Gae, burn, fresh water; B. bron; T. born; Ger. brunnen; Gothic, brunna a spring, from the verb to run. But burn must not be confused with the Bourney, a place in Ireland, for this is from the Irish Boireann (burren), a large rock; and is applied to a stony, rocky district. Burren, a river joining the Barrow, at Carlow, means a rocky river. J. J.

CURMUDGEON (Vol. ii. 289) is an expressive term for "one who is churlish-minded." The prefix, in its original form, is ceor, a bondsman; connected with ceorl, literally one who is "collared," and finally "churl," the lowest grade of Saxon freeman; the root of the two last syllables is in mód, i.e., mood or mind, amplified we get "módig," our moody. Thus ceorl-módig-an, or "churlish in mood," is the precursor of our curmudgeon.

A. HALL.

SIDE SADDLE (Vol. ii. 275). - The side-saddle, TURNSPIT says, came in with Anne of Bohemia. That the older fashion was not entirely displaced, however, by 1390, is plain from Chaucer's graphic description of the riding attire of the Wife of Bath :

Uppon an amblere esely sche sat,
Wymplid ful wel, and on hire heed an hat

As brood as is a bocler or a targe;

A foot-mantel aboute her hupes large,

And on hire feet a paire of spores scharpe,

In felawschipe wel cowde lawghe and carpe.

Z.

speaking of the Norwegian kingdom of Waterford, says : "The Irish called the town 'Port Lairge;' to which name, however, modern Irish scholars wouid ascribe a 'Danish' origin, as it is supposed to be derived from a Danish chief called Lairge, mentioned in the Irish Annals in the year 951." J. Ск. R.

FLY-LEAF SCRAPS (Vol. ii. 297). On the fly-leaf of a copy of Rudiman's Rudiments, used by me at a Scotch Grammar School forty years ago, is scribbled a scrap consisting of five words, which read up or down, backwards or forwards, gives the same words

that the earliest English Ready Reckoner was Leybourne's

Panarithmologia, published in London in 1693. A second edition of this book, I have reason to know, came out in London in 1709. The third edition of the Comes Commercii; or, the Trader's Companion, by "Edw. Hattan, Gent." was published in London in 1716. I never saw a copy of the first edition of this work. Mr. De Morgan speaks of a Ready Reckoner, by John Playford, entitled the Vade Mecum; or, the Necessary Pocket Companion, which, in 1756, had reached its nineteenth edition.

In fir tar is, in oak none is; In mud eel is, in clay none is.

ZERO.

MERTON COLLEGE HALL (Vol. ii. 279). - May I point

out that you have mixed up the restoration of the Hall at Merton and the Cathedral at Christchurch. The first half

of the paragraph relates to Merton, the latter half relates to Christchurch. It seems a pity that the Antiquary should copy paragraphs from other newspapers without great care being exercised, for what is pardonable in a daily paper is not so in one devoted entirely to antiquarianism.

Oxford.

J. P. EARWAKER.

[We admit the justice of the censure contained in the remarks of our correspondent, but must plead in extenuation that the paragraph in question had been in type before we entered upon the editorial supervision, and for which we cannot fairly be held responsible.-ED.]

TULIP MANIA (Vol. ii. 299). -Dr. Charles Mackay's work is the Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, in two vols. My copy is dated 1852. The article on tulips is very full and exhaustive. Vol. i. pp. 85-92.

Andover.

SAMUEL SHAW.

Canamaretots.

Can a mare eat oats?-ED.]

CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS OF HORLEY, SURREY (Vol ii. 299). This curious and interesting old folio is preserved in the Manuscript Department of the British Museum (see Add. MSS., 6173). The book appears to commence in 1519, according to what is stated on the flyleaf; but the date on fol. 5 is much earlier, i.e. 1505-7The binding is, no doubt, original, but the clasps are missing. The back of the book and the first fol. reveals something of its history. "Parish Acc. of Horley, Co., Surrey. Illus. Brit. Ex Dono Gul. Bray Armig." &c. A member or two of the Bray family are noticeable in the latter part of the book also. W. WINTERS.

a

un

was restored about

CHURCH PROPERTY (Vol. ii. 298). -I cannot refer INVESTIGATOR to histories, and fear, indeed, that very few records exist in print of improvements in church livings, and augmentations of the values caused by the voluntary munificence of patrons and incumbents, yet such have doubtedly been of enormous extent even within the present generation. Can any estimate be formed of what has been done by the clergy in the restoration of churches, or the building of new district churches and schools? I will mention only three instances which have come incidentally under my observation. St. Margaret's Church, Canterbury, living wing worth less than 100l. a year, fifteen years ago, and the then rector gave 600l, out of his own pocket towards the restoration, and that was only one out of several munificent donations. 2. A rector of Exford, near Minehead, not only rebuilt the rectory-house, which had fallen into ruinous state, and was occupied by a labourer, entirely at his own cost, and made roads and hedges, greatly improving the value of the living, but also bought back a field which had once been part of the glebe, but had long been alienated, and bequeathed it as a perpetual augmentation of the living, to the college which had presented him to it. 3. A former rector of a living in Lincolnshire, near Boston, gave the ground and 1000/. towards a new district church, and the ground on which to build a school for the same district, and he and his family

a

in any way. The above instances have come to my know ledge quite accidentally, and I have no doubt that the total number of such benefactions and donations by the clergy themselves during the present century would be found, if they could be computed, to have increased vastly the aggre. gate of church property. F. J. L., M.Α.

Replies to Queries ab extra.

FINGER: PINK.

In a recent issue of a contemporary (see Notes and Queries 4 S. 472), I notice a query by Dr. Hyde Clarke about the word pink, and whether it is used in any part of England to signify the little finger.

In Scotland pinkie is a very common term for this finger. The word is met with in the popular nursery rhyme.

There's the ane that broke the barn,
There's the ane that stole the corn,
There's the ane that sat and saw,
There's the ane that ran awa,

And there's wee wee pinkie that paid for a'.

These lines correspond to the five digits, beginning with the thumb, giving each a shake while repeating this appropriate line, and finishing off the climax at pinkie with a double shake. Like all nursery rhymes in which the child is the principal, it never fails to amuse, and it is very probable that the youngster will ask for "more," or produce the other hand to be operated upon in the same way. ROBERT DRENNAN.

Richmond-road, Barnsbury, N.

[Pink means a fish, a minnow, and in a secondary sense seems to have the significance of small or young, Belgic pink, small. In the dialect of Craven pinky-winky means peeping with small eyes. A Netherdutch Dictionarie (Het Goot Woorden Boeck), Rotterdam, 1658, has de Pink, the little finger.-KD.]

Proceedings of Societies.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-A meeting of this society will be holden on Tuesday, January 7, 1873, when the following papers will be read: 1. On the Tomb of Joseph at Shechem. By Professor Donaldson, Ph.D., K.L., F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A. 2. On Some Recent Discoveries in S.W. Arabia. By Captain W. F. Prideaux, F.R.G.S. (of Aden). The following candidates will be balloted for :Rev. John Finlayson, M.A., Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, M.P., D.C.L.; D. Clewin Griffith, Esq., F.R.G.S.; John Henry Gurney, Esq.; Rev. W. Houghton; B. G. Jenkins, Esq.; Charles T. Newton, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.L.; George Warrington, Esq., B.A., F. R. S.; Rev. John Wells, M.A.

Obituary.

We have to record the death, on the 7th ult., of the Rev. Robert James Brown, D.D., Professor of Greek in Marischal College, Aberdeen. Professor Brown was son of the Very Reverend Dr. Brown, Principal of Marischal College and University, and one of the ministers of the city of Aberdeen.

PROFESSOR BÄHR, the well-known editor of Herodotus, died at Heidelberg on the 28th of last November. He was seized with apoplexy while present at a banquet given to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Godfrey Hermann, and expired the same night.

Notices to Correspondents.

J. J. Jr. will please take note that communications for the editor are required to be addressed to the publishing office-not to the printers.

B. R. S. Frost. - We return with thanks Dr. Oliver's MS. under a registered cover. We regret that this is not suitable to print with illustrations in the Antiquary, and for the reason that the representation of the stamps are very inaccurate. The stamps on the bells at

each arm of the initial cross terminating in elaborate Fleurs-de-lis. founder's initials are omitted. We believe the MS. has never been inscriptions are generally correct. On the fifth bell the printed verbatim; but the inscriptions appeared once in Notes and Queries, and were copied thence into a work on Church Bells. Student-at-Law. Consult Part II. of Notes on the Temple Church, to be found in No. VII., new series, of the Law Magazine and Review for the month of August, 1872.

J. B. The best account of Durham is the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, by Robert Surtees, London, 1816-40. This work may be consulted in the British Museum.

E. (Bristol). -The Abbe L. Roger was Dean of Bourges. He published some theological dissertations about the year 1715.

M.A. Oxon. The quotation you give is in substance what Porson does say; but his ipsissima verba are, "As the orthodox are never weary in repeating the same baffled and exploded reasons, we heretics must never be weary of answering them." We cannot notice your query other than in this form. We eschew everything tending to theological discussion.

F. C. Stanley.-Arms are granted by the Earl Marshal through the College of Arms, Bennet's Hill, the fees for which amount to some seventy or eighty pounds. Arms are granted to any one of the requisite social status, that is, to Clergymen, Physicians, Surgeons, Barristers-at-law, Officers of the Army and Navy, Bankers, Merchants, and the like, but not to shopkeepers, unless such happen to be Mayors or Aldermen, who, on account of the dignity of their respective offices, are admitted into the category of gentlemen. In Scotland the fees and stamp (which latter, we believe, is in every case ten pounds) amount to about forty-three pounds. We are not informed regarding the fees payable at the office of the Ulster King.

C. J. L. The monumental effigies on the floor of the Temple Round are not those of Knights Templars. The latter were always buried in the habit of their order. This was a long white mantle, with a red cross on the left breast. The mail-clad figures are those of secular warriors, who, by virtue of a rule of the order, had been admitted Associates of the Temple.

C. Maclean. The late Dr. F. C. Husenbeth was designated by Notes and Queries, Very Reverend, for the reason that the deceased was a Canon of the Church of Rome, and such are so styled by members of their own communion. In the Church of England, which alone in England can confer a legal right to ecclesiastical titles, a canon is simply Reverend, the title Very Reverend being an appendant to the office of Dean. The Presbyterian Church of Scotland-the State Church of that kingdom-limits the title Very Reverend to the heads of colleges and universities when presided over by ministers of the established Church, as the Very Reverend Principal So-and-so.

Jaycee. It was Cobbett who termed Fitzgerald the "Small Beer Poet."

T. D.-Byron states that Jeffrey and Moore met at Chalk Farm, and that the duel was prevented by the police. "On examination," he says, "the balls of the pistols, like the courage of the combatants, were found to have evaporated. This incident," Lord Byron continues, "gave occasion to much waggery in the daily prints."

R. Paget. An account of the Highland sentinel who so gallantly lost his life while defending his post in front of the gaol at Castlebar, will be found in Sir Richard Musgrave's Rebellions in Ireland, Dublin, 1801. The French approached the new gaol," he says, "t break it open. It was guarded by a Highland Fraser sentinel, whom his friends had desired to retreat with them; but he heroically refused to quit his post, which was elevated, with some steps leading to it. He charged and fired five times successively, and killed a Frenchman at every shot; but before he could charge the sixth time they rushed upon him, beat out his brains, and threw him down the steps, and the sentry-box on his body." In the history by Maxwell, the Highlander is represented in an illustration by George Cruik. shank.

C. C. B. The name of the editor of the publication called the Black Dwarf was T. J. Wooler.

E.-What is called the "Breeches Bible" is by no means a rarity.

W. Winters. In regard to the letters from the monumental brass at Cranbrook, we submitted your sketch to a gentleman to whose judgment in such matters we attach importance. He says it belongs to a late sixteenth century brass. The letters are T. S., the initials,

probably, of the deceased. The centre device is a merchant's mark, such as is frequently found on old tombs. Sometimes this is very elaborate in design, occasionally suggesting the idea of a monogram.

NOTICE.

We shall be glad to receive contributions from competent and capable persons accomplished in literature or skilled in archæology, and generally from any intelligent reader who may be in possession of facts, historical or otherwise, likely to be of general interest.

To all communications should be affixed the name and address of the sender; not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

Communications for the Editor should be addressed to the Publishing Offiice, 11, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1873.

CONTENTS. No. 45.

MISCELLANEA:-Scraps of Bell Archæology, 13-Narrative of the Shipwreck of William Duncan, 14-Lockit Buik of the Burgesses of Dundee, 15.

NOTES:-Fly-leaf Scraps, 16-Unpublished Letter of Lord Brougham-Prince of Wales Heraldry-Amy Robsart's Tomb-Christmas "Boar's Head"-Shakespeare's Commentators-Odds and Ends, Slang Sayings, and Folk Lore-Effigy of Tom Paine

Folk Lore-Curious Squint in Faversham Church.

QUERIES:-Electoral Bonnet, 20-Photogram-Arms and ArmourHeraldic: Frasier-Merchants' Marks-Vicarage House, Cranbrook, Kent-Recumbent Tombstones-Wood Engraving-Old Tower, Dundee-Emblem of St. Ann-Teetotaller-Quotations:

Authors Wanted.

OLD DATED BELLS. In a former article (Vol. ii. 260)

we stated that the oldest dated bell known to exist in this country belongs to the village church of Duncton, in Sussex. This bell, which, by the way, bears the inscription + DE FLOTHE A.... E LA HAGUE FET LAN MCCCLXIX, has been for a long time regarded by those who interest themselves in the archæology of bells, as possessing a just claim to that distinction. Such, however, is not the case. At Claughton, a village situate in the Hundred of Lonsdale, Lancashire, is a bell on which is the date 1296, thus claim ing a precedence over that of Duncton by more than seventy years. A drawing of the inscription on this ancient bell was, among others, lately exhibited by Mr. Stainbank, at a meeting of the British Archæological Association. The letters, as one might expect on a bell of such antiquity, are in the character called Lombardic, and are arranged as follow; -ANNO DNI MO CC NONOGO AIo, the v being turned upside down. Although unknown to most bell-hunters, the antiquity of this bell was ascertained in 1853 by the Rev. W. B. Grenside, when curate of the parish. Before this date nobody was aware that of the two bells belonging to the church, one was really a campanological curiosity. There is another old bell in Lancashire deserving remarks. We refer to the tenor at Ormskirk.

But the interest which belongs to this bell lies not so much in its antiquity, for there are many bells in existence as old as the sixteenth or even the fifteenth century, but in the antiquarian problem which the first few letters of the ur? To increase the difficulty inscription presents. In fact, who was is de Barmig et indistinctness in the first letter which has caused it to be of solution there is a little taken by some for a t, and by others for an i. It would seem that the latter is the correct reading. Those, however, who have adopted the t have considered the initials to refer to Thomas Stanley, of Burscough; but as he was Earl of Derby, the title of armiger which follows the initials on the bell would be inadmissible. With greater probability the donor belonged to the family of Scaresbreck, who possessed estates in the neighbourhood. Mr. Brooke Herford has so ably condensed and further investigated the facts connected with the point at issue that we do not hesitate to quote his own words. After referring to the doubtful rendering of the first letter of the inscript inscription, he proceeds, it has been "conjectured that they were the initials of James Scaresbreck, ' who, by an inquisition of 4 Henry VII., held lands in Burscough,' or else of another James Scaresbreck, who married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Atherton, of Bickerstaffe, and whose daughter, Elizabeth Scaresbreck, married Peter Stanley, of Aughton. Neither of these conjectures, however, is admissible. The first named James Scaresbreck, whose inquisition is dated 24 Henry VII., was a minor at his death in 1508, while the second named, the uncle of the first, would not be of Bickerstaff' until after his father-in-law's death in 1514, while his wife, whose initial would be M not E, was, at her father's death, only thirty years old, and consequently could not have been married 1497. By the kindness of Mr. William Hardy, of the Duchy of Lancaster Office, I have, however, obtained copies of the various inquisitions referred to, which show that there was another James Scaresbreck (hitherto overlooked in the controversy), father of James Scaresbreck, who married Margaret Atherton, and grandfather of James Scaresbreck, who died a minor in 1508. His wife's name was Elizabeth; he held estates in both Burscough and Bretherton; he is found living in 1494, dying some time between that date and 1501, his wife surviving him; and his son Gilbert's will shows the family's interest both in the priory of Burscough and Ormskirk church. 'I will that mine exts content and pay towards the buying of a cross to the church of Ormskirke 5s.' Thus it seems not improbable that we have in this James Scaresbreck, the elder, the donor of the bell J.S.de Bet E ux--1497.' One difficulty, indeed, still remains; James Scaresbreck, the elder, was 'of Scaresbreck,' and though he held lands both in Burscough and Bretherton, would hardly be named from them. If he be not the donor, the solution of the enigma has still to be sought." Little can be added to these interesting particulars, which solution of the

as

probable a

is dated 1497, a subsequent date on the waist shows that the bell was recast in 1576, and the old inscription repro

duced, perhaps through the instrum instrumentality of the descendants of the donor. The inscription runs: -is de B armig et e ux me fecerunt in honore trinitatis R.B. 1497. Between the several letters and words are ornamental stops, on which are various devices, embracing floral badges, pairs of roses, the red dragon, the portcullis, and the fleur-de-lis, while below is a neat border with similar devices, the design being repeated so as to encircle the bell. It should be said that tradition points to the original bell as having belonged to Burscough Priory, and when the effects of this religious house were sold at the Dissolution, the bell was purchased by the parishioners, and transferred to the parish church. The recasting not having taken place till 1576, in the reign of Elizabeth, it is probable that the damage it had sustained, which rendered this necessary, occurred while the bell was suspended in the tower of the parish church.

name, but with these it is useless to

trouble the reader, as

cannot stand in the face of the above explanation. We

will conclude by observing that the remaining bells of the peal, of which this old one forms the tenor, bear the following inscriptions, and were cast in 1714 and 1774, at the foundry of the Rudhalls, at Gloucester.