Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/238

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL MARCH 9, 1907.

old Rossall football. The name " gunz " for a sergeant has, I believe, been in use at Rossall for fifty years. C. L. K.

Some of the words cited by T. N. are very familiar to me. I was at Rossall from 1884 to 1890. We had no Museum in those days, though there was a small collection of curiosities in the head master's hall. The abbreviation " Mu(seum) " is consequently .a recent addition to the school slang. " Hos(pital) " is new to me ; but we spoke of the " Old Sani " and the " New Sani," the latter being a hospital for infectious -diseases. We had frequent entertainments, but I do not remember using the abbrevia- tion " enter." " Brekker " and other words of a like formation were common at Oxford, but had not reached Rossall in 1890. I hope they will all follow the excellent example of " exhibigger " and die out. The " scanty " was a square loaf ; it could scarcely be described as a roll. "Biff" is new ; so also is " dak," but any Rossall boy who remembers the " Dakter," as we called him, will understand the change of vowel. Some of us lazy young hounds used to go to the " Dakter " for leave off "" compul," inventing all kinds of diseases which drew forth caustic remarks from that kindly official. " Blood " was not used in my time. The same may be said of " mystery-bag," " It 's rip," " to stick it," and " on bell." " Guntz for sergeant is coeval with the foundation of the school. There was a legend that it was German for
 * ' sergeant."

Do the boys of the present generation still have " study -brews " ? Sunday-night chapel after a " brew " on tinned meat and "Irish" buns was a painful experience. All male servants received the name John, females Mary. We used to be " whacked," not " biffed." " To root " meant to kick a boy at the root of his spine, a painful process for the victim. One of the bones in my " caudal appendix " is broken ; I attribute it to a " root " received at the old school. FRED. G. ACKERLEY.

< >\ indleton Vicarage, Clitheroe.

" COUNTY OF CORNWALL AND NOWHERE " (10 S. vi. 490). There is no tombstone in Truro Cathedral on which this expression occurs. C. T. P. evidently refers to the inscription on the Robartes monument, which is as follows, the mistake being pre- sumably made in the words in italics :

" Heare lyeth inclosed y e body of John Robarts, 'si| : the sonne of Richard Robarts late of Trvroe esq. decceased : Hee married Phillippa one of y c

davehter* of John Gavrigan of Gavrigan in y covn tie of Cornewall esq : by whom he had issye S r Richard Roberts knig h t his sonne & heire late highe sheriffe of y e Covntie of Cornewall and noe more. He was in all his lifetime a trve lover ot vertve in word & deed ; plaine, vpright, faithf vll & constant & mostivstinperformmge y e same & ever more in all his actions repvted grave, honest, & very discret. He deceased y e xxi day of Marche m y yeare of ovr redemption : 1614 and of his age /O or thereabovts."

P. JENNINGS.

St. Day, Cornwall.

PICTURES AT TEDDINGTON (10 S. vii. 88, 136 152). I have found mention ot Sibylla Europsea, who P^led PROF BENSLY, in a book entitled ' 21BYAAIAKOI XPHSMOI hoc est sibyllina oracula ex vett. codd. aucta, renovata, et notis illus- trata,' by Johannes Opsopseus, printed at Paris in 1599. The book opens with an account of the Sibyls by Onuphrius Pan- vinius, which enumerates ten: the Sibylla Delphica, Erythraea, Cimmeria, Samia, Cu- mana, Hellespontica, Libyca, Persica, Phrygia, Tiburtina. The editor then takes up the tale, and says that ten is the maxi- mum number given by ancient authors, and that he does not know by what authority two were added to the number by more modern writers. He attributes it to artistic or poetic licence, going on the analogy of the twelve labours of Hercules or of the number of the Apostles. The two are the Sibylla Europsea, of whom Opsopseus states :

" De xmdecima hac Sibylla nihil quicquam penes quenquam auctorem reperio, praeter hexastichoii in antiquo codice Europsete adscriptvim : quod una cum reliquarum Sibyllarum vaticiniis infra referemus, and the Sibylla Agrippina, also called Agrippa and ^Egyptia.

The book is illustrated with graceful copperplate engravings of the twelve Sibyls, each with her appropriate symbol, by C. De Mallery.

In conclusion, I trust that this correspond- ence will not occur in the Index only under the heading Teddington.

W. R. B. PRIDEAUX. [It will appear also under Sibyls.]

SIR JOHN BARNARD'S DESCENDANTS (10 S. vii. 90, 132). It is definite that the de- scendants, in the male line, of this famous Lord Mayor terminated in his only son, John Barnard. But the identity of that son has presented some difficulty, owing to his having had more than one contem- porary of the same name. The question of identity, however, is set at rest by the notices in Gent. Mag., January, 1785 (pp. 64,