Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/190

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

kritic words in the language of the natives of Maoriland. In that language the moon is -called marama, and the word "calm," in speaking of the sea, is marino. The sea, when calm, does, like the moon, shine oft with smiles from the sun. It may be that these words came from the Malayan peninsula, skipping across the waves, before Virgil read the 'Iliad.' E S. DODGSON.

MAJOR RICHARD CROMWELL, 1648 (10 th S. v. 69, 113). In Noble's * Memoirs of the Cromwell Family,' p. 202, we find the follow- ing concerning the baptism of Richard Crom- well, son of the Protector : *' Probably his uncle Richard Cromwell, Esq., was one of the sponsors and gave him his Christian name." CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

Swallowfield Park, Reading.

" BROWN BESS" AS APPLIED TO A MUSKET <10 th S. v. 21, 91). Perhaps in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Ordnance muskets were familiarly called "Bess's muskets." If so, Brown's improved pattern would be called 41 Brown's Besses." M. N. G.

MAIDLOW (10 th S. iv. 508). -Would not this name be the Anglo-Saxon mce'd, meadow, and Jilce'iv, a small hill or a tract of gently rising ground a " low " 1

J. H.OLDEN MACMICHAEL.

OPEN-AIR PULPITS (10 th S. iv. 430 ; v. 55, 96). The fine Lector's pulpit in the refec- tory at Chester Cathedral was simply alluded to (ante, p. 55) as occupying much the same relative position to its surroundings as the oft-called, but wrongly termed open - air pulpit at Shrewsbury Abbey originally did to its own refectory, prior to the latter's de- struction. MR. G. W. HASWELL has well taken exception to the remark that at Chester the pulpit is approached from the cloisters, although it has, at times, been re- presented as so doing. For instance, a cutting from Church. Bells before me says :

" The Early English pulpit illustrated on this page is in the refectory at Chester, which is part of the Cathedral building, and is entered from the -cloisters."

But I allow that the more accurate descrip- tion is that it is approached by an arcaded passage, one side of which opens out, by a series of bays, into the refectory itself these unitedly forming an exceptionally beautiful -example of thirteenth - century arcading. With reference to the exterior stone pulpit at Magdalen College, Oxford, The Oxford University Gazette of 24 June, 1905, records that upon St. John Baptist Day last a sermon, ac- cording to ancient custom, was preached from

it by the Rev. A. Ogle, of Magdalen College. Formerly, on such occasions, the ground immediately below was strewn with rushes and grass, and the adjacent walls of the building decorated with green boughs, in com- memoration of the preaching of the Baptist in the wilderness. I happen to possess an old print in which these additions are clearly shown.

Parker in his * Glossary ' (third ed., 1840) says :

"In the Fabric Rolls of Exeter Cathedral, in 1324-5, occurs a charge of 2,000 tiles 'pro la Pul- pytte,' which was a distinct building on the north side of the church, where lectures and sermons were occasionally delivered."

HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

VAMPHORN (10 th S. v. 110). Some notes on vamp horns were given by Peter Lombard in The Church Times in 1898. In the issue of 25 February he reproduced a communication on the subject received from the Rev. Horace Atkins, rector of Harrington, Northampton- shire. Thence I extract the following inte- resting particulars :

"In connexion with vamping in music we find the vamping horns formerly used to magnify the voice of the leader of a choir and set the tunes of the hymns. Very few of these ' vamps ' are known to exist. There are specimens in the parish church of Willoughton, in Lincolnshire ; in that of Harrington, in Northamptonshire ; and a very per- fect one in Braybrooke Church, in the same county. The last of these was in use less than sixty years ago, and is still in good condition. It magnifies the voice, we may say, very considerably, giving three or four times the sound of the natural voice, and would form a powerful addition to a weak choir. In the early part of this century the sexton used to go round Braybrooke on Sundays with the ' vamp to summon the congregation to the church services.

"The following are the dimensions of the three ' vamps ' in inches :

Bray- Harring- Willough- ton.

3J x 2 33i

28

They are trumpet-shaped, and each is composed of ten rings, which in the bell are themselves made up of small parts. The jointing of the instrument was probably for convenience of stowage. The two parts of the Braybrooke vamp are now soldered together, but the mouthpiece, which is not the original, is removable. The bell is ornameted by forty-three plain round bosses, beaten oat of the metal at somewhat irregular intervals. The Willoughton 'vamp' closely resembles that at Harrington. The use of trumpets to increase the sound of the voice is said to' be very ancient. Seven supposed to have been used for this purpose

brooke.

ton.

Height ... Diameter of bell

66 25

60 13

Mouthpiece

3?7 x 3

lost

Separate parts

"39

35

Beginning at The mouth

37 none

none