Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/328

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. APRIL e, 1907.

his cousin Jean for years, and returning to find her married, &c. I should also be glad to know where the music could be had.

ZEPHYR.

" MABU." Virtually all Japanese mer- chant vessels suffix " maru " to their names ; thus America Maru, Inaba Maru, Wakasa Maru. A glance at the list of Japanese vessels in ' Lloyd's Register ' indicates that 99 per cent, of the vessels are " maru." A year ago I asked a Japanese Admiralty official what was the explanation. He replied that this was very difficult to explain ; that the meaning of the word " maru " was not capable of exact rendering into English, but that in ancient days the daimios or samurai (I think he said) regarded their sword with a sort of reverential affection : it was " maru " to them. Later, some great man called his ships " maru," more or less out of the same sentiment. The other day, to another Japanese gentleman dining with me, and engaged in the Government trans- port or transit service at Tokio, I put the same question. He confessed to the same difficulty in answering it, but confirmed the explanation of his colleague so far as it went, adding, " You may call your dog or your cat ' maru.' " Further, he stated that some merchant ships having been called " maru," the Government issued an instruction that all Japanese merchant vessels should be so called, on the ground that there were cases in which the same name was common to a private and to a public vessel, and that there ought to be no confusion affecting the national property.

Happening to mention this to a friend interested in shipping, I was told by him that his own information differed entirely from mine. Several Japanese, he said, to whom he had put the question, whilst find- ing it full of difficulty, had agreed that, so far as the word can be interpreted into English at all, it has the sense of " going," " moving onwards." Is any reader cf ' N. & Q.' qualified to decide which, if either, of these explanations is correct ? and if neither is so, then what is the proper history or meaning of the word ? Perhaps your correspondent MB. KUMAGUSU MINAKATA may be able to clear up the matter.

DOUGLAS OWEN. Savile Club.

RICHABD STEELE AND FBEEMASONBY. What is the supposed (or certain) date of an engraving, evidently of the eighteenth century, showing the addresses or names of 129 Masonic lodges, chiefly in England, and

adorned with the portrait of Sir Richard Steele ? What was the connexion of this well-known writer with Masonry, that he- should figure in such a prominent place ?

L. P. Paris.

ELY HOUSE OB ALBEMABLE HOUSE. The- Albemarle Club are moving to Dover Street to a house described as Ely House, said to* have been the town house of the Bishops of Ely at a much later date than that of which Ely Place marks the site, itself, of course, to be distinguished from Wolsey's palace. The- Dover Street Ely House is said to have been previously Albemarle House, though it can hardly have been the Albemarle House also* known as Clarendon House. Can, therefore, the Club rumour that it occupies the exact site of the house of General Monk be jus- tified ? E. H. O.

"CHEVESEL" = PILLOW. At p. 270 of 'The Brut' (ed. Dr. Brie, E.E.T.S.) there occurs : " by nyght she ha]) J>e keyes ]>erof, and lei]) ]>am vnder \>e cheuesel of her bede vnto the morne." Bradley-Stratmann's dic- tionary has only the quotation for " cheve- saile," Chaucer, ' R. of R.,' A. 1082, with the meaning an embroidered collar, and a refer- ence to O.Fr. cheve^aille. Can the two- different meanings be reconciled with an etymology ? H. P. L.

ABMOUB : " MB. BBANDEB'S MS." In Francis Grose's ' Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons ' (1786) are frequent references to, and extracts from, " a manuscript in- ventory of the royal stores and habiliments of war in the different arsenals and garrisons, taken 1st of Edward VI." This document is stated to be " the property of Gustavus Brander, Esq., of Christ Church, Hampshire" (p. 11). Has it ever been printed in full ? In whose possession is it now ? Is it (as may be assumed) a copy of an official docu- ment now in the Public Record Office ? Or is it one of the many official documents that have gone astray into private custody ?

Has any later scholar published an edition of MS. L. 8 in the College of Arms, part of which is printed, with (apparently) extreme ignorance and carelessness, by Grose (pp. 83- 88) ? Q. V.

BELIABD, PABIS CLOCK-MAKEB. I have a Buhl Louis Quatorze clock by Beliard a Paris : w T hat is the reputation of this maker ? The ornamentation of the clock resembles that of one photographed for William Bell Robinson and Frederick W'alker's ' The Royal Clocks ' (p. 13), which is said to be