Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/176

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. AUG. 29,

THE LEVERIAN MUSEUM. A Mr. Simpson Seaman of Ipswich had a museum of natural curiosities, presumably in that city, and issued a catalogue without indication of place or date. It was named the Leverian Museum, possibly from its proprietor having made extensive purchases at the dispersal of Parkinson's Leverian Museum. Or was he a recognized successor to the exhibition oiiginally established by Sir Ashton Lever ? ALECK ABRAHAMS.

" WAKES " : " LAIK." What is the origin of these words, used in the West Biding of Yorkshire and in Lancashire : the former to denote the annual week's holiday, and " laikino " to express that a man is out of work ? RAVEN.

[" Laik " more commonly written " lake " has been discussed at 5 S. vii. 106, 258, 439 ; viii. 159. The ' N.E.D.' gives instances of its use in the senses " to play, sport," and dial. " to be out of work," beginning with ' Havelok,' and ending 1892. The word occurs in O.E. and O.N., but seems to be only of Northern currency.]

LINE -ENDINGS IN THE OLD DRAMATISTS- I find the following passage in Act I. of ' Every Man out of his Humour ' : Blest be the hour wherein I bought this book, His studies happy that composed the book, And the man fortunate that sold the book. This at once recalls the lines ending with " the ring " in ' The Merchant of Venice,' V. i. And the nineteenth epigram by J. D., ' In Cineam,' which is eighteen lines long, contains thirteen lines each ending with " a dog " (Dyce's ' Marlowe,' p. 357/1). Are there further examples of this literary trick ? RICHARD H. THORNTON.

36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.

DESCENDANTS OF CATHERINE PARR. I have copied a few notes from some old papers in my possession dealing with the descent of my family from Catherine Parr by her last marriage to Thomas Seymour, t IB generally supposed that there was no issue of this marriage. Can any of your readers throw any light on the subject ?

Catherine Parr, queen and widow of Henry Yin., married afterwards Thomas Seymour (created Lord Seymour of Sudeley) brother of Edward Seymour (created Duke of Somerset). She died in childbirth of an only daughter, b. 1548, who is said in these papers to have married (1572) Sir Edward Bushel.

Apparently there was only one child of

l m .^ ma e ' a dau ghter, who married in 1598 Silas Johnson, son of Paul Johnson of ordwick and Nethercourt, in the county of

Kent, by Margaret Heyman, sister of Willit Heyman of Xethercourt, Kent, who fouude the Heyman Exhibitions, and from whicl marriage I am descended.

This daughter of Sir Edward Bushel and granddaughter of Catherine Parr is de- scribed in my paper as being " a great for- tune to her husband." KINGSTON.

" SLLVERWOOD." I read in The Daily Telegraph, 31 March, 1913, in an article on the miners' strike in Yorkshire :

" Here in the southern part of the county. . . . some of the pits have been closed down for some weeks.... At the Silverwood and other collieries distress and bread funds have be^n opened."

Is the name of the pit derived from a loc place-name or from a family name, fc Silverwood has become a cognomen ?

Some time since it was noted in ' X. & Q.' that the " Silverwood " of the old ballads had yet to be identified. Is it possible that it lay in South Yorksliire, in Robin Hood's country ? M. P.

EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING. I have heard it stated lately that in the early days of railways the passenger, on presenting him- self at the station, had his name, address, and destination entered in a book. The clerk then gave him a copy of the entry on a piece of paper, which constituted liis ticket for the journey.

On what railway systems was this method employed ? and for how long ?

J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.

Glendora, Hindhead, Surrey.

is not men- rimes relating to

FRIAR TUCK. Friar Tuck tioned in the ancient

Robin Hood which have come down to us. It is only in the later literature concerning the " gentle thief " that he appears. Hence it is said that he, like Maid Marion and other characters, was unknown to the early ballad- writers. But may he not have played part in verse now lost ? What ecclesiastic are there comparable with him in meduevf literature, English and foreign ? Surely tl jolly and lawless Churchman must have | figured in the light literature of the Middle Ages in the popular songs, dance -rimes, and so on. F. T.

CIPHERS BEFORE FIGURES IN ACCOUNTS. It was the custom down to about 1800 to specify amounts in accounts thus : 010-05-06. What was the purpose of the cipher before the figures ? Was it to pre- vent fraudulent alteration ?

W. B. GERISH.