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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. v. JAN. 6, 1912.

Gotherson. I apprehend that MB. HILLMAN is mistaken in thinking that Prior's letter of 1668 was written from Long Island. In Scull's book the letter is dated " Killing- worth," but that is in Connecticut, not on Long Island.

Much about Capt. John Scott will be found in the Proceedings and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

STRAW TINDER BRIDGES (US. iv. 508). I have always believed that the bundle of suspended straw was to give to navigation a plain warning to take no risks and use some other arch. To the inquiry, " Why straw?" one is tempted to reply, "Why not ? " I think I have seen a log of wood suspended, but what is wanted is something which will make a big show and which any handy bit of rope may be trusted to support. And what better than straw ? D. O.

[MR. J. P. STILWELL also thanked for reply,]

"LATTER LAMMAS" (11 S. iv. 469). If we suppose and we have good authority for it that " Lammas " means the last math, or mowing, after which the cattle of the commoners were turned to pasture on the Lammas lands of the manor or township, we shall have no difficulty in understanding how the phrase " latter Lammas " can be used in both the senses to which A. A. M. refers. This derivation seems to me, who do not pretend to any special knowledge of the subject, more probable than the more usual one from " loaf Mass." If it were proved that in early English days it was a custom to offer a loaf in church at the beginning of the corn harvest, the scale would incline the other way. But is there such ?

F. NEWMAN.

The ' N.E.D.,' v. Lammas, 3, gives : " Latter Lammas (-fday), a day that will never come. At latter Lammas ; humorously for ' Never.' "

Equivalent to " Greek Kalends " (Sue- tonius, 'Aug.,' 87). TOM JONES.

PENCE AS A PLACE-NAME (11 S. iv. 330, 437, 497). The twelfth-century lawsuit mentioned by MR. ANSCOMBE is recorded at greater length than in the ' Placitorum Abbreviatio,' in one of the Selden Society's publications, if I remember rightly, the spelling being a slight variant on " Penge." I have been waiting for some weeks in the hope of finding time to look up the exact reference, but there is little prospect of my

being able to do it, so I send in this imperfect reply. It is interesting to observe that the real question at issue seems to have been whether Penge was a part of Battersea or not a question still unsettled 700 years later, for one of the Metropolis Management Acts of the latter half of the nineteenth century solemnly enacts that " nothing in this Act shall be deemed to determine whether the hamlet of Penge is or is not a part of the parish of Battersea." I quote from memory. A. MORLEY DAVIES.

Winchmore Hill, Amersham.

"WIGESTA" (11 S. iv. 304). MR. ANS- COMBE will perhaps be disappointed on learning that his arguments do not altogether convince. It may be pointed out that the southern part of Bedfordshire, from the Ouse to the boundary, contained almost exactly 900 hides ; in this part of the county is Wixamtree hundred, the Wiche- stanston ( ? Wichestanstron) of Domesday Book. The Wixna districts (600 and 300 hides), with a similar name, also require fitting in, and may be this South Bedford- shire area. The " Latin " form of the ' Tribal Hidage ' assigns only 800 hides to Wigesta, so that possibly the Eight Hundreds once appurtenant to Oundle may represent them. It is noteworthy that a system of giving testimony by eight hundreds existed in Cambridgeshire, as the ' Liber Eliensis ' shows. J. BROWNBILL.

MURDERERS REPRIEVED FOR MARRIAGE (11 S. iii. 129, 172, 195, 298). Some further references will be found in the notes to the ballad of 'The English Merchant of Chi- chester ' on p. 318 of vol. i. part ii. of the Ballad Society's edition (1870) of the ' Roxburghe Ballads,' where, amongst other references, there is one to 'N. & Q.' (4S. v.. 95), s.v. ' Hanging or Marrying.'

A. COLLINGWOOD LEE. Waltham Abbey, Essex.

'THE ROBBER'S CAVE' (11 S. iv. 448). The writer of this book was Miss Charlotte Maria Tucker, known as A.L.O.E. (A Lady of England). It is procurable from the publishers, Messrs. T. Nelson & Sons.

W. J. WALKER. Castelnau.

FIRE-PAPERS (US. iv. 406, 493). These gaudy and flimsy contrivances for hiding an empty grate are not quite obsolete. One day last summer I met two gipsy women hawking them in a village near Stratford- on-Avon. In this district they are called " fire-screens." WILLIAM JAGGARD.