Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/256

 208

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<> s. i. MARCH 12,

BROWNING'S TEXT. It is well known that Browning frequently made alterations in his poems when reissuing them. I should, there- fore, be grateful if any possessors of first editions could tell me whether there is ground for the authenticity of the following line (' Christmas Eve,' viii.),

He himself with his human hair, as it reads in the Tauchnitz edition of the poems. I first learnt to know and delight in the poem in this series, and am unwilling to relinquish the line, which, moreover, appears to me far more Browningesque in character (besides its indefinable suggestion of St. John's vision in Patmos) than the " human air " which is certainly the reading in every other edition I have seen.

C. M. HUDSON.

" SORPENI " : " HAGGOVELE." Can any students of Old English explain the origin of the two following words ?

1. Sorpeni. This word seems to have been in use at the end of the twelfth century to express a certain customary payment then made to an abbey for grass for a cow.

2. Naggovele This word seems to have been in use at the same period to express a certain customary payment in respect of burgage land. It has been said that this was probably a head-tax or hearth-tax, but I am unable to gather any clear idea of the origin of the word from this suggestion.

R W.

PARISH SUNDIAL. We have at present the gun-metal top of a sundial which formerly stood in our churchyard. Before having it set up again, I should like very much to discover its date. It weighs 3 Ib. 2 oz., is 9 inches in diameter, and is marked in front " J Bennett London." I shall be very glad of any information on the subject, and should like also to know the names of any books which give information on -sundials in general.

L. O. MITCHELL. Chobham Vicarage, Woking.

& Consult Mrs. Gatty's 'Book of Sundials' (Bell

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON Is there-and if not, why should there noYbe a small book dealing with this subject 1 What is really known of the. Thames, the rise of the City proper the evolution of Middlesex and burrey the first great lords of the soil, the extent of the original manors and parishes their subsequent subdivisions, down to the present time, embracing the whole area known as London to-day, illustrated with outline maps at every stage, showing enough of the

principal landmarks to guide an inquirer such should be the scope of the book, which need not be more than a shilling primer. It would be more conducive to sober topo- graphical study than many of the "hand- books " and " histories," full of heterogeneous, and confusing details, often as untrustworthy as picturesque. NEWCOMER.

YEOMAN OF THE CROWN. What were the

duties of this office 1 Henry Sayer, of Favers-

ham, in his will proved in 1502, describes

himself as " mayor and yeoman of the crown."

ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent.

LONDON KUBBISH AT Moscow. This oft- repeated tale has again appeared ; this time in the St. James's Gazette, and copied into the City Press of 14 January :

" It seems scarcely credible that Moscow is built upon London rubbish. Such, however, is the case (says the St. James's Gazette). An enormous heap of refuse at the Battle Bridge end of what is now Caledonian Road, which was ' the grand centre of dustmen, scavengers, horse and dog dealers, knackermen, brickmakers, and other low but neces- sary professionalises,' had lain in that position since the Great Fire. After the destruction of Moscow upon the visit of Napoleon, the Russians, by some means, came to hear of this dust heap. They bought it bricks, bones, rubbish, and all shipped it off to Moscow, and upon it founded the resurrected city which travellers know to-day."

Is there any contemporary account in corroboration of this statement 1 One would imagine there had been sufficient debris after the fire at Moscow, without importing an accumulation in England from 1666 to 1812.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

GERVAISE HOLLES, the Grimsby antiquary, left church notes and other collections relating to Lincolnshire, which are now in the British Museum. These volumes contain a few folk-lore memoranda. Have they ever been printed ] There is a volume of Holles's collections in the Hunterian Library in the University of Glasgow. Is it a duplicate copy of one of those in the British Museum, or an independent work ? COM. LINC.

TRAVERS FAMILY. Can any reader tell me the origin of the surname Travers, or where I can obtain information 1 Where can a copy of the late Duchess of Cleveland's ' Koll of Battle Abbey' be seen ? I understand that there is a description of the name therein. Years ago a gentleman descended from a Lancashire branch claimed that the name is derived from a place in Normandy, between Bayeux and Valognes, now known as Tre-