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Latin whenever a new word is wanted, instead of seeking one home-born. I conceive the reason is that science is cosmopolitan and universal, and that it is a matter of convenience that scientific terms should be easily comprehended by scientific men all the world over. Words derived from Greek or Latin fulfil this requirement better than if each separate nation coined its scientific terminology on the "home-born" principle recommended by AD LIBRAM. As for the words that have been suggested, I can only say that, even in the face of the many strange births that we have witnessed in England of late, farwrittle and farspeakle for telegraph and telephone are scarcely "little strangers" to be welcomed on the score either of analogy or euphony. Mittoplon, which finds favour in MR. ROBERT LOUTHEAN's eyes, is a hybrid formation, which would hardly speak well for our scholarship. I feel some doubt whether a word for a telephonic message is required at all. It is not a tangible or palpable thing, like a telegram. But, allowing that such a term is wanted, telepheme seems as good as any. It is not more exotic than telegram. Many readers of N. & Q.' will remember the controversy that took place many years ago in the Times with regard to the respective merits of telegram and telegrapheme. In the end, the ungrammatical form carried the day, because it was shorter and more convenient. Brevity is the factor which will eventually decide the question raised by MR. LOUTHEAN.

W. F. PRIDEaux.

Leaving aside the literary language, I believe that practice will always influence business words, such as telephone, wire, &c. A special code goes so far as to say telfie, "I did correspond with him by telephone"; telgiu, "You did correspond by telegraph." This is perhaps using very freely our knowledge of Breton, Basque, and Roman languages. But if by that means a business man corresponding with Hayti, for instance, spends one guinea instead of three, he cannot help considering the advantages of suffixes, and believing now and then that our prehistoric ancestors were not so rude as classical studies would lead us to believe.

G. ROSSLER.

There is already an English word which holds the field, or, at least, holds its own, against its "foreign" rivals "telegraph" (verb) and "telegram." That word is wire. For once that I hear either of the other words, I hear this a score of times. I venture, however, to predict that the future name for a telephonic message will be an abbreviation, say 'phone. C. C. B.

"AMERICAN COBBLER" (8th S. ii. 528; iii. 216). -The book for which H. H. S. inquires is 'The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America,' purporting to be written by "Theodore de la Guard." The real author was Nathaniel Ward (1578-1652), an

eccentric clergyman of Essex, who emigrated to America and was resident from 1634 to 1646 in Massachusetts, where he was prominent in many ways. One of his American parishes was at Agawam, now Ipswich, Mass., the place mentioned in the title of his best-known book. The book was sent for publication to England in 1646, or possibly taken there by its author, and it went through four editions. The writer assumes to be a sort of Hans Sachs, trying to mend the manners of his country, "lamentably tattered both in the upper leather and sole, with all the honest stitches he can take," and gives many sarcastic hits at his opponents in religion and politics. He explains that he had "been a solitary widower almost twelve years," and that he had been disheartened by women's "cladments" when purposing "to make a step over to my native country for a yokefellow "; and it is possibly this reason that makes him so severe upon the follies and fashions of women, using many queer words to express his scorn. In the light of a recent discussion in N. & Q.,' we might almost call him "a crank" on this subject. In hastily turning over a copy of the book, I failed to see the exact words quoted by H. H. S.; but the following quotations are in the same tenor :

"When I hear a nugiperous Gentledame inquire what dress the Queen is to be in this week; what the nudistertian fashion of the Court; with egge to be in it in all haste, whatever it be; I look on her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome of Nothing, fitter to be kickt if she were of a kickable substance, than either honour'd or humour'd," in them, to spend their lives in making fidle-cases for "It is a most unworthy thing for men that have bones futulous Womens phansies which are the very pettitoes of Infirmity, the gyblets of perquisquilian toyes."

He wished to have fashions regulated by statute, and calls them "the surquedryes of pride, the watonness of idleness." After his return to England he was settled as a clergyman at Shenfield, Essex, and died there. New York City.

M. C. L.

ROCKSTAFF (8th S. iii. 260).—This word is still commonly used for the long, taper pole used by smiths to blow their bellows before iron "rockESTE.

staffs were generally used.

THE ROYAL VETO (8th S. iii. 369).—The statement questioned by your correspondent is accurate. The use of royal influence to indirectly secure the defeat of a Bill, supposing it ever to exist, is not a veto, and the phrase "the royal veto" and all similar phrases refer to the constitutional power of rejection, now never used in affairs relating to the United Kingdom. It is, however, constantly used in the case of colonial measures, but in a different form; namely, by merely abstaining from ever giving the Royal Assent to the Bill which it is intended to stop.

D.

"CANARY BIRD," AN OPPROBRIOUS TERM (8th S. i. 109, 198, 339; ii. 378, 433).-I thank ST. SWITHIN very much for saying that if I "did not hail from Fiji" he would be tempted to lend me his copy of 'An Answer to a Certaine Libel.' (I trust it is only the distance that makes him pause, not the fear lest I might eat it! The Fijians have not yet taken to devour literature !)

But, joking apart, as ST. SWITHIN has kindly offered to tell me anything he can about his "little quarto," that will, I think, quite satisfy me; and I may say at once that I was principally anxious to see the pamphlet to ascertain, if possible, what Udal it was to whom (together with Cartwright) it was addressed by Sutcliffe in 1592, as stated by

ST. SWITHIN.

From ST. SWITHIN's later reference to the "Marprelate Controversy literature," I gather that it may have been the celebrated John Udall or Uvedale, the author (inter alia) of The Key to the Holy Tongue,' the first Hebrew grammar in English, and first printed at Leyden in 1593 (of the scarce first edition of which I am fortunate in having a copy in my own library), and of whom King James I. said, on hearing of his death, "By my soul, the greatest scholar in Europe is dead!" (See Hutchins's 'History of Dorset,' iii. 147, third edition.)

Being at such a distance from my books, I can

not now be certain whether this was the same man who figured in the state trials, for more than one of the name took an active part in the politicoreligious controversies of the period, and suffered accordingly. I should be glad if Sr. SWITHIN could kindly inform me which (if any) of the above is referred to in his pamphlet, and also what was the "libel" referred to therein, and by whom J. S. UDAL.

written.

Fiji.

FAIRMAN, OF LINSTEAD AND TEYNHAM, KENT (8th S. iii. 329).-If KNOWLER will communicate with me I shall most probably be able to give him what information he requires.

FRANCES C. FAIRMAN.

4, Bolton Studios, Redcliffe Road, S.W. ENGLISH ACTRESS IN PARIS (8th S. iii. 308).-Peg Woffington appears to have been the actress referred to. With the termination of the Covent Garden season of 1747-48 she had crossed over to Paris in order to take lessons from the famous Mlle. Dumesnil, then at the head of her profession in France. W. J. LAWRence.

"PRACTICAL POLITICS" (8 S. iii. 347).-Is the expression "practical politics" really, as R. B. P. asserts, "one of Mr. Gladstone's recent inventions"? I find 'Practical Politics; or, the Liberalism of To-day,' used as the title of a series of articles by Mr. A. F. Robbins, published in the

Halfpenny Weekly (Liverpool), in 1887, and reissued by Mr. Fisher Unwin the following year in POLITICIAN. book form.

CHAUCER'S PILGRIMAGE (8th S. i. 474, 522).— On the question of how many days the poet and his fellows took for their journey from London to Canterbury, I do not think that Wolsey's times have been cited. Mr. William Morris's beautiful print of Cavendish's 'Life of Wolsey,' now first made from the author's MS., copied and edited by Mr. F. S. Ellis, shows that Wolsey, when using the greatest possible dispatch, on his first mission for King Henry VII, travelled from Richmond to Dover in less than one day and night; but when he went later as an ambassador from Henry VIII. in full state he took four days to go from London to Canterbury, as all the other grand folk did whose journeys have been previously cited. His stages were (1) Dartford, (2) Rochester, (3) Faversham, (4) Canterbury.

1. "And havyng his depeche, toke his leave of the kynge at Richemond abought none, & so came to London with spede, where than the barge of Gravesend was redy to launche forthe, bothe with a prosperous tyde and wynd. Without any further abode he entred the barge, and so passed forthe. His happy spede was suche that he arryved at Gravesend within littill more than iii hours; where he taried no lenger than his post horssis ware provyded; and travellyng so spedely with post horssys that he came to Dover the next mornyng erely."-Pp. 6, 7. 2. "Than marched he [Wolsey] forward out of his owen howsse at Westminster, passing through all London, over London brydge, havyng before hyme, of gentillmen a great nomber, three in a ranke......and all his yomen with noble mens and gentilmens servaunts folowyng hyme...... His sompter mewles, which ware xx in number and moore, with his carts and other cariages of his trayn, ware passed on byfore, conducted & garded with a great nomber of bowes and speres. He rode lyke a cardynall, very somptiously, on a mewle trapped with crymmesyn velvett uppon velvett...... Thus passed he thoroughe London & all the way of his journey, having his harbergers passyng byfore to provyde lodgyngs for his trayne.

"The first journey he made to Dertford in Kent, unto Sir Richard Wyltchers howsse, which is too myles beyond Dertford where all his trayn ware lodged that nyght, and in the contrie thereabought. The next day he rode to Rochester, and lodged in the Bysshopes palice there; and the rest of his trayn in the cytie, and in Strode on this syde the bryge.

"The iiird day he rode from thence to Feversham, & there was lodged in the Abbey, and his trayne in the town, and some in the contre there aboughts.

"The iiiith day he rode to Caunterbery, whear he was encountered with the worshipfullest of the town and contrye, and loged in the Abbey of Christechurch in the pryors lodgyng, and all his trayn in the citie; where he contynued iii or iiii dayes."-Pp. 63-5.

How much longer are we to be without direct evidence as to the ordinary length of a pilgrimage to Canterbury near the end of the fourteenth century?

F. J. F.

"PHILAZER" (8th S. iii. 28, 97, 154, 299).—The fullest account of the Filacers, in the Court of

King's Bench, is to be found in "Jus Filizarii: or
the Filacer's Office in the Court of King's Bench,
setting forth the practice by original Writ, with
several Precedents and other matters relating
thereto; and also a Presentment of the Fees of all
the Officers in the said Court. Very useful for the
Filacers and all other Practicers in that Court.
By John Trye, of Grays Inn, Esq." London,
1684.
J. F. R.

freux are akin, being onomatopoeic terms suggested by the bird's croak. In Bas-Breton, the “ crow" is frão, frav. (Grolle is Lat. graculus, or gracula.) Further, the French-and this, so far as I know, does not occur with us-sometimes extend the name of the raven (corbeau) to the crow, and even to the rook. When "flocks" of corbeaux are spoken of, "rooks" must be meant, as ravens and crows seldom, or never, congregate. It is true that ravens, crows (carrion and hooded*), rooks, MEDALLION PORTRAITS (8th S. iii. 368).-It is jackaws, are all of the "crow" (corvus) genus; just possible that the last-named medallion may still, I think it is the case that while in England we represent Isabella Drummond Forbes, youngest pretty generally distinguish between "rooks" and daughter of the sixteenth and sister of the seven-crows," in France the same word usually covers teenth Lord Forbes. She married in 1839 the the two species. This may be because rooks are Baron Ernest de Poellnitz, by whom she had a less common in France than in England, where family. See Burke's Peerage,' under "Forbes, rookeries, a word for which there is no French Baron." E. WALFORD, M. A. equivalent, are a characteristic feature of the surroundings of our homesteads. HENRY ATTWELL.

"

CHARLES STEWARD, OF BRadford-on-AvON
(2nd S. vi. 327, 359; 8th S. iii. 154, 195, 255, 358).
-The annexed transcripts of two monumental
inscriptions at Bradford-on-Avon appear in Sir
Thomas Phillipps's Monumental Inscriptions in
the County of Wilton,' 1822, pt. ii., pp. 278-9:-
Plurimus summa probitate notus omnibus in vita
Charitis, cunctis in morte flendus.
Hic jacet Carolus Steward, Armiger, de Cummerwell,
Parochiæ hujus appendiæ, Fragili vale dicens mundo
xi Julij Anno MDCLXXXXIII.

Mostissimam relinquens conjugem Mariam, ex Antiqua
Comptonorum Familia in Agro Gloucesterensi.
Eterna pace Quiescat.

Arms: A fess checky within a border ermine; impaling a lion passant-guardant between three

helmets."

"Triste Monumentum intueare, Lector, et postquam Epitaphium tacitè, perlegisti nigrum, sub pedibus aspice marmor, tunc si possis supprime luctus. Ab annos a prosapia, ac honestis parentibus ortua, nunc fato correptus (Carolus Steward) multorum lachrimis inibi sepultur, dum superstes nurâ integritate innocuus, dulcique indole conus, et affabilis bonis moribus ornatus, ac virtutibus tam eximie decoratus ut æquando, baud parem reperies, proh, dolor! quam plurima vitæ pensum absolvunt, et supremum inducunt diem, hic casu infausto, ex equo labente delapsus, mox graviter pestore contusus, tandem apostematâ intumuit, languit, et occubuit, xi Julij, Anno Dñi MDCXCVIII. Amice Valeto, summum nec metuas Diem, nec optes justa hæ pia Memoria Chari Mariti, uxor lagubris Maria Steward, Dicavit, et marmora parentavit, 1701."

Arms: Or, a fess checky argent and azure within a border ermine; impaling, Sable, a lion pass. guard. between three helmets or.

17, Hilldrop Crescent, N.

'DANIEL HIPWELL

"CROW" AND "Rook" (8th S. iii. 367).-In French the word corneille ("crow") is commonly extended to the "rook," freux or grolle. As the rook is termed by ornithologists corvus frugilegus, it has been imagined that freux was a contraction of frugilegus. But "rook " (A.-S. hróc) and

Barnes.

THE CEPHISUS AND THE ILISSUS (8th S. iii. 303).—I was staying in Athens for a short time in February, and walked on the banks of the Ilissus. In some parts there is a thin stream of water, in others it appeared to be quite dry. E. W.

FAMILY PAPERS OF JAMES CRAGGS (8th S. iii. 367).-These papers were sent to Messrs. Puttick's sale-rooms by the then Duke of Buckingham, in 1853. They consisted mostly of letters relating to ham, during his tenure of office as Viceroy of Irehis grandfather, Richard, first Marquis of Buckingland in 1782-88; and I well recollect that they were full of political scandal. They were probably bought in by some member of the GrenvilleTemple family, and were taken back to Stowe. At all events, one letter which was in the catalogue, and which referred to a relative of my own, was kindly sent to me as a free gift from that place.

Ventnor.

E. WALFORD, M.A.

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papers on the history and antiquities of Paddington, reprinted from the Bayswater Chronicle, 1884: "In the zenith of her fame she [Siddons] resided at a cottage known as Westbourne Farm, Westbourne Green, which has been described by a visitor as close to the present Lock Hospital in the Harrow Road. It was a little retired house, in a garden screened with poplars, and not unlike a rural vicarage, and was at one time the residence of Madame Vestris. It was standing till about the year

1860,"

I think that Desborough Place, which stands on the north side of the Great Western Railway and west of the Royal Oak station, was built on part of the grounds of what Robins called Desborough Lodge. Gutch's map of Paddington in 1828 probably shows the exact situation of the cottage. If there was any "view" published of Mrs. Siddons's rural retreat I should be pleased to know where a copy can be obtained, that I may add it to my little collection of engravings and the sketches which I have made of picturesque "bits" in this neighbourhood. H. G. GRIFFINHOOFE 34, St. Petersburg Place, W.

An extract from Fanny Kemble's 'Record of a Girlhood' may be of some use. October 1, p. 13, she says:

"Our new house after Newman Street was at a place called Westbourne Green, now absorbed into endless avenues of palatial residences, &c. The site of our dwelling was not far from Paddington Canal."

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W. F. PRIDEAUX.

LORD ROBERT DOUGLAS (8th S. iii. 347).-MR. NOWERS's query does not err on the side of overdefiniteness; but in spite of the latitude afforded by such phrases as a violent death," and "two hundred years ago or more," I fear he will not easily identify the object of his inquiry. Any possible Lord Robert Douglas in the seventeenth century must have been a son of a Marquis of Douglas (cr. 1633) or a Marquess and Duke of Queensberry (cr. 1682); but no such name appears among the younger sons of either of those noble houses. There was, it is true, an Hon. Robert

Douglas (son of the second earl, and brother of the first Duke of Queensberry), who was killed at the siege of Maestricht, in 1676. Could this be the person sought ?-if not, I can only suggest the gallant Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, grandson of the Hon. Sir Robert Douglas, and great-grandson of the ninth Earl of Angus. Sir Robert fell bravely at the battle of Steinkirk in 1692, in the act of recovering the standard of his regiment from the enemy. OSWALD, O.S.B.

Fort Augustus, N.B.

ETYMOLOGY OF SAAS (8th S. iii, 48).—Saas, in Canton Vallais, appears in 1397 as Sausa, which may be explained from the Middle Latin saucea willow plantations," an etymology the approor saucia, a corruption of saliceta, "osier beds" or priateness of which will be recognized by all who know the village. ISAAC TAYLOr.

SCHOLA VERLUCIANA (8th S. iii. 148, 272, 331). -The details given by W. C. B. at the last reference leave not the least doubt that the school meant is Lord Weymouth's free grammar school at Warminster. Although the identification of Verlucio is disputed by antiquaries, it has, after Camden ('Britannia,' ed. 1586, p. 115), been restricted in literary use to Warminster, wherever I have met with it. F. ADAMS.

ALTAR (8th S. iii. 168, 254).-Following MR. PICKFORD's example, and writing with neither odium nor amor, I would observe that the word "altar" has always kept its place in literature. Thus, Evelyn tells us that at St. James's, Piccadilly, "the altar altar," when he communicated; and even Boswell was especially adorned"; Johnson "went to the writes that Johnson "did not choose to approach the altar without a previous preparation"; in Dickens, little Dorrit "went up to the altar" to be married; and "the priest waited in his white surplice at the lowly altar," when Jane Eyre was not married. Examples might be added by the score. It is worth notice that "the altar," in common parlance, at one time meant the sanctuary as well as the "table." So, in 'Oliver Twist' we read that "within the altar of the old village church there stands a white marble tablet," which Oruikshank represents as being placed some five feet up the east wall. And in descriptions of churches in the last century-the London City churches will supply instances - "the altar included the reredos and rails. In the same way popular language some years ago spoke of "the communion," when "the table" was signified. At St. Clement's Church, Hastings, there used to be a board announcing, among other benefactions (or "benedictions," as one guidebook preferred calling them) 'the plate used at the Altar, and the velvet covering for the Communion Table," truly a subtle distinction. This was dated 1721. By the way,

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"* communion table is no more in the Prayer British Museum Satirical Print No. 2661, which Book than is "altar," although George Herbert is dated "Octo". 21, 1745," and entitled 'Briton's and Addison use the expression. The Holy Association against the Pope's Bulls.' In this Table" and "the Lord's Table" have a special design the Pretender grasps the horns of one of s meaning. It is hardly historical to say that Laud group of bulls, while between his feet lies the nine "introduced" the word altar, seeing that it was of diamonds, which is referred to by one among used by Andrewes, Overal, Cosins. many inscriptions on the plate as "everlasting F. G. S.

Hastings.

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M. A.

Though the term “altar” is not in the Prayer Book, it is the common term made use of in the Coronation Service. See, e. g., sectt. vi., vii., x., xii., xiii., of the "form and order" at the coronation of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide in 1831, and of Queen Victoria in 1838. I have not for reference Dr. Silver on 'The Coronation Service of the Anglo-Saxon Kings,' Oxf., 1831, in which is the service for the coronation of George III. ED. MARSHALL.

I so far am at one with my friend MR. PICKFORD that if I were speaking in or of a Romish church, I would naturally use the term "altarpiece," meaning thereby a picture suspended over what the worshippers in that church call and believe to be an altar, sc., a place of sacrifice (I also write non-polemically). But as the English Church repudiates both the name and thing, I would think it more consistent to speak of such a picture in her consecrated buildings by some other name-say, "chancel-piece." I am not sure that pictures, other than in windows, are legal among The "hymeneal altar" may safely be relegated to the limbo of newspaper slang.

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May I be permitted to close with a query? How is it that your ever-genial correspondent is still permitted to pen his pleasant reminiscences in so alien a locality? Patrons, "make a note o't." G. L. FENTON.

Clevedon.

·

In the New Week's Preparation,' a decidedly Protestant work, which ran through many editions, and was in general use as a manual from about 1750 to 1820, twenty-seven pages are devoted to a "Companion for the Altar," and the word "altar" is used interchangeably with "communion_table." The work referred to was published by Edward Wicksteed, and superseded the old Week's Preparation,' of which nearly fifty editions were lished by Samuel Keble, 1685 to 1740.

curses.

DR. MURRAY asks for a quotation or reference before 1791. Here is one. Grose, in his' Tour thro' Scotland' in 1789, writes :

"The nine of diamonds: diamonds it is said imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial crowu; and every ninth King of Scotland has been observed for many ages to be a tyrant and a curse to the country. Others say it is from its similarity to the arms of Argyll; the Duke having been very instrumental in bringing about the Union, which by some Scottish patriots, has been considered as detrimental to their country."

J. R. M.

The nine of diamonds is the coat of arms of the Dalrymple family, and was called the "Curse of Scotland" from the very leading part they took in carrying through the Union between England and Scotland in 1704. MAC ROBERT.

[See 1st S. i. 61, 90; iii. 22, 253, 423, 483; 4th S. vi. 194, 289; 5th S. iv. 20, 97, 118.]

TRUMBULL (8th S. ii. 527; iii. 98, 154, 255).— In answer to JAYDEE the following may suffice. John Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, June 6, 1756, died Nov. 10, 1843, in the city of New York. How far he was from being, as JAYDEE judges, a Loyalist, or Tory, is plain from the following particulars. The revolutionary war broke out before he was quite nineteen years of age. He at once joined the rebels, who had cooped up the British forces in Boston. He showed such skill as an engineer there that Washington selected him as one of his aides-de-camp. In 1778 he served on the staff of the general in command of an enterprise for expelling the British from Rhode

Island.

In 1780 he sailed for France, whence he soon went to London with a letter from Franklin, introducing him to Benjamin West. His aim was merely to study art; but he was arrested, accused of treason, imprisoned eight months, and then pub-released only after West and Copley had become sureties that he would leave the kingdom. As soon as American Independence was acknowledged he returned to England as a student of West. While here he painted 'The Sortie from Gibraltar,' to which your correspondent alludes. Of this he made three or four replicas.

A. T. M.

"CURSE OF SCOTLAND" (8th S. iii. 367).-If DR. MURRAY will refer to the Indexes of ' N. & Q.' be will find that several persons have written on this subject, including myself. There is perfect evidence that the nine of diamonds was called the "Curse of Scotland," and popularly recognized as such, some time before Culloden was fought (April 16, 1746). DR. MURRAY may refer to

Trumbull painted at least four portraits of Washington, and four decisive scenes in the Revolution on the Rotunda, in Washington. Your correspondent asks for a list of his works; but they fill a whole gallery, which bears his name, in New

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