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“THRONG” (6th S. ii. 386; iii. 33, 235, 375).— If ST. SWITHIN will look at my note again, he will find that this word has several different meanings in this county, and I gave examples of them all; therefore I do not see the object of his last note. I was quite aware that "throng a crowd, passes current as standard English." But what of that? Some of us are aware of many other things we are constantly seeing pointed out as curiosities. So it is very difficult to know what to leave out of one's answers; for many learned persons appear apt to forget or overlook things perfectly well known to ordinary mortals. Throng is used here precisely as it is said to be at Whitby. R. R.

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THE HALSHAM FAMILY (5th S. vii. 407; viii. 13, 239, 435; ix. 76, 275; xi. 315; 6th S. iii. 316). That Philippa de Strabolgi did really marry Ralph de Percy is, I think, plainly proved by an entry on the Patent Roll for 12 Henry VI., part i., where mention is made of "Ralph de Percy and Philippa his wife" as being named in a charter of Richard II., dated July 4, 1383. It is further stated that the heirs of the said Philippa are Henry Grey de Codnore and Margaret his wife, and William Lucy, Knt., and Elizabeth his wife; these two ladies being cousins and heirs of the said Philippa. Does not this identify Philippa, wife of Ralph de Percy, with Philippa de Strabolgi beyond question?

bility of it; a knowledge of chronology will suffice. The English language is so difficult that only those who know something of phonetics should attempt to deal with it. As to Maunday Thursday, it is discussed in my notes to Piers the Plowman. WALTER W. SKEAT.

Cambridge.

This word is used on the East Riding coast.
It means a long, narrow, shallow basket of peculiar
shape, used, for instance, in gathering flithers.
A. J. M.

THE EXECUTIONS OF '45 (6th S. ii. 86, 217; iii. 37, 236, 257).-Through the kindness of Mr. J. Lloyd, of Manchester, I forward this copy of the inscription on Dr. Deacon's tomb in St. Anne's Churchyard, Manchester. In Byrom's Remains (Chetham Society) are many interesting particulars about Dr. Deacon, who seems to have left a young family. Byrom mentions Robert as the name of the second son, who died before trial.

“ ἐι μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ.

"Here lie interred the Remains (which through Mortality are at present corrupt, but which shall one day most surely be raised again to Immortality and put on and the most unworthy of primitive Bishops, who died Incorruption) of Thomas Deacon, the greatest of sinners, the 16th of February, 1753, in the 56th year of his age. And of Sarah his Wife, who died July 4th, 1745, in the 45th year of her age. The Lord grant unto the Faithful here underlying that they may find mercy of the Lord in that day (2 Tim. i. 18). ἐν τούτῳ νίκα.”

A CWT.

HATS WORN AT TABLE (5th S. v. 27, 96; 6th S. iii. 26, 236).-See a good instance, quoted from a book of 1631, in "N. & Q.," 5th S. x. 494 ("Old Dinner Customs"). W. C. B.

SUFFOLK PHRASEOLOGY (6th S. iii. 187, 336).—I have frequently heard in this county (Worcestershire) this curious mode of address. I believe the substitution of the third person singular for second plural was intended to be very respectful. Yesterday I was paying a visit of condolence to a farmer's widow; among the virtues she enumerated of her deceased husband was that he never used bad language. Contrasting him with others who greatly erred in that respect, she said, "You should have heard their speechation; it was awful." I never heard this word before. To-day an old man, referring to zeal which had been shown in seeking HERMENTRUde. the perpetrators of a murder many years ago, added, MAUND" (6th S. ii. 388; iii. 14, 278, 335).-ing they found nothing out; very expressive, I But they could not get beyond it," meanIf the meaning of the letter by E. A. B. really is W. M. M. that the old Northumbrian word mond, a basket, is derived from the word main, which is nothing but WOLVES IN ENGLAND (6th S. iii. 105, 253, 335). the O.F. magne (from the Lat. magnus), I can-To render your notes on this subject more comonly say that no philologist could for a moment entertain so extraordinary a proposition. It is not necessary to be a philologist to see the impossi

think.

66

plete it seems desirable that the quotation from Mr. Harting's work should be supplemented by extracts from the Acts of the old Scottish Parlia

ment on this head. It is enacted "That Barons" Cabinet Cyclopædia." Much of the substance of hunt and chase the Wolf, and the Wolfs Whelps this biography I condensed lately in one of the four times a Year, and as oft as they see them; "Tales of Great Families" which I contributed to and that the Tenants assist" (Jac. I. Par. 7, cap. the Queen newspaper, and I am glad to be able 104); likewise "That the Sheriff and Bailly hunt here to acknowledge my indebtedness. the Wolf thrice in the Year betwixt St. Mark's E. WALFORD, M. A. day and Lambmass; and that the Country rise with them to that end" (Jac. VI. Par. 14, cap. 87). The provisions of this latter enactment, I have been informed, still stand, seeing that they have not been cancelled, as part of the duties of Sheriffs, who in a previous Act of James VI. are directed to be equally vigorous with respect to Sorners, Strong Beggars, and Egyptians."*

ALEX. FERGUSSON, Lieut.-Col.

THE BELLS OF ST. HELEN'S CHURCH, WORCESTER (6th S. iii. 349).—I wish to express my gratitude to MR. W. H. CUMMINGS, MR. JULIAN MARSHALL, and MR. W. H. HUSK-to the two former for allowing me to inspect their original copies of the "catch," and to MR. HUSK for so kindly making me a copy, from the one in his possession, “notatim, lineatim, verbatim, et literatim," as he says. J. B. WILSON, M.A.

St. Helen's Worcester. A CONUNDRUM WANTED (6th S. iii. 149, 297). "There was a man in days of yore," &c. The original of this was published in the Gentleman's Magazine some time in the early part of the present century, but the reference has been lost. Can any one supply it? H. T. E.

"WINDLESTRAE" (6th S. iii. 88, 249, 309, 335). -The word is in constant use in Scotland in the sense of thin, withered dog-grass, along the top of which the autumn wind pipes with shrill and weird effect. A certain much respected elder of a parish church in the last generation used to have a quaint, unconscious habit of chewing one of these decayed stalks when on duty on Sunday mornings, and was familiarly spoken of as 66 never without

his windlestrae." Beattie's friend, Ross of Lochlee, thus describes, in his Fortunate Shepherdess, a girl recovering from a short, smart illness :

"Now piece and piece the sickness wears away, But she's as dweble as a windle-strae." THOMAS BAYNE.

Helensburgh, N.B.

ROYAL NAVAL BIOGRAPHIES (5th S. xii. 488; 6th S. i. 102, 505; ii. 138; iii. 293, 336).-D. W. might be glad to learn that a long and interesting biography of the buccaneer Earl of Cumberland will be found in volume three of Southey's Lives of the British Admirals, published in Lardner's

See Abridgment of Acts of Parl. and Convention, by Sir James Stewart, Her Majesty's Advocate, 1707; and the more recently published Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland.

GOSPEL OAKS, &c. (6th S. i. 256, 403; ii. 18, 293; iii. 195, 338). The Oak of Honor in Camberwell parish is on the borders of Kent and Surrey, close to the Honor Oak station on the L.C.D.R., and to the church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Forest Hill. I know Honor Oak and the One Tree Hill well, having lived near them for over three years. It is a beautiful little "mountain," whence, if your eyes are "long" and London not too foggy, you may see Windsor Castle in one direction and Knockholt beeches in another. Before bricks and mortar invaded the neighbourhood the views must have been magnificent. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

"TO THE BITTER END” (6th S. iii. 26, 193, 334). I am unable to judge whether MR. CORYTON considers his example as confirming or disagreeing with my proposition. But to "bend on," i. e., fasten on, to a rope, hawser, or cable," or to "bend on to the bitter end" of such, is a most common and well-known nautical term, which tells neither way. BR. NICHOLSON.

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and some earnest convictions, but whether right or wrong in his main contentions, he is always so strong in argument and so rich in apt illustration, that, entirely apart from personal agreement, his books have, every one of them, a profound interest for thoughtful minds. His History of Greece to the End of the Persian War is the best example of what we mean. Superior to Grote's great work, as coming after it at a time when much was known which Grote had no means of knowing, and absolutely devoid of that political narrowness which at times gives to the writings of the elder author a flavour which is most unpleasantly acid, Sir George Cox has, we believe, fallen short of his predecessor by having carried the principles of the critical school of which he is so distinguished an ornament to somewhat too great lengths. Little fault of this kind can be found with the book before us. Few persons now would seriously maintain the once popular opinion that the gods and heroes of classic antiquity were real people whose actions had been exaggerated. The discovery of the sister legends of the north has shown to all who are able to think on the subject that there must be some common origin for the mythology of the Aryan races much higher up the stream of time than anything which we can reasonably call history can possibly reach. The great discovery that the heavens, the light and fire, had become personified and, as it were, clothed with godlike or human form and become the parent of some of the grandest and most trivial legends of the race, has opened a way for much further investigation. It has at the same time laid the students of mythology and folk-lore open to the unreasonable charge that they resolve all the old poetry of the world into solar myths. The objection is plausible, but nothing can be more untrue. "The myth," as Sir George Cox most wisely says, "is a parasite which is ready to twine round any stem; and in each case it is the business of the mythologist to ascertain the nature of the stem if he would account for the peculiar forms of its vesture." This Sir George has been at very great pains to do. The amount of hard reading which has been gone through to produce the book before us must have been enormous. We believe that in by far the greater portion of cases he has rightly identified the "stems." In fact, the whole of the early part of the book seems to us, without any qualification, admirable. It is not until we come to the ninth chapter, on the epical traditions and poems of the Aryan world, that we would in any way venture to differ from him. Here the difference may be more verbal than real. To Sir George they are myth poems simply; to us they are that and something more. We believe that many of them-perhaps, indeed, all-embody fragments of history, but that these fragments are so distorted and obscured by their setting as to be in the present state of knowledge irrecoverable. As a proof of this we would remark that the mythology which has gathered around thoroughly historical persons like Alexander and the great Emperor Karl is as wild as the similar accretions around the name of Arthur.

An Index to the Wills and Inventories now Preserved in the Court of Probate at Chester. Edited by J. P. Earwaker, M.A., F.S.A.

THIS is one of the volumes recently issued by the Record Society, which has for its object the publication of original documents relating to Lancashire and Che shire. It is a complete index to the wills mentioned from 1545 to 1620, and is to be followed by another volume this year which will complete the index to 1650. The transcripts were made from the official indexes at Chester, by permission of Sir James Hannen, who has thereby earned the gratitude of all historical students.

The concession so generously granted by him enables the possessor of this volume to determine at a glance whether any particular will of which he is in search is at Chester, and he may order an office copy with far less expense than would be involved in a journey to that place. It may be hoped that societies in other parts of the country will endeavour to obtain the same permission with regard to their Probate Registries, and that in due time the official hostility to literary inquirers at the Principal Registry in London may be so far overcome that a similar index to the wills there may be in the possession of the public. So far as the Chester Registry is concerned, the work is done for ever, and the enormous value of this single volume would alone place the Record Society at the head of the list of public benefactors. Mr. Earwaker's introduction also contains other matters of great interest and importance. This society is also issuing a complete series of the Lancashire and Cheshire Inquisitions post mortem, and such a commencement as this ought to ensure a large accession to the number of its members. Mr. Earwaker is the hon. sec. of the society, and his address is Pensarn, Abergele, N. Wales. Sketches of Longer Works in English Verse and Prose. PROF. MORLEY is to be heartily congratulated on the Edited by Prof. Henry Morley. (Cassell & Co.) completion of his "Library of English Literature," of which this is the fifth and last volume. As in its predecessors, so in this, no one can say that there is any lack of variety in the selected specimens, seeing that in verse they range from Beowulf to Tennyson, and in prose from Sir T. More to George Eliot. The selections to give the reader a true idea of the character and style are most judiciously made, and are admirably calculated of the writings of each author. With the exception of some half dozen, all the pieces selected from the older writers have been normalized in spelling, &c., the exceptions being portions of Layamon, Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, Spenser, and Drayton, in which all accidents of spelling, &c., have been left untouched, that they may serve as examples of the language at successive periods. The illustrations, which are, with hardly an exception, taken from old MSS. and early editions of and add greatly to the value of the work. Nor must we rare and interesting books, are admirably reproduced, indexes with which the volume is enriched. The omit to refer to the very elaborate and comprehensive "Dated List of Contents" of the whole series, in which are chronologically arranged all the works from which passages have been selected, is most valuable, and meets book is very annoying the title-page is undated. There a want frequently very sorely felt. One point about the surely can be no advantage to be gained by the omission of the date, while its absence is sure to cause great trouble at some time or other.

Roman Poets of the Republic. By W. Y. Sellar. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.)

PROF. SELLAR's work on the Roman Poets of the Republic has been so long before the public, and is so well known, that recommendation of its merits is almost superfluous. It has, however, been for some time out of print, and the appearance of a second edition, carefully revised and considerably enlarged, will be welcomed by all who are interested in Latin literature. Two entirely new chapters on Roman comedy have been added, in which are discussed the merits of Plautus and of Terence. The labours of Mr. Munro on Lucretius and Catullus have caused Prof. Sellar to rewrite and enlarge that portion of his book which is devoted to these two poets. He has, in fact, incorporated in this second edition the latest results of the investigations of scholars, and has thus strengthened the claims of his work to the high position

storehouse of medieval learning and fictions, the Early English Gesta Romanorum.

MR. H. SAXON SNELL, F.R.I.B.A., has written a work entitled Charitable and Parochial Establishments, which will shortly be published by Messrs. Batsford, of High Holborn.

of being the best book on the subject in the English language. The eloquence and vigour of the professor's style enable him to urge his views with peculiar force. We may think that he holds a brief for his clients, but it is hard to resist the fervour of his appeals in favour writes:-" As I have undertaken the editing of a new MR. G. SAINTSBURY, 12, Edith Road, West Kensington, of the rugged philosophy of Lucretius or the "unpre-issue of Scott's Dryden for Mr. Paterson, of Edinburgh, meditated art" of Catullus, even though he exalts them I shall be very much obliged if you will give me space in at the expense of Horace and of Virgil. your columns to ask all persons interested in literature Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The First Quarto, who possess either unpublished letters of the poet or 1600. A Fac-simile in Photo-lithography by W. Griggs, other matter which they think should find a place in a with Forewords by F. J. Furnivall. (Griggs.) complete edition to communicate with me." To what is rapidly becoming the most desirable collection a Shakspearian student can possess-the photolithographic reprints of the Shakspeare quartos by Mr. Griggs-is now added the first quarto of The Merchant of Venice. Of this play two quartos, both bearing the same date, 1600, and respectively known from their printers as the Roberts Quarto and the Hayes Quarto, have seen the light. That now before us is the earlier, and, as Mr. Furnivall maintains, the less trustworthy of the two. In putting forward this opinion, Mr. Furnivall goes against the editors of the Cambridge Shakspeare, who have preferred the authority of the present quarto. Quite sound are the arguments he advances in favour of this view, and his "forewords" generally constitutes a piece of scholarly and accurate criticism. Into the question of the relative value of the readings we cannot enter in the small space at our disposal. We prefer to recommend the reprint to the public, and to insist upon a fact that has not as yet gained recognition, namely, that at a cost of a few shillings per copy an exact facsimile can be obtained of works that may claim to be the rarest and the most precious in the language. A reprint in this shape of the series of Shakspearian quartos may be regarded as a national monument, and for this we are indebted to private enterprise.

The Blickling Homilies of the Tenth Century. Edited,
with Translation and Index of Words, by Rev. R.
Morris, M.A., LL.D. Part III. (Early English Text
Society.)

The English Works of Wyclif hitherto Unprinted.
Edited by F. D. Matthew. (Same Society.)
English Charlemagne Romances.-Part II. The Sege of
Melayne and the Romance of Duke Rowland and Sir
Ornel of Spayne, and a Fragment of Song of Roland.
Part III. The Lyf of the Noble and Crysten Prince
Charles the Grete. Edited by Sidney J. Herrtage, B.A.
(Same Society, Extra Series.)

THE subscribers to the Early English Text Society will
be hard to please if they are not well satisfied with the
four fresh contributions to our hitherto inedited stores
of national literature which have just been issued to
them. The third part of The Blickling Homilies will be
specially prized for its brief but instructive preface, and
the valuable light which it throws not only on the
homilies here first printed, but also on those by Elfric,
edited by Thorpe many years ago; and scarcely less so
for its admirable index of the words to be found in them.
The English Works of Wyclif hitherto Unprinted, with
its valuable introduction, instructive notes, and glossarial
index, will, we doubt not, find many purchasers out of
the society, anxious to secure copies of the hitherto un-
printed writings of the "morning star of the Reforma-
tion"; while the volumes of the Extra Series, Parts II.
and III. of the series of " English Charlemagne Ro-
mances," namely, The Sege of Melanye and the Romance
of Duke Rowland, &c., and The Lyf of the Noble and
Crysten Prynce Charles the Grete, edited by Mr. Herrtage,
increase the obligation of the society to the editor, to
whom, as our readers are aware, the society was last year
indebted for an admirable edition of that wonderful

contain a vindication of the experiments which have THE next number of the Sacristy, we understand, will been made by Sir E. Beckett on the "restoration" of the west front of St. Albans Abbey. It will be from the pen of an eminent member of the literary and political world.

OUR old correspondent, the REV. JOHN PICKFORD, writes:-"The death of Mr. Isted, of Ecton, the last male of an ancient line, took place on the 13th inst. He was born in 1796, and was the only son of Samuel Isted, of Ecton Hall, near Northampton, by his wife Barbara, elder surviving daughter and coheiress of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, the editor of The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. The old MS. folio on which it purported to be based was preserved carefully at Ecton, and Dr. Dibdin, in his Decameron, mentions the delight that a handling of it gave him when on a visit to the Isteds in 1815. Many years afterwards, after several applications, and a sum of 1501. had been paid, it was allowed to be edited and printed verbatim by Messrs. Furnivall and Hales in 1867-8. The MS. now finds a home in the British Museum. A portrait of Bishop Percy is still preserved at Ecton-a half-length in oil, painted by Abbot-representing him in his episcopal habit and wig, and also one of his wife, in which she is depicted holding in her hand a scroll, on which is inscribed a line of the well-known poem which the marriage, O, Nanny, wilt thou gang with me."" bishop addressed to her in 1758, shortly before their

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