Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/429

 10 s. x. OCT. si, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

353

(the Pompadours), have, or had, an old regimental march of their own, to which Tommy Atkins was fond of humming a refrain : " Pompadour ! Pompadour ! The Old Fifty-Sixth ! " I last heard it when in camp with them, some years ago, at Col- chester. G. YARROW BALDOCK, Major, late 3rd V.B. Essex Regt., formerly 5th Essex (Beacontree) Rifles.

AUTHORS or QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 S. x. 309).

Two shall be born, &c.

MR. HIBGAME will find these lines in a poem entitled ' Fate,' by G. E. Edmundson, which appeared in The Saturday Review of 18 Jan., 1908. ETHEL M. TURNER.

A SHAKESPEARE WILL (10 S. viii. 486). The will of John Shakespeare of Lapworth had already been described in my ' Shake- speare's Family,' 1901 (p. 127).

C. C. STOPES.

BAAL-FIRES: "BONFIRE" (10 S. x. 206, 251, 315). MR. F. A. RUSSELL kindly points out at the last reference what he sup- poses to be an error in my communication (ante, p. 252). It was, however, quite in- tentional to refer " bonfire " to its original meaning as "a fire of bones." The ety- mology, fully treated s.v. ' Bonfire ' in the ' N.E.D.,' and further followed, s.v. ' Bane- fire,' in the ' E.D.D.,' was not in question, and was only referred to incidentally. In the former " bonfire " is derived from bone +fire = a fire of bones. In 1483 the ' Catho- licon Anglicum ' defined " A Banefyre " as ignis ossium ; and a homily * De Festo Sancti Johannis Baptistse,' dated 1493, said :

"In worship of Saint Johan the people waked at home, and made three maner of fyres : one was clene bones, and noo woode, and that is called a Bone Fyre ; another is clene woode, and no bones, and that is called a Wode Fyre, for people to sit and wake therby ; the thirde is made of wode and bones, and it is callyd Saynt Johannys fyre."- Brand, ' Observations on Pop. Antiq.,' Ellis, 1900, p. 166.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne it was the duty of the Fraternity of Cooks to collect sufficient bones against the feast of St. John Baptist for the Midsummer " bonefire." Their ser- vices are recorded in the municipal accounts in such entries as this :

"Juliil579. Paid to the cookes for mack ing on the bone-fyers on the Sandhill on Midsommer even and Sancte Petters even, 8,9." This incorporated company became extinct about 1692 ; but, long before that date, wood, tar-barrels, and coals were substituted

as burning materials, their ancient name of " bone fire " continuing. The Scottish form " bane fire " is of itself almost convinc- ing. But there is the further testimony, adduced by Sir J. A. H. Murray, that, up to about the year 1^800, bones for the Mid- summer fire continued to be collected at Hawick.

In countries where other fuel is scarce- and bones are plentiful their use continues, In the States of the River Plate, for instance, fires of bones are made, with or without the admixture of other materials. The former very large export trade in bone ash from the Plate ports, all of it obtained by collect- ing the hearth sweepings of the country, is a sufficient proof of the utility of bones- for fuel. R. OLIVER HESLOP.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

[J. T. F. and H. P. L. also write to the same effect as MR. HESLOP.]

INFERIOR CLERGY, THEIR APPELLATIONS : "SiR" (10 S. ix. 286, 454; x. 175, 250). A glance through the pages of Weever's ' Funeral Monuments ' is sufficient to estab- lish the fact that the parochial clergy, whether rectors or vicars, were very fre- quently styled " dominus " on their tomb- stones, which the author in the margin translates as " Sir." William Prene (vari- ously spelt), who was Rector of Woolwich from 1361 to 1390, became Rector of Lyminge in the latter year, and remained so until his death in 1404. He was a great benefactor to the Woolwich church, building a belfry, &c. ; and in accordance with the terms of his will, his body was brought to Woolwich for interment. Weever records his monument in the chancel as being inscribed " Dominus Will. Prene," &c.

John Swetyng was Rector of Woolwich from 1511 until his death in 1 540. He signed the renunciation of the Pope's supremacy, and it is interesting to note that in 1515 he witnessed a will of one of his parishioners, leaving legacies for masses and the repair of the church, &c. The manner of his signature to this will is described as " Sir John Swetyng, parson," indicating that he signed himself " dominus." WM. NORMAN.

RUSHLIGHTS (10 S. x. 27, 76, 93, 135, 154, 275). Fond of reading when a boy in the West of Ireland about seventy years ago, I dipped my own rushlights just in the way described by M. N. (ante, p. 275), taking care to use fat free from salt, otherwise there would be a continual splutter from the flame. With this aid in winter-time I read such classics as were then accessible : 'Robinson