Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/441

 ii B. iv. NOV. 25, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

435

" SOUCHY " : " WATEB-STJCHY " (11 S. iii. 449 ; iv. 13, 96, 137, 276). Col. A. Kenny-Herbert, as quoted by MB. ROBERT PIEBPOINT (ante, p. 13), seems to be right in deriving these words from Waterzootje (waterzode, waterzoo, or sootje). The Dutch word zode, zoo, zooi, diminutive zootje, is related to the verb zieden, to boil, English seethe, and means " a quantity of food (especially fish or greens) enough for one meal," which is easily accounted for by the original meaning : "a quantity cooked at one boiling." As in the Netherlands zootje may be said of any kind of fish, it is easy to understand why ' The Cook's Oracle ' should have suggested " flounders, whitings, gudgeons, or eels " ; and the fact that George Augustus Sala calls " Flounders Water- Souchet (or Zootje) a Dutch dainty, for which we are indebted to William III.," makes a Dutch origin of the English word still more likely. If borrowed from the Dutch, the original pronunciation of the ou may have been like that of ou in soul, and of the ch like that of ch in church.

The initial s for the Dutch z may be accounted for by the "fact that z is often voiceless in Dutch ; it would only point to the word having been borrowed from the spoken and not from the written language ; additional evidence as regards this is the spelling chy for tje.

Zootje is also used in the expression are a nice lot." J. F. BENSE.
 * ' Het is me een zootje," meaning " They

Arnhem, the Netherlands.

THE HALLETTS OF CANONS (US. iv. 281). Thanks to the courtesy of my friend MB. ALECK ABBAHAMS, I am able to add a few facts to this article. Mr. Abrahams has a priced catalogue of the Canons sale extra- illustrated. One of the two documents which he has lent me would seem to be in the handwriting of the second wife of William Hallett (1). It runs as follows :

" The Inscription on my monument : Lettice Hallett, daughter of James Hallett, Gent: Second Wife of William Hallett, Esq., of Canons, who was deposited in a vault he caused to be built in Whitchurch near this place, was born July, 1707, died December 17, 1781. Lettice Hallett, born

Nov br, 1714, married June, 1756. Died

not knowing who may be in possession of Whit- church, hath desired this to be erected, and also the cause of her remains being buried here."

The second document is in the autograph of Craddock, a friend of Richard Gough, and all it adds to the above is that the vault was built in the chancel of the church of which Halletfc was the patron.

The Gainsborough picture was No. 195 (not 95, as stated on p. 281) in the Old Masters' Exhibition of 1885, and the error of ' Squire Hilliard and his Wife ' arose from the fact that the picture was obtained from Mr. William Hilliard. William Hallett the third apparently had two daughters besides Charlotte, who married Mr. Kerr- Nelson. One of these, Emily, married the Rev. Fulmer William Fowle, Rector of Allington, Wilts, who had nine children, and it is to the widow of one of these (the Rev. Edward Fowle) that I am indebted for some further particulars. Another daughter of William Hallett the third seems to have married a Mr. Hilliard, and the Gainsborough picture passed into this branch of the family. The Kerr-Nelsons appear to have become extinct, but I am told that there are still descendants of the Fowle and Hilliard branches. W. ROBEBTS.

CBOSBY HALL (US. iv. 327). Both the later historians of Crosby Place provide information on the removal and ultimate loss of the ceiling of the Council Chamber. Mr. Philip Norman, following a consideration of the various descriptions of it in situ, and Mr. W. F. Goss mention its purchase by Charles Yarnold in 1819, its resale to L. N. Cottingham in 1825, and its disappearance after being bought by a " Mr. Walesby " when, in 1850, Cottingham' s Museum was dispersed. There is also a MS. note by Miss Hackett :

" The Council Room was turned into a Horn MU1, and the lower part of the great Hall used as Stabling. A.D, 1816 the then owner* Strickland Freeman, anticipated the work of time by his extensive dilapidations, and for several years the ornamental carvings Within reach were taken away piecemeal, or were used as firewood, and the neighbouring families could only regret the devastation which they were unable to prevent/'

Miss Hackett was, I believe, born at 8, Crosby Square. Her parents lived there for many years. ALECK ABBAHAMS.

KELMSCOTT PBESS TYPE (US. iv. 345). The editorial note confirmed what I sur- mised, as, apart from Mr. Prince being in the front rank of typefounders' punch- cutters, he worked for Messrs. Reed. I would add that, whilst it is an easy matter to photo-zinco initials and borders, and then electro from the original plate, this would be very difficult from single types (of the size employed by Morris), and I have never heard of it being done. The usual procedure is to place the original letters in an electrotyping 3attery, and " grow " matrices therefrom ;