Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/397

 ii s. xu. NOV. 13, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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JStreet, I believe, consisted mainly of shops' and though there were, and are, a few old private houses in it, they strike me as too large, and the road, perhaps, too wide, for Upper Podden Place. Similar objections -apply to what otherwise I might regard as the most likely theory, viz., that Podden Place and Upper Podden Place are simply Woburn Place and Upper Woburn Place. In a line with these latter there used to be King Street (starting from Holborn) and Upper King Street ; but these were full of hops, and they now form part of Southamp- ton Row.

I think it just possible that Podden Place and Upper Podden Place might mean Oompton Street and Compton Street East the latter a short street leading from Hunter Street into Regent Square. The word " East " was some time since removed from its title, and the houses were renumbered as part of Compton Street. Still, I do not know of any connexion of these streets with Bulwer Lytton. The case is different with Great James Street ; and one little circum- stance that inclined me to the belief that this Is Podden Place was the fact that the last syllables of Loaden and Podden are identical. I feel now, however, rather divided between the three theories that Podden Place and Upper Podden Place mean : ( 1 ) Great James Street and the original Millman Street ; (2) the original Millman Street and New Millman Street, even though there was no thoroughfare from one into the other ; ^3) Great Ormond Street and New Ormond .Street. W. A. FROST.

SKULL AND IRON NAIL (US. xii. 181, 306). Cf. Judges iv. 21 :

" Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him [Sisera], and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground : for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."

The material of the nail is not mentioned, but to drive a nail of any other material than metal through a skull is out of the question. L.. L. K.

THE COLLIE (11 S. xii. 341). From a long experience with these, as well as with other dogs, I am convinced that their so-called " treachery " is a base calumny on an ex- ceptionally patient, long-suffering breed. I grant, however, that they are intensely nervous, and their excessive animation needs the outlet afforded by an outdoor athletic life. It is usually those collies who are much pampered indoors, or used almost exclusively for " show " purposes, against

whom the accusation of snapping might be brought ; but it is hardly fair to count this against the whole race, when the real fault lies with some mismanagement by the owners.

A collie we previously had, and one which we now have, are miracles of patience and benevolence. An unduly affectionate cat and a troublesome terrier puppy have been known to sprawl over and rub against each large dog literally for hours on end ; to put their noses into his dinner dish ; to bite and pull his tail ; and (on the puppy's part) never to sit anywhere except full on that warm golden side ! But a growl or a snap is a thing unknown : the most either would do was to get up, finally, and lie somewhere else, for another session of torment. Our collies were equally magnanimous to children, wherever encountered. I particularly recall long journeys in railway carriages, where infant curiosity, of a most detailed kind, sometimes subjected them to a handling both prolonged and bothersome.

G. C. GUINEY. Oxford.

I append a quotation from Drury's ' British Dogs ' :

" Of the many fallacies in connection with dogs that ought to be relegated to the limbo of forgotten absurdities is the very prevalent one that the collie as a breed is treacherous. Even the judicial mind is not free from bias in respect of the dog, and one County Court judge who was called upon to adjudicate in a case in which a collie figured, stated that all he knew about collies was that they were treacherous brutes. Further, he said that he had owned one, and that it had bitten several members of his family, so he sold it ...... It is slander,

to say the least, on a most intelligent breed, for the modern collie is not by nature treacherous, what- ever may be said with regard to his remote ances- tors. That there are individual collies that are savage, as there are individuals in every breed, can- not be denied. To condemn a variety, however, simply because of the failings of a very few is manifestly unfair, unreasonable, and misleading."

ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.

CAT QUERIES (11 S. xii. 183, 244, 286,330, 369). Dr. Gaster's book ' Rumanian Bird and Beast Stories,' recently published for the Folk- Lore Society by Messrs. Sidgwick & Jackson, has several legends purporting to account for the peculiar ways of the cat. It has struck me that something might be made of a study of animal folk-lore in the light of well-authenticated stories of excep- tional animal behaviour. There would no doubt be many turnings and twist ings to follow before any correspondences could be made out.