Notes and Queries, Number 27, May 4, 1850

"All the plays marked thus * in this catalogue, I bought of Dodsley. Those marked thus O, I have added to the collection since. D.G."

Each of the above queries would have admitted further remarks, but I wish to set an example of obedience to the recent editorial injunction on brevity.

    BOLTON CORNEY.

MINOR QUERIES

Elizabeth and Isabel.—"A.C." inquires whether these names are not varied forms of the same name, and if so, what is the common origin of the two? Camden, in his Remains, has—

"ELIZABETH, Heb. Peace of the Lord, or quiet rest of the Lord, the which England has found verified in the most honoured name of our late sovereign. Mantuan, playing with it maketh it Eliza-bella; and of Isabel he says 'The same with Elizabeth, if the Spaniards do not mistake, which always translate Elizabeth into Isabel, and the French into Isabeau.'"

Howard, Earl of Surrey.—Dr. Percy is said, in Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, to have prepared an edition of the poems of the Earl of Surrey, the whole impression of which was consumed in the fire which took place in Mr. Nicholl's premises in 1808. Can any of your readers say whether Dr. Percy had a copy of the sheets, and whether he had prefixed thereto any life of the Earl of Surrey? or did Sir Egerton Brydges ever print any account of Surrey amongst his numerous issues from the Lee or other presses?

    G.

Bulls called William.—In looking into the notes in my Provincial Glossary, I find that bulls are in Somersetshire invariably called William. Is this peculiar to that county?

    C.W.B.

Bawn.—Mutual.—In vol. iii. p. 506. of Hallam's Constitutional History of England, there occurs the following passage in reference to the colonisation of Ulster in 1612, after Tyrone's rebellion:

"Those who received 2000 acres were bound within four years to build a castle and bawn, or strong court-yard; the second class within two years to build a stone or brick house, with a bawn; the third class a bawn only."

What was the bawn, which was equally indispensable to the grantee of 2000, 1500, or 1000 acres? Richardson variously describes the term as almost any kind of dwelling, or "an enclosure of walls to keep cattle from being stolen at night;" in fact, a court-yard. This, however, conveys a very unsatisfactory idea, unless I am justified in supposing that a court-yard was insisted upon, even when a house could not be built, as insuring a future residential settlement, and thereby warding off the evils of absenteeism.

At page 514. of the same volume, I read,—

"Wentworth had so balanced the protestant and recusant parties, employed so skilfully the resources of fair promises and intimidation, that he procured six subsidies to be granted before a prorogation, without any mutual concession from the crown."

Will Dr. Kennedy, or any other strict verbal critic, sanction this use of the word "mutual?"

    ALFRED GATTY.

April 6. 1850.

[It is obvious, from the following lines from Swift's poem, The Grand Question debated whether Hamilton's Bawn should be turned into a Barrack or Malt-house, 1729, that a Bawn was there used to signify a building, and not an inclosure:—

"This Hamilton's bawn, while it sticks in my hand,
I lose by the house what I get by the land;
But how to dispose of it to the best bidder,
For a barrack or malt-house, we now must consider."

And in a foot-note on Hamilton's bawn, in the original edition, it is described as "a large old house, two miles from Sir Arthur Acheson's seat."]

Versicle and Response.—What is the meaning of the following versicle and its response, which occur in both Morning and Evening Prayer?

"Give peace in our time, O Lord,
Because there is none other that fighteth for us
but only thou, O God!"

Surely the "because" &c. is a non sequitur!

    ALFRED GATTY.

April 6. 1850.

[In Palmer's Origines Liturgice, vol. i. p. 241. (2d edit.), we find the following note on the response, "Quia non est alius," &c.:—"Brev. Eboracens. fol. 264.; Brev. Sarisb. fol. 85." Bishop Lloyd remarks on this verse and response as follows:—"I do not know what Burnet means by stating that this response was made in the year 1549, on the occasion of political occurrences, for this answer is found in all the foreign breviaries, in the Salisbury primer, and in the primer of Hen. VIII. See Burnet's Hist. Ref. p. ii. b. 1. anno 1549."]

Yeoman.—This word, the origin of which Dr. Johnson says is much doubted, in the general acceptation of it meaning signifies a small farmer; though several authorities quoted by Johnson tend to show it also signifies a certain description of servants, and that it is applied also to soldiers, as Yeoman of the Guard. It is not, however, confined to soldiers, for we hear of Yeoman of the Chamber; Yeoman of the Robes; Yeoman of the Pantry; Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod.

I should be glad if any of your readers can give an explanation of the word as used in the latter instances.

    P.R.A.

Pusan.—Iklynton Collar.—Among the royal orders issued on the occasion of the marriage of Henry VI., contained in the fifth volume of Rymer's Fædera, p. 142., occurs the following:—

"We wol and charge you, that ye deliver unto oure trusty and well-beloved Squier, John Merston, keeper of our Jewell, a Pusan of golde, called Iklynton colar, garnished with iv Rubies, &c., &c."

What is the meaning and derivation of this word Pusan, and why called Iklynton collar?

    E.V.

Who was Lord Karinthon, murdered 1665?—Can any of your readers inform me who was the English lord, murdered in France by his Flemish valet, in March, 1665, as stated in the following passage of Gui Patin's Letters, tom. iii. p. 519., ed. 1846:—

"Hier, ce 18 Mars, je vis sur le pont Notre Dame, mené à la Grève, un certain méchant malheureux coquin, natif de Flandre, qui avoit poignardé son maître dans Pontoise; c'étoit un seigneur anglois, doint il vouloit avoir la bourse.... Ce seigneur anglois qui fut poignardé dans son lit avoit nom de Milord Karinthon.... Dans le testament de ce bon mais malheureux maître il se trouve qui'il donnoit à ce pendard de valet 20,000 livres."

    C.

Christian Captives.—Where can any information be obtained respecting the Christian captives taken by the Barbary pirates—the subscriptions raised for their relief, by briefs, &c., and what became of the funds?

    R.W.B.

Ancient Churchyard Customs.—In an article in The Ecclesiologist on churchyards and churchyard crosses,—but not having the volume by me, I am unable to give an exact reference,—it is stated,

"In them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to God nor are doles distributed to His poor; the epitsphium is no longer delivered from the steps of the churchyard cross, nor does the solemn lamprophoria symbolize the life of the deceased."

I shall be much obliged for a fuller account of these ancient customs, more particularly of the last two, and for notes of any allusions to them in old books. I may say the same with reference to the following extract from the Handbook of English Ecclesiology, p. 190.:

"Under this head may also be mentioned the Funa'l or Deadlight, which was lighted in some churchyards at night."

    STOKE.

"Rotten Row" and "Stockwell" Street.—"R.R.," of Glasgow, inquires the etymology of these names, which, occurring both in Scotland and in England, and at a time when the countries were almost always at war, would scarcely have been copied by the one from the other. He rejects, as of course, the etymology of the former from its passing by the buildings which were old and "rotten;" neither does he favour the belief that the original word was "Routine" Row, so called from the processions of the church passing in that direction.

REPLIES

EARLY STATISTICS.—CHART, KENT