Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/220

 180

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io 8. XL F EB. -27, 1909

and others founded Primrose Day." For the Primrose League a reference might, instead of the fagitive passages quoted, have been made to ' The Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill,' 1906, pp. 284-7. as giving not only a good quota- tion, but also some idea of the origin of the movement.

All lovers of literature will recall Shakespeare's two beautiful uses of " primrose " as adjective in ' Hamlet ' and ' Macbeth.' The first of these, perhaps, Tennyson had in his mind when he wrote the pretty line not mentioned here :

Prattling the primrose fancies of the boy.

" Prinado," some kind of female sharper, ia an odd piece of obscure slang. " Prince " ia very thoroughly treated, and the same may be said of " principal," " principle," " print," " private," " prize " (various words), " process," and " proof." A perusal of any one of these articles will ahow how far the great ' Dic- tionary ' has carried scientific analysis and ample Illustration.

" Prodigious " is duly associated with Scott'a " Dominie," but we think the Oxford Press might have consulted their own admirable edition of the ' Life ' of the great lexicographer, and added therefrom (17 April, 1778, iii. 303) ; " ' Sir,' said Edwards to Johnson, ' I remember you would not let us say prodigious at College.' "

WE give a hearty welcome to The Upper Nor- wood Athenceum Record for 1908. This shows no falling-off from previous years. All the papers contain much of interest, and we congratulate those who have prepared them on the results of the diligent researches they have made. Al- though the main feature of the Society is its summer rambles, it takes advantage of the winter months to visit places in London. These last winter included Stationers' Hall, where Mr. Jonathan Downes was the conductor. Pepys records that when the Hall was burnt in the Great Fire the losses to members by the destruc- tion of books and manuscripts amounted to 150,OOOJ. The present building dates from 1670, and was repaired and modernized by Robert Milne in 1800. Around the Hall are the shields and banners which decorated the Stationers' barge when the Company attended the Lord Mayor by water to Westminster. On these occasions they called at Lambeth Palace to pay their respects to their ecclesiastical censors. A notable instance of this censorship was in 1632, when Archbishop Laud fined the Company heavily for publishing the " wicked " Bible, with the word " not " omitted from the Seventh Commandment. When the Lord Mayor's pro- cession by water was given up, the barge was sold and taken to Oxford, where, Mr. Downes tells us, " it may still be seen on the Isis as the New College barge."

During the year the members made nine summer excursions. These included Tadworth and Kingswood, where the Curfew is still rung ; Hitchin, in Domesday Book called " Hiz " ; and Warwick, where the conductor was Mr. Lindsey Renton. Mr. A. J. Pitman took the ramblers to Wycombe and Hughenden. In the church of St. Michael the insignia of the Garter of Lord Beaconsfield were, by Queen Victoria's command, placed on the wall at the side of the pew where he used to sit. The tower of the

church contains eight bells, one dating from Edward III. In the churchyard is a tombstone in memory of John Guy with the following epitaph: In coffin made without a nail, Without a shroud his limbs to hide. For what can pomp and show avail, Or velvet pall to swell the pride ? Here lies John Guy beneath the sod, Who loved his friends and found his God. Mr. W. F. Harradence read a paper on ' The Coming of Canute ' when the ramblers visited Askingdon, Hockley, and Canawdon. Mr. Harra- den mentions twelve authors to whom he is indebted for the information contained in his little essay of fourteen pages. We mention this as an instance of the care the ramblers bestow on the papers they read on their excursions.

The ' Record,' which is edited by Mr. Theo- philus Pitt,, contains over thirty illustrations. It is only issued to members, but the articles would be a valuable aid to ramblers who, beyond being on pleasure bent, wish to gain some anti- quarian knowledge of the places they visit.

REV. J. SILVESTER DAVIES. The following notice appeared in The Times of the 18th inst. :

" DAVIES. On the 14th inst., at Adelaide House, Enfield, the Rev. John Silvester Davies, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.Soc., formerly Vicar of Woolston, near Southampton, afterwards Vicar of St. James's, Enfield Highway, aged 78."

Mr. Davies graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 18_53, and was ordained in the same year. He edited ' An English Chronicle," 1856, and was the author of ' A Sketch of Church Juris- diction,' 1877, and ' A History of Southampton,' 1883. He made occasional contributions to ' N. & Q.,' mostly in the Fifth and Sixth Series.

to Comsponfonts.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate."

M. BE V. (Holland). Already amply dealt with in ' N. & Q.'

R. S. BODDINGTON and G. W. E. R. Forwarded , ' -""CORRIGENDUM. P. 154, col. 1, 1. 12 from foot, for ." Liquus ' ' read Dignus.

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