Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/495

 ii B. i. JUNE is, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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waistcoat, as a declaration of his pro -Ameri- can sympathies, this garb constituting, according to Wraxall, ' k the distinguishing badge or uniform of Washington and the American insurgents." In reality, it con- stituted the ordinary full dress of an Ameri- can gentleman of that era, and Washington and his officers would wear it as a matter of course. A reluctance to get into " uni- forms n has from the first been a part of the character of Americans, though of course they have to come to it. As to the fact, witness many stories, and some familiar photographs of Grant during the Civil War. At any rate, from Washington and his staff, the buff and blue passed, by way of Fox and his party (including the ladies) to the cover of The Edinburgh Review, where the combination still persists, a memorial of which very few now read the meaning.

Not to dwell on the constructive likeli- hood of " true blue " carrying, for many at least, associations of high toryism and loyalty, I will only mention that Bell's and Blue,' 1 &c., and adds that it had a vogue for some years as the climax and rallying toast in the banquets of the Whig party. Now Bell did not get that informa- tion from Wraxall, to whose pages he refers. Neither did he get from Wraxall his version of the toast and reply, which seems the more likely one. Can any reader point to an early allusion, not based upon Wraxall, which would decide the question as to the first form of the toast, or would indicate what was the form which it presently took in the memory and citation of contemporaries ? W. M.
 * Life of Canning ' gives the toast as " Buff

[Much has appeared in ' N. & Q.' on the different usages prevailing in England with regard to party colours. See, for example, 6 S. i. 355, 382 ; ii. 175, 337, 451; 9 S. vi. 284; 10 S. v. 65, 194, 271, 396; vi. 338.]

DOOR-KNOCKER ETIQUETTE. In the first volume of El Semanario Pintoresco Espanol p. 128, a periodical published in Madrid in 1836, is an article entitled ' Arte de Llamar a las Puertas en Inglaterra.' 1 It states that one knock is of a degrading character ; it announced the milkman, the coalman, a servant of the house, or a beggar. Two knocks indicate the postman, or one who brings cards of invitation, or visiting cards, or any similar messages. Three knocks an- nounced the amo, master or mistress, or friendly callers. Four knocks well given denote a visitor who is of good standing, but inferior to the no' ility, and who arrives in a carriage. The four knocks repeated

in dry and staccato style indicate " milord," ' ' miladi," a Nabob of Arcot,a Russian prince, a German baron, or any other extraordinary personage. The servant who gives one knock less than the rank of his master demands When visiting is immediately discharged.

Is this in accordance with any native guide on etiquette ? A. RHODES.

INITIALS ON RUSSIAN IKON. Could some kind reader tell me what the initials on Russian ikons stand for ? 1C is of course Jesus, and HC may stand for Nazarenus ; but on the top there are two letters, the first of which may be (?) a Russian Tse followed by a C again. I know the initials usually found on ancient Byzantine coins : 1C, XC, NT, KA ; but the initials on the ikon are different. L. L. K.

[L. L. K. seems to assume that all eikons bear initials, and that these are likely to belong to the Modern Russian alphabet. A glance at two eikons, of which one was bought in Russia, shows total absence of all initials. But, most of the eikons used and sold in Russia are either older than is modern Russian, and likely to yield letters of "Old Slavonic," or else come from Orthodox sources outside the Russian Empire, such as Mt. Athos.]

PEDLAR'S ACRE, LAMBETH : B. T. POUNCY, ARTIST. In Lysons's * Environs of London, 1 vol. i. p. 308, under the head of Lambeth, the following passage occurs :

" A person unknown left a piece of land called formerly the Church Hope, or Hoppys, now Pedlar's Acre. In the year 1504 it produced only 2s. 8d. per annum ; it is now let on lease at the yearly rent of 110Z., and is capable of further improvements. A fine of 800Z. was received by the parish upon granting the lease in 1752."

The following extract from The Daily Chronicle of 28 January last refers to the above-mentioned " benefaction,"' and brings its history down to the present time :

" Pedlar's Acre, Lambeth, has been sold by the Lambeth Borough Council to the London County Council for 81,342L, and will form part of the site of the new County Hall. The land has been in the possession of the parochial authorities since 1504, when it was let by the rector and church wardens of St. Mary's, Lambeth, at a rental of 2s. 8d. a year.

" Its origin is unknown, but tradition states that the land was given to Lambeth Parish Church by a pedlar in return for the privilege of burying his dog in the churchyard. In the church is a window bearing the likeness of a man with a pack on his back and a staff in his hand, and his dog following him, whilst in the vestry is a drawing of a pedlar by Pouncy. In the churchwardens' books in 1607 it is recorded