Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/289

 ii s. xii. OCT. 9, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

281

BISSEXTTTS. Will some one kindly inform me on what authority M. Scheler states in his ' Dictionnaire d'Etymologie Fra^aise ' that bissextus, the day intercalated in leap year after 24 February, was considered unlucky among the Romans ?

A. SMYTHE PALMER. Tullagee, Eastbourne.

' MORTE D'ARTHUR ' : ENCHANTED TROOPS OF HORSE. Would some reader of ' N. & Q.' give the reference to the passage in the ' Morte d' Arthur ' where troops of horse are said to have been turned by enchant- ment into the semblance of grey stones ?

W. P. Y.

A TALE OF THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER.- When I was head master of Burnley Gram- mar School I found in one of the books of the old library belonging to the school a story of which I can give only a vague account, but which I should like to meet with again. In the book it is described how. on the night before the battle of Worcester, Cromwell encountered a gentleman in black who gave him the choice of two alternatives one, I think, was a defeat on the morrow and a long life, the other a crowning victory and seven years of life. Can any of your readers from these somewhat meagre data give me the name of the work ? It is twenty-five or thirty years since I read the passage, and I have tried in many ways to find it again, but failed.

J. LANGFIELD WARD, M.A.

Bath.

JUplus*

WORDS IN BISHOP DOUGLAS'S

'ENEADOS,' 1513. (11 S. xii. 156, 177, 215, 235, 255.)

THE contributions made by PROF. THORN- TON under the above heading are an example of work which, if well done, may be of great service to English lexicography. Any one who will carefully work through the vocabu- lary of an important author, especially from the older periods of our literature, and closely compare his results with the articles in the ' Oxford English Dictionary,' can hardly fail to make some useful, and even important, additions to the history of particular words. There is good oppor- tunity for such work on an author like Douglas, whose language is so copious and so uncommon, and PROF. THORNTON is quite

entitled to say, " In some cases I have come across a word not already noticed, and in some others I am able to give an earlier date than that already given." These in- stances are valuable, although their number is not so great as the length of the lists might suggest. In many instances, PROF. THORNTON admits, his citations are " merely stopgaps," and their value in this respect varies considerably. Some do fill ex- cessively long intervals between the quota- tions given in the Dictionary ; others merely give an additional instance of the word or sense between certain dates. It must be remembered that many such instances have necessarily been omitted in the Dic- tionary for reasons of space. On the whole, PROF. THORNTON supplies the reader with the means of judging how far his additions are really important, but in a few cases is not quite exact or complete in his state- ments.

When account has been taken of the above classes of words, there remains a fair number of entries in PROF. THORNTON'S list which require separate notice. These, for one reason or another, would naturally suggest to the reader that the Dictionary had not dealt with the vocabulary of Douglas as thoroughly or as critically as might be expected. The following notes will, how- ever, show that in these instances PROF. THORNTON either has misunderstood the meaning of the word, or has failed to identify the form under which it would normally appear in the Dictionary, or has omitted to note that it is actually dealt with in its natural place in that work. The obvious conclusion is that a fuller acquaintance with the older Scottish tongue, and a more careful consultation of the Dictionary and of Small's glossary to Douglas, are necessary to give to PROF. THORNTON'S work the value which it well might have as a con- tribution to lexicography.

" Ale, disguised as ill." Liffyr ill does not mean " liefer ale," but liver-ill, and is entered in the Diet, under LIVER, sb. 1 7, with this quotation.

" Any, of (with superlative)." The word is not any, but ane, as plainly shown by the rhymes in the stanza. The usage is fully dealt with in the Diet, under ONE, 26 b.

" At = out." Really an absolute use of AT, prep. 13.

"Batten, adj." There can be little doubt that Small's explanation "made of whalebone" is correct, and that PROF. THORNTON'S suggestion is unnecessary. Cf. " Of balayn both scheeld and targe " in ' Coer de Lion,' 2982. Both passages are cited in the Diet., s.v. BALEEN, 3.

Ballinger. A vessel of some kind' Cer- tainly : see the Diet., s.v.