Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/412

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. HI. MAY 27, 1911.

Printed by R. Richards, 1800," now lies before me.

Richards was a native of Coventry, served his time as an apprentice on Aris's Gazette, Birmingham, and was postmaster of Uttoxeter from 1793 to his death in 1839, as we learn from Simms's ' Bibliotheca Staff ordiensis.' WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

Manchester.

ROBERT AINSWORTH THE LEXICOGRAPHER. The notice of this worthy in the ' Dic- tionary of National Biography ' states that he was born " at Woodyale, in the parish of Eccles, four miles from Manchester, in September, 1660," but gives no further par- ticulars of his origin. " Woodyale " is an error for Woodyate or Woodgate. The Eccles parish register under date 17 August, 1660, thus records his baptism : " Robert, son of Roger Ensworth of .Clifton " ; and in a nineteenth- century hand is added : " This was the learned Mr. Robt. Ainsworth, author of the celebrated Latin Dictionary."

Of Roger Ainsworth the register gives us some particulars, for he was married during the existence of the excellent Common- wealth system of registration of marriages. From it we learn that

" Roger Aynsworth of Clifton in the parish of Eccles collier son of John Aynsworth of Boulton parish deceased and Ellen Warburton daughter of William Warburton of Clifton deceased,"

were married at Manchester on 3 May, 1656, before Ri. Haworth. On 2 May, 1665, the burial of " Roger Ensworth of Clifton," and on 29 November, 1667, that of " Widow Ainsworth," are recorded. Assuming that the latter was the widow of Roger Ains- worth, it would appear that the lexicographer lost both his parents early. Presumably he was taken care of by paternal relations at Bolton, with which town he was connected until his removal to London.

ERNEST AXON. Romiley.

BEE-SWARMS. There are better methods of keeping swarms of bees with, their owners nowadays than was the case when all the inhabitants of a village (except the men- folk) would follow a swarm which had got away in May or June. The rime about bee-swarms as I knew it in Derbyshire was :

Swarm o' bees i' May

'S woth a load p' hay ;

Swarm o' bees i' June

'S woth a silver spune ;

Swarm o' bees i' July

'S not woth a fly.

There was a man in the village who was dubbed " bee-swarmer," and when a swarm

went away he dropped his "last" as the " call " sounded on bird-clapper and frying- and warming-pans to follow the swarm, and it was odd indeed if he failed to hive them by brushing them gently with bare hands and arms into the skep which he took with him. He never knew what it was to be " tanged " by a bee. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

OLD SCHOOL ACCOUNT. The following, copied from an old register book of Fleet marriages (No. 79), where it is entered with several more, may be interesting to many readers of ' N. & Q.,' and worth putting on record as a school accouut giving various articles with their cost in the first half of the eighteenth century :

Mr. Collard Began the 3rd Quarter may y e 9 th 1751.

To Mr. Collard.

To 2 Copy books. . . . 010 To pens, ink and pounce. .

To the shoecleaner. . . . 010

To mending thread and worsted 026

To breaking up and a peice 010

To powder and pomatum. . 010

To a Quarters Boarding. . 400

Rec d 4 4s. Od. of this bill.

476

3 6

Mr. Collard left to pay

And his son Begun again which is

y e 4 th Quarter.

August y e 10 th 1731 at 16 P. ami To a copy book. . 00

To a paire of gloves

To a pencil. . 00

Shoes

Cutting hair twice

Hat .... 06

Latin testament

To a Cato. . Common prayer book

Here the account ends suddenly, but for what reason does not appear. It may have been transferred to another book.

A. J. J.

MILKY WAY : ITS VARIOUS NAMES. The following notes may be useful :

" It is a national weakness [of the Roumanians] to ascribe everything to Trajan, even the Milky Way, which they call Trajan's Road, and thunder Trajan's voice." Mrs. Walker, ' Untrodden Paths in Roumania,' 1888, p. 35.

" El Camino de Santiago. El Camino de Jerusalem. Spilt milk of Juno." Ford, ' Gather- ings from Spain,' pp. 43, 44.

Her face is like the Mjrlky Way i' th' sky,

A meeting of gentle lights without a name.

Sir John Suckling, ' Tragedy of Brennoralt,' ii. 113.

" Road of Whiter." Mallet, ' Northern Anti- quities,' p. 219.