Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/84

 NOTES AN D Q U EKIES. [iq* s. i. JAN. 23, 1904.

Expenses 3,021 12

Printing, &c 23

Cost of faculty 7

3,051 12

Propositions were made and seconded tha the hoarding round the churchyard b removed with as little delay as possible, anc that the churchwardens be requested t( arrange with the police, or otherwise, for the suitable opening and closing of the church yard. It was afterwards proposed that anj balance which might remain should be applied to the commencement of new railings, to be approved of by the Com jnittee.

The last meeting of the General Committee appears to have been held on 27 February 1883, when the hon. secretary was desirec to convey the thanks of the Committee to Messrs. Lee and Bolton for their kindness in procuring the necessary faculties withoul expense (for their services) to the Committee and further resolutions were carried that the rector, treasurer, and secretary should be empowered to dispose of the surplus of the Churchyard Improvement Fund "in such a manner as may seem to them best in order to complete the work." Finally, the cus- tomary votes of thanks to the chairman, treasurer, and secretary brought the meeting and the business of the Committee to a close, the object for which they had been called together being accomplished.

The improvement has been much appre- ciated on every side; but in no carping spirit I think it may be safely added that, had public taste a quarter of a century ago been of as high a character as it has since become, what was done would have been of greater artistic excellence, and some flower - beds might have adorned the unbroken stretch of .grass, restful though the latter may be to the frequently jaded eye of the Londoner. Some few seats, which were much needed, have of late years been placed in the enclosure, thereby increasing the usefulness of the place. Owing, most likely, to the nature of the ground, the pavement, in places, has

tiven way, and shows many cracks and ssures. Before long a complete renovation will have to take place, or some of the dangers of a bygone day may repeat themselves. 'Some of the old trees were considered very fine, but, in order that the view of the occu- pants of the stands erected at the time of King Edward's Coronation might not be obstructed, they were very badly lopped and all but completely spoilt, and some years must pass before their old beauty will return,

more 's the pity. It does not seem quite clear who was guilty of the grievous folly of ordering this to be done. Such matters are always hard to trace to their source.

At 9 th S. vi. 342, 1 alluded to some interest- ing interments in this churchyard, and before leaving the subject it may be well to speak of a gruesome spectacle enacted here in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. On 1 March, 1725, a Mr. Hayes was murdered at his residence in the Tyburn Road (which is the present Oxford Street) by two men, at the instigation, and with the assistance, of his wife. The body was afterwards dis- membered, the head being brought to West- minster by the murderers, and flung into the Thames from one of the adjacent wharves, close to the horse ferry ; but, as the tide had turned, it was not carried down the river, as anticipated, but seen by a night watchman at a neighbouring lime-wharf. He called assistance, and it was drawn ashore by a boat-hook. By a magistrate's orders it was carefully washed and placed on a pole in this churchyard, hard by the west door of the church, so that it could be seen by the numerous passers-by, with a view to its identification. It was identified, and the crime brought home to its perpetrators. The two men were condemned to be hanged, and the woman to be burnt at bhe stake, as her crime was known as petit treason. One of the men died in Newgate oefore the date fixed for the execution, the other being hanged at Marylebone Fields, on The sentence on the woman was carried out at Tyburn on 9 May, 1726. In the vestry of St. Margaret's Church is a small engraving showing the exposure of the head upon the pole. W. E. HAELAND-OXLEY.
 * he spot where the body had been found.

C2, The Almshouses, Rochester Row, S.W.

"SQUAW": "MAHALA." I bracket these Because they are synonyms. About "squaw" '. can say nothing fresh. Every one knows hat we borrowed it from the Algonkin amily of languages. It occurs in the eastern Branch of that family as Delaware ochqueu, Massachusetts squa, Narragansett squaivs ; n the western branch as Arapaho isi, Black- oot dike; in the northern as Cree iskioew, Odjibwa ikkive, Ottawa akwe ; in the southern is Shawnee eqiiiwa, "Mahala" differs from t only in being a newer word. It is given n Bartlett's ' Dictionary of Americanisms,' i the 'Century,' and in the supplement to Webster, and is often to be met with in magazines (e.g., English Illustrated, vol. xxv. i. 30 ; Harper's, Feb., 1903, p, 383). Its history