Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/505

 ii s. iv. DEC. 16, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

499

gives ' Colbertine, a lace resembling net-work of the fabric of Monsieur Colbert, superintendent of the French King's manufactures."' But point d'Aleneon lace was that specially styled " the fabric " of Colbert, and Colber- tine appears to have been a coarse production. Swift talks of knowing

The difference between Rich Flanders lace and Oolberteen.

' Cadenus and Vanessa.' TOM JONES.

HENRY FENTON JADIS (US. iv. 410, 473). The following is of earlier date, but pos- sibly a kinsman: Henry Jadis, s. John of Dodington, co. Lincoln, arm. Hertford Coll., Oxon., matric. 19 March, 1796, aged 17; B.A. 1801. A. R. BAYLEY.

OVERING SURNAME (US. iv. 89, 178, 216, 277). In the ' Judge Samuel Sewall Diary,' vol. iii. p. 330, a " Mr. Overing " is men- tioned as attending a Boston funeral as " bearer " in the year 1723. On p. 375 of the same volume, year 1726, an " Attorney Mr. Overing " is cited probably the same individual. He was seemingly that John Overing whose wife was daughter of the New England legal magnate Robert Auch- mity, and whose will, mentioning a Sir Henry Furnice, was proved in 1748. His brother, " James Overing, mariner," died in Hopkins ton (now Hopkinton), Massa- chusetts, in 1746. J. G. CUPPLES.

Brookline, Massachusetts.

TWEEDMOUTH (11 S. iv. 428). Tweed- mouth is on the south side of Tweed mouth, while Berwick is on the north side. The two places are connected by a long, quaint, many-arched bridge of ancient date, the arches differing in size. Berwick itself and its bounds three miles north and west are, and have been for centuries, a portion of England, English law and the English church being in evidence there. It is now, for Parliamentary and other purposes, a portion of the county of Northumberland. Contrary to the vulgar idea, and indeed to the teaching of some school-books, the Tweed here, and for some three miles from its mouth, does not divide Scotland from England. R. B R.

South Shields.

LUNATICS AND PRIVATE LUNATIC ASYLUMS (11 S. iv. 209, 251, 395). It is probable that the sensational trials of 1858, men- tioned at the second reference, which drew attention to the ill-treatment of patients in lunatic asylums, were the motive that caused Wilkie Collins in 1860 to write his

' Woman in White,' a novel that soon, acquired a worldwide celebrity. The story was afterwards dramatized.

N. W. HILL. New York.

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE (11 S. ii. 508; iii. 385 ; iv. 138, 176). The following from The City Press of 2 December in regard to a recent meeting of the Gresham Trust will be read with interest :

"... .In the course of the afternoon incidental reference was made to the fact that the com- mittee were about to consider a proposal for the publication of a booklet upon the frescoes in the ambulatory of the Royal Exchange." This is indeed welcome news.

CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athenaeum Club.

URBAN V.'s FAMILY NAME (11 S. iv. 204, 256, 316, 456). At the last reference Turstin fitz Row should have been Turstin, fitz Ron ; the proof failed to reach me.

G. H. WHITE.

St Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.

on

English Dialects from the Eighth Century to the

Present Day. By the Rev. Walter W. Skeat.

(Cambridge University Press.) THOSE who are

keen thro' wordy snares to track Suggestion to her inmost cell

know the fascination of words and their meanings. Unfortunately, the majority of writers and readers of to-day remain in ignorance of the resources of their own language, and either go to bad popular guides or neglect their occasional instruction. In this little manual Prof. Skeat supplies a mas- terly introduction to " English in the native garb," and shows the many sources which have made our tongue what it is to-day.

He gives abundant measure of illustration from actual words in common use, which should make the book of interest to the average reader. He points out also that what are regarded as mistakes in dialect are sometimes true forms, our own being due to phonetic decay. Among other notable remarks we find the Professor explaining that French influence in our dialects has been neglected except in the case of Scotland, where it has been exaggerated. To Anglo-French, i.e., the forms of French largely peculiar to England, are due several peculiarities of pronunciation. Thus " rouge " is French, but " rage " is Anglo-French.

Besides the illustrations throughout the book, there is also a chapter of specimens of our better dialect writers, which range from Aberdeen to East Sussex. A Bibliography will aid those who wish to make further study, and at the end-there is a reproduction of the only English proclama- tion of Henry III., 18 October, 1258.

The manual ought to be adopted widely as a beginners' book in English, for it is written in a