Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/540

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NOTES AND QUERIES. uo s. xn DEC, 4, 1000.

When we come to look for the etymology of sucket, ' The Century Dictionary * refers us to succade, with the same sense ; but there all information ceases. It is from this point that I take up the history.

It is simply borrowed from the Old French succade, which even Cotgrave fails to give. But it is included by Godefroy, who has : " Succade, chucade, chuccade, sucrade, s.f., chose sucree, dragee, sucrerie, douceur.' 1 form.

Obviously, sucrade is an older

And, seeing that sucrade means " chose sucree," the connexion with sucre is obvious. But -ade is not an O.F. ending ; the F. form is sucree. It is obviously not derived from the Ital. zucchero, sugar ; nor from the Span. azucar or Port, assucar. Only one source is possible : it must be Provencal.

MistraPs modern Provengal Dictionary solves it at once. We there find : " Sucre, Gascon soucra, sucre " ; and the verb sucra, " sucrer " ; whence " sucra, sucrado, part, et adj., sucre, sucree, doux comme sucre ; amelo sucrado, dragee." So that the O.F. sucrade is directly borrowed from the Prov. sucrado. It is remarkable how suckets preserves the sense ; as Nares says, it means " sweetmeats, sugar-plums." The ' E.D.D. 1 has also : " Sucker, sugar ; sucker, p, sweet, lollipop, a mixture of treacle, sugar, &c. ; sucket, a kind of sweetmeat, a goody.' 1 Cf. juncade in ' N.E.D., 1 which is likewise (as there noted) of Provengal origin, from Prov. joncada. Mistral gives it in the more modern form jouncado, juncado, " fromage frais. 1 *

WALTER W. SKEAT.

W.

JAY, THE CYRUS

PREACHER : JAY.

IN writing a biography one frequently 'Comes across something ,that suggests another. Thus in getting facts for my notice of the Jay family (10 S. vi. 441, 502) I constantly met with the names at the head of this note, and was thus reminded that I had something to say about them, though they are in no way related to the others of the same name.

William Jay of Bath nourished so long ago (1769-1853) that his name will probably be unknown to many readers of ' N. & Q. 1 For the better understanding of this note it will therefore be as well to mention that he was so celebrated as a preacher when a youth that he was called the " boy preacher.' 1 In after life his popularity was

still greater, and he was known as the " prince of preachers."

There is an admirable article, written by my old friend, and your old contributor, the late G. C. Boase, in the ' D.N.B., 1 which gives all the salient facts, and appears to me to be exactly what was required for that publication. There is also a notice of Jay in Mr. F. Boase's ' Modern English Bio- graphy.' It is almost unnecessary to say that I do not propose to repeat what is said in either of those laborious and useful books.

Jay was a strong-minded man, but was nevertheless unassuming and modest, as the following anecdote from his son's ' Recol- lections a (pp. 64-5) attests. In his absence from home his wife had a brass plate fixed on the door, in accordance with the custom of those days, and on it was engraved " Rev. William Jay." When he returned, he felt astonished and mortified, and told his wife that it must be removed, observing, " I am no Reverend. n But he allowed one with the name " Jay " only on it ; this, his son says, " remains there to this day."

In 1810 the degree of D.D. was conferred on him by the College of New Jersey, but he never assumed it. Nonconformist ministers in the present day do not share his opinion in respect to the prefix " Reve- rend."

But " What was the name of his par- ticular form of Nonconformity ? " was the first question I tried in vain to settle from the biographies. All Jay's biographers are particularly cautious and reticent on the point ; they merely follow one another in declaring that he was pastor of " Axgyle Independent Chapel." It is only when I refer to our National Library Catalogue that I find - he was a Congregational minister, this designation being attached to his name to distinguish him from the other W. Jays.

Seeing in G. E. C.'s ' Complete Peerage,' vii. 386, that " W. Jay's only surviving daughter married Baron Teynham," I was led to inquire as to his family, as no such event is mentioned in his ' Autobiography ' ; but it will be seen from the following list that the Jay named is not the preacher of Bath. I nevertheless give my list, as it is not to be found anywhere. The only account I know is in the ' Autobiography,' which, Cyrus Jay says (' Recollections, 1 p. 239), was written within a year of his 'ather's death ; but this was not so, as he began it in 1843. In this (pp. 95-8) W. Jay numbers his six children, but gives no date