real story formed the basis of De Foe's account of the fighting lady at Thame, laid about the same period, viz. the early part of the year 1643.
James Waylen