Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/135

 io s. xii. AUG. 7, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

107

In the ' D.N.B.' article on Samuel Ays- cough it is stated that he " does not seem to have been concerned " in the printing of this work (1802). Going through some old letters, I have come across a passage suggesting that he may have been re- sponsible. Writing to Thomas Astle (from whose copy the ' Taxatio ' was printed), Charles Abbot (afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons and Baron Colchester) said, referring to the form in which the Records Commission publications were to be issued :
 * TAXATIO ECCLESIASTICA NICHOLAI IV.'

"And for like reasons I should wish Pope Nicholas's Taxation to be printed of the same sized folio whatever may be the peculiar form required for the several pages. If you see the matter in the same light, I will beg you to impress these ideas upon Mr. Ayscough and Mr. Strahan."

This is not conclusive, for earlier references had been made to Ayscough having under- taken the editing of the Patent Rolls. Strahan was the King's Printer. Other letters of the same series refer to the diffi- culty of finding an editor for the ' Taxatio ' Astle himself, from age, ill-health, and occupation, not feeling equal to the task and to Ayscough's work on the Patent Rolls.

WALTER JERROLD. Hampton-on- Thames.

GEORGE SELWYN'S FONDNESS FOR EXE- CUTIONS. There are innumerable references in the familiar ' Letters ' and ' Memoirs ' of the eighteenth century which show that Selwyn's alleged partiality for witnessing a public execution was a favourite joke among his friends. The jest, moreover, became public property, and the newspapers often mentioned the morbid predilections of the famous wit. Yet it is by no means certain that the charge was true. On the only occasion upon which we know that Selwyn himself referred to it, when it was suggested by the author of ' The Diaboliad ' that he was fond of these spectacles, he denied the imputation. See his letter to Lord Carlisle, quoted ante, p. 14. To judge from the many descriptions with which he was supplied by his correspondents, it seems probable that he liked to receive a report of the execution of a famous criminal, being perhaps a student of criminology ; but he does not appear to have often been present at such scenes himself. Except in the case of Lord Lovat and of Damiens, those who tell us of his morbid tastes do not give any particular instances. Until there is satisfac- tory proof that Selwyn was a spectator at more than two public executions, the

autious man should not regard Horace

Valpole's jocular remarks too seriously. I lave never come across any evidence of

lis presence at Tyburn in contemporary newspapers ; and in the cause celebre in which he appears to have been most inter-

sted (that of the brothers Kennedy) he actually used all his influence to save the

ives of the criminals.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

GILT GINGERBREAD. The ' N.E.D.' fur- lishes only a modern instance ; but the article was certainly made in the time of Elizabeth and James I., and probably much earlier. See Ben Jonson's ' Bartho- omew Fair,' Act II. sc. i. : " Buy any- gingerbread, gilt gingerbread." The anti- quity of gingerbread fairs was somewhat discussed in the Ninth Series.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

WORDS AND PHRASES IN OLD AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS. I continue from 10 S. xi. 469 my list of points on which I desire information :

Franklin (1867). Mr. Lowell, in ' Fitz-adam's Story,' says that

bushed asparagus in faded green Added its shiver to the franklin clean. What is this ?

Frickle (1842, Michigan). A man of some kind.

Grammet (1850). To make a grammet at a person. A grimace ?

Grubstake. I wish for dated examples ot this word, as noun or verb, before 1885. I have leen assured, orally, that it is half a century old.

Hair trigger. ' N.E.D.' 1830, But rifles with hair triggers were made by Ketland & Co. hi 1806. Was this an English firm ?

Harpooners (1802). The Harpooners, Burrs, or Brutuses are mentioned in Letters to Alexander Hamilton.

Hide-and-coop (1850).' A variant of hide-and- seek. Is there another instance of this phrase ?

Hog (1813). To rise archwise. The earliest ' N.E.D.' example is dated 1818 ; but I think the use of the word originated in England.

Hogo (1800). A drink of the intoxicating kind.

Horrors, give one the (1794). Goldsmith has " the horrors " (1768). Is not the full phrase of

ziuisc VL awv^L colour (1798). The { N.E.D;' cites Trollope (1867). But surely this is not originally American ?

Huffed (1800).' N.E.D.' (in passive) 1825.

Hum-hum (1820). A thin cottony material, j