Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/172

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. m. MAB. 4, 1911

Colonial Series,' vol. ii., 1680-1720, p. 607, is given a petition dated 25 July, 1709, of John Sober of Barbados, " forced to leave the island, his business and family, by an unjust prosecution forced againsMiim by the Governor," Mitford Crowe. In an affidavit Sober said that

" he was so exasperated by the indecent and unbecoming manner in which the Governor behaved to his wife and sister that he declared that, though he must respect her Majesty's Oovernor, if Mr. Crowe had been a Private Man, lie would then have said he was a scout and a ficoundrell."

ALFRED F. BOBBINS.

SIXTEENTH - CENTURY RULES FOR SER- VANTS. In The Repository, a weekly review of literature, science, and belles lettres, published by F. Virtue, at 26, Bath Street, Bristol, during 1827 (18 issues only, appar- ently), I find a set of rules for servants in a sixteenth- century country house. The rules are stated to have been framed by John Harington in 1566, and renewed by his son John Harington in 1592, the year in which he was High Sheriff of Somerset. He was the Elizabethan poet and wit of whom an account is given in 'D.1ST.B.,' and Kelston, near Bath, was his home :

Imprimis, That no servant bee absent from praier, at morning or evening without a lawfull excuse, to be alleged within one day after, vppon paine to forfeit for euery tyme Id.

II. Item, That none swear any othe, vppon paine for euery othe, Id.

III. Item, That none of the men be in bed, from our Lady-day to Michaelmas, after 6 of the clock in the morning ; nor out of his bed after 10 of the clock at night ; nor from Michaelmas till our La,dy-day, in bed after 7 in the morning, nor out after 9 at night, without reasonable cause, on paine of 2d.

V. That no man's bed be vnmade, nor fire or candle-box vnclean, after 8 of the clock in the morning, on paine of Id.

VII. Item, That no man teach any of the children any vnhonest speeche, or evil word, or othe, on paine of 4d.

VIII. Item, That no man waite at the table without a trencher in his hand, except it be vppon some good cause, on paine of Id.

IX. Item, That no man appointed to waite at jny table be absent that meale, without reasonabel cause, on paine of Id.

X. Item, If any man break a glasse, hec shall aunswer the price thereof out of his wages ; and if it bee not known who breake it, the butler shall pay for it, on paine of 12d.

XI. Item, The table rmist be couered halfe an houer before 11 at dinner, and 6 at supper, or before, on paine of 2d.

XII. Item, That meate be readie at 11, or

XIII. Item, That none be absent, without leaue or good cause, the whole day, or any part of it, on paine of 4tf.

XIV. Item, That no man strike his fellow, on paine of loss of seruice ; nor reuile or threaten, or prouoke another to strike, on paine of I2d.

XV. Item, That no man come to the kitchen without reasonable cause, on paine of Id.

XVI. Item, That none toy with the maids, on paine of 4d.

XVII. That no man weare foule shirt on Sunday, nor broken hose or shooes, or dublett without buttons, on paine of If7.

XVIII. Item, That when any stranger goeth hence, the chamber be drest vp againe within 4 howrs after, on paine of Id.

XIX. Item, That the hall be made cleane euery day, by eight in the winter and seauen in the summer, on paine of him that should do it to forfeit Id.

XX. That the cowrt-gate bee shutt each meale, and not opened during dinner and supper, without just cause, on paine the porter to forfeit for euery time Id.

XXI. Item, that all stayrs in the house, and other rooms that neede shall require, bee made cleane on Fryday after dinner, on paine of forfeyture of euery one whome it shall belong vnto, 3rf.

All which sommes shall be duly paide each quarter-day out of their wages, and bestowed on the poore, or other godly vse.

CHARLES WELLS.

134, Cromwell Road, Bristol.

STICKLAC. The following appears to be an early instance of the use of this substance, as well as of the word itself. Lac, it is well known, is the resinous substance produced mainly upon the Ficus Indica, or Banyan tree, by the Coccus Ficus or Coccus Lacca, sticklac being the substance in its natural state. The earliest mention I find of its use in this country, apart from the newspaper quotation given below, is in Rees's ' Cyclo- paedia ' :

" The price (of lac) in Dacca, in 1781, says Mr. Kerr, was about 12*. the hundred pounds weight, although brought from the distant country of Assam."

But among other commodities to be sold by auction in 1742 (Daily Advertiser, 23 Jan. of that year), was " six hundred weight of

Sticklack."

J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.

YEWS IN CHURCHYARDS. Some little time ago the subject of churchyard yews was discussed in ' N. & Q.' The following information is taken from ' Le Folk-Lore de France,' by P. Sebillot, iii. 406. The yew is the consecrated tree (Farbre consacre) in Breton graveyards, where ordinarily there is only one ; it is said that it shoots out a root into the mouth of each of the dead. In Poitou the grave-yards are in general

before, at dinner ; and 6, or before, at supper, on in - *;*<* '"*

paine of Gd. I planted with walnut-trees, some of those of