imprint, "London, Printed for Nath1 Brook, at "[Hence] if God had not abridged the life of man the Angel in Gresham Colledge, 1669," with the after the Flood, and decreed his age to be ordinarily no capitals in the title and names of the author and incapable to beare children above thirty years at most, more than seventy years, whereby women are become printer in red lettering. Passing over six pages and made them all subject likewise to infinity of dis(all in capitals and italics) of an "Epistle Dedi-eases, there must either have ensued some other universal catory to the Most Sacred Majesty of Charles the destruction to have extirpated them all again, or else Second," the heading, "An Essay Towards the Pri- they could not have had so much as room to have mitive Language" appears. From this quaint little breathed in; their numbers would have been so infinite, treatise, which reveals considerable philological research, I select, as deserving repetition in 'N. & Q.,' the following curious examples, in which the author, in introducing his linguistic theory, attempts first to prove the existence of a densely populated world before the Deluge: "That the world was throughly peopled before the flood, that great and universal Deluge, which God, for the sins of men, was pleased to bring upon the whole world, doth clearly manifest...... "For if so many millions of men, as......Ninus, Zoroaster, Semiramis, and Staurobates, led after them to the field (and they left not all their Kingdomes empty) were born within 300 years after the Deluge: What numbers might they consist of, that 1656 years brought forth, preceding the same? If, in like manner, all Asia the greater, and the less, with Greece, and the Islands thereof, all Egypt, with Mauritania and Lybia, were within the aforesaid time after the flood fully peopled: And if we believe Rerosus, then, not only those parts of the world, but (within 140 years after the flood) Spain, Italy, and France were also planted; much more then may we think, that in 1656 yeares before the flood, the world was throughly replenished with people. "From the first promise made to Abraham, unto the departure of Israel out of Egypt, being 430 years, after the Apostle's account, Galat. iii. v. 17, were born of Abraham's own body, comprehending men, women, and children, saith Willet, fifteen hundred thousand. And reason will grant, that, having the same blessing promised, as great increase should be given to the sons of Adam, as the sons of Noah...... "And it is absurd to think, that men during such long lives, and in such perfect health should not beget very many children, and have frequently two and three at a birth. When in this our Age (1668] we have known a woman, the wife of one Edward Jones by name, a Waterman yet living in Westminster, to have brought him forth eight children within the compasse of two years, at the first birth two, at the second as many, and at the last four. And when within this last Century from Robert Honywood of Charing in the County of Kent Esquire, and Mary his wife, she, that is so famous for balancing her salvation with the breaking of a glass [sic] lawfully proceeded 367 persons within less than the space of eighty years...... For, supposing the women before the flood to have been generally fruitful, as no doubt they were, and that they continued child-bearing long, of which in regard of the length of their lives, as little question is to be made, setting aside how many children soever they might have at a birth, though in Ægypt even since the flood, it hath been usual with them to bring forth two, three, five, and, as Trogus Pompeius saith, sometimes seven at a birth. It seems not impossible, considering the encrease of the Honywoods, but that, by ordinary means, in the revolution of 1656 years, such numbers might be multiplied that we have cause to doubt the people wanted world, rather than the world people; or, as Sir W. Raleigh, the world could not contain them, rather than that they were not spread throughout the world...... many ages since." Bishopwearmouth. R. E. N. the Primitive Language' to any learned contriP.S.-I shall be glad to lend the 'Essay towards butor to or reader of N. & Q.,' should it be desired. KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE. In the number of the paper called Knowledge for July 2, P. 196, there is an article on English Pronunciation,' containing some extraordinary misstatements, which it is worth while to set right. The writer first gives us a specimen of the Lord's Prayer in English, which he attributes to 66 Uren fader Bp. Edfrid, about 700. It begins: thic arth in heofnas," &c. The misspellings throughout are of the most startling description; such a wonderful form as thic for thu (i.e., thou) is enough to make the dullest reader suspicious. But what does it all mean? The fact is that the well-known Lindisfarne MS. in the British Museum was written out by Bishop Eadfrith [not Edfrith], who was Bishop of Durham from 698 to 721. This is clearly the MS. referred to. However, the text of the MS. as written by Eadfrith happens to be not in English at all, but wholly and solely in Latin! At a much later date, variously given as about 950, or about 970, or even (as some contend) much later, a Northern-English gloss was supplied above the Latin text by a certain Aldred. The gloss to St. Matthew, vi. 9, begins the Lord's Prayer with the words-" fader urer thu arth......in heofnas'; and this is sufficiently near to show us that uren and thic are mere blunders for urer and thu. Thus the error in chronology amounts to nearly three centuries, which is a good deal in the history of a language. The writer next gives us another specimen, dated by him about 900. It is difficult to guess what is meant, but the reference is probably to the Mercian gloss in the Rushworth MS., which can hardly be earlier than the latter half of the tenth century, though the Latin text dates from about 800. ་ Probably the information was taken from Camden's Remaines'; if so, he is a very unsafe guide. Next we find quoted a rimed version of the Lord's Prayer, attributed to Pope Adrian, who died in 1159; i. e., about half a century before rimes of this character appear in English for the first time. This is an old fable, which ought to be considered as exploded. Next, leaving these specimens, the writer quotes the well-known passage from Trevisa about the English dialects. This also contains several errors, and we are referred to Dr. Hicks (misspelling of Hickes) for the information that the author of this passage is unknown. However, Dr. Hickes expressly assigns it to Trevisa, at p. xvii of his wellknown Thesaurus.' Would it not be much better for a writer who is so imperfectly acquainted with his subject to let it alone? It is not the first time that I have called prizes for the best essays, by women, on the works Cambridge, Mass., U.S. LEATHER COINS.-Your correspondent H. S. (7th S. v. 355), speaking of Siamese porcelain coins, remarks concerning them that they present "the sole instance of coins being made of any substance except metal." I think, however, that in the Barbary states at one time pieces of leather attention to the fact that the English language is the sole subject which is treated of by those who have never properly studied it. If botany or chemistry were so treated it would be considered very strange; but when the subject happens to be the English language, a want of scientific know-bearing an impression of the Pentalpha (seal of Solomon), or the interlaced triangles (shield of ledge seems to be considered as being absolutely David) were used as coins. I have a note somewhere to this effect, but at present cannot find it. R. STEWART PATTERSON. 3, Farleigh Place, Cork. meritorious. WALTER W. SKEAT. WYON'S EDITION OF THE 'SUMMA' OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS.-Now that Mr. Wyon, the distinguished engraver of seals to Her Majesty, is unhappily dead, and now, as I am glad to learn, that a brother of his has succeeded to that office, so important to all archeologists, it may interest students to be reminded that a great edition of St. Thomas Aquinas was printed and published by a Wyon. I quote from the title-page of a folio edition, now in my own possession, of the 'Summa Theologica' of St. Thomas Aquinas, in one volume, published "Dvaci, sumptibus ac impensis Marci Wyon, Bibliop. et Typographi Jurati, sub signo Phoenicis. Anno M. DC.XXIII. Cum gratiâ et privilegio." A brother of the late Mr. Wyon, the Rev. Walter Wyon, of Cambridge, is now one of the clergy of the Anglican Society of St. John the Evangelist at Cowley St. John, near Oxford. The name Wyon is without question Flemish, and the Wyons came either from that part of Flanders now politically incorporated in France, or from that part of Flanders now a portion of the kingdom of Belgium. Probably the name Wyon is a variant of that of Guyon, rendered famous by the life and writings of the pious mystical lady whose full name was Madame de la Mothe Guyon. The interchange of w and g may be illustrated by the following and other cases :-English wicket-French guichet; Latin vespa, English wasp French guèpe; English Walter = French Gautier; English wise and its variant guise. H. DE B. H. C.C.C., Oxon. BYRON, SHELLEY, AND KEATS.-It may interest the admirers of these poets-and I trust there are many among the readers of 'N. & Q.' who admire all three-to learn that Mrs. Rose Mary Crawshay, the lady whose advertisement offering NAMES ENDING IN "DAUGHTER."-In order not to bring myself under MISS BUSK's very just reprehension of the "game of dominoes" we sometimes play (7th S. v. 451), I offer my remarks as a note, and not as a reply, though they are suggested by MR. EBBLEWHITE's quotation of "Lawrencedaughter" on the same page. Any collector of odd names is aware that this class of name is exceedingly rare, and I therefore add no apology for appending my own list of them, gathered during twenty-six years' study of the Public Records:Alice Thepundersstepdoghtre, Patent Roll, 1299. Maud Gilledoghter, Close Roll, 1370. Johanedoghtre, ib., 1377. Katherine Willaumesdoghter, ib., 1405. Alice Ricardiswyf, Close Roll, 1280. 1290. A LADY A PARISH OVERSEER.-Former numbers of N. & Q.' have contained notes of women filling parish offices. It may be well to add the following to the number. I have taken it from the Lincoln Herald of July 15, 1831, p. 1, col. 5:— “A lady, named Sarah Lucy Guise, residing in the parish of Horley, near Reigate, appealed to the Surrey sessions last week against being appointed overseer. The court, however, confirmed the appointment, and Mrs. Guise must, therefore, officiate as overseer." ASTARTE. eldest son, Thomas-who was also rector of Naunton Beauchamp, and chaplain to Lord Foleysucceeded to the living. He laid the first stone of the new steeple in April, 1778, and I think died in 1782, but just at the present I cannot find the precise date. Any way the father and the son held this living from the Lord Chancellor for the period of (about) sixty-seven years. Their portraits are hanging in my hall, half length, life size, in robes and wig, the later portrait a fine specimen of the crayon work of John Russell, R.A. Although their case is unusual, it is far surpassed by that of the two Brookes of Colston Bassett. CUTHBERT Bede. HEBRIDEAN SUPERSTITION.-That superstition still lingers in the Hebrides is well known to every student of folk-lore. One of the rewards which the tourist reaps who wisely leaves the beaten track to THE CLERGY AND RELIGION. Much curious sojourn among the simple folk of the outer He-information as to the position of the clergy in brides is a considerable accession to his store of 1670 is to be found in "The Grounds and Occalegends and eerie stories. sions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion London, 1670. In a Letter written to R. L." Enquired into. In the copy of the book from which the following extract is made, on a fly-leaf, is a note in MS.: A Glasgow paper-Christian Leader-makes us its debtor for gathering these two current superstitions : "The following prescriptions were within the last fortnight given by a certificated midwife who is the only practitioner in an island on the west coast of Scotland containing some hundreds of inhabitants, and having only an occasional visit from a medical man. If the baby is ill and not thriving, take a cat by the four feet, swing it round and round the infant several times, then throw it out of the hole in the roof for letting out the smoke; if it is a black cat, or if the house has a chimney, then throw the cat out of the window; if the cat dies the child will live, because the witches or brownies have left the child and gone into the cat. If the cat does not die, then the child will. The other prescription is for older children, and is, if anything, simpler in form, although it may be a little more difficult to follow on account of the scarcity of gold among the poor people who are dependent on the services of this midwife. Take a piece of gold and put it into a dish, pour water on to the gold, then sprinkle the water over the children that are sick, and immediately they will begin to recover. We live in the nineteenth century, and yet these prescriptions were given by this woman, holding the position already stated, within the last fortnight, to a mother recovering from the birth of a child, examples being cited wherein the prescriptions had proved effectual !" EDWARD DAKIN. LONG TENURE OF A VICARAGE BY FATHER AND SON.-The Rev. Joshua Brooke, Vicar of Colston Bassett, Nottingham, died April 30, 1888, at the age of seventy-eight, having been vicar of the parish-which is now in the gift of the Lord Chancellor for fifty-three years. He succeeded his father in the living, his father having held it for fifty years. Thus father and son were vicars of the parish for 103 years. This is, perhaps, an unprecedented occurrence. In my father's family, the Rev. William Bradley, D.D., was not only rector of Astley, Worcestershire, but on February 11, 1715, was also appointed by the Lord Chancellor to the valuable vicarage of Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, which he held to the date of his death, January 1, 1757, when his "The Authour, supposed to be Mr. Greensworth, a minister now in Cornwall, notwithstanding what is affirmed in the preface, this Letter being written to R. L. Dr. Richd. Lower, Medi-D." At p. 19 the author says, speaking of young clergy men: "Or, shall we trust them in some good Gentlemens Houses, there to perform holy Things? Withal my heart, so that they may not be called down from their studies to say Grace to every Health: That they may have a little better wages than the Cook or Butler: as also that there be a Groom in the House, besides the Chaplain: (For sometimes into the Ten pounds a year, they crowd the looking after a couple of Geldings:) and that he may not be sent from the Table, picking his Teeth, and sighing with his Hat under his arm, whilst the Knight and my Lady eat up the tarts and chickens: It may be also convenient, if he were suffered to speak now and then in the Parlour, besides at Grace and Prayer time and that my Cosen Abigail and he sit not too near one another at Meals: Nor be presented together to the little Vicarage.'" RALPH N. JAMES. OFFICIOUS AND OFFICIAL.-It may be well for the guidance of the future student of our language to place on record in 'N. & Q.' the following extract from the diary of Lord Malmesbury : "Old diplomatists must know the difference between an officious and an official conversation. The first is the free interchange of opinions between two ministers, and it compromises neither; the latter would do so, and would bind their Governments. I always, when at the Foreign Office, prefaced a conversation by saying on which footing it was to be understood." E. WALFORD, M.A. 7, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W. ST. PAUL'S.-There has recently been great discussion respecting the monogram under the east window outside St. Paul's, and as to whether it was "C. W.," meaning Christopher Wren, or "W.M.," standing for William and Mary, in Temple. NYND.-In some parts of North Notts, and perhaps nowhere else, a curious word is used which sounds like nynd, the y long. The word used to pervade common speech largely. It is a pronunciation of the compound nigh-hand, which, however, does not always mean near to." A few examples :-"Nynd yon lad was run ower" that lad was nearly run over. "Yon woman nynd yon "Are you man" the woman near that man. going to Retford to-day?" "Nynd I shall, nynd "The sloop Lively, of Whitby, coal-laden, is ashore at Bacton, near Cromer, crew saved. Later news says the vessel has become a total wreck. The Lively was built by Mr. Spence in 1786, and is therefore more than one hundred years old, and was the oldest Whitby-built ship afloat...... We believe she had but one of her original planks in her, having been partially rebuilt once or twice." W. L. VOLUNTEERS 1745.-According to 'Coleman's Catalogue,' vol. xx. No. clxxxvii., 1888, he had a commission dated 1745, and signed by Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Middlesex, in favour of Robert Tunstall, gent., to be a lieutenant of the Company of Volunteers in and about the town of Brentford. HYDE CLARKE. MANDEVILE UPON DIAMONDS.-Now that the talk is turning on male sapphires, it may not be out of place to quote the following bit, in which the delightful Mandevile surpasses himself :— that multiplyen & growen alle the Yeer. I have often ANYTHINGARIANS.-This word, Dr. Murray may be interested in knowing, occurs in the first number of the Entertainer, dated November 6, 1717, published by N. Mist, so well known in connexion with Mist's Journal. The sentence runs thus, "We are neither Calvinists nor Lutherans in all 42, Wray Crescent, Tollington Park, N. JAPANESE FURNITURE.-In the Memoirs of Wilhelmine, Margravine of Baireuth,' translated by H.R.H. Princess Christian, occurs the following passage (p. 401), which may be interesting as regards the present Japanese phase of decoration. The residence called "The Hermitage" is described as existing in 1744: furniture given me [the Margravine] by my brother Journal for 1867, at an exhibition of antiquities "a brass seal, the device being three escallops, with the Queries. R. 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 the answers may be addressed to them direct. "DIDDLE."-In an amusing little book which I have read lately, 'Martin Toutrond; or, the Adventures of a Frenchman in London,' by James Morier, the period of which is 1831, young "The Dyamandes in Ynde.......growen many to gedre, Martin, who has learnt a certain amount of Engon lytille, another gret. And ther ben sum of the gret-lish before coming over, is greatly puzzled by being nesse of a Bene, and sume als gret as an Haselle Note. told by some one whom he meets at a party that his And thei ben square and pointed of her owne kynde, host's family, with whom he has important reaboth aboven & benethen, withouten worchinge of mannes honde. And thei growen to gedre, male & female. And sons for ingratiating himself, are not people likely thei ben norysscht with the Dew of Hevene. And thei to be "diddled." He cannot rest until he gets engendren comounly, and bringen forthe smale children, back to his lodgings in order to consult his dic W. M. NEROT'S HOTEL.-I find many of Pitt's early letters to his mother dated from this hotel, "King Street." May I ask if this was King Street, St. James's, or King Street, Westminster? It is quite possible that the latter is meant, since he liked to be near to the House of Commons, in order to hear the debates, long before he became a member of the legislature. E. WALFORD, M.A. tionary, where, to his great disappointment, he can- where search should be made for tracing his not find "diddle." In Wessely's pocket French descendants? Dictionary,' I find the word, with, however, a totally different meaning from that in which I have always heard it colloquially used-to cheat, take in-namely, "Diddle, marcher d'un pas incertain, chanceler." Nugent gives both meanings chanceler, duper. In Meadows's 'English-Italian Dictionary,' 1861, the word does not occur, but in his English-Spanish Dictionary,' 1865, I find it with both our colloquial and the "chanceler" meaning, "Diddle, v.n. vacilar; anadear; engañar." In Jenkins's 'Vest-Pocket Lexicon,' 1871, the word also occurs with both meanings. Can any one point out in a standard author an example of "diddle" in the sense of to totter, to reel? JONATHAN BOUCHIER. [Halliwell gives as the meaning, "To dawdle."] "TURNING UP HIS EYES, LIKE A DUCK IN THUNDER.”—I think that this familiar saying has been known to me all through my life; but-after a search through the General Index volumes of 'N. & Q.'-I believe it has not been recorded in these pages. It is generally used as a canting, hypocritical saying; but only the other day I heard it said of a distinguished ecclesiastical dignitary, who certainly has a habit of turning his eyes up to the very roof, whether he is preaching, or speaking, or delivering a charge. Is the saying a mere whimsical expression; or, as regards the duck, has it any foundation in natural history? I can recall the sense, though not the exact words, of a passage in one of the earliest of Mr. Spurgeon's many thousands of excellent sermons, which was that we were set an example of gratitude to Providence even by birds and little ducks, who did not drink without immediately lifting up their heads to heaven to return thanks. 7, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W. THE TOBY.-Hakluyt mentions "a true report against eleven galleys and two frigates of the King of a worthy fight" between five ships of London of Spain, anno 1586. Can any of your readers supply the names of the captains and owners of the said ships-specially of the Toby? The others were the Merchant Royal, the Edward Bonaventure, the William and John, and the Susan. I ask as Rushworth states that Alderman Vassall fitted out two ships-the Samuel and Little Toby, the latter commanded by his son-to resist, with numerous others, the Spanish Armada, and I should like to know whether the Toby of Hakluyt's fight of 1586 is the same as Rushworth's Little Toby of 1588. S. V. H. SPARK OR SPARKE, DEVONSHIRE.-The undersigned desires detailed information as to a family of bankers at Exeter in the last century, named Spark or Sparke, who were Quakers. It is stated that on one occasion, during a trial for forgery, the acting partner of this firm, being then in the witness-box, was examined as to the signature of an impounded cheque; he asked for permission to inspect it, and, so soon as he received it, he thrust it into his mouth, masticated, and swallowed it. The reason alleged for thus defeating the ends of justice is that he was opposed to the penalty of capital punishment for that offence, and so took this peremptory method of destroying the evidence. It is said that at the Junius letter "to the king," the foreman of the trial of Woodfall, the printer, for publishing the jury did secrete and destroy the number of Woodfall's paper relied on as evidence; just, also, as a certain Q.C. quashed a case by drinking a bottle of liqueur produced as evidence. VENDALE. RUBENS.-Is it known where Rubens's discourses, partly in Latin, Italian, and Dutch, on statues, paintings, and comparisons of Raphael, Michael Angelo, &c., are now? A certain Mr. Maurice Johnson, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, once produced the manuscript at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries. It was apparently an exact facsimile of Rubens's travelling album. The handwriting, and even the inks, had been exactly copied. It had been brought from Brussels by a |