Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/333

 io- s. in. APRILS, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

273

Jean Stewart, of Athol, before 20 October, 1474 (ibid., p. 18), two years at least before his father married Elizabeth Hay.

D. M. R.

' INDEX OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PAPERS ' (10 th S. iii. 186). The following appears in a recent second-hand catalogue : " Index of Archaeo- logical Papers, published in 1894, '5, and '6, Report of the Transcription and Publication of Parish Registers, &c., 1892-1896, in 1 vol. half red morocco, marbled edges, fine copy, 5s." H. W. UNDERDOWN.

BALANCES OR SCALES (10 th S. iii. 208). It would be difficult, considering the very few examples extant of the ancient English steelyard, to assign to any individual in- stance any particular date or period. I per- sonally witnessed the unearthing of what was probably a Roman steelyard at least it was found in the same level as other Roman objects on the occasion of the erection of the St. Helen's Glass Factory and wharf on the site of Baynard's Castle, Thames Street (see Journal of Brit. Archseol. Assoc., Sept., 1890, pp. 177-9). I was then told by the Superintendent of Works, Mr. Sutton, that such an implement was still in use in Devon- shire; and I have since heard that in Wiltshire the steelyard is used to this day in the weighing of hay, pigs, &c. There is a very small example of the "stilyard" placed, rightly or wrongly, among the antiquities (Case D) in the Mediaeval Department in the British Museum. This, I think, is the only instance Saxon, Norman, or mediaeval, known to the British Museum authorities, though in the Grseco-Roman Department, if I remember right, examples Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Etruscan may be seen. A most interesting illustration not only of the mediaeval steelyard itself, but of the manner of using it, will be found in MS. 15,685, f. 27 b, in the British Museum. This valuable representation is circa 1400. The presumed Anglo - Roman steelyard above alluded to must have had a wooden beam, for there were fragments of wood picked out of the socket at the time. I have seen examples of the British steelyard in one of the provincial museums, but forget which possibly Col- chester. J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

There are scales in the Chaldon wall-paint- ing, reproduced in 'Surrey Archfleplogical Collections,' vol. v., where a reference is given to Journal of British Arch. Assoc., i. p. 60, for another example. C. JOHNSON.

"UNDERTAKER" (10 th S. iii. 188, 212). In the specialized sense the word occurs in

No. 289 of The Spectator (31 January, 1712) by

Addison : "I have been sometimes taken

for a Parish Sexton, sometimes for an Under- taker." The 'N.E.D.,' s.v. 'Funeral,' quotes from The London Gazette, 1707: "Divers

Abuses have been committed by

Painters, Funeral - Undertakers." The notorious letter descriptive of Dryden's funeral, written by Mrs. Thomas on 15 May, 1729, and published in Wilson's 'Life of Congreve,' 1730, contains the word under- taker several times (Saintsbury's edition of Scott's 'Dryden,' xviii. 213) ; and the special meaning is duly noted in Johnson's 'Dic- tionary,' 1755. L. R. M. STRACHAN. Heidelberg, Germany.

It has already been explained in ' N. & Q. r that the origin of this word could be traced to the fact that funerals of the upper classes- were conducted by heralds on heraldic rules. These were so expensive, and the fees so large, that a set of undermen arose, who acted in their stead, and called themselves under- takers of such funerals. The earliest use of it in this special sense is by Edward Young (1683-1765), who says : While rival undertakers hover round, And with his spade the sexton marks the ground.

Goldsmith in his ' Good-Natured Man,' 1768, describes Croaker thus : " His very mirth is an antidote to all gaiety, and his appearance has a stronger effect on my spirits than an undertaker's shop."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

Undertaker = up-liolder or ?-holsterer ; one who ?mc?er-takes any matter, whether it be to furnish a house for one to live in, or, as in the case of an undertaker or "funeral furnisher," to provide a house for one who is dead. The term upholder or iiphelder occurs frequently in the Corporation records to represent upholsterer.

REGINALD R. SHARPS.

Town Clerk's Office, Guildhall.

Allow me to mention an early allusion to- this office in the ' Epistles ' of Horace (lib. i. vii. 5), showing its use in the Augustan era :

Dum ficus prim a calorque, Designatorem decorat lictoribus atria, Dum pueris omnis pater, et matercula pallet.

It is addressed to Maecenas in August (Sextilis), and to this day Rome is pro- verbially unhealthy at that season. The meaning given is "undertaker," and probably a full description of the duties would be found in Smith's ' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.' In 'Guy Mannering,' in the account of