Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/420

 346 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. OCT. a», •that they were written at the time when Elizabeth was visiting Basing House and Farnham Castle, but, as he says, it is not clear exactly when or where they were de- livered. So we cannot infer from them a visit to Winchester. In Sept., 1601, it may be added, Elizabeth spent thirteen days at Basing and then went to Farnham (Nichols, iii. 566, citing Stow's 'Annals'; see p. 797, edition of 1631). To sum up the effect of this note. Elizabeth was at Winchester certainly thrice—in 1560, 1574, and 1586. She was probably there also in 1569 and 1591; but probably neither in 1570 nor in 1573, as alleged. She may have been there upon other occasions : but if so, I have overlooked the evidence and shall be glad to learn from what sources it can be gleaned. H. C. "PRATY": ITS ORIGIN.—I am afraid most Englishmen regard this synonym for the " Irish apricot" as a mere corruption of our word potato, but it is something more than that. It is practically pure Gaelic, and in the Munster dialect, which is that of which I have most knowledge, it is written prdta in the singular, prdtaidhe in the plural, while in Meath and Ulster it is pronounced and written j>rtata, plural prtataidhe. Of course these forms go back ultimately to potato. They illustrate a tendency, which is common to all Gaeldom, to substitute r for t. Readers of Hall Caine's famous novel 'The Manxman' will remember a case in point, viz., the name of his heroine, " Kirrie." i.e., Kate Cregeen. JAS. PLATT, Jun. UCHOREUS. — The legend of Sesostris, the supposed great Egyptian conqueror, is given both by Herodotus, and (with accretions) by Diodorus Siculus, who puts his name in the form Sesoosis. Two earlier kings are men- tioned by Diodorus, whose names and deeds are also stated erroneously. Of Osyman- dyas I have already spoken at p. 305 of this volume under the heading ' The First Warlike King.' Dr. Budge points out ('History of Egypt," vol. v. p. 92) that the monument which Diodorus called the tomb of Osyman- dyas was, in fact, " the funeral temple of Rameses II., many of whose wars and ex- ploits he attributed to Sesostris, in accordance with the form of the legend of Sesostris which was current in his time." The other king mentioned by Diodorus alone is called by liim Uchoreus (in my former letter this appears erroneously as Uchoveus), and said to have been the founder of Memphis, which really appears to have owed its origin to Menes, the first king who united all Egypt under one rule. Both Herodotus and Diodorua speak of a king called Mceris, who is said to have excavated the famous lake of that name, work really due to Amenemhat III., the name of the lake, as Dr. Budge points out, being derived from an Egyptian word, either Mu-ur=great water, or Mer-ur=great canal. Gibbon relates in his autobiography that during an Oxford vacation in 1751 he first resolved to write a book. The title was ' The Age of Sesostris,' but its sole object was " to investigate the probable date of the life and reign of the conqueror of Asia." The sheets of that youthful effort remained twenty years at the bottom of a drawer, and in a general clearance of papers (November, 1772) were committed to the flames. Utterly without interest or value would such a work (written long before the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics) have indeed been now. W. T. LYNN. Blackheath. SUICIDES BURIED IN THE OPEN FIELDS.— Of course it is a well-known fact that formerly suicides were buried at the cross-roads, or in the burial-ground on the north side of the church : but the following extract from » fifteenth-century translation of 'The Alpha- bet of Tales' (E.E.T.S., vol. cxxvii.) shows that they were also interred in the open fields : " They berid hur in the felde as men duse with thaim att kyllis therselfe." HENBY FISHWICK. "UNANSWERED YET, THB PRAYER YOUB LIPS HAVE PLEADED." (See ante, p. 220.)-^ These verses were written by Miss Ophelia G. Browning, afterwards Mrs. Burroughs, and were published in The Christian Standard in May, 1880, with the title ' Sometime: Somewhere.' M. C. L. New York. ENGLISH POETS AND THE ARMADA.—In the monograph on Andrew Marvell, recently con- tributed by Mr. Augustine Birrell to the " English Men of Letters'' Series, a reference to the poet's celebration of Blake's victory at Santa Cruz in 1657 leads to some remarks on poems of action. Drayton's ' SOUR of Agin- court' and Jean Eliot's ' Flowers of the Forest' are mentioned as worthy, but belated memorials, while Addison's ' Blenheim' is depreciated, and it is added that no poet sang Chatham's victories. "Even the Spanish Armada," says Mr. Birrell, at p. 70 of hi* volume, " had to wait for Macaulay's spirited fragment." As a matter of fact, however, the fate of the Armada inspired Alexander