Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/57

 ii s. xii. JULY 17, 1915. j NOTES AND QUERIES.

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MECHANICS' INSTITUTES. Will any of your readers be good enough to supply the name of the person who first suggested the use of the term " Mechanics " to various improve- ment societies that existed in the early part of the nineteenth century ? What was the chief reason in doing so, and what was the character of the knowledge to be pursued in these Institutes ? THOMAS W. HAND.

Central Free Public Library, Leeds.

CANNEL COAL. Will some one please say if this variety of coal is still worked in Lancashire, or in any other part of England ? If so, to what use is it applied, and is it ex- pensive ? G.

" TOBACCO - STOPPERS " AND SIB ISAAC NEWTON. In the current number of The Antiquary is an article on ' Tobacco-Stop- pers,' with this reference therein :

" We will spare the reader the repetition ^of the well-worn anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and the lady's hand." What is the joke ? JAS. CUBTIS, F.S.A.

" FIANCE." I venture to submit the question whether it might not be worth while to try and suggest another term in place of the dreadful " fiance " which we are so often pestered with in print and in speech. Surely the English language is capable of discovering a suitable word for an engaged man and woman " betrothed " or " affianced " but not " fiance," " fiancee."

S. W.

GILBERT DE AQUII^E. Can any reader inform me of the origin of the style " de Aquilse," and state when it was first assumed by the family of Gislebert Magnus, on whom the honour of Pevensey was bestowed by Henry I. after the attainder of the Earl of Mortain ? Was there any relationship be- tween the Gilbert de Aquilae who founded Michelham Priory in Sussex, in 1229, and St. Gilbert of Sempringham, the founder of the English order of Gilbertines ?

M. E. W.

TOSH (MACKINTOSH) OF RUTHEBGLEN. Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' give me particulars of the parentage of William Tosh or Mackintosh, Bailie of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, in 1819, 1822, 1824, 1826, and Provost in 1827, contractor and builder, said to have originally come from Dunferrnline, Fife? He married first (?) Isabel, daughter of Bailie David Broun of Rutherglen, with whom he was joined in partnership, and secondly (?) a widow named Lydia Lynch, a native of Ireland.

About the same date were living William Mclntosh of Newrow, Dunfermline, road- maker, married secondly (1810) Elizabeth Aitken, and William Mclntosh of Dun- fermline, married (1815) Isabel Aitken ; and, strange to say, in an old book containing the name of Provost Tosh is scrawled the name Agnes Aitken, who may have been his first wife, or possibly a relative by marriage. William seems to have been a favourite name in this family.

WM. JACKSON PIGOTT. Manor House, Dundrum, co. Down.

GOBLINS' GABB. Can any one tell me how " Master Dobbs," the house-fairy of Sussex mentioned in the Rev. W. D. Parish's ' Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect,' was, or is, dressed ? The same author relates a story of fairies who fed a carter's horses and kept them in thriving condition. What was their costume, and that of other fairies haunting farms in the South of England and the Midland counties ? S. C. F.

ST. ANDBEW. Blue was formerly worn at St. George's- tide. What colour was connected with St. Andrew as patron saint of Scotland ? B. D.

JOHN PEBBIN. Can any reader inform me who John Perrin, aged 17 in the year 1786, may have been ? Was he related to the Judge Perrin whose portrait was painted by Gainsborough ? FBANK WABD.

EASTEB OFFEBINGS. Can any of your readers supply any information as to the origin of the modern custom of presenting the Easter offertory to the incumbent of the parish ? Was it always collected in church, or was it formerly usual to make a collection for this purpose from the ratepayers when the annual church rate was called for ? Does it rest on any ancient mandate ? Is it alluded to in any work on Church history ?

ENQUIRES.

J. P. KEMBLE AND DALY. John Philip Kemble, tl e actor, and Richard Taly, the Irish manager, are said to have fought a duel in Ireland between the years 1781-3. What was the exact date of this encounter ?

HOBACE BLEACKLEY.

MEZZOTINT OF THOMAS LOWE AND MBS. CHAMBEBS. There is a mezzotint of these artists (by J. MacArdell, after R. E. Pine ) at Capt. Macheath and Polly Peachum in ' The Beggar's Opera,' dated 1752. Thomas Lowe appears in the ' D.N.B.'. Who was Mrg. Chambers ? HOBACE BLEACKLEY.