Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/432

 358 NOTES AND QUERIES, no* s. iv. OCT. 28, im It would be interesting to know whether another old custom, certainly still followed at the beginning of last century, is observed to-day, or, if not, when it ceased. On Mid- summer Eve every Ripon housekeeper who had in the preceding twelvemonth changed hia residence spread a table before his door in the street, with bread, cheese, and ale, for those who pleased to regale themselves; after which, if the master was in a position to do so, the company were invited to supper, and the evening was concluded " with mirth and good humour." .1. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. 6, Elgin Court, W. If the custom of "processing" St. Wilfrid has ever been neglected at Ripon, it was at any rate duly observed there this year, as may be seen by The Yorkshire Herald of 7 August. ST. SWITHIN. DUCHESS OF CANNIZARO (10th S. iv. 265, 316).—I remember hearing the late Charles Villiers (of anti-Corn-Law fame) say that the Duke of Cannizaro was Portuguese Minister in London. SHERBORNE. The lines in which the Duke of Cannizaro is immortalized in ' The Ingoldsby Legends' occur near the end of 'The Merchant of Venice,1 and begin :— Antonio, whose piety caused, as we 've seen, Him to spit upon every old Jew's gaberdine. . JOHN HEBB. "Coop," TO TRAP (10th S. iv. 165, 296).— Surely it is better to consult ' The English Dialect Dictionary' than Bailey. Coon, to catch in traps, is duly given there. Coup, to exchange, is quite a different word. So is Coupe, a piece cut off. So is cop, to catch. I cannot see the point of mixing these all up in a hodge-podge. And surely the connexion of coop with coopertura is infelicitous. The latter is not English, but late Latin ; and is not spelt with oo, but with o-o / And yet again, it deserves to be known that when Bailey quotes a word as being in "Chaucer," he is only copying from Speght, whose edition contains heaps of poems— certainly more than (went;/—of which Chaucer was wholly innocent. As for coupe-gorge, it occurs in 1. 7422 of ' The Romaunt of the Rose,' i.e., in that part of the (English) ' Romaunt' with which Chaucer had nothing to do. WALTER W. SKEAT. When I was a boy in Essex, now many years ago, the word cop was, amongst boys, in constant use. It had a special significa- tion. It meant to pitch or toss _an objectr—a ball, or some object for inspection—as being distinct from throwing it. "Cop it here" was the invitation, and I think "Give us a cop" would be cried by boy A who wanted boy B to send him an easy catch. But it was the act of pitching, tossing, or "chucking" which was the "cop." DOUGLAS OWEN. This word seems to be used in the sense of "throw," or what used to be called "shying" in 'The Horkey,' a ballad by Robert Bloom- field—a mine of Suffolk provincialisms. Judy Twichet observes :— I could have copt them at their head ; Trenchers for me, said 1, Which look so clean upon the ledge, And never mind a fall. Which never turn a sharp knife's edge ; But fashion rules us all. I suppose the trenchers were made of wood, or metal perhaps. The name is preserved in the square collegiate cap, or trencher. The meat was eaten on wooden trenchers at Winchester College. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. NUTTING (10th S. iv. 265).—A "deaf " nut is one which has lost its essential character, or rather which has never had it. So " deaf " eggs, ears of corn, any barren fruit. See "I.E.D.' Also "deaf ears," for the auricles of the heart (dial.). J. T. F. Wiiiterton, Doncaster. SANDERSON DANCE (10th S. iv. 308).—The remarks of the dancer and the replies of the musician in the dance described as 'John Sanderson ; or, the Cushion Dance,' are fully set forth at l§t S. ii. 517, and further informa- tion is given in i ii. 125, 286. An early mention of the dance will be found in Heywood's play ' A Woman kill'd with Kindness,' 1600, where Nicholas says: " I have ere now deserved a cushion ; call for the cushion dance." Archdeacon Nares, in his ' Glossary of the Works of English Authors,' says: "The musical notes are preserved in ' The English Dancing Master,' 1686, where it is called Joan Sanderson ; or, the Cushion Dance, an old round dance.'" EVERABD HOME COLBMAX. NOTES ON BOOKS, Ac. A JVeir English Dictionary. Edited by Dr. James A. H. Murray.—Pennage— Pfennig (Vol. V1L). (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) WITH the present instalment, consisting of » double section of the letter P, for which the editor-in-chief is responsible, the first half of Vol. VII., O—P, is completed. It is almost need- less to state that the ordinary rate of luperiority over existing dictionaries is maintained, and that while the number of words recorded is 50 per cent.