Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/601

 10*8. V.JUNE 23, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

497

" finger post" : one is explained by the othe in the ' Oxford English Dictionary,' vol. ii 1 p. 391. R. T.

CATEATON STREET (10 th S. v. 429, 475). This very ancient thoroughfare in the Ci of London is frequently mentioned durin the fourteenth century in the 'Calendars o Husting Wills' under the name of " Catte strete," the first entry appearing under th date 1308 (i. 203). Amongst the archives o St. Paul's Cathedral is a bundle of deeds o the reigns of Edward I. and Edward II. relating to tenements in "Cattenelane (Ninth Report Hist. MSS. Comm., Appendix p. 25 b). In 1453 the name appears as "Catton Lane" in the will of John Arnolc (' Calendar,' ii. 523). This form is also foun in 1475 and 1482. In ' London Survey 'd,' b Ogilby and Morgan, 1977, it is called "Cat Eaton Street," a name which it retained til 1845, when, as mentioned by MR McMuRRAY the old and historic appellation was changec into Gresham Street. W. F. PRIDEAUX. [LEO C. also refers to the Court of Husting Wills.'

J. RAMPINI (10 th S. v. 410, 455). L. L. K.'$ reply refers to another composer, a century and a half earlier than the one I asked about RALPH THOMAS.

AMERICANS IN ENGLISH RECORDS (10 th S. v. 163, 432, 476). Thanks are due to A. C. H. for his correction ; but the record quoted, I may say, gives the spelling as Curtis no fewer than five times. In his will, dated 14 Nov., 1749, proved 19 Nov., 1753 (P.C.C. 287 Searle), the Hon. John Custis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, appoints his son, Daniel Parke Custis, his executor. The widow of the last named, Martha, daughter of John Dand ridge, married 6 Jan., 1759, George Washington, first President of the United States of America.

GEORGE F. T. SHERWOOD. 50, Beecroft Road, Brockley, S.E.

Edmund Custis was employed by the Eng- lish Government at Bruges in 1664, 1 think ('Cal. of State Papers, Dom.'). He published a tract in 1672 relating to the blowing up of two wrecks in the Tyne. R. B R.

"!N A HUFF" (10 th S. v. 448). Is it so certain that it was in a new sense the expression was employed 1 The only new sense must have been " in a puff." Prof. Skeat in his 'Etymological Dictionary ' (1884) the only edition I have at hand says :

" Huff, to puff, bluster, bully (modern English). The old sense is to puff, blow hard; hence to bluster, vapour, An imitative word, li^e puff.

Cf. Lowl. So. hauch, a forcible puff ; heck, to breathe hard ; German hauchen, to breathe. Note. To huj? t at draughts, simply means ' to blow'; it was customary to blow upon the piece removed ; cf. Lowl. Sc. blaw, to blow, also to huff at draughts ; Dan. Ucese en brikke, to huff (lit. blow) a man at draughts."

The manner of the old lady's transition must therefore have been either " in a puff," i.e., she passed away suddenly, as a puff of wind, or "in a huff," i.e., she had taken umbrage at something in the moments of dissolution. It is, of course, very sad to hear of any one dying in this frame of mind ; but at the same time it must have been a very spirited old lady who was capable of it, and one hopes that the husband had done nothing to embitter her last moments. " To be huffed " or " to take the huff" certainly means to be offended, and an instance occurs somewhere in Charles Reade's works : " Suppose he takes the huff and goes to some other lawyer." "Huff-cap" is an old cant term for strong ale, a favourite beverage with the London 'prentice, when it was doubtless so called from its tendency to make a person quarrel- some, or " cock-a-hoop," in a desire to set his cap in a defiant manner.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

I think the rector of Little Chart has mistaken "snuff" for "huff." It is a very common saying in Kent that he, or she, '' went off in, or like, a snuff," meaning the snuff of a candle. MAN OF KENT.

"To go off in a huff" means to leave abruptly, and not in a good temper.

HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter.

"In a huff" does not always mean to go away in a temper after having " a tiff" with

ome one. " Huff," as meaning suddenly, quickly, I knew to be in constant use in

Derbyshire more than fifty years ago j and

she went off in huff" would be the words

used when telling of the death of a woman

nexpectedly in her illness. " I must huff it." =1 must go at once ; and a person showing

nxiety to end a chance meeting with

nother would be told not to be in " such a )ig huff." "She huft it in half a minute' 1

hows another use of the word " huff." " Shoo

^er hufted in a minnit," and "How wer

uft as sown as ar spoke," well illustrate the

ther meaning of " huff."

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

"MiNiNiN," A SHELL (10 th S. y. 449). This r ord has every appearance of being a Spanish iminutive meaning "very small." I