Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/348

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. OCT. 9, im

thoughts to those friends living at a distance, anc -will thank you to execute the following commissions AS soon as you conveniently can.

I will thank you to send seven copies of the work foy the Chichester coach directed to Mr. Jacques bookseller, North Street, Chichester, and to write to him to the following effect : that you are desired by me to send him 7 copies, one of which I wil' thank him to present to my sister Mrs. Forbes of Beagle House as a present ; and to retain the other six copies. You had then better tell him, that if he wishes for one he had better write to you. I will thank you to send a copy to Mr. Taylor of the British Museum as a present, inclosing about a doze"n prospectuses, telling him at the same time that I shall feel obliged by anything he may do to promote the sale of the work ; also a copy as a present from me to Mr. Dowling of the Morning Chronicle and Observer Office, with a similar letter saying that I shall be obliged by anything he may -do to promote the sale of the work.

I will thank you also to send 12 copies to Mr. George Lewis, N 59, Frith Street, Soho, with 12 prospectuses, with Mr. Jones's compliments. 1 copy to Robert Bones, Esq., with 12 prospectuses and a short notice saying that you have sent it by my desire. Also 14 copies by the Hertford coach directed to George Nicholson, Esq., solicitor. You need not send any note with them as I shall write by this evening's post, giving him directions con- cerning them. I will also thank you to send a copy with 12 prospectuses as a present from me to William Wilshere, Esq., Hitchin (paying the car- riage) by the coach which goes from the George & Blue Boar, Holborn, with a short note saying that you send it by my desire.

I believe that I have now gone through all my commissions ; should I have forgotten any I will send them to-morrow. You need not send me any copies until further orders. Believe me, My dear Sir,

Ever very truly yours,

ROBERT CLUTTERBUCK.

The letters are not endorsed, but were evidently sent to Mr. John Nichols, of the firm of Nichols & Son, publishers, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, and 25, Parliament Street, printers and publishers.

W. B. GERISH. Bishop's Stortford.

ENGLISH CLOTHING TERMS IN FOREIGN 'TONGUES. The English word "frock," denoting a kind of coat for men, was bor- rowed from us by the Germans in the form /rack, and afterwards became French frac. But whereas in English it means a frock- coat, on the Continent it means a dress- coat, which is quite another thing. In the ' N.E.D.,' where quotations are given for all senses, there is no trace of it meaning a dress-coat in English. This application of the term must therefore have been " made in Germany," whence it penetrated to all the Continental languages, including Lithua- nian frakas and Finnish prakki, the Finns

having no /. The term is well known in the Slavonic dialects, always in the sense " dress-coat," and the Russians have even coined the admirable word fratchnik to describe an_ habitual wearer of evening dress a " toff," in fact.

While they use frac for a dress-coat, the French designate a frock-coat by another English loan-word, redingote, which was originally " riding coat." In Spanish frac is dress-coat, and frock-coat is levita, i.e., levitical coat. The " Young Turks " greatly affect the frock, and I have heard it called by them stambolina, i.e., Constantinopolitan coat.

" Frock " is not the only clothing term misused by foreigners. " Smoking " (i.e., smoking jacket) is used in French, German, Russian, and other tongues, to signify a dinner jacket, which in New York is called a " tuxedo," from the village of that name. " Buckskin," which in English has a very limited currency, seems extremely popular in what some one has called " the gross gargles of Prussia and Holland," which use it indiscriminately for any breeches material, or for the garment itself. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

" HOTH " = HEATH. In writing of Hod- ford (ante, p. 234) I said that hoth did not mean heath. This statement was founded on the fact that hoath or hoth will not be found in the 'N.E.D.,' nor does any refer- ence to this form occur under " heath." But I ought perhaps to have qualified the statement by pointing out that hoth is not found in Middlesex, where Hodford is situated. In Kent it seems to be fairly common. Lambarde, in his ' Perambula- tion of Kent,' ed. 1826, p. 198, speaking of the streams that fall into the Medway, says : " The fourth and last principal! Brooke issueth at Bygon hoath in Leneham." On the next page he writes that " there ariseth, near to the Parke and Hothe of Langley, a small spring, which. . . .is con- veighed under the earth neare to Cocks- hothe." The following section (p. 200) is devoted to " Piccendene Hothe," which he also calls (p. 201) " Pinnendene Heath." There is therefore no doubt that hothe, in

ambarde's language, is equivalent to heath. The Anglo-Saxon spelling seems to forbid the supposition that hoth bears the same relation to heath that wold bears to weald. Perhaps PROF. SKEAT would favour us with lis opinion on this point. There is a small lamlet called Hoath, lying between Reculver

nd Sturry ; and Hothfield gives a title to an English peerage. W. F. PRIDEAUX.