Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/541

 10 s. vii. JUNE s, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

445

For 'tis a throne where honour may be crowned Sole monarch of the universal earth. Oh ! what a beast was I to chide at him !

E. YARDLEY.

PETRARCH'S Two GREYHOUNDS. In the beginning of the Canzone numbered cccxxiii. in Carducci's edition Petrarch says that there appeared to him in a vision Una fera con f route umana da far arcler Giove, Cacciata da duo veltri, un nero, un bianco, (a wild beast with human face fair enough to kindle the love of Jove, that was chased by two greyhounds, one black and one white). These " duo veltri " so sorely bit " la fera gentil " (their fair quarry) that in a little time they killed her. Now of course " la fera gentil " is Laura, but what is the mean- ing of the " duo veltri " ? They have been variously explained, but I think there can be no doubt as to the true interpretation, which sees in them the two swift greyhounds of Time, namely, day and night, which remorselessly pursue all mortal things, and never fail to slay their quarry in the end.

I wonder from what source Petrarch borrowed the idea of these two hounds. They remind us of the two dogs of Yama (the god of Death) in the Veda, which feast on the life of men, and on the other hand are often invoked to grant a long life. Accord- ing to Max Miiller they represent day and night, ever looking out for men, and at last hunting them down.

The hounds in Petrarch are black and white. So were the two mice in the story in the Arabian * Calila and Dimna.' The story is told in Grimm's ' Teutonic Mytho- logy ' (1883), ii. 798 :

"A man, chased by an elephant, takes refuge in a deep well : with his hand he holds on to the branch of a shrub over his head, and his feet he plants on a narrow piece of turf below. In this uneasy posture he sees tn:o mice, a black and a white one, gnawing the root of the shrub ; far beneath his feet a horrible dragon with its jaws wide open ; the elephant still waiting on the brink above, and four worms' heads projecting from the side of the well, xindermining the turf he stands on ; at the same time there trickles liquid honey from a branch of the bush, and this he eagerly catches in his mouth."

Grimm says that this fable was early and extensively circulated by Hebrew, Latin, and Greek translations of the entire book, and also found its way into various collec- tions of stories. A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

" CRAKOWED " SHOES. " Crakowes " is in the dictionaries ; but the derivative " crakowed " does not appear to be recorded

[n * Political and Other Poems,' ed. Dr. Kail, E.E.T.S., circa 1421, 93/137, occurs :

She re])reuej> my dagged clo|>es, And longe pyked crakowed shou.

H. P. L.

SIGNS OF OLD LONDON. (See 10 S. vi. 45, 424.) Prof. Henry Morley, in his Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair,' makes ncidental mention of the undergiven houses chiefly taverns) existing in London during Dhe period 1660-1700. The signs are here Listed in the order in which they occur in chaps, xii. to xvii. inclusive. Only a very small proportion of the signs are referred to in the index, notwithstanding its apparent completeness.

Crown, Duck Lane.

Hand and Shears, Cloth Fair.

Shoe and Slap, West Smithfield.

Hand and Pen, Holborn.

Stationers' Arms, Cornhill.

Swan, Hosier Lane.

Duke of Albemarle's Head, Duck Lane.

Blue Boar's Head, Fleet Street.

King's Head, Strand.

Sign of Charing Cross, Charing Cross.

King's Head, Smithfield.

Ram's Head, Fenchurch Street.

Rose, Bridges Street, Covent Garden.

Golden Lion, Strand.

King's Head, Charing Cross.

Eagle and Child, Stocks Market.

" Golden-Lyon." Smithfield.

Black Raven, West Smithfield.

Golden Hart, West Smithfield.

Greyhound, Smithfield Rounds.

Hart's Horn, Pye Corner.

" King Head," Smithfield.

King's Arms, St. Bartholomew's Hospital,

Cross Daggers, West Smithfield.

Crown, Aldgate.

~ With the exception of the " Burner " (or " Buffaloe "), Bloomsbury Square, which is referred to in the epilogue under date 1733, the signs mentioned after c. 1700 appear to be dealt with in the index to the work.

WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

TOOKE AND HALLEY FAMILIES. Dr. Ed- mond Halley is said to have married Miss Mary Tooke, in the church of St. Mary's, Islington, circa January, 1682. The bride's father is described as " Mr. Tooke, Auditor of the Exchequer," but no person of that name has been found in any printed list of officials. He was probably descended from the family of Tooke of Norfolk. His widow, Margaret Tooke (born Kinder), made her will as of London ( ? parish of Alderman- bury), 13 Oct., 1710 (proved Dec. 9, 1714 ;