Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/327

 io s. ii. OCT. i,i904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

267

in ' Rob Roy,' ch. xxi., viz., " the news of a field stricken and won in Flanders." Evi- dently this means a field on which a general joins "battle and wins the field. WECO.

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 the answers may be addressed to them direct.

FRENCH BURDENS TO ENGLISH SONGS. Will any of your readers who are experts in old French poetry tell me if they have ever met with the original of Infida's song in Greene's Sweet Adon, dar'st not glance thine eye
 * Never too Late,' or with its refrain-

N'oserez vous, mon bel ami ? Upon thy Venus that must die? Je vous enprie, pity me.

N'oserez vous, mon bel, mon bel, N'oserez vous, mon bel ami ?

and of Mullidor's madrigal in * Never too

Late'

In summer time I saw a face Trop belle pour moi, heUas, helas !

Trop belle pour moi, voil& mon tr^pas. Mon dieu, aide moi.

H6 done je serai un jeune roi ! Trop belle pour moi, helas, helas ! Trop belle pour moi, voil& mon trpas.

J. C. C.

PAWNSHOP. This seems to be a compara- tively recent word. In occurs in 'Tom Brown's School Days,' 1857. We should like an earlier instance.

J. A. H. MURRAY.

"PELFRY" USED BY JOHNSON. In Samuel Pegge's 'Anecdotes of the English Language ' it is said (ed. 1803, p. 35) of Dr. Johnson, " There are many words in his own writings, which are not found in his * Dictionary ' Pdfry for instance." But Pegge does not state where this word occurs in Johnson's writings, and our readers have not supplied the quotation. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' supply it ] It would be a late instance of the word, which is rare after 1600.

J. A. H. MURRAY.

THE PELICAN MYTH. I should like to know where the myth of the pelican reviving her young with blood from her own breast, which occupies so large a place in Christian symbolism, is first mentioned. In English literature references to it are abundant from

before 1400 ; and it is referred to by Alexander Neckam (1157-1217), native of St. Albans and Abbot of Cirencester, in his Latin trea- tise 'De Naturis Rerum' (cap. Ixxiii. and Ixxiv.), and in his 'De Laudibus Divinse Sapientiae,' 11. 657-74. Littre cites it in French of the thirteenth century, and it doubt- less occurs in Albertus Magnus, Vincent of Beauvais, and other mediaeval writers of natural history, and treatises ' De Proprie- tatibus Rerum.' But a writer of 1601, R. Chester, ' Love's Martyr,' st. 180, refers it to an earlier source :

The Pellican, the wonder of our age, (As Jerome saith) revives her tender young, And with her purest blood shed doth asswage Her young ones' thirst.

Where does St. Jerome say this ? The Latin dictionaries have a reference for pelecanus to " Hieron. in Psa. ci." There is, of course, nothing in Psalm ci. (i.e., cii. 6 of English Psalters), where mention is made of the pellicano solitudinis, to warrant the introduc- tion of the fable. But does St. Jerome there introduce it ? and is that its earliest known occurrence? J. A. H. MURRAY.

"PELHAM," "a bridle containing the snaffle and the curb in one bit of ordinary power." Evidently from the family surname. But when was it so named, and why ?

J. A. H. MURRAY.

FRENCH HERALDRY. I should be very grateful to any one conversant with French heraldry who would tell me who, about 1741, used the seal bearing a lozenge - shaped escutcheon, Azure, a chevron gules, between in chief two flowers (not roses, apparently) stalked and leaved, and in base an anchor reversed between two stars. The hatching, azure and gules, is quite clear, but may, perhaps, not be meant for hatching, but be merely an engraver's fancy. The colours of the charges, if indicated at all, cannot be distinguished. Above, a count's coronet. J. K. LAUGHTON.

'EXPERIENCES OF A GAOL CHAPLAIN.' Who was the author of the 'Experiences of a Gaol Chaplain ' ? My copy is a " new edition," 1850, published by Bentley, possessed by me since 1856. There are some very good stories in it. 'The Personal Friend of the Royal Family ; or, Flaws in the Indictment/ is one of the best. R. S.

PARISH DOCUMENTS: THEIR PRESERVATION. Will any of your readers kindly tell me, through your columns, the best method for preserving, and place for keeping, parish documents? An iron safe in the church is