ou to represent the A.-S. u, especially when long. That is how the A.-S. ut came to be respelt as out. I need not take into consideration the hundreds of other cases. But it is even more interesting to notice how the rule applies to words of wholly foreign origin. Thus knout is a French spelling of a Russian word, though the Russian word was itself of Scandinavian origin. Caoutchouc is a French spelling of a Caribbean word; tourmaline is a French spelling of a Cingalese word; patchouli is a French spelling of a word of Indian origin. Even in such a word as ghoul, which might have been taken immediately from Arabic, it is a fact that it first appears in Beckford's 'Vathek 2 as goule, which is simply the French form. I doubt if there are numerous exceptions. Many languages avoid ou altogether. WALTER W. SKEAT. I was born at Irthlingborough in Northamptonshire. It is not to my present purpose that the birthplace was accidental. My grandfather was rector of a neighbouring parish, and my father, a barrister living in London, rented for the summer a house in Irthlingborough. The clerk who entered my name in the Oxford Register, mistaking the registrar's flourished I for an O, wrote the village name as Orthlingborough. The editor of Alumni Oxonienses,' finding no village of that name, printed the village name as Orlingbury, the name of a parish in the same county. Past and Present' have given sufficient attention. In dealing with the first plan. for the building the latter work says that "a Mr. Robinson," Secretary to the Board of Works, had prepared designs for a new building : "These designs, as might be expected, were little better than builders' drawings for a plain substantial structure....without pretension to the first proportion and disposition of parts which distinguish true architecture." Did the writers of that remark see these plans, or is their opinion based upon the fact that they were only designed by a Secretary to the Board of Works? They add, "Mr. Robinson's designs were laid aside," but qualify this by a foot-note :— "Actually they were handed to Sir William Chambers, but were found to be of no service, scheme." and were not in any way embodied in the new Baretti's rendering of this incident gives a different succession of events : "The late Mr. Robinson....was the person first appointed to conduct this great edifice; and the rather with a view to convenience than ornament.” buildings were to be erected in a plain manner, Then it was decided to make it a monument of the taste and elegance of his Majesty's Reign. Mr. Robinson made some attempts upon this double idea; but he dying before anything was begun, or any of the Designs compleated, Sir William Chambers was, at the King's request, appointed to succeed him in October, 1775, and all Mr. Robinson's Designs were delivered to him; of which, however, he made no use, as he thought of a quite different disposition; nor is there the least resemblance between his Designs and those of Mr. Robinson, all of which I have more than once seen and considered with sufficient leisure and attention." Clearly this indicates that the simplicity of the first plans was not a matter of choice, and the more decorative, but unfinished designs prepared by Robinson were disregarded, not because "they were found to be of no service," but for the better reason that Chambers planned a different disposi I could show that this form of error is common in the work, and I should like to suggest that such conjectural amendments, almost sure to be wrong, should find notion of the buildings. place in the forthcoming Cambridge list. J. S. SOMERSET HOUSE: ROBINSON'S AND CHAMBERS'S DESIGNS.-Josephi Baretti's Guide through the Royal Academy,' published in 1780, is, I believe, the first work or pamphlet describing Somerset House, or what was completed of it at that date. It contains a great deal of detail to which neither Mr. F. A. Eaton in The Royal Academy and its Members' nor Messrs. Needham and Webster in Somerset House ALECK ABRAHAMS. THE HATLESS CRAZE.-When did English people begin to find out that all civilized nations until the last few years had been entirely wrong in wearing caps or hats out of doors? These useful articles now appear likely soon to become obsolete, and it may be well to put on record some dates connected with their disuse. Here in Durham it began with a few of the undergraduates-I cannot say exactly when, but I have notes that it was prevailing 'Records. Notwithstanding its ex parte character, the letter may doubtless be held of value for its light upon what was, in all probability, the too common experience of the poor apprentice in the good old days 1 : Sunderland, May y 10: 1723. Dear Sister, I am very sory to hear that you have Not heard from me this four months, makes me doubt you have not Received my last Letter which Menshon'd something of my hard Usage which was known to be very hard at that Time which all my neigbours can very well tell, for my master threaten'd to send me aboard of a Ship, and Likewise Hee'd make me an intire Slave dureing my prentisship in spite of my Bondesmen or any friend I have none but what pleases my Bondsmen to do I could procure to Looke after me, which god knows for me, so I leave it to their discression. crave y Favour they will Be so kind as eighther to take me away or otherwise Let me have the coorse of my Indentures. So no more at present, But I fast. Pray present my Humble Servise to all my remain your ever Loving Brother Matthias StandScoolfellows and all yt Ask after me. greatly in November, 1906; in June, 1908, it was on the increase; and now, in June. 1910, caps are becoming quite exceptional among undergraduate men, and seem likely soon to be confined to Dons and women students. The cap no less than the gown is a part of the proper academical costume, and a shilling fine at the first would have stopped the irregularity in a week. One result is that the old interchange of courtesy between undergraduates and Dons by mutual" capping is becoming impossible. The disuse of the cap is just a fashion of the day, based partly on convenience, and partly on that dislike to uniform which we now see in the Army and Navy, and among servants. We have a Territorial corps here, but none of its members would ever think of going about without their caps when on duty, because discipline is better maintained by their officers than by those of the University, and the men themselves seem to think more of their corps than of their Alma Mater. But it is not only while on duty that caps are dispensed with. One day I met a young friend returning from an afternoon walk gracefully handling a walking cane, but paper of folio size, folded and postmarked. with nothing on his head except that covering which nature had so bountifully provided. The craze is extending into clerical life. I have just heard of a curate who goes about in greatcoat and gloves, but without a hat. It has also invaded the nursery. I now see dear little boys, breeched for the first time, and the pride of their parents, going out hatless with their nursemaids, and thus doubly asserting their early manhood. Durham. J. T. F. But I Mrs. Catherine Standfast, at Mr. Bay's in Fell WILLIAM MCMURRAY. The SMOLLETT'S "HUGH STRAP." Monthly Magazine of May, 1809, records the death at the Lodge, Villier's Walk, Adelphi, of Mr. Hugh Hewson, at the age of eighty-five, and states that he was the identical Hugh Strap whom Dr. Smollett has rendered so conspicuously interesting," &c. Hewson for 66 over forty years had kept a hairdresser's 22 CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES: EARLY REFERENCE. The will of Richard Sotheworth, clerk (P.C.C. 44, Marche), dated the eve of St. Andrew the Apostle, 1417, and proved 20 May, 1419, makes mention, among other books, of his copy of the Canterbury Tales("quendam libru' meu' de Cant❜bury SHROPSHIRE NEWSPAPER PRINTED Tales "). This is surely a very early note LONDON.-From a fragment of The Shropof the work. The will was sealed at South-shire Journal, with the History of the Holy morton, but the testator speaks of his church Bible, for Monday, 12 Feb., 1738/9, it of Esthenreth (East Hendred, Berks). F. S. SNELL. APPRENTICESHIP IN 1723.-The subjoined letter is contained among the papers preserved at SS. Anne and Agnes Church. Containing as it does no apparent local reference, have thought it more suited to the columns of N. & Q.' than to the pages of my IN appears that so far from being a real local periodical it came from a metropolitan press London: Printed by R. Walker in Fleet Lane. Of whom, and of the Person who serves this paper may be had the former numbers to compleat Sets." The paper then claimed to have reached its seventythird number. WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester. Queries. WE must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. Sir William Warren (frequently mentioned by ment 1659). Sir Charles Doe (knighted while Sheriff, June, 1665). Sir Edward Waldoe (knighted Oct., 1677). 1783). ALFRED B. BEAVEN. LIEUT.-COL. COCKBURN, R.A.: ROBERT WRIGHT.-I desire-for historical purposesto hear of the representatives of Col. Cock-Thomas Wooldridge (Alderman Bridge Ward 1776burn, R.A., who was a most accomplished officer in Canada in the thirties of last century, and whose grandson Major-General C. F. Cockburn, R.A., died a few months since in the South of England. I also desire similar information about Robert Wright, who published in 1864 a Life of General Wolfe. DAVID ROSS MCCORD, K.C. Temple Grove, Montreal. GILDERSLEEVE FAMILY.-We have followed the name of our family back to 1273 in the county of Norfolk, England. This person was Roger Gyldersleve, as stated by the Hundred Rolls. Some people, however, think that the family came from Holland. We should be very grateful for any information on the subject. Please reply direct. OLIVER GILDERSLEEVE, Jun. Gildersleeve, Connecticut. JOHN WILKES.-Being engaged in collecting materials for a Life of Wilkes, I shall be greatly obliged if some of my fellow-contributors to N. & Q.' can give me information about any unpublished manuscripts concerning the famous politician. HORACE BLEACKLEY. Fox Oak, Hersham, Surrey. T. L. PEACOCK'S PLAYS.-I am editing for publication in the autumn the plays of T. L. Peacock, of which mention has already been made in 'N. & Q.,' and should be grateful to any reader who could supply me with references to their existence made before 1904. I am acquainted with Sir Henry Cole's brief allusion to them. A. B. YOUNG, M.A., Ph.D. 4, Cardigan Terrace, Northgate, Wakefield. VIRGIL, 'GEORG.' IV. 122: 66 "NARCISSI 'SHAVING THEM,' BY TITUS A. BRICK. I wish to learn who was the author of 'Shaving Them; or, The Adventures of LACRYMAM."-What did Virgil mean by Three Yankees on the Continent of Europe. this tear of Narcissus," employed by his Edited by Titus A. Brick, Esq. London, bees in building up their combs? Was he John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Picca- thinking of their nectaries, or of their pollen, dilly," pp. 230. or of dew and rain clinging to the petals ? Milton annexes the phrase, bidding daffadillies fill their cups with tears to bedew the hearse of Lycidas; but Milton who saw plants not in nature, but in books, and never worried himself about floral consistency, was merely imitating Virgil. The title-page has no year of issue, but the publisher's advertisements at the end are dated 1872. The British Museum Catalogue treats the book as anonymous, entering it under Yankees. It does not appear in Halkett and Laing. Has the work been reprinted? P. J. ANDERSON. 2 Aberdeen University Library. ALDERMEN OF LONDON: DATES OF DEATH WANTED.-Can any reader of N. & Q.' supply me with dates, actual or approximate, of death of any of the following, all of whom were at various periods aldermen of London ? Alexander Bence (M.P. Suffolk 1654, Master Trinity Tempest Milner (Sheriff London 1656-7). What, again, was Virgil's narcissus? The commentators make it a daffodil, Narcissus poeticus, or N. serotinus of our flora. Linnæus too assumed it to be a daffodil, having in mind the legend of the lovesick youth concerning whom Ovid sang and Bacon moralized. But Proserpine was gathering narcissi in Sicilian fields centuries before Narcissus was born, and she wore them as an appropriate crown in hell. In the Athens chorus the flower is called by Sophocles καλλίβοτρος, an epithet which fails to Rowland Winn or Wynn (Committee E.I.C. 1670- suit the daffodil; and its derivation, the 1677). Sir William Bateman (knighted May, 1660). Sanskrit nark=hell, points to a narcotic effect of the scent which the daffodil does DAME ELIZABETH IRWIN : SIR JOHN MURRAY: GENEALOGICAL PUZZLE.-Elizabeth Bunbury, formerly Dame Elizabeth Irwin of the city of Dublin, made her will with a codicil 20 February, 1720 (1720/21). She signs them Eliz. Irwin. She mentions her husband Walter Bunbury, her brother Sir John Murray, her sister Lillias Byrne, her niece Hellen Fox, her daughter-in-law Lettice Bladin (sic) alias Loftus, her late husband Mr. Broughton. She desires to be buried in the parish church of Lambeth. Elizabeth Broughton, widow, and Walter Bunbury were married in Dublin in 1720. The will was proved in the Prerogative Court, Ireland, 24 February, 1735/6. Musgrave's 'Obituary' (Harleian Soc.) has the death, 7 February, 1736, of the Lady of Sir John Irwin, Bt. (? relict of Sir Gerard). Is this the same lady? Who was she? And who was 66 Sir John Murray living in 1720? He is not to be found in G. E. C.'s Complete Baronetage' nor in Shaw's Knights of England." Lillias Byrne was widow of William Byrne of Dublin, surgeon, whose will, dated 19 September, 1699, was proved 12 October following. William Byrne and Lillius(sic) Murray alias Reade were married at St. John's Church, Dublin, 16 July, 1695. Lettice, only surviving child of Dudley Loftus, LL.D., and Frances, daughter of Patrick Nangle, married Charles Bladen. How was she daughter-in-law to Dame Elizabeth Irwin ? G. D. B. Can you AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED.— tell me the authors of the following? 1. He sailed into the setting sun, and left sweet music in Cathay. 2. May the sun of thy life, like that of the morn, be an ascending one! Whether its rays rise in mist or pure air, it is all one if only the light increase, if only the day brighten. MARY A. FELL, Librarian. Philadelphia City Institute Free Library. What Hell may be I know not. This I know: He goes; and better fire-walled Hell with Him HENRY SAMUEL BRANDRETH. CHRISTMAS FAMILY OF BIDEFORD.-Did any of that family, hailing from Waterford, own land or live near Bideford in Devon in the eighteenth century? A certain John Christmas Smith is stated to have been born there in 1757 or 1759, and when settling in Denmark in 1790 he obtained royal licence from the Heralds' College to use the name-and arms-of Christmas as his surname, instead of Smith, Christmas being presumably the name of his mother. His descendants are still settled in Denmark. W. R. PRIOR.. 66 J. D a "ABRAHAM'S BEARD," A GAME.-What was this game, of which one reads in Reginald Bosworth Smith: a Memoir ' (p. 15)? On Sundays, writes Bosworth Smith's sister Mrs. Caledon Egerton of their childhood days, "after supper, we would adjourn to the study, where our father would read aloud to us some ponderous memoir, the dulness of which we would while away by looking at pictures in old missionary records. We sometimes indulged in the game of Abraham's Beard' until our father directed us to change the name of the father of the faithful to Cæsar,' when the frankly secular nature of the amusement stood revealed." ST. SWITHIN. DUCHESS OF PALATA.-Can any one inform me whether a family bearing this name or title exists or existed in Italy? S. A. D'ARCY. Clones, Ireland. 2 ST. AGATHA AT WIMBORNE.-In a short article on Tetta by the Rev. Charles Hole in Smith's 'Dictionary of Christian Biography (vol. iv. p. 875), mention is made of St. Agatha, who with St. Lioba was educated at Wimburn (Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B.,' Sæc. III. pt. ii. p. 223). I should be glad of any information about the St. Agatha alluded to here. JAS. M. J. FLETCHER. The Vicarage, Wimborne Minster. BOTANY TIME OF FLOWERS BLOOMING.— Can any one recommend a simple manual of botany which contains a classification of flowers according to the months in which they are in bloom? LAWRENCE PHILLIPS. Theological College, Lichfield. MELMONT BERRIES=JUNIPER BERRIES.In Jamieson's Dictionary of Scottish Words' occurs the following: "Melmont berries, juniper berries, Moray." Can any reader say if this name is so applied anywhere else, and suggest an origin for the word ? F. R. C. SHENSTONE AND THE REV. R. GRAVES.— Shenstone the poet, in a letter to the Rev. Richard Graves of Claverton, dated 26 October, 1759, says: "I have three or four more of these superb visits to make.... then to Lord Lyttelton, at our Admiral's." He does not give the Admiral's name. any one tell me whether any of the Admirals Graves were related to the Rev. Richard Graves of Claverton ? E. Can THAMES WATER COMPANY: THE WATER HOUSE.—Among some old deeds, I have lately found a lease, dated 25 December, 1679, from five persons described as "Undertakers for the raising Thames water in YorkHouse Garden in the County of Middlesex," of 66 Thames water, arising and running from certain one Water-course conveniently furnished with waterworks belonging to the said undertakers in York-House Garden aforesaid, running in and through one Branch or Pipe of Lead," for the use of two houses in Oxenden Street in the parish of St Martin's-in-the-Fields. The rent (thirty shillings) is made payable "at the House commonly known by the name of the Water-house, seituate in York Garden in the Parish aforesaid, belonging to them the said undertakers." The lease is in a printed form. Is anything known of this forerunner of the modern water companies, or of where the "Water-house "stood? I presume that it was in some part of the grounds of the Duke of Buckingham's mansion York House. C. L. S. |