Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/279

 10 S. VII. MARCH 23, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

227

to that which befell the old Pembrokeshire the ' Dictionarium Scoto-Celticum ' (Edin-

fisherman. No explanatory name was at- burgh, 1828) is translated " Push, butt with

tached to the tale as I heard it ; but the

inference I should draw from " piscon-led "

and Vherbe maudite is that bysedd y cwn

("foxgloves"), and not "pixie," would be

the probable Welsh term. J. P. OWEN.

" ATTORNEY." When Compiegne, aban- doned by the English, and unable to hold out like Paris, was forced to surrender to the French princes and Joan Dare, King Charles was received, we are told in the Revue de Paris for 15 March, by " Les attornes." Littre spells the word with one t.

D.

THE FLAG. M. Anatole France tells us that the flag of the English army in France under the Regency of the Duke of Bedford was " the red cross." * It is probably a slip which makes him in another passage seem "to call it by the name of St. Andrew, though it is not clear that England rather than Bur- gundy is here intended. D.

[References to numerous articles on' the national flag will be found in the General Index to the Ninth Series, s.v. 'Flag.']

" PRESIDENT " : " PRECEDENT." (See ante, p. 155.) " President " was quite commonly used in the seventeenth century "where we should now write precedent. Many years ago, when I was a law student, I also thought it was a " mistake," and supplied considerable evidence at 5 S. xi. 507. But I wish so far to retract my former rstatement as to admit that in many cases. I think " president " is meant in the sense of prcesidium, and is equivalent to " muni- ment," which is still in use. W. C. B.

" BULK " AND BASKISH " BULK A." In the ' H.E.D.' the reader is asked if " to bulk " means " to beat." In the only quotation there presented it certainly ap- pears to bear that sense. It seems to me that it must be connected with Baskish bulka, which also means " to beat." This word occurs in several places in the Baskish New Testament of J. de Lei^arraga ; for instance, in Acts xii. 13, where it renders frappe= knocked, or beaten (the door). It also means " to push," as in Acts xix. 33, where Calvin has poussans. It may be that the etymon is furca in Latin. A Romance / initial often becomes a b in Heuskara. For instance, Castilian forza is turned into bortcha, fortis into borthitz. A fork serves to push and to give blows. But block also suggests its claim to be considered in the question; and Gaelic mulcaidh, which in

, the head, as a calf, or ram."

E. S. DODGSON.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

" THEN WITH RODNEY WE WILL GO, MY BOYS " : ' THE VICAR OF BRAY.' Can you or one of your correspondents tell me who was the author of the song of which the following is one of the verses ? It has a strong flavour of Charles Dibdin, but I do not find it in the 1841 edition of his songs : If she should prove from Boston or Norfolk to say

nay, We with our mighty chain-shot will break her

masts away. We '11 rake her and we '11 board her, and we '11 say,

" My lads, take care, O, And keep a proper distance from an English

man-of-war, 0."

The refrain after each verse was : Then with Rodney we will go, my boys, with

Rodney we will go, With a blue cockade stuck in our hats, to meet the

daring foe.

While on the subject of songs, I should like to know who wrote ' The Vicar of Bray ' and what was the date of it. ALDENHAM.

[LORD ALDENHAM will find a good deal about < The Vicar of Bray' at 6 S. xi. 167, 255, ,335.]

LADY CLARA SPARROW. I desire to learn the lineage of Lady Clara Bernard Sparrow, whose portrait, drawn by J. Downman, was sold at Christie's on the 23rd ult.

G. H. JOHNSTON, Lieut. -Col.

Kilmore, Armagh.

THE PRESTON JUBILEE. Can any reader oblige me with the information whether any records exist of the theatrical perform- ances given in the first half of the eigh- teenth century at this festival, which was apparently held every twenty years, late in August or early in September ?

A paragraph in Faulkner's Dublin Journal for 24 Aug., 1742 (No. 1688), says :

" Yesterday Messrs. Delane, Garrick, and Arne and Mrs. Gibber embarked for England ; and the Company of Comedians belonging to Smock Alley Theatre will sail for Liverpool this day in order to entertain the Nobility and Gentry at Preston, at the Jubilee which is held there once in twenty years." Mr. Percy Fitzgerald in his ' Life of David