Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/193

 10 s. vii. FEB. 23, loo:.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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tions. It is heard at the final stage of pulmonary consumption. MEDICULUS.

HOLED - STONE FOLK - LOBE : " NIGHT- HAGS " (10 S. vii. 26). The fairies plat the manes of horses, and make elf-locks in order to ride. Keightley in his ' Fairy Mythology,' speaking of the French fairies, says :

'They are fond of mounting and galloping the horses ; their seat is on the neck, and they tie together locks of the mane to form stirrups." Mercutio in ' Romeo and Juliet ' says : This is that very Mab,

That plats the manes of horses in the night ;

And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,

\Yhich, once untangled, much misfortune bodes. Mercutio also speaks of Mab as a hag, who is -the same as the nightmare.

The night-hag, of whom Milton speaks in ' Paradise Lost,' is not one that rides horses. She is a spirit, supposed to hurt children, and may be identical with Lilith. Perhaps the riding fairy has been confounded -with her without reason. In popular tra- dition the fairies are sometimes confounded with witches or devils. E. YARDLEY.

As a contribution to the folk-lore of night- hags, I may mention that I used to hear from my father of a woman in Hampshire -who was accustomed to hang a scythe over her children's bed. When asked the reason, she replied, " It's to keep the hags from riding the childer by nights." H. T. W.

MARLBOROUGH WHEELS (10 S. vi. 386, 436). I think I can explain the point in question. A " malbrouk " or " malbrough " was a vehicle formerly in vogue in France in honour of the victor of Blenheim. It is this description of carriage, no doubt, that Mistral had in mind in the verses quoted by ST. SWITHIN. Larousse cites the following from Proudhon as descriptive of the " mal- brough' s " utility : " Expediteurs, destina- taires, tout le monde reviendra a la Malbrouk, a la putache ; s'il faut, on desertera la locomotive." N. W. HILL.
 * as a kind of stage coach, named, I suppose,

Philadelphia.

HORNSEY WOOD HOUSE : HARRINGAY HOUSE (10 S. vii. 106). In my 'Place- Names of Cambridgeshire' (1901) I explain at full length the origin of names ending in -ingay, and cannot repeat it all here. Briefly, they go back to A.-S. -inga-eg, where -inga is a genitive plural, and eg is the Mercian form of leg, an island, or place with streams round or near it. The -ar-, as in dark [clerk), goes back to A.-S. -er-. Moreover the^O. Mercian eg is constantly spelt as

heye, haie, &c., by Norman scribes who were uncertain of their initial sounds. Hence the thirteenth-century Harengheye comes out as A.-S. Heringa-f~g, or " island of the Herings." Hering occurs as a personal name in the ' A.-S. Chronicle,' Laud MS., under the date 603. Hence many English place-names, such as Harrington, Harring- worth, Harringay, Herringfleet, Herrington, from the gen. pi. Heringa ; and Herringswell, from the gen. sing. Heringes. Observe that the name Hering actually goes back to the sixth century ; for Hering in the ' Chronicle ' was grown up in 603.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

MR. MARRIOTT in his most interesting note refers to the identification of Hornsey Wood House in 1764 with "The Horns." The authority for this, as mentioned by Mr. Wroth (' London Pleasure Gardens,' p. 169), is ' Low-Life ; or, One Half of the World Knows not how the Other Half Live,' p. 46. Here is the passage : HOUR IX.

From Eight till Nine o'clock on .Sunday morning.

The great Room at 'The Horns' at Hornsey-

Wood, crowded with Men, Women, and Children, eating Rolls and Butter, and drinking of Tea, at an extravagant Price.

There was a " Breakfasting-Hutt " near Sadler's Wells, but this was rather an early hour for so distant a resort.

Mazzinghi ( ' History and Guide to London,' 1792) provides a further variation of the name, identifying it, in the account " Of the most frequented Tea Gardens," as " Hornsey House."

'The Picture of London,' 1803 (p. 369), gives its full title and a favourable notice : " Hornsey - Wood - House and Tea Gardens. A most interesting place, celebrated for the peculiar beauty of the wood adjoining. As no expense has been spared to render this an elegant house of accommodation, it stands first on the list of places of this description. Dinners provided for large parties."

The first work we turn to on matters relating to suburban London, ' The Ambu- lator,' does not identify the house by name. The first edition, 1774, says (p. 94) :

" About a mile nearer this is a coppice of young trees, called Hornsey Wood, at the entrance of which is a public-house, to which great numbers of persons resort from the City. This house, being situated on the top of a hill, affords a delightful prospect of the neighbouring country."

The eighth edition, 1796, reprints this, with a slight alteration more closely indicating its position as " in the footway from this village [Hornsey] to Highbury Barn at Islington." ALECK ABRAHAMS.