Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/130

 102 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. AUG. 5,1905. Invincible Armada, was presented by Queen Elizabeth (R. A. Austen Leigh's 'Eton Guide,' p. 79; A. Glutton-Brock's 'Eton'; Izaak Walton's ' Life of Wotton'). The exterior of the Magdalen schoolroom, with its fine but- tresses as seen from the west, appears in the drawing by Joseph Skelton (plate 52 of 'Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata'). This view represents the eastern and western side of Magdalen Hall quadrangle, and gives a good idea of the interior or northern face of its gateway. The southern front of both Hall and schoolroom may be studied in an engrav- ing from a drawing by N. Whittock of 1823, showing "Old Magdalen Hall and other buildings" adjoining the College, "commonly called the Gravel Walk." The only ancient school building of the fourteenth century now existiriK is the original schoolroom of Winchester "College, now called " Seventh Chamber," Wykeham's marfna domus. A large slice was cut out of it to form "Seventh Chamber Passage," the way out to school in 1687, when the New (now Old) School was built. The archway of that passage is the original school doorway. The window which lights the passage above is also part of the original window. The original dimensions were 45 ft. 6 in. long by 28 ft. 10 in. wide, and 15 ft. 3 in. high from the present floor, which is probably higher than the original floor. Four wooden columns, one of which still remains, supported the ceiling and hall above. The light came in through three windows in the south wall. All of these remain, although the one now lighting the passage is shorn of its lower portion. In each window were benches of stone " for the eighteen prefects, so that they might preside over the others." These benches, in a triple row,still remain in the two untouched windows (Leach's ' Win- chester Coll.,' p. 122). It will be seen that Waynflete's schoolroom was considerably longer than, but not so wide as. Wykeham's. At Eton, according to Henry VI.'s original intention, or " will," "the Provost's lodging was to extend for a length of 70ft. on both floors, from behind the upper end of the hall to a corner tower situated clone to the north - east angle of the new church. Exactly opposite to this, but only on the ground floor, was to be a schoolroom of similar length, adjoining the gateway."—Maxwell-Lyte's 'History of Eton Col- lege,' pp. 36, 43. Disregarding the example of monastic estab- lishments, the king had resolved to follow Wykeham's lead and supply his College with a regular schoolroom. The Eton cloister was, however, occasionally (again like that of Winchester College) to be the scene of public disputatious in grammar between the scholars. A grammar school is mentioned in audit rolls of Richard III.'s reign ; and the recent " building of a new school" is noticed in 1515. The original dormitory and school- room were, perhaps, situated on the western side of the cloisters. The present Upper School dates only from 1690-1 (ibid., 41, 135). (For these references to Sir H. C. Maxwell- Lyte's book I am indebted to Mr. A. G. Parham, of Exeter College, and sometime chorister of Magdalen.) A. R. BAYLEY. St. Margaret's, Malvern. (To be continued.) YORKSHIRE DIALECT. As, owing to the general spread of educa- tion and the constant migration of the agricultural population to our large towns, the local dialects—or perhaps ono should rather say the native language of our more rural districts—are likely in a few years to become extinct, it might be of interest to your readers to record a few of their principal peculiarities. For instance, our Yorkshire language is almost entirely Scandinavian or Saxon, as is shown in the names of our towns- and villages, and the Norman invasion has scarcely affected our vocabulary at all. Observe, for instance, Aldby (the old village), Aldwark (the old work or fort), Derwent (clear stream, a common name of rivers in the North), Godmanham (the village of the sacred stone, where stood formerly a celebrated temple of the Druids). Riccal (the- hall of meeting or judgment), Wheldrake (in which name ono would scarcely recognize Queldrick, or the ridge of quail), Escrick (the- ridge of ash), Thorganby (the sacred village of Thor), York (the city on the Ure), and countless other instances. I generally "stump" those who profess rashly to understand our language with some such sentence as this : "T'waiter siping thruff t'assen mak t'middin rank smittle." This seems gibberisli to most Englishmen, and yet every one of the words is one of our old original language, simple Saxon or Scandi- navian, meaning simply, "The water soaking through the ashes makes the heap very infectious." I always contend that we Yorkshiremen do not drop our h like a Cockney, though we do clip the article, as in saying " t'ill " for •' the hill " ; but we do the same, curiously enough, also before a consonant, " t'letter," "" t'door," &c., while we odly omit the possessive *, as for " the master's key " we should say " the master key." We still use frequently the good old Shakespearian word "parlous,"