Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/308

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. SEPT. 28, 1907.

by 'a Devon girl, who had often heard of the pixies, though she had never seen any, that she once knew a man who, one night, could not find his way out of his own field until he recollected to turn his coat ; and, the moment he did so, he heard the pixies all fly away up into the trees ; and there they sat and laughed. Oh ! how they did laugh ! But the man then soon found his way out of the field.'"

E. YAEDLEY.

As a small boy, I was not fond of passing the Pixy Pool on my father's estate, although the Cornish pixy was not con- sidered a bad fairy. R. W. R.

" POT-GALLERY " (10 S. vii. 388, 431 ; viii. 172). I am reminded by DR. MURRAY'S reference to river balconies at Wapping Wall (which, by the way, is in Ratcliff, and not in Stepney), that there exists a similar balcony at the " Robin Hood," Clapton, overlooking the river Lea, whereon may be seen men seated watching the aquatic sports what time they indulge in pots of " old and mild." This particular balcony gives a splendid view of the river, since the house itself is built on high ground sloping down to the towpath. M. L. R. BRESLAR.

" NEITHER MY EYE NOR MY ELBOW " {10 S. viii. 7, 137). I recollect the phrase -' All my eye and my elbow " as used over fifty years ago by most precise old ladies, -who would have been unutterably shocked at a suggestion that it had its origin, or might be used, in any coarse or rude asso- ciation of ideas. The "elbow" I take to toe merely alliterative to " all my eye," to -which Hotten's ' Slang Dictionary ' ( 1 864) gives the meaning of an expression of in- credulity ; and it is in that sense that I long ago was accustomed to hear it used.

W. B. H.

Has the following proverb any connexion with the saying ?

" Diseases of the eye are to bee cured with the '? ' ^T No - 203 of " Outlandish Proverbs selected by Mr. G. H.," London, 1640, at the end of vol. ii. of ' Musarum Deliciae,' Hotten's reprint, p. 491. A note on p. 530 says :

" ' Mr. G. H.' George Herbert. The first edition ot his Outlandish Proverbs,' &c., appeared in 1640 Second edition, entitled ' Jacula Prudentium ; or, Outlandish Proverbs,' &c., 1651. Reprinted with the Remains.' First edition, 1652, and afterwards." ROBERT PIERPOINT.

"AwAiTFUL" (10 S. vii. 510; viii. 93).

It may seem presumptuous to add anything to PROP. SKEAT'S decisive condemnation : but it may perhaps be well to call attention to the false analogy on which this and

similar monstrosities proceed. The termi- nations " -ful " and "-less" are added to nouns to signify "having" or "lacking" the thing in question : but certain nouns, such as " change " and " rest," have evidently been mistaken for the verbs identical in form, and hence, on the supposed pattern of " changeless " and " restless," we find ' Hymns Ancient and Modern ' disfigured by freaks like " ex- haustless," "fadeless," and "resistless."

W. E. B.

SAMUEL NETTLESHiP,1831 (10 S. viii. 170). William Nettleship entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1783, the date of his birth being given as 26 May, 1771. " Grocers' Hall " is added in a note to his name in the register compiled by the Rev. C. J. Robinson. No doubt he was a con- nexion of the Samuel inquired about.

H. HOUSTON BALL.

COFFINS AND SHROUDS (10 S. viii. 90, 137, 215). The following extract from my diary, under date 10 April, 1889, concerning a funeral procession which I met in Athens, may be of interest :

" The procession was headed by a military band with drums draped with black. Then came the priests, &c. ; then the body in an open coffin ; it was in evening dress, with wreaths. It was rather startling to meet such a funeral. On inquiring afterwards I found that he had been a Government official of importance, and that the custom is in Greece, or at all events in Athens, to carry the body so to the grave."

The following extracts are from Tourne- fort's 'Voyage into the Levant' (English translation), London, 1718, vol. i. pp. 99, 100, Letter III. They concern the funeral of a woman in the island of Milo :

" The March of the Funeral began by two young Peasants, that carry'd each a wooden Cross, fol- low'd by a Papas in a white Cope, attended by some Papas in Stoles of different colours, their Hair uncomb'd, and but indifferently furnish'd with Shoes and Stockins ; next to these went the Body of the Lady uncover'd, dress'd after the Greek manner in her Wedding-Clothes ; the Husband follow'd the Bier."

At the church the priest read the Office of the Dead, a clerk some of the Psalms ; loaves and wine were distributed to the poor, money given to each Papas and to the bishop who accompanied the body, &c.

"After this Distribution, one of the Papas put on the Stomach of the Defunct a piece of broken Potsherd, whereon was graved with the Point of a Knife a Cross, and the usual Characters INBI. Then they took their leave of the dead Person ; the Relations, and particularly the Husband, kiss'd her Mouth ; this is an indispensable duty, tho she had