Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/203

 n s. in. MAR. 11, MI.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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habit. It is also a joke to tell an olde brother or sister they " will have to dance in their stocking feet " at a wedding of junior member of the family. M. N.

Read out. Is not this probably traceable to a Stock Exchange phrase, formerly perhaps still, existent, meaning to try t( ascertain by the expression of a man' features what his intentions are ? The man consequently, of a political party who hac been "read out" would be " outed." He was excommunicated. In North Yorkshire such a person is "read out o' t'chotch,' i.e., the church. In Hunt's 'Popular Romances of the West of England,' " He left the * people ' that he mightn't be reac out." Also as regards the provincial pro nunciationof " church," "t'chotchwardner ' (i.e., the churchwarden), in North Yorkshire counts the money collected at the offertory.

Squab-boat would, I think, bs an awkwardly built sailing vessel, of which some skippers would not be proud.

A stifel may have been a horse-name for the carrying capacity of a packhorse, but whether the word be of Dutch or German origin I am unable to say. The provincial English stive, to stuff, from the Old French estiver, says Dr. Skeat, means to pack tight, and from the same root with stifle, sixteenth- century Scandinavian from Icelandic stifla, to dam up, choke. Possibly a stifel horse was one that had its legbone put out or the joint much hurt. The " stifle joint " was known as the first joint of a horse, and bending next the buttock and over the thigh.

Stocking feet. This is by no means an exclusively Scottish expression as examples of its use in the 'E.D.D.'will show: "He pulled off his boots and slipped away in his stocking feet " (Keith, * Bonnie Lady,' 1897, 114). When a younger sister marries first, in the North of England, it is jocularly said to the elder ones, " Ala, now you will have to dance in your stocking feet " (3 S ix. 336) ; " Desin, thoo knas, war in his stockin' feet" (Robison, * Aald Taales,' 1882). This was in Cumberland, and the expression appears to have been originally a north of England one rather than Scotch, and pre- valent in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, North- umberland, Berwick, Perthshire, and Lin- colnshire.

Toe the mark. Would not this be a phrase descending to us from the days of archery ? I do not, however, find any instance of its use at this earlier period. To toe the line, scratch, or mark is nowadays to begin or

resume a task or undertaking, as a race, a fight, in which competitors are obliged to keep within, or go no further than a chalk mark. Hence, colloquially, to stand up to one's obligation or duty. To " face the music " is a phrase of similar meaning.

Tunket. Perhaps this was " as cold as a Tonquin (Chinese) pig." Such a small, short- legged, fat pig of the Chinese build, or any small pig with an upturned snout, was known in Northamptonshire, Notts, Lines, and Leicestershire as a " tunkey," " tunky," or " tonkey " pig.

Tussey boys. " Tussey " is an obsolete word (West Yorkshire) for a low, drunken person ('E.D.D.').

Whitehead. Would this be a White Cap, a self-constituted regulator and corrector of morals in the United States from 1889 to 1890 ?

Whitewash. I do not know whether it is so now, but any one who formerly passed through the bankruptcy court was said to have been whitewashed. There was, how- ever, another sense, American, in which the term was used, which will be found in Barrere and LslancV's ' Dictionary of Slang,' 1897.

York waggon. The York waggons from York to London were familiar to seventeenth- century travellers. Possibly the New York people also used them.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. [ScoTcrs and T.F.D. also thanked for replies.]

NEWENHAM ABBEY, DEVON (11 S. iii. 70, 110). Further information about the regis- ters of this abbey will be found in ' The History of Newenham Abbey, 1 by James Davidson, 1843, which, if J. K. F. has not seen it, I shall be happy to lend him.

E. A. FRY.

227, Strand, W.C.

NAPOLEON PRINT (11 S. ii. 390).- tfapoleon was appointed General in Chief of the Armies of Italy in February, 1796. The drawing referred to was probably exe- cuted in Paris before he set out to assume he command. It is likely to have been made >y the celebrated painter David. Napoleon was 28 years old in 1796. W. S. S.

JOHN HUDSON (11 S. iii. 9). In the ' Post Office Directory ' of 1820 the name of ' John Hudson, Paper-hanger & Print - eller," appears at 85, Cheapside.