Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/185

 ii s. iv. AUG. 26, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of erecting a memorial of his triumph. Merlin bids him send for the stones called " Giants' Dance " out of Ireland, and accord- ingly the enchanter is dispatched with Uther Pendragon (the father of Arthur) to fetch them. By Merlin's arts the Irish are defeated and the Dance brought over to be set up at Stonehenge.

For an account of the play ' The Birth of Merlin ; or, the Childe Hath Found his Father,' see ' The Cambridge History of English Literature,' vol. v. pp. 249-251.

A. R. BAYLEY.

CHARLES I. : ' BIBLIA ATJBEA ' (11 S. iv. 70, 113). A book entitled ' Biblia Aurea, cum suis historiis necnon exempli's Veteris atque Novi Testamenti,' was sold at auction in New York, in 1896 or 1897, for about eight dollars. It is stated to have been from the press of John Gruninger, an early Strasbourg printer ; but no place of printing appears on the title. The size was small quarto, and the conjectural date " 1466 " was assigned to it. Possibly it was a different work from that described by MB. THOMAS STANFORD.

O.

DUMBLETON, PLACE-NAME (11 S. IV. 89,

136). Rudder's ' History of Gloucester- shire ' (1779), p. 420, col. 2, says :

" King Athelstan, in the year 931, gave Swin- ford and Sanford, and Dumelton in the county of Gloucester, to the abbey of Abingdon, when Cinath was abbot.... The manor and advowson of Dumbleton. after the dissolution of abbeys, were granted to Thomas, Lord Audley, and to Sir Thomas Pope, in exchange for the manor of Layer-Marney in Essex and the manor was con- firmed to Sir Thomas Pope."

T. SHEPHERD.

" GOTHAMITES "= LONDONERS (11 S. iv. 25, 133). In 1856 there was published in Glasgow a small volume entitled * The Chronicles of Gotham ; or, the Facetious History of Official Proceedings ' (Glasgow, to be had of the booksellers, 1856). This gave a satirical account of various public proceedings, &c., of local interest, and was illustrated by reproductions of pen-and- ink sketches, in some of which local officials and celebrities were caricatured.

T. F. D.

HALFACREE SURNAME (11 S.iii.467; iv. 134). Is not the simplest explanation of this sur- name this, that it was given to a foundling picked up on a local spot known as the " half-acre " ? Many " place-names," such as Field, Green, Lane, have doubtlessly so arisen. The foundling being taken into the

church for baptism would, at the suggestion of the parish clerk, receive its surname from the spot where it was picked up (see Lower, Bardsley, and other authorities on surnames). S. D. C.

THE POPE'S POSITION AT HOLY COM- MUNION (11 S. iv. 105). Should not " Altar of the Chair," quoted by MR. W. G. BLACK. in his note, be " Altar of the Choir " ?

PENRY LEWIS.

CLUB ETRANGER AT HANOVER SQUARE (US. ii. 407, 477 ; iii. 96). It may interest MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS and others to know that I now find the St. George's Club, Hanover Square, was at one time called the " Cercle des Nations," not " Etrangers,'' as my note stated. This may be the " Cercle " alluded to in the pamphlet of the club mentioned by MR. ABRAHAMS.

CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athenseum Club.

0tt

The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Adapted by-

H. W. and F. G. Fowler. (Oxford^ Clarendon

Press.)

IF one knows anything at all of the. inner history. of the great English Dictionary which is now, approaching completion at Oxford of the immense amount of research during the last half-? century, the indefatigable labour and consummate knowledge which that unique work represents he will take this unpretentious octavo of xii-f-1044 pages into his hands with a feeling akin to reveri ence. It is the condensed essence of the most notable Dictionary which has ever been attempted! We may criticize the judgment with which th collaborators have done their part, but we cannof question its importance.

To begin with, in order to economize space, only " current " words are admitted ; yet we find foreign words, like chapeau-bras, voe, and zeit-geist, to the exclusion of Biblical and Shake-^ spearian words like neese, tache, and mobled. Why not these as well as Milton's scrannel, which does find a place, and the Mahound of old plays, and niddering ? If vulgar words are recognized, why do we look in vain for cabbage, to pilfer, and razzle-dazzle, the showman's merry-go-round ? Why should bridge, the game of cards, bean-feast, and nincompoop be queried as of unknown origin ? Many such questions are suggested as we turn the pages. Was the original meaning of catacomb (cata-kumbas) " at the boats " ? The * N.E.D.' does not commit itself to such a statement. Is misty, used of undefined opinions, identical with misty (nebulosus) ?

These interrogations, however, do not imply that we are otherwise than most grateful to the editors and publishers for bringing the results of the invaluable Dictionary " The Dictionary " par excellence within the reach of people with short purses.