SKEAT regards as being a "misleading suggestion"; I thought I was making a statement of fact, and one, indeed, which PROF. SKEAT would not wish to be in a position to contradict. Naturally, I did not mean to imply that he was the only reader of English, or the sole student who might light upon a word hitherto unregistered by glossarists. My mode of expression was synecdochical, and I have confidence that none of the conners of 'N. & Q.' will be misled by it.

As Dr. Prior is not in a position to speak for himself, I may perhaps be allowed to say that, unless he changed his theory concerning the derivation of foxglove for the worse between 1863 and 1879, PROF. SKEAT has misrepresented it. In the first edition of 'Popular Names of British Plants' the author wrote:

"It seems most probable that the name was in the first place foxes-glew, or music, A.-S. gliew, in reference to the favourite instrument of an earlier time, a ring of bells hung on an arched support, the tintinnabulum, and

thus answering to the Norwegian Revbielde."

I am not at all concerned to defend this bold bad guess, but it certainly appears more reasonable here than as set forth by PROF. SKEAT: "He actually proposes fox-glee because the flowers resemble bells, and thus refer to music!" Why should gliew be rendered glee when it might quite truthfully be rendered music? ST. SWITHIN.

PARISH COUNCILS AND RECORDS (8th S. viii. 445, 496).-In too many country parishes the great difficulty of properly preserving these old parish records is from want of a proper place, for in this parish the council was obliged to arrange that for the present they should remain in the large wooden box in the church, under the care of the vicar and churchwardens. If every parish council was obliged by law to build a parish hall (if there was not already such a room), the old parish records might then be properly kept in a safe or cupboard, according to their value, for they cannot be kept in the schoolroom, where many councils have to meet. It should be remembered that the County Councils, by the law that created parish councils, are to see that these documents are safely preserved, therefore county councillors should be stirred up at once to see into this subject.

Wingham, Kent.

ARTHUR HUSSEY.

"WOFUL" (8th S. viii. 184, 258, 417).-The fact that woeful and woful have both been employed as spellings of the same word is sufficiently well known. I wonder that no one cares to ask why. The reason is this, as explained in my 'Primer of English Etymology.' Middle-English had no fewer than three values for the symbol o when long. Thus wo, pronounced wau, i.e., with the sound of au in Paul, is the modern English woe. To, pronounced like modern

English toe, is the modern word too or to. Lastly, spoken, pronounced spauken, the modern English spoken. In Anglo-Saxon these vowels were distinguished. The A.-S. for woe was wā; the A.-S. for too was tō; and the unoriginal form spoken was due to analogy with the A.-S. broc-en, pronounced somewhat like brokken (but with only one k).

The last is a case of vowel-lengthening; broc-en became brō-ken, by a difference of syllabification. I now leave this last out of account, because the Tudor-English spelling did the same in most cases. Let us now consider only woe and to; or, better still, the words to, a toe, and to, too, both spelt alike in the fifteenth century, when the words were pronounced, respectively, as taw and toe.

Tudor - English spelling often distinguished between these sounds. The former was often written oa or oe; the latter oo or o. After this distinction had been made, the sounds again shifted, but the symbols remained unchanged. Hence in modern English we have oak, toe, with ta; and the words too, to, cool, corresponding to the sound of o in stone, corresponding to A.-S. ac, the A.-S. tō, cōl.

Hence, by a rule of thumb, setting aside all sounds, we have in modern English, in a large A.-S. vowel is a. And the distinction between oa number of words, the symbols oa, oe, wherever the and oe is merely due to the look of the thing. People prefer oe when the sound is final, merely because they are accustomed to see final e so often, as in stone, home, A.-S. stan, ḥām (showing that 0-e is yet a third way of forming an equation to the A.-S. ā)..

Examples: oath, A.-S. ath; oak, A.-S. ac; toad, A.-S. tad. And finally, woe, A.-S. wā; toe, A.-S. tā; roe, A.-S. rā; doe, A.-S. dā; foe, A.-S. fäh; moe (obsolete), A.-S. mã. And formerly, goe, soe, now always written go, so.

Hence the reason for the spelling woe is clear enough. It was practically a phonetic spelling. But in these days, when we already write go and so (for A.-S. gā and suā), there is no particular reason why we should write woe any longer; yet at the same time it is convenient to distinguish between doe and do, and between toe and to.

Briefly, the frequent changes in English symbols and sounds have landed us in that slough of trouble which makes the acquirement of modern spelling so difficult, a difficulty very greatly enhanced by the fact that schoolmasters, as a rule, never learn Anglo-Saxon, and have not the remotest notion of the reasons for our modern They do not even know that it is spelling. explicable. WALTER W. SKEAT.

"LUCK MONEY" (8th S. viii. 348, 470).—Of the several correspondents upon this subject, E. S. A. alone alludes to the almost invariable custom connected with the receipt of "luck money," whether

18

it be as "handsel," i. e., the first money received
for the day, or true "luck money," that which is
given back "for luck" by the seller to the buyer.
Spitting upon it is the essence of the whole trans-
action, and is practised to-day not only all over
England, but all over the world. We know from
many classical authors what virtue was believed,
by ancient Greeks and Romans (see Potter,
Archæol. Græc., i. 417), to lie in the act; and
there is also abundant evidence of the belief all
At the end of the
through the Middle Ages.
nineteenth century it remains as strong as ever.
"I have often seen the fishwives
Otto Jahn says,
of Ellerbeck, when they had got Handgeld from my
mother, how they spat upon it. They say that it
brings them besonderes Glück. They will not tell
the reason; certainly it is done to keep off witch-
craft." The same thing is done by modern
At Posilippo, in
Egyptians and by Italians.
February last, I gave a penny to a deaf mute; he
first spit on it, then put it to his forehead, and
lastly devoutly crossed himself with it, precisely
(except the crossing) as is done by modern
Egyptians. Even in far-off Celebes-the natives
spit in the same way as a protective rite.

F. T. ELWORTHY.

KEATS'S 'ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE' (8th S. viii. 429).

My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense.

'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-winged Dryad—

Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
Beyond doubt the poet must be disclaiming envy
on his own part. According to the mere position
of the words, he would seem to say, "Not through
envy, but because I am too happy in thy hap-
piness." But this cannot be. The reaction from
too great happiness might induce melancholy, but
scarcely such utter prostration of spirit as he com-
plains of. Must we not take it thus: "Tis not
through envy, but that thou, being too happy in
thy happiness-too happy to be in accord with my
already existing sadness—makest me yet more sad
by thy song of full-throated ease"?

"thine hap-
For MR. INGLEBY's second point,
piness," his law of euphony was not always in
force. The Psalter of 1539, preserved in the Book
While he lived, he
of Common Prayer, has,
counted himself an happy man." If this be thought
an insufficient rule for our day, would it be too
awful heresy to suggest that the Londoner bred
and born, and somewhat humbly born, may not
always have been quite precise about the aspirate?

Pauca tamen suberunt priscæ vestigia fraudis.
So it may have been, perhaps, even with the
exquisite ear of Keats. In my copy of Keats's

66

Is the alteration due to Mr. Poems," "edited by W. M. Rossetti," the text has thy happiness." C. B. MOUNT. Rossetti? In my humble opinion, he would have done better to let it alone.

I see no difficulty whatever in this stanza. What Keats intends to say is:

"My heart aches, but it is not through envy of thy
happy lot, but that I am too happy in sympathizing
with thy happiness. So great is the pleasure in thy
song and in all the thoughts and images it calls up, that
it is almost more than I can bear, and my senses reel
under it, as when Othello said,—
O thou weed,

Who art so lovely fair, and smell'st so sweet,
That the sense aches at thee."

My edition of Keats has "thy happiness." It is
of the year 1862, and edited by R. M. Milnes.
Boston, Lincolnshire.

R. R.

May I refer MR. INGLEBY to a note of my own, also to one by C. C. B., in N. & Q.,' 7th S. x. 11, in which we have explained, I hope satisfactorily, the construction of the first stanza of this "divine poem," as I called it then, and call it now! With regard to "thine happiness," I fancy MR. INGLEBY must have got this reading from a recent edition In the 1867 of the Golden Treasury, 1892. edition, as well as in my three editions of Keats's "Poems,' it is "thy happiness." "Thine," I supJONATHAN BOUCHIER. pose, is a misprint.

[Very numerous replies have been elicited. It is impossible to insert all.]

The

THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY (8th S. viii. 508). -MR. HART should consult 'The Battle Abbey Roll,' by the Duchess of Cleveland, published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, in 1889. original roll exists no longer, nor, if it did, would it be of value as an authority, inasmuch as in process of time names crept into it which had no business there, being inserted by the monks to oblige liberal patrons. Three copies of the roll remain, and these the duchess has given in her book, together with some account of the families the C. W. CASS. names of the ancestors of which appear in these copies.

The information which MR. H. T. HART requires can be obtained from the Duchess of Cleveland's

book 'The Battle Abbey Roll,' published in 3 vols. small 4to.

JOHN MURRAY.

"THE BEAUTIFUL MRS. ROUSBY" (8th S. viii. 507). Her maiden name was Dowse. She was of mixed parentage, her father, Dr. Dowse, whose fourth daughter she was, being Irish, and her mother Welsh. She was born in the Isle of Wight, and died at Wiesbaden 19 April, 1879. Her father, who predeceased her, was in the Army H. T. Medical Department, Inspector General of Hospitals.

HAWTAYNE (8th S. viii. 427).—By the Heralds' Visitations of co. Oxford it appears that Thomas Hawtayne was living at Calthorpe in 1634, and had brothers Henry and Edward. The father was Henry of Calthorpe, and the grandfather Gerrard of Easington. Calthorpe, Sibford Gower, and Milcombe are all in the neighbourhood of Banbury. LEO CULLETON.

BANISHMENT OF THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF SOMERSET (8th S. viii. 467).-Miss Aikin (Memoirs of James I.') says that they were restricted to "the house of Lord Wallingford, or its neighbourhood "; and Mr. Hepworth Dixon ('Her Majesty's Tower') says, vaguely, Bome country place"; and Kennet states that it was "a very obscure retreat,” where James occasionally visited Somerset.

Hastings.

EDWARD H. Marshall, M.A.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. English Minstrelsie. By 8. Baring-Gould, M.A. Vol. III. (Edinburgh, T. C. & E. C. Jack.) THE third part of English Minstrelsie' is inferior to neither of its predecessors in the variety of songs it affords. Among those now given areThe Lass of Richmond Hill, "My lodging is on the cold ground," "My mother bids me bind my hair" (for the insertion of which, since the music is by Haydn, an apology is offered), All's Well,' Buy a Broom, and many others. The notes still supply much curious information, and are accompanied by interesting illustrations, chiefly in the guise of portraits. The introduction mean time gives a readable, though not wholly trustworthy, history of the origin of opera. We have given so much praise to Mr. Baring-Gould in the previous portions of his work that he is bound to accept our rebuke for the carelessness he displays in the present section. We do not insist on such trifles as "Delphmi " for Delpini and other similar slips. On p. iii of his preface, however, Mr. Gould gives what pretends to be a quotation from Comus.' It is as follows:

"The Siege of Rhodes. Made a Representation by the Art of Prospective in Scenes and the Story sung in Recitative Musick. At the back part of Rutland House in the upper end of Aldersgate Street, London. London, Printed by J. M. for Henry Herringham, and are to be sold at his shop, at the Sign of the Anchor, on the Lower Walk, in the New Exchange. 1656." Concession for the performance of "Declamation and Musick after the Manner of the Ancients" had been obtained from Cromwell by Whitelock. If Mr. Baring-Gould is ignorant concerning this work, we will on application tell him where he can learn all about it. D'Avenant, we have said, called it in 1656 an opera. The first recorded use of the word in the Century Dictionary' is in the preface to Dryden's 'Albion and Albanius,' first printed 1685. We do not wish to discourage the editor, whose work is intended to be popular. Cognizance of mistakes and omissions such as we bave indicated must, however, be taken, in case a reprint is demanded.

An Introduction to Folk-lore. By Marian Roalfe Cox.
(Nutt.)

To the originator of N. & Q.,' as everybody except a
whilom editor of the Antiquary knows, is due the inven-
tion of the word "folk-lore." From his time until the
present N. & Q.' has devoted a large space in its columns
to the subject. While, however, details have been
assiduously collected, the task of applying them to the
illustration of the growth of superstitious beliefs and of
rewriting by their aid the history of human thought and
progress has been comparatively neglected. To those
who aim at a knowledge of the results already attained
by the study of folk-lore, and who, by its light, seek to
pursue archæological and anthropological studies, this
work of Miss Cox may be warmly commended. It is
an invaluable introduction to the works of Grimm,
Herbert Spencer, Tylor, Frazer, and other writers who
are effecting a silent revolution, and is, at the same time,
to some extent an epitome of their proceedings. Few
studies more fascinating than that of the influence of
folk-lore present themselves to minds of a certain order.
For the beginner in this line the new volume is indis-
pensable; to the most experienced it presents itself as a
pleasant and profitable companion. It is avowedly from
the anthropological standpoint that Miss Cox approaches
the subject. With such questions as concern the Psychical
Society-the existence of ghosts and the possibility of
the savage having acquaintance with them-she does
not deal. She, to employ her own words, follows
"leaders who explain the universal barbaric belief in
spirits as the result of a misunderstanding of normal
phenomens, such as dreams, faintings, death."
earlier chapters deal with "The Separable Soul,'
"Animal Ancestors," "Animism," and "The Other
World"; the later with magic, myths, folk-tales, &c.,
including cannibalism, sorcery, the evil eye, beast fables,
and the like. Her book, a repertory of curious informa-
tion, may be read from cover to cover, as we have tested,

Her

I must put off These my sky robes, spun out of Iris' wool, And take the weed and likeness of a swain That to the service of this muse belongs. The italics are ours. In these four lines there are three blunders, two of them terrible. "Weed" should be weeds, "wool" should be woof, and " muse "should be house. This is, of course, accident. It will, however, be hard for Mr. Baring-Gould to defend it. Of the well-known story which he tells concerning the Crom-with constant interest and advantage. There are few, wellian General Harrison, that when the Cavaliers had laid down their arms he, recognizing Robinson as a

through the portals into the land in which fact replaces
moreover, who, having, under her guidance, passed
conjecture, will not be disposed to further exploration,
which we cannot but wish them a guide so trust-
worthy and so capable.

Folk-Phrases of Four Counties (Gloucestershire, Stafford-
shire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire). Gathered from
Unpublished MSS. and Oral Tradition. By G. F.
Northall. (Oxford, University Press.)

player, hewed him down, saying, "Cursed be he that
doeth the work of the Lord negligently!" Mr. Baring-in
Gould says: "The story is inaccurate in one particular.
The player thus sacrificed was net Robinson." It is
inaccurate in another. The charge is that Harrison shot
Robinson with a pistol, which is not in the least hewing
him down. No mention is made of the performance at
Rutland House-qy. on 21 May, 1656-of the “opera
(80 called by D'Avenant, the author) of 'The Siege of
Rhodes.' This is absolutely the beginning of opera in
England, and as such calls for mention. Its title is

WE welcome gladly this collection of folk-phrases. Some of them are in use wherever our language is spoken, others we have heard in northern and eastern shires; but there are many which we have made acquaint

ance with for the first time in Mr. Northall's book. Though not proverbs they are of a similar character, and many of them are, without doubt, very old. They belong to times and classes over which literature, as we understand the term, had no influence. Not a few have reference to some one of those many practical jokes which our forefathers thought so very entertaining. For example, "a horse with its head where its tail ought to be" is explained to be a horse standing with its "tail towards the manger." This is correct so far as it goes, but does not explain the origin of the saying. In days gone by, men were wont to visit our larger fairs, hiring a stable or other outhouse they could use as one, having doors at the front and back communicating with different streets. Here they would tie a horse with his tail to the rack and then send round a crier to give notice that they were exhibiting a horse with its head where its tail should be. As the charge for admission was very small, multitudes went to see the sight, and all were shown out by a different way from that by which they had entered, so that the cheat was not exposed at once. The writer knew a gentleman who in the days of his green youth was imposed on in this way at one of the great fairs of the eastern counties.

"A month of Sundays" is, we understand, common. We have heard of women promising to do something or other for their children, which is wrong or impossible, some Sunday in the middle of next week. We have a notion, but cannot give a reference to the passage, that Rabelais, or as, perhaps, we ought to say, his translator Sir Thomas Urquhart, refers to a week with three Thursdays in it. "As full as a tick" is a very widely known comparison. We have been told, and believe, that it refers not to a bed-tick, which is seldom so full of feathers that it would not hold more, but to the mite known as the dog-tick, which frequently charges itself with blood almost to the bursting point.

That's a rhyme, if you 'll take it in time
is only the first line of a triplet :-
It's a rhyme yet, if you 've got any wit,
It's neither rhyme nor reason, if you don't take it in

season.

There may be more still, but the above are all we have

heard.

We do not think Mr. Northall has come upon "Don't run along like a barrow with a square wheel." It is often said to children who are sluggish in the dispatch A person of messages on which they have been sent. not remarkable for truthfulness, said to us a few days

ago, in relation to a matter about which we expressed
anxiety, "It's as sure as God made rain."

Notes on the Church of St. Peter of Mancroft, Norwich.
By James Hooper. (Norwich, Goose.)
THIS is an excellent pamphlet, with a copy of which
every one who visits the grand old church of St. Peter,
Mancroft, would do well to provide himself. Mr. Hooper
traces the history of the foundation from its earliest
days, gives a description-so far as is possible-of the
church when in its most glorious estate, tells us what it
is like now, and ends with some extracts from the
churchwardens' accounts, several of which are very
interesting as throwing light on the ways of our fore-

fathers.

The college attached fell in 1545, when its property came into the hands of the king. In 1552 Edward VI., or rather those who ruled in his name, granted this property to two Norwich gentlemen, to be held of the Manor of East Greenwich by fealty only." This is worth remarking on. Such words, or others like them, are common in Tudor grants. East Greenwich seems

to have been regarded as a typical manor, to the customs of which, so far as was possible, it was well to induce conformity.

The account of the splendour of the church during the latter days when the unreformed services were in use is picturesquely written; but we would suggest that orfreys were by no means "phylacteries," and, so far as we can call to mind, were not called so, except, it may be, by some of the more violent of the Reformers, who used it as a term of abuse.

It is interesting to find that in a noble church of this character there is no chancel arch. This is, or rather was, a feature far less uncommon than many people think; but church restorers in modern days have in too many instances taken upon themselves to supply what they have regarded as a defect. An example of this kind of injudicious treatment may be seen at Kirton-inLindsey. Before the restoration works took place there was no chancel arch. The architect's plan contained an ornate feature of this kind. Various experts strongly protested against this tasteless intrusion, but the authorities were deaf, and the new arch still offends the eye of the beholder.

There was, it appears, in former days a brass in this church with an invocation to the three kings of Cologne. Has it found its way into some museum or the hands of a private collector, or is it It is not there now. lost? Happily Mr. Hooper has been able to reproduce the inscription. In 1851 certain earthenware jars were found buried beneath the floor of the choir. This caused We believe that it is now much wonder at the time, and many theories were put forth to account for it. generally accepted that these jars were placed where they were found for acoustic purposes. A similar discovery was made about the same date in the choir of Fountains Abbey. Earl de Grey had men engaged in removing the rubbish from the interior of the church, and the wheel of one of the carts employed crushed a jar nearer the surface than the rest, which led to the discovery of two long rows.

The author informs us that the parish registers are complete from the year 1538. Such is very seldom the Our genealogical readers will call to mind that Thomas Cromwell, ordered these records to be kept. 1538 was the year when Henry VIII.'s Vicar-General,

саве.

Fotices 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."

J. J. HEAD (" Rune Song ").-This has been frequently discussed in 'N. & Q. See 7th S. vii. 264, 337, 438, 495, s. v. Carols and Songs.'

NOTICE.

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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.

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