stance that there were two places of the name of Gotham, of which the northern was the better known. The Merry Tales' is said to have been written

THE DEVIL'S PLOT OF LAND (8th S. x. 74, 219) -On the east side of the hill locally known as "The Standard," in my native parish of Hickling, Notts, there is an enclosed field called "Jack Craft."

was

The name has always interested me, partly because the field had the reputation of a weather guide. No farmer would, if he could avoid it, cut his hay when "Jack Craft "down," because it was then sure to rain. The hill on which the field lies was the last part of the parish to be enclosed, and the name "Tattle-Fart-Hill" still clings to a spot in the neighbourhood where in the old days the cows from the common land used to be gathered for milking. Does the name "Jack Craft" indicate the Devil's plot? As I have said, the field still has a somewhat sinister reputation. C. C. B.

STEALING THE GOOSE FROM OFF THE COMMON (8th S. x. 273).-At the appropriate season of Michaelmas that goose once more asserts his right to his share of the common of N. & Q.' I do not know why it should be news to your last correspondent that six different sorts of that goose have in previous seasons turned up on the same attractive ground, and that, of the two sorts which by a singular coincidence now turn up together, his is the only one that has appeared before, namely (if the printer's devil will forgive my saying so), at 7th S. vii. 98. But we are, nevertheless, indebted to him for carrying back the epigram, should the local tradition to which he refers be true, to the middle of the last century, as hitherto it has

ance.

The epigram quoted by my friend MR. PICKFORD was one of the bitter effusions which originated in the hated Enclosure Acts (see N. & Q.,' 2nd S. ix. 64, 130). It will be found at the last reference. W. F. PRIDEAUX,

ST. SAMPSON (8th S. viii. 427; ix. 16; x. 79, 199). It may interest MR. H. BRIERLEY to know that one of the two churches in Cricklade is dedicated to St. Sampson. This Archbishop of York, according to Rossus Verovicensis, in his book 'De Academiis Britannicis,' following the authority of Tavanus, studied at Graecolade (now Cricklade). The church is a large and ancient structure, of cruciform shape, with a handsome tower in the centre, supported by four pointed arches. The interior part of the tower is decorated with several shields with

armorial bearings, among which are those of the Nevils, Earls of Warwick, one of whom is said to have contributed towards the expenses of erection. As I am acquainted with York, it gave me great pleasure to read MR. BRIERLEY'S communication anent St. Sampson, also his recent appreciative paper on the " gates" of that city.

9, Newton Road, Oxford.

T. SEYMOUR.

In drawing attention to the fact that "in York St. Sampson has a church and parish of his own is MR. HARWOOD BRIERLEY right in supposing "that nowhere else in England is he thus honoured"? Turning to Parker's 'Calendar of the Anglican Church' (1851), I read :

"The churches of Southill and Tolant, in Cornwall; Cricklade, Wilts; and one in the city of York, are named in his honour alone; and Milton Abbas, Dorsetshire, in the joint names of SS. Mary and Sampson."JOHN T. PAGE.

P. 284.

5, Capel Terrace, Southend-on-Sea.

THE NICHOLSON CHARITY (8th S. x. 256).From the Analytical Digest of the Reports made to Parliament by the Commissioners upon the Public Charities' (Parliamentary Papers, 1831-2, vol. xxix. pp. 748-9), it appears that the Nicholson Charity fund then consisted of 3,8931. 13s. 4d. O.S.S., 3,1061. 7s. 10d. N.S. S., and 2,2731. 4s. 6d. Cons., and that its income was 2781. 4s. per annum. According to the Charities Register and Digest for 1882, this charity is managed by trustees

MRS. PENOBSCOT (8th S. x. 135, 260).—Mr. Chute, in his History of the Vyne,' p. 160, wrote, in reference to the picture: "The State of Maine, in North America, was formerly inhabited by an Indian tribe called Penobscot, after which a town, river, and bay are named." I did not refer to this in my former note, as I thought the style of dress anterior to the date of the colonization of Maine, and I could see no connexion between the Indian tribe and the stately Elizabethan dame of the picture. In this view, however, I may be taken, and I should be glad of further light.

Kingsland, Shrewsbury.

"modern." See also 7th S. iii. 347, 503, where "Brighton" is said to occur in 1660, and Brighton W. C. B. camp to be alluded to in 1759.

POSITION OF COMMUNION TABLE (8th S. ix. 308, 376; x. 226, 259).—I have not a report of the Eynsham case at hand to refer to; but I think it was decided against the Rev. W. S. Bricknell, upon the ground that such a violent change in the arrangement of a church could not be made by the incumbent upon his own authority, but required the previous permission of a faculty, which he had not obtained. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. Hastings.

CAER GREU: CRAUCESTRE (8th S. x. 216).— The following, from the History of Northumberland,' vol. ii. p. 166, now in course of publication, will answer A. A.'s inquiry :

66

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

'MEMOIRS OF A GENTLEWOMAN' (8th S. x. 235, 303).-I am much obliged to MR. THOMAS for his information. I have now read the book more carefully than I did thirty or forty years ago, and I gather, from internal evidence, that the "Lady" was a Miss Anne Hamilton, born in Exeter, daughter of Capt. Hamilton, R.N., who in later years had some Government duty at Bristol. After his death she married an old friend of his, Mr. MacTaggart, a widower, much older than herself. It is a lively book, well written, and pleasant reading. ALDENHAM.

:

BRIGHTON BRIGHTHELMSTONE (8th S. x. 216). -Your correspondent S. J. A. F. asks what cannot be given, the "exact " date of the change of the name of this town. The change was very gradual, the tendency of our tongue in respect of the names of places being, of course, always towards abbreviation. I have several franks of the Duke of York in 1810-20 addressed to "Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Steyne, Brighthelmstone"; and my father, a scholar of the old school, used to write to me in 1834 at "Brighthelmstone," though he latterly fell in with the change, and contented himself with the modern dissyllabic form. Lord Chatham in 1834-5 writes Brighton on his franks. ¡E. WALFORD.

Ventnor.

In 'N. & Q.,' 6th S. ii. 376, is a list of forty-five spellings of Brighton, from Saxon times to the eighteenth century, in which "Brighton" is marked

artificially defended on the east and south sides by two parallel ramparts. The ramparts, composed of earch and rough unhewn stones, may still be clearly traced to the north of a stone wall which now intersects the camp. To the south of this wall the outer rampart has been ploughed down, but the inner one remains. The camp is 215 feet long and 102 feet wide from the edge of the heugh to the inner rampart at the southern end. At the northern end it is 92 feet in width to the corner of the outer rampart. At the south-east corner of the camp a gap in the entrenchment has been made in recent times.

"Half a mile east of the village is Craster Tower, the residence of Mr. T. W. Craster. The original tower, now only a small portion of a modern dwelling-house, was built before the year 1415. It is mentioned as the property of Edmund Craster in the list of fortresses compiled at that time.

"The manor of Craster was included in the barony of Embleton, and was given by John, son of Odard, to Albert, to be held for the service of half a knight's fee. Albert, the founder of the Craster family, was in possession of Craster before the year 1168." G. H. THOMPSON.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Oxford English Dictionary. Vol. III. Disburdened -Disobservant. Vol. IV. Fish-Flexuose. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.)

THE division of labour lately undertaken in the conduct of the 'New,' or, as it is now preferentially called, the 'Oxford English Dictionary,' once more bears good fruit, and two quarterly parts, edited respectively by Dr. Murray and Mr. Henry Bradley, attest the exemplary diligence of those connected with its production and the active progress that is being made with volumes iii. and iv. The full scale of advance as against all previous effort is maintained, the section now given of the third volume containing 1,550 words and almost 7,000 quotations, as against 943 words and 1,100 quotations-taking the highest figures reached in any preceding work. Not less marked is the disparity in the case of the section of the fourth volume, where 1,440 words are opposed to 997 in the Century,' and 8,214 quotations to 1,158. Of the words in Dis, dismal, the full history of which is now for the first time exhibited, is the most interesting. This word, as is shown, was originally the Anglo-French dis mal-Latin dies mali, evil days, "the Egyptian days of the medieval calendar." For more than three centuries it was thus applied; and "when Minsheu, in 1617, derived the word from Latin dies malus, an euill and vnhappie time' (a derivation discarded by Dr. Trench as one of those plausible etymologies which one learns after a while to reject with contempt'), he was doubtless going upon the use of the word within his own memory.' Chaucer has, "I trowe hyt was in the dismalle, That was the x. woundes of Egipte." Huloet, in 1552, has, Dismall dayes, atri dier, dies Egiptiaci." Birch, 'Life of Milton,' in 1738, writes, "Before that dismal 30th of January that his Majesty's Life was taken away." Greene, in 1588, speaks of a dismal influence, and Shakspeare of a "dismall lover." It is, of course, impossible to follow out this most interesting record, for which readers must turn to the work, where we have "The Great Dismal Swamp, with the smaller dismals." The only word of old English age beginning in dis, itself from the Latin, is dish, with its compounds and derivatives. Of the words in the section of volume iv. "not more than thirty-five existed in old English." On many words new light is for the first time thrown, as fizz, flag, flame, Aane, flash, flaw, flake. fleet, and flesh and its derivatives. How thin are the partitions which divide literature from slang is shown when under fiza we find champagne, the first recorded use of which is by Punch in 1864. Under the word fizgig we might, perhaps, have the term Fitzgig, or Fizgig, applied to an assailant by David Garrick in 'The Fribbleriad. Flag, as applied to endogenous plants, is left obscure in origin, as, for the rest, is flag, a banner. The origin of the two seems similar, since both convey the idea of waving. Two quotations are given from Lydgate for that curious word flaskisable, which he alone appears to have used. We have in our own list two other instances from the Chronicle of Troy' of the same writer. They cast, however, no further light on the word. Of the compounds or derivatives of flesh many will be wholly new to the majority of students. Fleshling, for a fleshly minded person, a derivative like worldling, is very curious. Unending are, indeed, as we have said, apart from all question of edification, the delight and amusement to be derived from the study of each successive issue of this work, the interest of which, like its value, is inexhaustible. We may once more, however, draw the attention of our readers to the fact that the first six letters of the alphabet are now within near

The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart. By Andrew Lang. 2 vols. (Nimmo.) As the son-in-law and intimate of Scott, and as the writer of the second best biography of which our country can boast, Lockhart has claims upon attention. He is himself, moreover, a fairly interesting, though not wholly sympathetic figure, and his close association with a number of men of letters, concerning some of whom public curiosity is not yet sated, gives him further right to notice. On the whole, then, Lockhart deserves the liberally awarded recognition involved in a biography. He has got his deserts and more. To have his life told by a writer so competent, so sympathetic, and so popular as Mr. Andrew Lang, and to be seen in a work printed and illustrated in the best style of Mr. Nimmo, is exceptional good fortune. We are not sure, even, that we do not grudge it to the ill-tempered and churlish assailant of Keats. We have, at any rate, read Mr. Lang's apology-for to such it amounts-with much interest and pleasure, and are disposed to rank it among the best of recent biographies. Able, practised, and brilliant as he is, Mr. Lang cannot make bricks without straw. Few and insignificant records concerning Lockhart's early days exist, and the first chapters of the biography are languid, not to say dull. From the moment Lockhart comes into association with Scott, concerning whom we can never hear too much, they brighten up; and after the beginning of Lockhart's London career and the establishment of the Quarterly Review they are startling. There are gaps and chasms in the story, due in part to the desire not to hurt people still living and in part to Mr. Lang's views as to the discharge of editorial functions generally. Against these things we have nothing to say. We have full confidence in Mr. Lang's judgment and tact, and we accept gladly the book as he gives it us. He is less carried away by his subject than are the majority of biographers, and he is studious and exemplarily just in the way generally in which he holds the scales. He does not quite convince us, nor, we fancy, himself, as to the good nature of Lockhart, long a deadly free-lance in literature; and we think he insists overmuch upon the cheerfulness with which Lockhart sustained in later life sufferings which, though severe, were scarcely exceptional. On the whole, however, the execution of his task is such as we should expect at his hands, and the book itself will retain its place in literature. Scott himself pointed out, with characteristic delicacy, to Lockhart his shortcomings, saying, "Some little [!] turn towards personal satire ir, I think, the only drawback to your great and powerful talents." The fact that he was, through his intemperate criticism, indirectly and vicariously, but absolutely, responsible for the death of a man modified, as necessarily it must, his acerbity. Of this terrible business Mr. Lang gives an admirable account. From the first volume we learn what, so far as we know, has not once been suspected-that Scott at one time contemplated going into the Church. Mr. Lang credits Lockhart, very properly, with delicacy in not seeking, in his biography of Burns, to explore the penetralia of the story of Highland Mary. It is to be wished that the example of this reticence had been followed. Scott, asking after the authorship of

Pelham,' receives from Lockhart the answer that it "is writ by a Mr. Bulwer, a Norfolk squire, and horrid puppy.' "Some interesting side-lights, though no positive

revelation, is cast upon the "arrogant chilliness" and other characteristics of Wordsworth. A special feature in a most attractive book consists in the illustrations. Many of these, some of them skilfully and handsomely reproduced in colours, are from Lockhart's own designs. With pencil, as with pen, he was a master of caricature. A design of Miss Violet Lockhart, by her brother, which serves as frontispiece to the second volume, is very taking. Lockhart's own clear-cut, handsome features are reproduced from a painting by Sir Francis Grant and a design by Daniel Maclise. Of Leigh Hunt, Wilson Croker, Hogg, and many other notabilities mentioned there are new and delightful pictures, and there is a pleasing design from a water colour of Miss Scott, afterwards Mrs. Lockhart. Abundant MS. stores have been placed at the disposal of Mr. Lang. Thanks to the varied attractions of the book, it constitutes a brilliant record of literary life in Edinburgh and political life in England in the time of Peel and Wellington.

Cherry and Violet. By the Author of 'Mary Powell., (Nimmo.)

THIS volume is a companion to The Household of Sir Thomas More,' recently reviewed in our columns. It is got up with no less luxury of detail, and is in every way worthy of its companionship. Concerning the narrative itself, in which the London of the Commonwealth and that of the Restoration are vividly depicted, there is little now to be said. The story of the Plague is told with all the realism of Defoe and of Pepys, and the account of the Fire is only less vivid. This is, indeed, as is generally recognized, one of the best and most valued works of Miss Manning, whose individuality was so long, so modestly, and so successfully concealed. What will add to its general popularity, and make also direct appeal to the antiquary, are the illustrations, twenty-six in all, of Mr. John Jellicoe and Mr. Herbert Railton, in which the scenes and life of seventeenth century London are vividly and finely reproduced. Many of these illustrations are unsurpassably lifelike. The Rev. W. H. Hutton, B.D., supplies an appreciative memoir of Miss Manning, between whom and Miss Christina Rossetti he establishes an interesting parallel, adding a high eulogy of a work which requires no further tribute to its character. The time for gift-books has as yet scarcely arrived. It is, however, safe to say that of those the future has in store few are likely to be worthier, more suitable, or more generally prized than this handsome edition of a well-known and delightful book.

Wiltshire Notes and Queries. Vol. I. 1893-1895 (Devizes, Simpson; London, Stock.)

IT has sometimes been said that there is a tendency growing up to produce too many of these local Notes and Queries, and that if there were fewer of them, those that existed would be more interesting, and contain more information likely to be of use to the student. In some cases this is no doubt true; but in the goodly volume before us we can see scarcely anything that it would have been wiser to omit, while it is a perfect mine of wealth for those who are interested in folk-lore. In Wiltshire we find that not only is May considered an unlucky month for weddings-a belief that is to be met with in other parts of England, and is the general opinion in Scotland-but that it is also an unlucky month to be born in, and this extends even to animals, for there is a Wiltshire saying "May cats catch no rats." We find many of the customs noted are common to other parts of England. The belief that the bride's feet must not touch the threshold upon coming home after the honeymoon is mentioned. A case of this kind occurred in Lincolnshire in 1888. When the carriage containing

the bride and bridegroom drove up to the door of the bridegroom's father, the husband lifted his wife from the carriage and carried her up the steps and into the hall. The illustrations in this volume are much above the average. The only thing that we see to find fault with is that long extracts relating to Wiltshire are given from the Gentleman's Magazine. Surely it is a mistake to take up space with matter that is already in print, and to be found when wanted by any one who will take the trouble to look for it.

A Supplement to How to Write the History of a Family. By W. P. W. Phillimore. (The Author, 124, Chancery Lane.)

THERE is little that needs saying about this book. Those who found the original volume of use will no doubt be glad of the assistance of the one before us; but it can only be used effectively in conjunction with the previous publication.

THE Intermédiaire for 10 August includes, among other useful notes, questions, and replies, the first part of an account of the sacred wells of Alsace; and the following number makes mention of some of the celebrated "black virgins," so popular in France; while in that for the 30th of the month Belgian dragon legends are commented on, and the curious qualities attributed to the spring known as the Fontaine d'Avaurd are described.

THE Giornale di Erudizione for August offers to its readere, as usual, several book notices likely to be of addition to an interesting collection of queries and value to the historian, archæologist, and ethnologist, in political satires, and Milton's Italian sonnets to the answers on various subjects, ranging from philology, popular Italian folk-tale of the man who killed seven wives by tickling the soles of their feet.

GENERAL JUNG, the editor and proprietor of the French Notes and Queries, a distinguished officer whose military career was wrecked through his close association with General Boulanger, was buried in Paris on the 5th inst.

Notices to Correspondents

We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate,'

R. J. SMITH, Montreal ("Samuel Hopkins ").- No individual named Hopkins of a date earlier than 1814 is mentioned in Burke.

UNOLE SILAS ("Lingerie ").-A well-known French word, from linge, linen.

J. B. B. ("Shell Grotto at Margate ").-See 'N. & Q.,' 8th S. vi, 347, 437, 471.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries ""-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.