Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/210

 172 NOTES AND QUERIES, [io<" s. iv. AUG. as, iws. incognita, that the folk there are inaccurate and provincial when they talk of " cutting a thing in half." I blush to say that I had made use of this bit of prose all my life without being at all aware of my departure from Queen and King's English : " O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" ST. SWITHIN. I find there are a good many of the words mentioned by MR. DUNNINGTON-JEFFERSON in use also in this part of Northamptonshire. I will give a few instances. " Dyke " = ditch, " thack " (" theck ") = thatch. Thus we have the old saying :— Thack and dyke Northamptonshire like. Partridges are invariably spoken of as "birds," just as all kinds of plants of the cabbage tribe are known simply as " plants." Clare informed Miss Baker of the term " caved in," as used to describe the falling-in of an excavation. Although she had not heard it, the expression is still in general use. Our statute fair, known locally as '' The Stattis," is now a thing of the past, although events are still judged to take place at or about the time of the "Stattis." A "quickset" hedge is the term used for a hawthorn or white - thorn hedge. Miss Baker (' Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases," 1854) says : " A quick hedge, or quickset hedge, is one made or set with quick, in contradistinction to a dead hedge formed of dry wood." This latter we generally speak of as a " stake-hedge." The charlock is variously known as "cad- lock" or " carlock." Pony = " Galloway." Galloway races often form an item in the programme of our local sports. We have no plural for " beast" = bullock. We speak of one beast or several beast, and Tom is daily told to "fetch^them beast out o' the top clus." A sheep after its first shear- ing is known as a "shear-hog" or "sharrig." The paragraph concerning " fettle " would equally apply to Northamptonshire. Fettle= a good thrashing, as mentioned by the Editor, is unknown here. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. [Further replies will appear later.] TRIPOS : TRIPOS VERSES (10lh S. iv. 124).— On 26 February, 1669/60, Samuel Pepys heard at St. Botolph's Church, Cambridge, a sermon preached by Mr. Nicholas, of Queen's College, " who I knew in my time to be Tripos." In a note to this passage in the 'Diary' I referred to the Tripos lists and Tripos verses which were printed on the same paper. I possess a copy of the Tripos verses (Greek and Latin) for 1878, printed on two pages of small folio paper. The third page is blank, and on the fourth page is printed the list " Baccalaurei Artiuuo qui pneterito anno honore digni habiti aunt secundum ordinera Senioritatis suse. 27° die Aprilis, 1878." The folio paper is folded across into four, and the list is printed on the two centre divisions, the two outer ones being blank. When closed, therefore, the printed portion is outside. It may appear rash to dispute the state- ment of so great an authority as Dr. Skeat, but it will be seen from the above descrip- tion that the statement from the ' Etymo- logical Dictionary' that verses were printed at the back of the Tripos lists is not quite correct, as actually the Tripos lists were printed at the back of the Tripos verses, proving, I think, that the Tripos lists take their name from the Tripos verses, and not the reverse. The curiosityjust described was given to me by Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., who kindly obtained for me some further information for ray ' Pepysiana' (1899). As this supplements the particulars given by HIPPOCLIDES, I ask to be allowed to quote from that volume :— "In order to verify these facts he [Dr. Glaisher] has kindly made further inquiries at the Pitt Press in order to bring the information up to date, with the following interesting result. ' These verses have been published irregularly. There were none in 1892, but there were some in 1893 and 1894, and none since, and I think they are now actually extinct. When there are no Tripos verses there is no ordo tenioritati* published separately, though it is printed in The University Reporter always.' Five hundred copies were formerly printed, but this number was reduced, and three hundred and fifty only were printed in 1893 and 1894. A copy was sent to all the heads of houses, professors, and certain other officers. It was the custom for each proctor and moderator to take his verses (which were obtained from undergraduates who were asked by the proctor or moderator to write them) to the press, where they were printed, the ordo seniori- >"'<-• being put on the back, but it was no one's business to see that there were any verses or to edit them. If none were brought to the press nothing happened. It appears that in 1896 one of the proctors Drought a copy of verses, but the proof was not returned!, and so the matter rested indefi- nitely, 'waiting instructions.'" HENRY B. WHEA.TLKY. JOSEPH ANSTICE (10th S. iv. 88,150).—There is a slight error in my reply which I should like to correct. Mrs. Joseph Anstice died on 5 May, 1889, and not in 1887, as stated. I may add that all the writings of Joseph Anstice that I have mentioned will be found