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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. JUNE n, 1910.

Was not this a spur ? Vide Halliwell's ' Dictionary.* He quotes Langtoft : " Ther stedes broched thei fast. n

W. B. GERISH.

[W. C. B. also refers to the 'N.E.D.']

" THE PETER BOAT AND DOUBLET " (11 S. i. 262, 390). It may interest some of the readers of ' N. & Q.' to know that St. Peter was the patron of fishmongers at Liege (see Felix de .Vigne, ' Gildes et Corporations,' p. 55), and patron of sellers of river-fish at Gand (see the same author's ' Corporations de Metiers,' pi. 13). N. M. & A.

BOOKS AND ENGRAVINGS : THEIR PRE- SERVATION (11 S. i. 249). In the early volumes of * N. & Q. ? the subject of the preservation of books and engravings (especi- ally of the former) was made a matter of inquiry on several occasions. The following references do not pretend to be anything like exhaustive : 1 S. ii. 103, 236 ; iv. 175, 326 ; ix. 423 ; 2 S. ix. 103, 186 ; 3 S. iv. 495.

MR. MANLEY might also consult Powers' s ' Handy Book about Books,* p. 46, and an excellent little book in "The Book-Lover's Library " ' The Enemies of Books,' by William Blades, London, Stock, 1888.

W. S. S.

LARGE-PAPER COPIES OF BOOKS (11 S. i. 406). This practice dates back to the sixteenth century or earlier, as may be seen by the number of early volumes in this special state mentioned in my ' B.P.C. Index, 1897-1906,' issued last year.

In our family archives are to be found several publications of my ancestor on large paper, notably, Trogus Pompeius, ' Historie of Justine,' 1606; Topsell, ' Foure -footed

Beastes,' 1607 ; Milles, ' Nobilitas ,'

1608 ; Vincent, ' Discoverie of Errours,' 1622.

The custom of printing on finer as dis- tinguished from larger paper became popular towards the middle and close of the eigh- teenth century, with'the growth of enterprise among the paper-makers.

WM. JAGGARD.

This is a subject seldom discussed, at least at any length, in literary publications. Dibdin in his ' Bibliomania ' devotes a few pages to it, but only from the point of view of an English book-buyer and book-lover. The practice of issuing large -paper copies must have begun at a very early period. It probably dates from the time when presenta- tion copies were sent by the printer to some

patron of literature, to whom the edition was dedicated. At all events, the practice soon became general. Large-paper copies are a feature in many early editions. So far as I have observed after brief examination the earliest dates are these : Venice, 1502 ; London, 1577 ; Edinburgh, 1597.

A more careful investigation would almost certainly disclose several earlier instances, especially in England. W. SCOTT.

RICHARD MARTIN (11 S. i. 407) was for many years M.P. for co. Gal way, and widely known for his love of animals and duel- ling. His son Thomas Barnewell Martin was the father of the " Connemara Princess " Mary Letitia Martin, the author of 'Julia Howard : a Romance,' 1850. This book is not in the British Museum, and I fancy was published in U.S.A. I have tried for many years past to obtain a copy without success. An account of this lady will be found in the life of Maria Edgeworth by the Hon. Emily Lawless (Macmillan & Co.) and in my book ' Connemara ' (1906).

J. HARRIS STONE.

Temple, E.C.

"TATTING" (11 S. i. 426). The new edition of my ' Etymological Dictionary * contains the following article : " Tat, to make trimming. (Scand.) North E. tat, to entangle. Cf. M. Swed. t&tte, Dan. dial. tat, Norw. taat, a thread, a strand of a rope, whence Norw. tcetta, to interweave. Also I eel. thdttr, Swed. t&t, Dan. tot, a fila- ment, G. docht, a wick." We find accord- ingly, that Molbech's 'Dan. Dial. Diet/ explains tat as " a lock of flax, wool, hair, yarn, or other such thing, which is plaited or twisted ; they say, a plait of three tater, four tater, and the like." It seems hardly worth while to search further. Larsen's ' Dan. Diet.' has " taatt, a strand "; and " tatte aal, to catch eels with worms on threads." See also tot in Falk and Torp's variant of docht. WALTER W. SKEAT.
 * Dan. Etym. Diet.' Low G. has dacht as a

QUEEN MARY II. (11 S. i. 189). There is nothing inherently impossible in the sug- gestion made by SIR CHARLES KING that Swift may have been the author of the 'Brief History' of Queen Mary II. The book must have been written in the latter half of 1694, the year when Mary died. It was published in 1695, and seems to have gone into a second edition the same year. And we know that Swift was writing poetry as early as 1693. At the same time, the arguments against his being the author seem