Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/398

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. v. APRIL 27, 1912.

SIH'CHARLES JAMES NAPIER'S ' HAROLD.' I have discovered a curious error with regard to this officer in ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica.' It is said that " here [i.e., in Normandy] he 'wrote his work on the colonies, and also an historical romance on William the Conqueror. Another work, entitled ' Harold,' has disappeared."

As a matter of fact, ' William the Con- queror ' and ' Harold ' are one and the same. The work was originally called ' Harold.' After the author's death the manuscript could not at first be found as is stated in the author's life ; eventually, however, it was discovered and published, with a preface by Sir William Napier, in 1858, under the title of ' William the Conqueror,' the change of title being evidently due to the fact that Bulwer Lytton had published his ' Harold ' ten years before. W. A. FROST.

16, Amwell Street, E.G.

PHILIPPS : BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. In my copy of the original edition of Philipps's Families of England who have been raised to Honour and Wealth by the Profession of the Law,' London, 1686, 8vo, there are various MS. notes in a contemporary hand. At the end of the dedication to Lord Chan- cellor Guilford, beneath the name of H. Philipps the compiler, is the note : " Of e Temple. Kinsman to Sr. Amb: Philipps
 * Treatise enumerating the Most Illustrious

TVTr T.ioloa T^Q. in la ITT " T'Vvio

This

Serje' at law, Mr Lisles Fa: in law. might interest some future inquirer.

G. B. M.

THE CLAPPER OF MENDE. In 1580 heathen Protestants destroyed the bells of Mende Cathedral (Lozere). The clapper of one of them, the " Marie-Therese " or " Sans Pareille," still exists, and is to be seen standing on a little pedestal near the N.W. portal of the church.

" Une curieuse Idgende veut que toute femme qui touche au monstrueux bloc de me'tal soit assured, dans I'ann^e qui suit, d'une maternite' des plus heureuses." ' Guide des Strangers a Mende,' p. 23.

ST. SWITHIN.

THE PERSONAL NAME ALMROTH. What is the origin of this name, familiar to many of us as the Christian name of a well-known physician ? The form of the word seems to point to a German origin. Is Almroth known as a family name in Germany ? Jf so, in what part of Germany ?

If I may be allowed to guess, I would say that Almroth was originally a local name, and that the second element -roth is a word meaning a forest-clearing, occurring in

many place-names in Thiiringen and Hessen. It is the same word as the -royd in Holroyd, Acroyd, Huntroyd. The first element Aim- doubtless denotes the name of an occupier of the clearing, and is probably an abbre- viation of Allmen, a shortened form of Adalman (man of noble birth). For the loss of the dental compare Albrecht (Albert) for O.H.G. Adalberaht. A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford.

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S STONE COFFIN. The following cutting from The Illustrated Western Weekly News of 23 March seems almost worth a corner in the columns of ' N. & Q.' :

" Mr. Joseph Rowe, the oldest inhabitant in the Treverbyn district, who had reached the age of 93 years, passed away on the 14th inst. He was a native of Luxulyan, and for many years worked in the stone quarries in that district. On the death of the great Duke of Wellington in 1852, an order for a stone coffin to enclose the shell with the remains of the Duke was placed with the proprietors of the Luxulyan Quarry. Joseph Rowe was em- ployed upon this work, which took two years to complete. After a suitable stone had been hewn from the mass of rock, the antiquated stone saws were used to cut it into the proper shape, and before the contract could be fully executed a large quantity of sand was hauled to the quarries from the Lanescot mines for polishing purposes. A con- siderable amount of public interest was displayed in the event, and numerous visitors purchased from Rowe and his co-workers chippings of the rock as mementoes, which considerably added to their income."

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

VISA DE VIA FERRAT!. Optima Thorleius pecori fert liba : laborans

Parva jecur reficit pilula Carterii. Persius, h&c nostro, vocat, utere flore saponum :

Caerula Beckitti lina micare facit. Addita, quid melius ? puro recipe hordea lacti :

En ! tanti Horlicius muneris auctor ego. Hsec ubi rus fcedant, et porro, " advertite " clamant,

Attoniti properant Dl Dryadesque fugam.

C. B. MOUNT.

WILTSHIRE PHRASES, The following strange expressions are, as far as I know, peculiar to Wiltshire :

1. " As hard as Brazil" Presumably Brazil wood.

2. " As sour as a wig." Presumably. an old or unclean wig.

3. "As deep as Garrick." "Deep" is here used in the sense of artful.

4. " As fess as Cox's pig." " Fess " means eager ; but what of Cox and his pig ?

5. "To go through Shrubb's copse." To say of a man that he has been " through Shrubb's copse " means that he has known