Chapter 2

_Etymology of "till," "until."_--Many monosyllables in language are, upon examination, found to be in reality compounds, disguised by contraction. A few instances are, _non_, Lat. ne-un-(us); _dont_, Fr. de-unde; _such_, Eng. so-like; _which_, who-like. In like manner I believe _till_, to-while, and _until_, unto-while. Now _while_ is properly a substantive, and signifies _time_, corresponding to _dum_, Lat., in many of its uses, which again is connected with _diu_, _dies_, both which are used in the indefinite sense of _a while_, as well as in the definite sense of _a day_. _Adesdum_, come here a while; _interdum_, between whiles. If ~te~ (Gr.) is connected with this root, then ~este~, to-while, till. Lawrence Minot says, "_To time_ (till) he thinks to fight."

_Dum_ has the double meaning of _while_ and _to-while_.

E. S. JACKSON.

_Dog-whipping Day in Hull._--There was some time since the singular custom in Hull, of whipping all the dogs that were found running about the streets on October 10; and some thirty years since, when I was a boy, so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered it his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in the streets on this day. This custom is now obsolete, those "putters down" of all boys' play in the streets--the new police--having effectually stopped this cruel pastime of the Hull boys. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to give a more correct origin of this singular custom than the one I now give from tradition:

"Previous to the suppression of monasteries in Hull, it was the custom for the monks to provide liberally for the poor and the wayfarer who came to the fair, held annually on the 11th of October; and while busy in this necessary preparation the day before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder, snatched up a joint of meat and decamped with it. The cooks gave the alarm; and when the dog got into the street, he was pursued by the expectants of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the gate, and made to give up the stolen joint. Whenever, after this, a dog showed his face, while this annual preparation was going on, he was instantly beaten off. Eventually this was taken up by the boys; and, until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in practice by them every 10th of October."

I write this on October 10, 1853: and so effectually has this custom been suppressed, that I have neither seen nor heard of any dog having been this day whipped according to ancient custom.

JOHN RICHARDSON.

13. Savile Street, Hull.

_State_: _Hamlet_, Act I. Sc. 1.--Professor Wilson proposed that in the "high and palmy _state_ of Rome," _state_ should be taken in the sense of _city_:

"Write henceforth and for ever _State_ with a towering capital. State, properly republic, here specifically and pointedly means Reigning City. The ghosts walked in the city, not in the republic."--Vide "Dies Boreales," No. III., _Blackwood_, August, 1849.

Query, Has this reading been adopted by our skilled Shakspearian critics?

Coleridge uses _state_ for _city_ in his translation of _The Death of Wallenstein_, Act III. Sc. 7.:

"What think you? Say, shall we have the _State_ illuminated In honour of the Swede?"

J. M. B.

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QUERIES.

POLARISED LIGHT.

During the last summer, while amusing myself with verifying a statement of Sir D. Brewster respecting the light of the rainbow, viz. that it is polarised in particular planes, I observed a phenomenon which startled me exceedingly, insamuch as it was quite new to me at the time; and not withstanding subsequent enquiries, I cannot find that it has been observed by any other person. I found that _the light of the blue sky is partially polarised_. When analysed with a Nichols prism, the contrast with the surrounding clouds is very remarkable; so much so, indeed, that clouds of extreme tenuity, which make no impression on the unassisted eye, are rendered plainly visible.

The most complete polarisation seems to take place near the horizon; and, when the sun is near the meridian, towards the west and east. The depth of colour appears to be immaterial, as far as I have been able to ascertain with an instrument but rudely constructed for the purpose. The light is polarised in planes passing through the {410} eye of the observer, and arcs of great circles intersecting the sun's disc.

From the absence (so far as I am aware) of all mention of this remarkable fact in works on the subject, I am led to conclude that it is something new; should this, however, turn out otherwise, I shall be obliged by a reference to any author who explains the phenomenon. The greater intensity towards the horizon would point to successive refractions as the most probable theory.

H. C. K.

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MINOR QUERIES.

_"Salus Populi," &c._--What is the origin of the saying, "Salus populi suprema lex?"

E. M.

_Dramatic Representations by the Hour-glass._--I have seen it stated (but am now unable to trace the reference) that, in the infancy of the drama, its representations were sometimes regulated by the hour-glass. Does the history of the art, either among the Greeks or the Romans, furnish any well authenticated instance of this practice?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_John Campbell of Jamaica._--I shall be very much obliged if any of your readers can give me any information respecting John Campbell, Esq., of Gibraltar, Trelawny, Jamaica, who died in January, 1817, at Clifton (I believe), but to whose memory a monument was erected in Bristol Cathedral by his widow. I should be glad to know her maiden name, and whether he left any surviving family? Also how he was related to a family _going by the name_ of Hanam or Hannam, who lived at Arkindale, Yorkshire, about one hundred years before the date of his decease; he appears, too, to have had some connexion with a person named Isaac Madley, or Bradley, and through his mother with the Turners of Kirkleatham. This inquiry is made in the hope of unravelling a genealogical difficulty which has hitherto baffled all endeavour to solve it.

D. E. B.

Leamington.

_Hodgkins's Tree, Warwick._--In the plan of Warwick, drawn on Speed's Map of that county, is a tree at the end of West Street, called on the plan "Hodgkins's Tree:" against this tree is represented a gun, pointed to the left towards the fields.--Can any of your readers furnish the tradition to this tree pertaining?

O. L. R. G.

_The Doctor, &c._, p. 5., one volume edition.--The sentence in the Garamna tongue, if anagrammatised into "You who have written Madoc and Thalaba and Kehama," would require a _k_ to be substituted for an _h_ in _Whehaha_. Query, Is this the proper mode of interpretation, or is there a misprint?

_Saheco_, p. 248.--What name are these composite initials meant to represent? The others are easily deciphered. Should we read _Saneco_=Sarah Nelson Coleridge?

J. M. B.

_English Clergyman in Spain._--I am anxious to discover the capacity in which a certain clergyman was present with the English army in Spain early in the eighteenth century (probably with Lord Peterborough's expedition). Can any readers of "N. & Q." refer me to any book or record from which I can obtain this information?

D. Y.

_Caldecott's Translation of the New Testament._--I have a translation of the New Testament by a Mr. John Caldecott, printed and sold by J. Parry and Son, Chester, dated 1834. It is entitled _Holy Writings of the First Christians, called the New Testament_ (the text written from the common version, but altered by comparing with the Greek), with notes. I shall be glad to know who Mr. Caldecott was or is? and whether the edition appeared under the auspices of any society or sect of Christians?

S. A. S.

Bridgewater.

_Westhumble Chapel._--There is a ruin of a chapel in the hamlet of Westhumble, in Mickleham, Surrey. At what time was it built? To what saint consecrated? and from what cause was it allowed to fall into its present ruinous and desecrated condition?

J. P. S.

_Perfect Tense._--In Albites' "Companion" to _How to speak French_, one of the first exercises is to turn into French the following phrase, "I have seen him yesterday." I should be much obliged to MR. J. S. WARDEN (to whom all readers of "N. & Q." stand so greatly indebted for his excellent article on "Will and Shall"), if he would state the rule for the use of the perfect tense in English in respect to specified time, and the _rationale_ involved in such rule.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_La Fleur des Saints._--To Moliere's _Le Tartufe_ (Act I. Sc. 2.) occur the following lines:

"Le traitre, l'autre jour, nous rompit de ses mains Un mouchoir qu'il trouva dans une _Fleur des Saints_, Disant que nous melions, par un crime effroyable, Avec la saintete les parures du diable."

Can any of your readers inform me what _Fleur des Saints_ was? Was it a book? If so, what were its contents?

C. P. G.

_Oasis._--Can any correspondent inform me of the correct quantity of the second syllable of this word? In Smith's _Geographical Dictionary_ it is marked long, while Andrews' _Lexicon_ gives it {411} short, neither of them giving any reason for their respective quantities.

T.

_Book Reviews, their Origin._--Dodsley published in 1741 _The Public Register, or the Weekly Magazine_. Under the head of "Records of Literature," he undertook to give a compendious account of "whatever works are published either at home or abroad worthy the attention of the public." Was this _small_ beginning the origin of our innumerable reviews?

W. CRAMP

_Martyr of Collet Well._--One James Martyr, in 1790, bought of George Lake the seat called Collet Well, in the parish of Otford. Can any reader of "N. & Q." tell from what family this Martyr sprang, and what their armorial bearings are?

Q. M. S.

_Black as a Mourning Colour._--Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me when black was first known in England, as the colour of mourning robes? We read in _Hamlet_:

"'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, That can denote me truly."

W. W.

Malta.

_The Word "Mardel," or "Mardle," whence derived?_--It is in common use in the east of Norfolk in the sense of _to gossip_, thus "He would _mardel_ there all day long," meaning, waste his time in gossiping.

J. L. SISSON.

_Analogy between the Genitive and Plural._--In a note by Rev. J. Bandinel, in Mr. Christmas' edition of Pegge's _Anecdotes of the English Language_, 1844, the question is asked at p. 167.:

"Why is there such an analogy, in many languages, between the genitive and the plural? In Greek, in Latin, in English, and German, it is so. What is the cause of this?"

Can you point me to any work where this hint has been carried out?

H. T. G.

Hull.

_Ballina Castle._--Where can I see a view of Ballina Castle, in the county of Mayo? and what is the best historical and descriptive account of that county, or of the town of Castlebar, or other places in the county?

O. L. R. G.

_Henry I.'s Tomb._--Lyttleton, in his _History of England_, quoting from an author whose name I forget, states that no monument was ever erected to the memory of this king in Reading Abbey. Man, on the contrary, in his _History of Reading_, without quoting his authority, states that a splendid monument was erected with recumbent figures of Henry and Adelais, his second wife; which was destroyed by the mistaken zeal of the populace during the Reformation.

Which of these statements is the true one? And if Man's be, on what authority is it probably founded?

PEMBROKIENSIS.

_"For man proposes, but God disposes."_--This celebrated saying is in book i. ch. xix. of the English translation of _De Imitatione Christi_, of which Hallam says more editions have been published than of any other book except the Bible.--Can any of your correspondents tell me whether the saying originated with the author, Thomas A. Kempis?

A. B. C.

_Garrick Street, May Fair._--In Hertford Street, May Fair, there is fixed in the wall of a house (No. 15.) a square stone on which is inscribed:

"Garrick Street, January 15, 1764."

I shall be glad to know the circumstances connected with this inscription, which is not in any way alluded to in the works descriptive of London to which I have referred.

C. I. R.

_The Forlorn Hope._--The "Forlorn Hope" is the body of men who volunteer first to enter a besieged town, after a breach has been made in the fortifications. That I know: but it is evidently some quotation, and if any of your readers should be able to give any information as to its origin, and where it is to be found, I should, as I said before, be much obliged.

FENTON.

_Mitred Abbot in Wroughton Church, Wilts._--Not very long ago, while this church was under repair, there was discovered on one of the pillars, behind the pulpit, a fresco painting of a mitred abbot. I have corresponded with the rector on the subject, but unfortunately he kept no drawing of it; and all the information he is able to afford me is, that "the vestments were those ordinarily pourtrayed, with scrip, crosier," &c. Such being the case, I have troubled "N. & Q." with this Query, in the hope that some one may be able to give me farther information as to date, name, &c.

RUSSELL GOLE.

_Reynolds' Portrait of Barretti._--Can any of your correspondents inform me where the portrait of Barretti, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now is?

GEO. R. CORNER.

_Crosses on Stoles._--When were the three crosses now usually embroidered on priests' stoles in the Roman Catholic Church introduced? Were they used in England before the Reformation? In sepulchral brasses the stoles, although embroidered and fringed, and sometimes also enlarged at the ends, are (so far as I have observed) without the crosses. If used, what was their form?

H. P.

{412} _Temporalities of the Church._--Is there any record existing of a want of money for the maintenance of the clergy, or for other pious uses, in any part of the world before the establishment of the Christian religion under Constantine? or of any necessity having arisen for enforcing the payment of tithes or offerings by ecclesiastical censures during that period?

H. P.

_Etymology of "The Lizard."_--What is the etymology of the name "The Lizard," as applied in our maps to that long low green point, stretching out into the sea at the extreme south of England? My idea of the etymology would be (judging from the name and pronunciation of a small town in the immediate neighbourhood of the point) _lys-ard_, from two Celtic words: the first, _lys_, as found in the name _Lismore_, and others of a like class in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland; the second _ard_, a long point running into the sea. In Cornwall, to my ear, the name had quite the Celtic intonation _L[=y]s-[=a]rd_; not at all like _L[(i]z[=a]rd_, as we would speak it, short.

C. D. LAMONT.

Greenock.

_Worm in Books._--Can you or any of your numerous correspondents suggest a remedy for the worm in old books and MSS.? I know of a valuable collection in the muniment room of a nobleman in the country, which is suffering severely at the present time from the above destructive agent; and although smoke has been tried, and shavings of Russia leather inserted within the pages of the books, the evil still exists. As this question has most likely been asked before, and answered in your valuable little work, I shall be obliged by your pointing out in what volume it occurs, as I have not a set by me to refer to and thus save you the trouble.

ALETHES.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS.

_Siller Gun of Dumfries._--Can any of your readers tell me the history of the "Siller Gun of Dundee" [Dumfries], and give me an account of the annual shooting for it?

O. L. R. G.

[The Siller gun of Dumfries is a small silver tube, like the barrel of a pistol, but derives great importance from its being the gift of James VI., that monarch having ordained it as a prize to the best marksman among the corporations of Dumfries. The contest was, by royal authority, licensed to take place every year; but in consequence of the trouble and expense attending it, the custom has not been so frequently observed. Whenever the festival was appointed, the 4th of June, during the long reign of George III., was invariably chosen for that purpose, being his majesty's birthday. The institution itself may be regarded as a memorial of the _Waponshaw_, or showing of arms, the shooting at butts and bowmarks, and other military and gymnastic sports, introduced by our ancestors to keep alive, by competition and prizes, the martial ardour and heroic spirit of the people. In archery, the usual prize to the best shooter was a silver arrow: at Dumfries the contest was transferred to fire-arms. See the preface to the _Siller Gun_, a poem in five cantos, by John Mayne, 1836.]

_Margery Trussell._--Margery, daughter and coheiress of Roger Trussell, of Macclesfield, married Edmund de Downes (of the old Cheshire family of Downes of Taxall, Shrigley, &c.) in the fourth year of Edward II. Query, What arms did she bear? and were the Trussells of Macclesfield of the same family as that which, in consequence of a marriage with an heiress of Mainwaring, settled at Warmineham, in the reign of Edward III., and whose heiress, in later times, married a De Vere, Earl of Oxford?

W. SNEYD.

Denton.

[In the Harleian MS. 4031. fol. 170. is a long and curious pedigree of the Trussells and their intermarriage with the Mainwarings, in the person of Sir William Trussell, Lord of Cubbleston, with Maud, daughter and heiress of Sir Warren Mainwaring. The arms are: Argent a fret gu. bezante for Trussell. The same arms are found on the window of the church of Warmineham in Cheshire. These would consequently be the arms of Margery, daughter of Roger Trussell. The arms originally were: Argent a cross formee flory gu.; but changed on the marriage of Sir William Trussell of Mershton, co. Northampton, with Rose, daughter and heiress to William Pantolph, Lord of Cubbleston, who bore, Argent a fret gu. bezante.]

_Caves at Settle, Yorkshire._--Being engaged on antiquarian investigations, I have found it necessary to refer to some discoveries made in the caves at Settle in Yorkshire, of which my friends in that county have spoken. Now, I cannot find any printed account. I have referred to all the works on the county antiquities, and particularly to Mr. Phillips's book lately published (which professes to describe local antiquities), but in vain. I cannot find any notice of them. It is very likely some one of your better-informed readers may be able to assist me.

BRIGANTIA.

Battersea.

[See two letters by Charles Roach Smith and Joseph Jackson in _Archaeologia_, vol. xxix. p. 384., on the "Roman Remains discovered in the Caves near Settle in Yorkshire." Our correspondent has perhaps consulted the following work:--_A Tour to the Caves in the Environs of Ingleborough and Settle, in the West Riding of Yorkshire_, 8vo. 1781.]

_The Morrow of a Feast._--It appears from the papers, that the presentation of the civic functionaries to the Cursitor Baron at Westminster, took place on Sept. 30. Pray is this the _morrow_ of St. Michael, as commonly supposed? Does not the analogy of "Morrow of All Souls" (certainly the {413} same day as All Souls Day, _i. e._ Nov. 2) point out that the Morrow of St. Michael is the 29th, _i. e._ Michaelmas Day. That _morrow_ was anciently equivalent to morning, we may infer from the following passages:

"Upon a morrow tide."--Gower, _Conf. Am._, b. iii.

"Tho' when appeared the third morrow bright, Upon the waves," &c.

Spenser's _Fairy Queen_, II. xii. 2.

"Good morrow."--_Passim._

R. H.

[Is not our correspondent confounding the morrow of _All Saint_s, which the 2nd of November certainly is, with the morrow of _All Souls_? Sir H. Nicolas, in his most useful _Chronology of History_, says most distinctly:--"The morrow of a feast is the day following. Thus, the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula is the 1st of August, and the morrow of that feast is consequently the 2nd of August."--P. 99.]

_Hotchpot._--Will you kindly tell me what is the derivation of the local term _hotchpot_, and when it was first used?

M. G. B.

[The origin of this phrase is involved in some obscurity. Jacob, in his _Law Dictionary_, speaks of it as "from the French," and his definition is _verbatim_ that given in _The Termes of the Law_ (ed. 1598), with a very slight addition. Blackstone (book II cap. 12.) says, "which term I shall explain in the very words of Littleton: 'It seemeth that this word _hotchpot_ is in English a pudding; for in a pudding is not commonly just one thing alone, but one thing with other things together.' By this housewifely metaphor our ancestors meant to inform us that the lands, both those given in frankmarriage, and those descending in fee-simple, should be mixed and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters."]

_High and Low Dutch._--Is there any essential difference between High and Low Dutch; and if there be any, to which set do the Dutchmen at the Cape of Good Hope belong?

S. C. P.

[High and Low Dutch are vulgarisms to express the German and the Dutch languages, which those nations themselves call, for the German _Deutsch_, for the Dutch _Hollaendisch_. The latter is the language which the Dutch colonists of the Cape carried with them, when that colony was conquered by them from the Portuguese; and has for its base the German as spoken before Martin Luther's translation of the Bible made the dialect of Upper Saxony the written language of the entire German empire.]

_"A Wilderness of Monkeys."_--Would you kindly inform me where the expression is to be found: "I would not do such or such a thing for a wilderness of monkeys?"

C. A.

Ripley.

["_Tubal._ One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

"_Shylock._ Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for _a wilderness of monkies_."--_Merchant of Venice_, Act III. Sc. 1.]

_Splitting Paper._--Could any of your readers give the receipt for splitting paper, say a bank-note? In no book can I find it, but I believe that it is known by many.

H. C.

Liverpool.

[Paste the paper which is to be split between two pieces of calico; and, when thoroughly dry, tear them asunder. The paper will split, and, when the calico is wetted, is easily removed from it.]

_The Devil on Two Sticks in England._--Who is the author of a work, entitled as under?

"The Devil upon Two Sticks in England; being a Continuation of Le Diable Boiteux of Le Sage. London: printed at the Logographic Press, and sold by T. Walter, No. 169. Piccadilly; and W. Richardson, under the Royal Exchange, 1790."

It is a work of very considerable merit, an imitation in style and manner of Le Sage, but original in its matter. It is published in six volumes 8vo.

WILLIAM NEWMAN.

[William Coombe, Esq., the memorable author of _The Diaboliad_, and _The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque_.]

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REPLIES.

STONE PILLAR WORSHIP AND IDOL WORSHIP.

(Vol. v., p. 121.; Vol. vii., p. 383.)