Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/265

 s. ii. SEPT. 10, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

217

flatter year the Silk Throwers of London and its vicinity, to the extent of four miles, were erected into a company. For other par- ticulars see vol. x. parts 1 and 2 of the
 * Beauties of England and Wales.'

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D. Baltimore House, Bradford.

The art of silk-throwing was first practised in London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth '(1558-1603) by foreigners, whose descendants -and others, anno 1622, were constituted a fellowship of the City of London. By letters patent of Charles L, 23 March, 1630, they \vere incorporated by the title of "The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Trade, Art, or Mystery of Silk Throwers of ithe City of London."

The Company of Silkmen was incorporated on 23 May, 1631, by the name of the " Governor, Commonalty, and Assistants of the Art or Mystery of Silkmen of the City of London," but, like the Silk Throwers, had neither livery nor hall in which to manage their affairs. The name appears in a list of the City Companies dated 1843, but the -Company, I think, has now ceased to exist.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

The Silkmen, who were a distinct frater- nity from the Silk Throwers, were incor- porated by letters patent of King Charles I. in the year 1631. They had neither hall nor livery. Neither had the Silk Throwsters, \vhose art was first practised in London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by foreigners, whose descendants and others were, in the year 1562, constituted a fellowship of the City of London, and by letters patent of Charles I. in the year 1630 were incorporated by the name of "The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Trade, Art. or Mystery of Silk Throwers of the City of London." A silk thrower was one who wound, twisted, spun, or threw silk in order to fit it for use, while a silkman was merely -a dealer in silk a silk-mercer. Three hanks of silk are borne in the arms of the latter company, and it has been ingeniously sug- gested by a writer of a " turnover " in the Globe that our reduplicated word "hanky- panky," as applied to an action evincing a fiffst in a person's character or behaviour, is derived from the twist in a hank of silk or

WOOl. J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

WHITSUNDAY (10 th S. ii. 121). I think some readers may be glad of some more early examples of the use of the word.

It occurs in Layaraon's 'Brut,' about A.D. 1205. This has the great advantage

of having been written in fairly regular metre, so that we can count the syllables.

In vol. ii. p. 308, 1. 17481, we have the seven-syllable line " to Whit-e-mn-e-doei-e" This is in the dative case; the nom. was Whit-e-sun-e-dcei, in five syllables. Rather an awkward form to evolve from G. Pfing- sten ! The same dative appears again on the next page, at 1. 17484.

In vol. iii. p. 2C7, 1. 31524, we have the following pair of lines, both of eight syllables : Hit i-16mp an an-e tim-e To than Whlt-e-siin-e tid-e.

I.e., it happened on a time, at the Whitsun- tide. Here White-sune consists of four svlla- bles. The final -e in Whil-e and the final -e in sun-e both represented an A.-S. suffix -an ; and that is why they were treated, at the first, as separate syllables. For the same reason, the expression Whitsuntide was used instead of Whitsunday-tide, which was prac- tically unmanageable, being (at that date) a form containing no less than six syllables.

In the ' Ancren Riwle,' or ' Rule of Ancho- resses ' (about 1225), we find, at p. 413, the five-syllable form hwit-e-sun-e-dei. The reality of the -e-, as forming a separate syllable, is apparent from the fact that the parallel form sunendei occurs twice on the same page.

The Normans were mostly unable to pro- nounce hw (or wh) properly, and substituted a common voiced w in its place; with a determination so stubborn that we all do the same still in the southern parts of Eng- land. This habit frequently appears in their spelling also, as the scribes were mostly Normans. Hence it was that, in the later text of Layamon (later by a score of years or so), we already find the spelling Wit-e-son-e- daiye (in the dative) in the later copy of 1. 17481. Again, in the ' Old English Homi- lies ' (about 1230), edited by Morris, i. 209, we find a reference to " the holi goste, thet thu on hivite sune dai sendest thine deore- wurthe deciples," i.e., the Holy Ghost, that thou on Whitsunday didst send to thy beloved disciples.

The syllabic e that first disappeared was, of course, the termination of the adjective. Hence, in the 'Early South - English Le- gendary' (about 1290), we find Wit-sonen-tid in the 'Life of Beket,' p. 115, 1. 297; and Witsonenday in the ' Life of St. John,' p. 403, 1. 38. Then it was that the mischief-making inventors of fables got their first chance, and started the derivation of Whitsunday from wit, in the sense of heavenly wisdom, an idea still much applauded by many who prefer such stories to research.

It was nob till modern times that still