Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/97

 10 s. xii. JULY 24, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

77

" CoMETHERf (10 S. x. 469 ; xi. 33, 98, 416, 513). Surely the carter's call to his horse has no mystery in it. It is simply " come over," and is quite plainly pronounced by many (say Yorkshire) carters.

H. SNOWDEN WARD.

Since my stay in this country I have been much struck by the extreme docility manifested by farm and draught horses in the hands of their masters and drivers. Thus, if the driver, whether on foot or from the dickey, wishes his team to turn to the right, he simply calls out, " Gee " ; if to the left, " Haw," and the animals instantly obey him, without even the need of a pull at the reins ; while if he wishes them to start of themselves, he uses the less eupho- nious American " Get up," instead of "Gee up," as in England. In fact, so universal are these calls throughout the States that one can make use of the^i with a farmer's horse or horses anywhere, even if one has never set eyes upon the beasts before. As to town horses I cannot express any certainty.

The 'Cent. Diet.,' s.v. 'gee,' has "the cry wherewith carters make their horses turn to the left hand (Cotgrave) " ; but adds that in Switzerland it is to the right, as in the United States. N. W. HILL.

New York.

" PUTLOG " : " PUDDING " : BUILDING TERMS (10 S. xi. 328, 498). " Pudding " is not synonymous with " puddle " (puddled clay), as erroneously stated at the second reference. When an excavation has to be made, over a considerable area, for the foundation of an enclosing wall, and to such a depth as to require the ground to be strutted to prevent it from falling in, e.g., as in the construction of a large ice well, the soil is not all removed at the same time, but a trench is dug around and strutted horizontally across ; the central earth is left to strut to, and is removed after the enclosing walls are built. This central portion is technically called " the pudding." ARTHUR HARSTON, F.S.L

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND BARKING <10 S. xi. 447; xii. 31). In Lambarde's " sometime a monk and chronicler of St. Augustine at Canterbury," is quoted as showing that the Conqueror, after he " had received the Londoners to mercy," pro- ceeded towards Dover that he migh" bring Kent into subjection. He met the Kentish folk, however, at Swanscombe, and there
 * Perambulation of Kent ' one Thomas Spot,

guaranteed them their ancient liberties- Possibly he visited Barking on the way, and crossed the Thames thence on his journey into Kent. WALTER JERROLD. Hampton-on-Thames.

DUELS BETWEEN WOMEN (10 S. xii. 8). While the present reply does not touch MR. BLEACKLEY'S spacial queries, it yet bears on his heading. In J. G. Millingen's 'His- tory of Duelling,' 1841, i. 270-73, will be found a chapter on ' Duels between French Women.' And the following is taken from The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1765, xxxv. 293 :

"Two ladies in the dukedom of Lor rain, one of them wife to a member of the general assembly there, and the other to the commissary at war, having quarrelled, determined to decide the matter by swords, and accordingly fought, when the former was wounded in the arm, and the other dangerously in the breast."

ALBERT MATTHEWS. Boston, U.S.

COWPER MISPRINT (10S. xi. 506). I have two editions of Cowper's poems, one pub- lished by Bohn, and the other by John Walker. . In both the last line of ' To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut' has " feed " printed correctly. I think the misprint " feel " must be quite exceptional. J. FOSTER PALMER.

8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

The misprint referred to by MR. LYNN does not occur in the original edition of ' Cowper's Private Correspondence,' where the poem first appeared, as the following transcript will show :

Would envy, could they know that thou wast

doom'd

To feed a bard, and to be praised in verse. The letter " e " is omitted in " doom'd." J. T. GREENSLADE.

WILLIAM GUILD (10 S. xi. 470 ; xii. 34). In my reply I said : " During his ministry at King Edward the honour of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater." That statement was inferred from the following paragraph in Shirrefs's ' Life of Dr. William Guild,' 1799, p. 29 :

"He continued during his residence at King

Edward to exercise his talent for composition

Men of learning knew him to be learned, the acade- mical honour of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon him, and he was ranked, while yet a young man, among the ablest divines in the Church of Scotland " ;

and in consequence of Shirrefs referring to Guild as Dr. Guild from the publication of ' Ignis Fatuus ' in 1625 onwards. Mr. P. J.