Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/637

 iv. DEC. so. 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 527 I find no internal evidence in the 'D.N.B.,' vol. Ixvii., 'Errata,' that that portion thereof which modifies vol. xxiv. of the principal work was prepared before the publication of ' N. & Q.' for 9 May. 1903 (9th 8. xi. 36G), yet no correction has been made in the date of decease of Dr. Halley, 25 January, 1742, N.S., as shown at the reference just given. "In the Earl of Macclesfield's library at Shirburne Castle, Oxon., are several MSS. by Halley ; among them a commonplace book" (of. Aubrey's ' Brief Lives,' Clark, i. 283, Oxford, 1898). The Astronomische Gesellschaf t has recently offered a prize of one thousand marks "for the best determination of the position of Halley's comet in the year of its return " (cf. Viertdjahrsichrift, 39 Jahrgang, Drittes Heft, pp. 149, 152, Leipsic, 1904). EUGENE FAIKFIELD McPiKE, Member of the Bibliographical Society of America. Chicago, U.S. ST.THOMAS'S DAYCCSTOM.—As St.Thomas's Day is recent, the following, copied from The Scottish Standard-Bearer, will not be inap- propriate :— "At Harvington, in Worcestershire, it is the custom on St.. Thomas's Day (December 21st) for persons (chiefly children) to go round the village, begging for apples, and singing the following rhymes :— Wissal, wassail, through the town ; If you've got any apples, through (?) them down ; Up with the stocking and down with the shoe; If you've got no apples, money will do. The jug is white and the ale is brown ; This is the best house in the town. F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART. Castle Pollard Westmeath. "GOING A-GOODING." (See 1st Series, and so down.)—I understand that this custom of widows going round on St. Thomas's Day for gifts is still kept up at Dimchurch, Hythe, Kent. JR. J. FYNMOEE. Bandgate. WINDSOR UNIFORM. (See 9th S. ix. 292; x. 36.)—Le Temps, which is the most accurate of French newspapers, has followed a com- mon English error in its account of the King's present to Mr. Balfpur. It begins rightly by saying that a Windsor uniform is a "special costume worn at Windsor when the Court is there." But it then goes on to describe as the Windsor uniform the ordinary ministerial or " first-class diplomatic " uniform in its '' ball " form, and further mistakenly explains that members of the Cabinet going out of office can no longer wear this costume, aid have to wear ordinary Court dress in black velvet. There are in this statement almost as many mistakes as words. Black velvet has lately come into common wear as a Court dress, but it is not one of the three most approved forms, according to the official circulars, and was only till recently a little-used alternative. The being in or out of office makes no difference whatever to the dress worn. Privy Councillors all wear the same costume, and the fall of a Cabinet can make no difference. Windsor uniform lias changed, but has always been of a com- paratively simple nature. W. U. L. P. W. TREPOLPEN. (See ante, p. 442.)— There is no necessity for any reticence about this pseudonym, as it is acknowledged in the 'Bibfiptheca Cornubiensia,' vol. ii. p. 786, and vol. iii., under W. P. Courtney. RALPH THOMAS. OXFORD CIRCUS.—I believe that this'title was first used by the omnibus companies in the seventies or eighties. The present Oxford Circus was originally Regent Circus—a name which in common speech was already used for the crossing near the Quadrant. The names of Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus came in together. EDWARD SMITH. "HERERO": ITS PRONUNCIATION. — The proper way to pronounce this African name is with the stress on its first syllable—Herero, and not Herero. This seems worth noting here, as it is just the contrary of what one would expect from the analogy of the Spanish termination -ero. Pinero, for instance, should be Pinero, though the man in the street may sometimes turn it into Pinero; and bolero should be bolero, though the woman in the street too often calls it b6lero. Hence it is not surprising that even the accurate ' Cyclo- paedia of Names,' 1895, marks Herero, with the accent on the wrong syllable. JAMES PLAIT, Jun. AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.—Major B. R. Ward, in the September number of the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution (vol. xlix. pp. 1073-5), draws attention to "probably the finest military record in existence^" namely, ' The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.' Commenced on 19 May, 1864, the one hun- dred and thirtieth (and last) volume was completed on 22 August, 1901, under the editorship of Major R. N. Scott, 3rd U.S. Artillery, who had been in charge of the work since December, 1877. In addition to