Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/93

 .10 S. X. JULY 25, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

73

of the inner one. But is your correspondent justified in singling out the " large, stiffly bound " volumes of Lord Acton's ' Gam- bridge Modern History ' as a case in point ? Bulky the volumes undoubtedly are ; some may think the inner margin somewhat too narrow ; but surely " stiffly bound " they are not, and this is where the pernicious effects of narrow inner margins principally show themselves. Each one of the volumes that I have yet received, issued in its strong dark blue buckram covers, lies open in one hand in a way that few volumes of an equally bulky nature do. Tot homines quot senten- tice. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Antigua, W.I.

FIELD-GLASSES IN 1650 (10 S. vi. 188). MB. JAMES WATSON under this heading refers to Galileo's invention of the telescope in 1609. I should like to draw his attention to Burton's note on the ivory tube mentioned in the tale of ' Prince Ahmad and the Peri Band ' :

"The origin of the lens and its applied use to the telescope and the microscope 'are lost' (as the Castle guides of Edinburgh say) 'in the gloom of antiquity.' Well -ground glasses have been dis- covered amongst the finds in Egypt and Assyria ; indeed, much of the finer work of the primeval artist could not have been done without such aid. In Europe the ' spy-glass ' appears first in the ' Opus Majus ' of the learned Roger Bacon (circa A.D. 1270) ; and his ' optic tube' (whence his saying, * All things are known by perspective ') chiefly contributed to make his widespread fame as a wizard. The tele- scope was popularized by Galileo, who, as mostly happens, carried off and still keeps amongst the vulgar all the honours of the invention."

I take this note at second hand from p. 57 of Groome's * Gypsy Folk-Tales,' a very valuable book. ALEX RUSSELL.

Stromness, Orkney.

ROUND OAK SPRING (10 S. x. 9). Round oak is described in James A. Sharp's ' Gazet teer of the British Islands,' 1852, vol. ii p. 509, as being eight miles south-west o: Reading, S. Berks.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

CHALK FARM, FORMERLY CHALCOT FARM N.W. (10 S. ix. 251, 338, 377). Chalk and cliffs are closely associated, but it is mere coincidence that one named Cliff shoulc have held " Chalk Farm." John Slannyng' of Hampstead, Middlesex, in his will, datec 1558, left to his "kinsman" Henry Cliff his lease of Chalcotte, six oxen and six kyne, a feather bed, and covering sheets

Chalkhill as a place-name in Kingsbury occurs about the beginning of the sixteenth century, Thomas Frowyk (of Kentish origin

eing of this place (Early Proceedings in hancery, bundle 65, No. 126). As a per- onal name it is found at Kingsbury and Villesden much earlier. Ralf Chalkhill of Hendon is mentioned in a deed 19 Henry VI. see printed ' Catalogue of Early Deeds t the Record Office'). In this case it eems that the family gave name to the >lace, having derived their surname from heir place of origin perhaps Kent or ussex. FRED. HITCHIN-KEMP.

In 1556 Chalk Farm was " Chawcoot's Farm " (Hist. MSS. Com., Fifteenth Report, Ap. II. p. 259). H. W. U.

LATIN PRONUNCIATION (10 S. ix. 81, 131, 75, 251, 314, 351, 510). Though you have losed this discussion, please allow me to ay that M. HAULTMONT is right, and I was

wrong, in thinking that the " restored " Denunciation proposes for Latin a the sound >f our vowel in " fat." The examples given or it are the second syllable of " footpath "

and the first of " aha " ; that is, shorter 'orms of the a in "father." Whether it rtdll be possible to make boys thus distinguish Between longer and shorter forms of the

same vowel-sound may be questioned ; but

such is the proposal, not as stated in my

previous letter (10 S. ix. 354).

T. S. OMOND.

JOHNSONIANA (10 S. x. 8). The suggestion that Dr. Johnson was in the habit of reject- ing whatever failed to please his palate is supported by Madame D'Arblay in a letter to Mrs. Thrale dated 16 Aug., 1785 : " Dr. Johnson," she says, " swallows nothing but what he likes" ('Madame D'Arblay' s Diary,' ed. Dobson, 1904, i. 443).

M. H. I. LETTS.

ROWE will find a pedigree of this family and much information concerning it in the pages of Charles Kerry's ' History of the Hundred of Bray (Berks),' published in 1861. R. B.
 * DE ST. PHILIBERT (10 S. x. 8). MR.

Upton.

ANONYMOUS WORKS (10 S. x. 28). ' Marriage Rites, Customs, and Ceremonies of the Nations of the Universe ' was written by Lady Augusta Hamilton. The first edition was 1 822. AYE AHR.

[W. C. B. also thanked for reply.]

" RISE," ACTIVE VERB (10 S. ix. 427). In my view, " rose " was an accidental strong conjugating of the verb to " raise,"