Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/613

 io* s. i. JUNE 25, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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this picturesque specimen of rural art. I have never heard of any other public-house in England with a similar title, and have long been puzzled as to its origin. The following passage in Guillim's ' Display of Heraldry' may possibly throw light upon it:

" Cosmus Medices, Duke of Hetruria, gave two Anchors for his Impress, with this word Duabus, meaning it was good to have two holds to trust to ; but Richard the First, King of England, gave a Sun on two Anchors, with this Motto, Christo Duce ; a worthy and Princely choice of so heavenly a Pilot." Fifth edition, 1679, p. 231.

Guillim, as was his custom, gives no authority for what he says ; but he was a careful and honest man, who did not write at random, as some of his successors who have cribbed from his pages have been wont to do. He must have had what he regarded as sufficient ground for what he stated. Can any one refer to what authority he depended upon ? If what he said be true, there is an excellent reason for the sign, and at least a presumption of its antiquity, for Kichard I. was a great benefactor to Scotter. He granted a charter of fair and market to the Abbot of Peterborough, who was its lord ('Monasticon Anglic.,' edition 1846, vol. i.

E. 392). It is dated 24 March, and witnessed y Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, but no year is given. Within the memory of elderly people an important horse fair was held at Scotter, but, as has been the case with other rural fairs, the railways have well-nigh extinguished it. EDWARD PEACOCK.

Kirton-in-Lindsey.

" EASTERLING " AND EAST HARLING. There is a singular error in Bardsley's useful 4 Dictionary of Place-names ' that should be corrected. Under 'Easterling' he tells us that it is a "local name," which is not pre- cisely the case. See the 'New Eng. Diet.' He gives three examples, none of which are in any sense to the point. He tells us that there were men "de Eastherling" in 1273 ; a "Walter de Eastherling" in 1303; and a "Ralph de Eastherling" at the same date. He says that " Eastherling " is described as being in Norfolk, but he cannot find it. But almost any county map will show that East Harling is not far from Thetford. You get to it from Harling Road Station.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

"THE GALLANTS OF FOWEY." A curious traditional grant from the Black Prince is referred to in the following cutting from the Morning Post of Monday, 11 April :

"A parish meeting of the occupiers of Golant- Saint-Samson, on the Fowey river, Cornwall, was

held on Saturday evening in the village schools to consider what steps should be taken to resist the claim for dues made by the lord of the manor for stone raised or carted from the villagers' commons, on which from time immemorial they have paid the poor rates by a twopenny impost on every cottager, in addition to the ordinary assessment by the overseer. It was stated that though no charter was in the possession of the parish their rights were traditionally inherited by a grant from the Black Prince, as Duke of Cornwall, in reward for services rendered at sea by ' the Gallants of" Fowey,' from which the village takes its name, being one of two in all England dedicated to the memory of Saint Samson, the Apostle of Brittany and second Abbot of Caldy, on the Welsh coast." WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Dowanhill Gardens, Glasgow.

COUNTY TALES. There are several tales- current in Lincolnshire which were used in former days, and perhaps are at the present time, for the purpose of showing contempt for neighbouring shires or boroughs within, our own limits. I give two of these by way of example, and should be glad to know if they are confined to this county, or whether they are to be found in other forms elsewhere. Grimsby. When this borough had dwindled so as to become a very inconsider- able place, the ignorance of its mayors was a standing joke among outsiders. An old gentleman who, if alive, would be upwards of a hundred and ten years of age, told me a tale of a certain mayor who had a person brought before him for frying bacon. The culprit pleaded that this was not an offence ;. but the mayor retorted that it was a felony by common law. A scholar was, however, found, who explained the misinterpreted pas- sage in the law-books. The felony consisted not in frying bacon, but in firing a beacon. In the days when this story had its origin* there were beacons all along the East coast. If any one of the series had been wantonly set on fire, the whole population would probably have turned out in their war-gear from Thames to Tyne. Rutlandshire. In the days when only- en tlemen were made high sheriffs of counties, Rutlandshire was a common jest, because, on account of its small size, men of but mean station had necessarily to be put up with. On one occasion, it was averred, when the proper official came to tell a plain farmer Jbhat he had been chosen for an office of such bigh honour and importance, he found him in bis yard, in workaday apparel, thatching a. stack. COM. LING.

" GRAHAMIZE." " Grahamize " is defined in the ' H.E.D.' as " to cause letters to be opened when passing through the post," and it is