bird in its nuptial dress close to the Arctic Circle on the Yenisei. This was, so to speak, an outward visible sign of an inward and future clutch-the spolia opima of the whole egg-collecting trip; but circumstances prevented Mr. Seebohm reaching the nesting ground for which the bridal feathers had been growing. Next we hear of Dr. Finsch, who delights, as all oologists should, in a birdlike name, and he declared that he had found the downy young on the Yalmal Peninsula. He seems to have failed in the exactly opposite way to Mr. Seebohm. We hear nothing from Dr. Finsch of a nuptial dress, he has to confine himself to baby-linen-the fluffy down of the plump fledgelings. pleased to correspond with any one able to 10, Palmerston Mansions, West Kensington. QUEEN ELIZABETH AND FOREIGN DECORATIONS.-I distinctly remember reading some years ago an incident in connexion with Queen Elizabeth-that one of her ambasthe Government to which he was accredited, sadors, having been offered a decoration by applied for permission to accept and wear it. with the remark that "English dogs shall This application she indignantly refused, only wear their master's collars." where this characteristic story of Queen Folkestone. MARRIAGE OF JAMES, FIRST LORD DUNKELD. The third enthusiast, a Dr. von Middendorf, nearly obtained the object of his quest, or at least he was nearly a whole egg-shell better than his predecessors, for he is delighted to tell us that he found the desired birds on the tundras of the Taimijr in lat. 74° N., and secured a female with a partially shelled egg in her oviduct! O that it had been possible for this glory to have fallen to one of our own countrymen! Alas! it has been other--G. E. C., in his 'Complete Peerage,' states, wise, and this Dr. von Middendorf, presumably a German, holds the world's record for possessing a larger quantity of authentic egg-shell from these three desired varieties of the Limicole than any other collector. It seems sad to end the tale thus. Cannot Britons come in somewhere or somehow? Well, there is just a chance. Of the last variety, the knot, there is an egg, not perfectly authenticated, in the British Museum, in the Kensington department, and Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, the Curator, says, "it looks exactly the kind of egg one might expect the knot to lay," so perhaps the British Museum holds, as trustee for our oologists, the world's record after all. So mote it be. To put myself in order I will conclude with a query. How can any one, even an experienced oologist, "spot" an egg before it is NE QUID NIMIS. laid? following Douglas and Crawfurd, that Sir James Galloway, who was created Lord Dunkeld by Charles I., married daughter of Sir Robert Norter. Can any reader point out where proof of this or any other marriage of Lord Dunkeld can be found, or identify Sir Robert Norter, whose name seems to be utterly unknown? It seems possible that " Norter" may have been substituted for some other name through misreading of a MS. or misprint. R. E. B. NAPOLEONIC CONSPIRACY IN ENGLAND.-I am desirous of knowing of a book or pamphlet, or other source, which would give information as to a plot that was formed in England in 1814 to assist Napoleon to leave Elba. I understand that communication was entered into with him, but that he refused to accept the offer of assistance. F. S. "WAX TO RECEIVE, AND MARBLE TO RE'DIE AND BE DAMNED.'-Who is T. MortiTAIN."-Who wrote the above, referring to mer, to whom the Editor, at 9th S. iii. 128, the mind during the period of youth? attributes this polemic against the Methodists in general, and the Rev. Mr. Romaine in particular? F. LUCIS. [Imitated from Cervantes by Byron, 'Beppo,' stanza 34.] BIRCH, BURCH, OR BYRCH FAMILIES.-I have collected a large amount of genealogical data relating to families of the above name in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Berkshire, Essex, Kent, Middlesex, and elsewhere, covering the last 300 years. Being desirous of obtaining further particulars, I shall be ALEXANDER GARDEN, M.D.-Dr. Garden, a botanist of Charlestown, South Carolina, and a vice-president of the Royal Society, died in 1791. In the 'D.N.B.' his father is said to be a Rev. Alexander Garden, of the Church of England, who went out to Charlestown in 1719. A collateral branch of his family state that the parentage given in this dictionary, and all other dictionaries, is of the name claim it as Saxon, others as an error that his father was the Rev. Celtic. Can any of your correspondents Alexander Garden, Church of Scotland, throw any light upon this matter, or give me Birse, Aberdeenshire, to whose memory a the name of an author who has dealt philomarble tablet, with a Latin inscription, was logically with name origins? placed by Dr. Garden in the Birse Church EDWD. JACKSON. in 1789. Can any of your readers, or Dr. [New editions of Bardsley's 'English and Welsh Garden's descendants, explain the apparent Surnames' and Barber's 'British Family Names' error? ALAISTER MACGILLEAN. have recently appeared.] STEP-BROTHER. I have been interested lately in a discussion as to the correct meaning of the term step-brother. I have looked the word up in about eight different dictionaries. Two give decided definitions, but as they are different, they do not help much. All the rest give opinions which might be considered either for or against one's own. Must a person and his step-brother have one common parent? or is it when a widower with children marries a widow with children that these children of previous marriages become step-brothers and step-sisters? RACHEL BLAIKLEY. WILLIAM GIBBARD was admitted to Westminster School, 8 September, 1777, and became a King's Scholar in 1783. Í should be glad to ascertain any particulars of his career and the date of his death. G. F. R. B. WELLINGTON'S HORSES.-Where can information be found as to the breeding of Wellington's chargers, and particularly whether they had anything to do with a "Wellesley Arabian" whose portrait was painted by J. L. Agasse? It seems the Wellesley Arabian died 1811 (J. C. Whyte, 'British Turf,' vol. ii. appendix); and in the 'Racing Calendar' for 1804 and subsequent years a chestnut Arabian and a grey Arabian, both said to be brought from India in 1803 by "the Hon. Mr. Wellesley," are advertised as stallions. The Mr. Wellesley referred to was apparently Henry Wellesley, afterwards the first Baron Cowley, youngest brother of Wellington. I believe a good deal has been written about the horse on whose back Wellington is represented at Hyde Park Corner. C. F. H. FETTIPLACE.-Can any reader inform me if any MSS. or records of the family of Fettiplace are in existence? I believe the family at one time owned Ockwells Manor and Childrey, both in Berks, also property in Oxon. C. P. COLLINS.-I wish to learn the origin and centre of distribution of the name Collins. The name is found in Ireland, and very generally along the South of England. Some LAMONT HARP.-Who bought the Lamont harp, sold at Edinburgh on 12 March for 500 guineas? As this passed into private hands, its destination should be recorded in 'N. & Q.' for future reference. 66 T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A. THE SUN AND ITS ORBIT. - The Marquis Breviary, published in 1879, has at p. 408 a of Bute, in his translation of the Roman foot-note in reference to the sun, reading thus: Modern astronomers believe the centre of its orbit to be a star (Alcyone) in the constellation Pleiades." He quotes no authority in support of his assertion, nor have I succeeded in finding any. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to throw a light on the subject. ROBERT PARKER. Replies. "SMALLAGE." (10th S. i. 288.) IN my 'Concise Etymological Dictionary' I give : "Smallage, celery. For small ache; from,, F. ache, parsley, which is from L. apium, parsley." situations. Like most popular terms of the kind, however, "ache" was applied to various plants resembling one another. (See the 'N.E.D.,' s v. 'Ache,' sb. 2.) It is itself a corruption of the apium which garlanded the brows of bibulous Romans (cf. Horace, 'Odes,' iv. 11), and which was used as a mark too, one trespasses beyond the etymology of of distinction in the Isthmian games. If, "smallage," the literary pedigree of the plant The explanation is simply that the sound of ch in ache has been "voiced" to the soundOdyssey' without much misgiving as to the of j in age, owing to the lack of stress on the syllable, just as from the M.E. knowlechen we have obtained the modern knowledge. I simply gave "celery" as the explanation, because it seemed sufficient to identify the word. The Oxford Dictionary explains celery as "an umbelliferous plant (Apium graveolens) cultivated for the use of its blanched stalks as a salad and vegetable; in its wild form (smallage) indigenous in some parts of England." There is a good account of it in Lyte's translation of Dodoens, book v. ch. xlii., headed-Of Marish Parsely, March, or Smallach.' As to the name, he says: "Smallach is called in Greeke ¿Moσédiov [sic]; in Latine, Apium palustre and Paludapium-that is to say, Marish Parsely: of some, vdpoolλivov äypiov, Hydroselinon agrion-that is, wild water Parsely, and Apium rusticum; in shops, Apium; in French, De L'ache: in high Douch, Epffich; in base Almaigne, Iouffrouw merck; and of some, after the Apothecaries, Eppe: in English, March, Smallach, and marish Parsely." The M.E. ache, wild celery, is as old as This is a phonetic modification of small In popular word-formation scant attention is paid to the philological proprieties; other wise we might well be speaking of "pettiage' instead of "smallage." For this plant-name is etymologically a word of good old AngloSaxon stock welded on to another of French extraction. The final syllable is a corruption of ache, which according to Littré is still the name of a "plante ombellifère qui ressemble au persil," though it has ceased to have an independent existence in English. "Smallage" is, in fact, "small-ache," properly the wild celery (Apium graveolens), also called waterparsley to distinguish it from common or rock parsley, which grows in much drier can be traced back to the selinon of the correctitude of the generic identification. We can hardly credit the Greeks with such pedantic accuracy in "dressing "tombs that they always chose the true parsley for the purpose. J. DORMER. "Smallage, as Pliny writeth, hath a peculiar vertue against the biting of venomous spiders."Gerarde (1545-1607). by the name of Maspetum, came very near in all "The leaves of this plant, which they termed respects to those of smallach or persely."-Holland (1551-1636), Plinie's Nat. Hist., v. ii. p. 8. The Rev. T. Lewis O. Davies, in his Supplementary English Glossary, gives the same meaning, but adds that Tusser, in his 'Husbandrie,' 1573, recommends "smalach for swellings." Heywood, in his 'Marriage Triumphe,' 1613, says: Smallage, balme, germander, basell, and lilly, The pinke, the flower-de-luce, and daffadilly. Herrick (1591-1674), in addition to the quotation already given from the 'Hesperides,' in No. 82 has : But now 'tis known, behold! behold, I bring This word has already been discussed in 71, Brecknock Road. Gerarde, in his 'Herbal,' devotes a page to the description of smallage, or water parsley, and gives a woodcut of it. He says it is "seldom eaten, neither is it counted good for sauce, but it is very profitable for medicine." Enlarging on this latter quality, he says: "The juice thereof is good for many things: it clenseth, openeth, attenuateth, or maketh thin; the malicious and venomous ulcers of the mouth, it removeth obstructions......doth perfectly cure and of the almonds of the throat with the decoction of Barly and Mel rosarum, or hony of roses, added.” I quote from the edition of 1633. HOWARD S. PEARSON. MACMICHAEL are also thanked for replies.] (DR. FORSHAW, A. H., and MR. HOLDEN SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE (10th S. i. 288).-Why should MR. I. H. PLATT go out of the trend of his argument to assert repeatedly that the quatrain on Shakespeare's tombstone is doggerel? Surely no one on this side of the pond will thank him for it. "The lines are said to have been written by Shakespeare himself; but may we not rather suppose that the sentiment alone is his, and that the words in which it is conveyed were supplied by a reverential survivor?"-'Beauties of England and Wales.' tion on the monument bears date and concludes as follows: "Obiit Ano. Doi. 1616. Etatis 53. Die 23. Ap." MR. PLATT'S researches would be greatly simplified and augmented by a reference to the afore-mentioned work. CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D., F.R. Hist. S. Baltimore House, Bradford. FOOTBALL ON SHROVE TUESDAY (10th S. i. 127, 194, 230).-Sunday football used to be common. Until 1825 an annual match, beginning on the racecourse, was played at Beverley on the Sunday preceding the races (W. Andrews's 'Old Church Lore,' 1891, p. 96). Can any one tell me whether in this game, and in Shrovetide football in Derbyshire, as played, for instance, at Ashbourne and Derby-also in the Shrovetide football at Chester-le-Street-the opposed sides were players from different townships, districts, or trades? MR. PLATT asks if there is any earlier authority than Dugdale's Warwickshire.' If he is a Shakespearian student he should know that the monument was erected within the seven years preceding Shakespeare's death, and that a prevailing tradition is that the bust was copied from a cast after nature. There can be no question as to the slab with the "doggerel" lines covering the actual burial-place of the "immortal bard." "Within this monument" must, of course, not be From the information afforded by corretaken literally; but doubtless the following spondents of N. & Q.' I judge that Shrove from the Warwickshire volume (1814) of the Tuesday football is nearly allied to "camp'Beauties of England and Wales' will ing, will ing," a once popular East Anglian sport, help MR. PLATT to grasp more fully the which has, I fancy, been already discussed in these pages. Certain French ecclesiastical ball-games, supposed to be remnants of sunworship, should also be remembered in this connexion, and I believe that India affords G. W. examples of a similar kind. situation: "About five feet from the floor, on the north wall, is a monument raised by the grateful tenderness of those who did not venture to apprehend that the works of such a man must embalm his memory through every succeeding age. Inarched between two Corinthian columns of black marble, with gilded bases and capitals, is here placed the half-length effigies of Shakespeare, a cushion before him, a pen in the right hand, and the left resting on a scroll. Above the entablature are his armorial bearings (the tilting spear point upwards; and the falcon supporting a spear for the crest). Over the arms, at the pinnacle of the monument, is a death's head; and on each side is a boy figure, in a sitting attitude, one holding a spade, and the other, whose eyes are closed, bearing with the left hand an inverted torch, and resting the right upon a chapless skull. The effigies of Shakespeare was originally coloured to resemble life, and its appearance, before touched by innovation, is thus described: "The eyes were of a light hazel, and the hair and beard auburn. The dress consisted of a scarlet doublet, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves. The lower part of a cushion before him was of a crimson colour, and the upper part green, with gilt tassels."" This is a quotation from Wheler's 'Stratford,' p. 72. In 1748 this monument was repaired by a company of strolling players, who raised money for that purpose by performing in Stratford the play of Othello.' In this repair the colours originally bestowed on the effigies were carefully restored by a limner residing in the town; but in 1793 the bust and figures above it were painted white at the request of Malone. The inscrip 'EDWIN DROOD' CONTINUED (9th S. xii. 389, 510; 10th S. i. 37).-Although Wilkie Collins did not write a continuation to Edwin Drood,' there is such a continuation attributed to him, now on sale in the United States, and possibly also in Britain. Its titlepage reads : "John Jasper's Secret.' Sequel to Charles Dickens' 'Mystery of Edwin Drood,' by Charles Dickens the Younger, and Wilkie Collins. R. F. Fenno & Co., 9 and 11, East Sixteenth Street, New York City, 1901." แ This work was written by Henry Morford, a New York journalist, assisted by his wife. They spent several months in England in the summer of 1871, living in London and working at the libraries, but also visiting Rochester, Gadshill, Cobham, and district once or twice each week. They worked upon "hints supplied by him [Dickens], unwittingly, for a much closer estimate of the bearings of those portions remaining unwritten than he could probably have believed while in life," and upon many other particulars, laboriously but lovingly procured." The work was published anonymously, as a weekly serial, in the Chimney Corner (London and New York) in 1871; as a monthly serial in shilling parts (1871-2); in book form by T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, 1871; and again in London (342, Strand) in 1872. At least one other edition was published by the Petersons, so that the present (Fenno's) edition is the third (or later) in American book form. I think, but am not quite sure, that the property passed through the hands of another publisher, between the Petersons and the Fennos, and that this intermediate hand placed the names of Charles Dickens, jun., and Wilkie Collins on the titlepage, at a time when both the parties and also the real author were dead. Mrs. Morford informs me that these facts have been brought to the notice of Messrs. Fenno & Co., who have undertaken that any new edition of the book which may be demanded shall be duly credited to Henry Morford. Particulars of other 66 continuations of Edwin Drood' are to be found in 'Dickensiana,' by F. G. Kitton (George Red way, 1886), and in The Minor Writings of Charles Dickens,' by the same (Elliot Stock, 1900). H. SNOWDEN WARD. Hadlow, Kent. SMOTHERING HYDROPHOBIC PATIENTS (10th S. i. 65, 176, 210).—That this custom obtained in England in the eighteenth century seems very probable, for Gunning, in his Reminiscences of Cambridge,' mentions it. Speaking of the Rev. Samuel Peck, B.D., one of the Senior Fellows of Trinity College, he observes: p. 350. In the first 'Gazetteer of the Australian Colonies,' compiled by W. H. Wells, and published in 1848, localities called Paradise and Pandemonium are noted on p. 330, and one styled Purgatory is referred to on In the early years of colonization there was a good deal of this eccentric, unconventional nomenclature, the pioneer golddiggers being probably the worst offenders. Many of the erratic, incongruous, roughand-ready names then conferred have been very properly abolished during recent years, and the places rechristened with more graceful and euphonious titles. J. F. HOGAN. Royal Colonial Institute. is reached by a line connecting Trondhjem The pretty little Norwegian village of Hell with Storlien, twenty (English) miles from the former, and forty-six from the latter. I have visited it on several occasions, and ca testify it is by no manner of means in "a deep hollow, or a darksome place" (ante, p. 95). "An opinion once prevailed in this county [Cam- It lies near the mouth of the Stjordalselo bridgeshire] (and I fear in many others) that when and in the midst of fine scenery. All its a person had been bitten by a mad dog, and symp- houses are of wood, and these are prettily toms of having taken the infection showed themselves, the relations of the suffering party were painted-yellow, grey, and a dark red being justified in smothering the patient between two the predominant colours. The church itself feather beds. This question he formally proposed is of a Salvation Army red, with white winto the judges, and to their answer that persons dow frames, and has a black turret. The thus acting would undoubtedly be guilty of murder' he gave all possible publicity. For this he deserved great credit, as I have heard persons of undoubted veracity declare that it was considered not only to be legal, but really to be an act of kindness.' Vol. ii. p. 108. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. "There is no cure for the bite of a mad dog, and as at this time dogs go mad, it is proper to observe, that immediate burning out of the bitten part by caustic, or the cutting of it out by the surgeon's knife, is the only remedy. If either burning or cutting be omitted, the bitten person, unless opiumed to death, or smothered between feather beds, will in a few days or weeks die in unspeakable agony. The latter means are said to have been very signposts are a pillar-box red. The 66 Vester Boulevard, Copenhagen. are named the Old Purgatory Farm, the New Birklands, Southport. |