Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/421

 10*. s. i. APRIL so, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

345

bridge, in 1650, and in the same year became a Fellow of Xew College.

The Lincoln's Inn Records prove that he was admitted a member of that Society on 30 December, 1648, when he is described as "son and heir app. of Mark H., of City of London, gen."; and at a Council held on 26 June, 1650,

"Mr. Mark Hildsley is admitted to a Chamber in the Chapel stairs w$iieh Mr. Myles Richardson now holds, paying 101. forthwith ; ' soe as he doe not keepe any office therein, the same by reason of the scytuacion thereof, soe neere the Chappell, being very inconvenient for that use.' "

He was called to the Bar on 6 February, 1656.

Where he was buried, or where the tablet in question originally came from, is at present a mystery. The inscription itself is not altogether free from errors ; probably the stonemason who cut it was an illiterate man ; and the line commencing "Qua Line's in" appears hopeless. Nor is it clear why the date 1692 should appear in the upper part when the date of death is correctly given as 1693 in the lower part. Possibly some reader may be able to suggest an amended reading. The inscription runs as follows : On the upper fragment

Optimus & Dominus mihi Maxim

ut Benedicat Oro : (ut Fulvu' Aurum Virtus

in igne Micat)

His mercys are to all y c Heare Him

His goodness unto y m y Feare Him

Feb xv to MDCXCii

On the lower fragment

Exuvia? MARCI HILSLY DOM

LINCOLNIEXS : Hospitio Armg'.

Hoc in Loco inhumatur

MHiLSU corp' vite satur.

Cui Marc (Alderman) Pater

& DOROTHEA fuit mater

& STEPHAXUS (mercator) Frater

P Cantab Oxon' Hue Meatur

Qua LINC'S in, Plus ultra Datur

Conjugibus Bis Decoratur

At Licet filial' Quater

Duob' Tantu' is Beatur

Natus 15 : Apr. 1630 Denat MDCXCIII

JEr: LXIII

Est mihi mors Lucruni. Felix Post Funera Vivam.

ALAN STEWART. 7, New Square, Lincoln's Inn. [Is not February, 1692, merely the Old Style for 1692-3?]

" PARADE - REST." I have just read the following in the latest issue of the ' Oxford English Dictionary ' :

"Parade-rest, a position of rest, less fatiguing than that of ' attention,' in which the soldier stands silent and motionless, much used during reviews.

1888 Century Mag. xxxvii. 465/1. A'ot a man.

moved from the military posture of 'parade-rest.'" I think some readers may conclude that this- is the known name of a military posture in the British army ; but, so far as I know, it is exclusively American. The name is quoted from a paper by John S. Wise in the Century Magazine of January, 1889, and its title is ' The West Point of the Confederacy : Boys in Battle at New Market, Virginia, 15 May, 1864.' W. S.

SHANKS'S MARE. (See ante, p. 219.) In a review of Mr. Wright's 'English Dialect Dictionary,' at the above reference, this

Eassage occurs : " Shanks' mare as equiva- mt to 'on foot' is familiar. Less so are such phrases as shanks' nag and shanks' galloway" This seems hardly applicable to- the practice of the Scottish Lowlands. "Shanks nag," in the form "shanks naggy" or "shanks naigie," appears to be- in general use at the present time in at least the counties of Ayr, Lanark, Stirling,, and Fife. I have heard " shanks naigie " hundreds of times, but my only familiarity with " shanks mare " is from its recognition! in Jamieson's ' Scottish Dictionary,' which gives no illustration for this particular form~ "Shanks galloway," of course, is a perfectly possible variant, and is quite likely to be common in the south-west of Scotland, but its specific reference indicates its necessary limitations. " Shanks naggy," on the other hand, has literary value, from its occurrence in ' Scornfu' Nancy,' one of the old anonymous songs of Ramsay's 'Tea Table Miscellany' (1724). In this song the wooer, who would fain supplant a favoured rival, enumerates certain credentials, which he regards as per- sonal recommendations, and then proceeds thus :

Although my father was nae laird,

'Tis daffin to be vaunty, He keepit aye a good kail-yard,

A ha' house and a pantry : A good blew bonnet on his head,

An owrlay 'bout his cragy ; And aye, until the day he dy'd,

He rade on good shanks naggy.

In his 'Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs,' 1791, Herd reads " shanks-naigy " ; Ritson, in 'Scotish Songs,' 1794, has "shanks naggie," while Johnson, in the ' Musical Museum,' and Thomson, in his ' Select Collec- tion ' anthologies glorified by the superin- tendence of Burns both give " shank* nagy." The expression does not occur in Burns's poems. Jamieson, who enters " shanks-naigie " in his dictionary, and gratuitously terms it " a low phrase," quotes