Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/352

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. m. MAY e, 1911.

with domino, " camail noir avec capuchon porte" par le pretre pendant 1'hiver," has never been satisfactorily established. I think the word capuchon in the above definition is probably the clue. Much older than faire domino is the phrase faire capot, used of a victorious stroke at piquet, and the latter expression is widely used in a metaphorical sense. Now capot means " cape with a hood," and it seems possible that faire domino is a playful variant of faire capot. One may compare the foolish changes that used to be rung on the expression " to take the cake " a few years ago. ERNEST WEEKLEY.

LONDON REMAINS. (See 10 S. viii. 226, 271, 337, 392, 476 ; ix. 14, 196.) The flag- stones with which the walks round and between the fountains at the head of the Serpentine were paved last summer came from the Duke of York's School, Chelsea.

The flagstones from Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street, hallowed by the footsteps of Lamb and Coleridge, were bought privately, and are now, for the most part, at New Place, Haslemere. SYLVIOLA.

ANGLO-IRISH " VEIN " : ' THE WANDER- ING NAG.' There exists an Irish poem, fairly common in manuscripts, bearing the title ' Eachtra chapuill an chuimin ' (i.e., which is supposed to contain certain cryptic political allusions, the key to which is now lost. Tradition asserts that it was written by a certain Denis Murphy in 1692.
 * Adventures of the Horse of the Common ' ),

In the manuscript copies it is often accom- panied by an English verse translation, entitled ' The Wandering Nag,' which was made by John Collins, a well-known Irish poet, in 1810. I am not aware, that either the Irish or the English version has ever appeared in print. In Collins' s translation the following couplet occurs :

And sunk in Bleantir's vast extensive marsh In veins and sloughs and quaginires to his arse.

The English reader \\ill at once notice the unfamiliar use of " veins." As a matter of fact, the line is tautological, for " vein " here no doubt represents the Irish feith t which, besides its usual meaning " vein," can also mean " swamp."

It is interesting, however, to note that the word feith does not appear in the original Irish, the translation at all times loose at this point bearing but little relation to the original. It seems fair, therefore, to assume that in the early nineteenth century " vein " was currently used in the Anglo-Irish of some

districts in the sense of " swamp." It will be interesting to see whether the ' Oxford Dictionary ' will record instances of this usage.

This particular meaning of feith, though duly recorded in Dinneen's dictionary, is not, I understand, generally familiar to Irish speakers, and I am acquainted with only one passage in Irish printed literature where it occurs. In a poem by Father English (a Franciscan friar who died about 1776), printed at p. 71, of John O' Daly's ' Irish Miscellany,' occurs the line : an bhuidhe san bhfeith 'snaheirnhgheag leanbhuicle- i.e., " the yellow (cow) in the bog and the children a-bawling."

I owe this translation of the line to my friend Canon F. O'Connell. W. J. P.

" SECURE ARMS."" Referring to this military phrase in the ' Oxford English Dictionary,' under secure, v., 2 h, I quote the following from ' The Complete Drill Serjeant,' 2nd ed., 1798, p. 17, where a coloured print of the posture is also given :

"Secure Arms. Three motions. .. .3 d . Bring the firelock briskly down under the left arm ; the lock to be well secured by the arm."

It was always the left arm. W. S.

" NIB " = SEPARATE PEN-POINT. The ' N.E.D.' under nib, 2 b, gives : "A separate pen-point, now usually made of steel, intended for fitting into a pen-holder." I have the impression that this extended use of nib was qualified as vulgar in my presence. At any rate, it does not seem to be old, to go by the references ; and the one quoted from 'N. & Q.' (1899), "Nowadays nearly all ask for 'nibs' when they require pens," has a dash ot dissatisfaction on the part of the writer at a pen being called a nib. Is there perhaps a dissension between the old and the young generation ? Whether the development is a gain may be called in question, as, owing to it ; a nib can have two nibs. G. KRUEGER.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S HORSES : THEIR NAMES. In the Historical MSS. Commission' s Report on the Cecil MSS. (vol. viii. p. 417) is "A note of such horses as are in the stable " of Queen Elizabeth, dated October, 1598, which gives Grey Pocle and Black Wilford as the names of those " for he.- Ma ties saddell." The names of others were, Rone Howard, White Howard, Grey Fytton ("for M lis Fytton "), Bay Compton, White Smythyfyld, Bay Dormer, Grey Marcom, Grey Bellowes, Grey North, Bay Ognoll, Bay