Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/114

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. FEB. 3, im

Shakkespere (grandfather of William) ap- pears as a suitor for Snitterfield, and is con- stantly presented for making default. In one instance the entry appears as " Kichard Shakstaff and Robert Ardern owe suit of court, and have made default " I should be glad to know if this substitution of one name for the other has been noticed in other docu- ments of the period. I may add that a facsimile of the above entry appears in my book * The Manor and Manorial Records.' NATHANIEL J. HONE. Bedford Park, W.

PEG WOFFINGTON. In Lowe's * Biblio- graphical Account of English Theatrical Literature' an entry occurs of a rare pamphlet of which no example is to be found in the British Museum. It is entitled "Supplement to the Memoirs of Mrs. Woffington. Being the Achievements of a Pickle-herring ; or, the Life and Adventures of Butter Milk Jack. 1760, 12mo." I should be glad to hear from any reader who possesses a copy of this, or who knows of the whereabouts of an example.

W. J. LAWRENCE.

69, Trouville Road, Clapham Park, S. VV.

HELL-FIRE CLUB, EDINBURGH. Where can I obtain any information respecting this club? ANDREW OLIVER.

Arts' Club.

MUNICIPAL SWORD-BEARER. I shall be glad if any reader of * N. & Q.' can furnish me with information regarding the office of municipal sword-bearer, especially as to how and where the office originated, and by whom and at what date it was introduced.

D. B. GRANT.

Free Public Library, Leamington.

"THE Two FRIENDS," PRINCES STREET, LONDON, 1794. In the 'Memoirs of the Count de Cartrie ' the author speaks of his arrival in England from Hamburg in company with the Viscount and Viscountess Walsh de Serrant, and of their stopping at "The Two Friends," Princes Street, London. He further mentions that " we had to traverse the city from one end to the other to reach Princes Street." Can any correspondent tell me if the sign is known, and which Princes Street it is likely to have been ? Princes Street was, and still is, a very common name in London. I should be glad to have any in- formation regarding l ' mine host." Are there any views known to exist of the Princes Street in question ? JOHN LANE.

The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.

PIDGIN OR PIGEON ENGLISH.

(10 th S. v. 46.)

SIR JOHN FRANCIS DAVIS does not use ^ the word "pidgin" in his work on * China' (new edition, revised and enlarged, 2 vols., John Murray, 1857), but he has the following sentence in vol. ii. p. 110 :

"The structure of Chinese phrases is often dis- coverable in the broken English of Canton, which is a Chinese idiom in English words."

Further on (p. 140) he says :

"The Chinese were surprised to find what, in the jargon of Canton, is called a Sing-song, erected on the shores of the celestial empire, and in that very shape, too, which most nearly resembles their own performances, a mixture of song and recita- tive."

This refers to a party of Italian opera- singers who erected a temporary theatre at Macao, and there " performed most of Rossini's operas with success." Again, on p. 384 we read :

" Another functionary remains to be mentioned under the name of linguist, who seemed to be so called rather on account of the absence, than the presence, of those accomplishments which are usually implied by the term ; for these persons could not write English at all, and spoke it scarcely

intelligibly The business of the linguist is to

procure permits for delivering or shipping cargo, to transact all affairs with the custom - house, and to keep accounts of the duties and port-charges."

Canton was therefore the place where this strange lingo came into being, which after- wards received the name of "pidgin Eng- lish." The earliest mention of it with which I am acquainted is to be found in the late Dean Farrar's 'Chapters on Language,' Longmans, 1865, where on p. 12G in a foot- note I read :

"And here is a specimen of the Chinese 'pigeon' (i.e., 'business') English : 'My chin-chin you, this one velly good flin ( friend) belong mi ; mi want- chie you do plopel pigeon (proper business), along he, all same fashion along mi, 3 &c. ('Prehistoric Man, 3 ii. 428)."

1 Prehistoric Man,' the author of which was Dr. Daniel Wilson, was published, as the Dean tells us in his list of ' Books Consulted,' in 1864 a fact which completely agrees with DR MURRAY'S recollection, and proves the excellence of his memory.

I do not gather from his query that he is acquainted with the late Charles G. Leland's ' Pidgin-English Sing-song ; or, Songs and Stories in the China - English Dialect' (Triibner & Co., 1876). This most amusing and, withal, instructive book is little, if at all, inferior to the better - known ' Hans