Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/14

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. JULY e, 1912.

On the plinth in front is inscribed :

Charles Stewart Rolls, M.A., F.R.G.S.,

A.M.I.Mech.E. Born Aug. 27th, 1877. Died July 12th, 1910.

I take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging kind help rendered by MB, W. P. COURTNEY, MR. WALTER HAYLER, MR. T. CHAMBERLIN CHAMBERLIN, MRS. SAMPSON, and others.

Information is desired respecting the follow- ing memorials: Dr. Dalton. Manchester; Sir J. Paget, Yarmouth ; Capt. Manby, Gorleston ; Dr. Thompson, Forres ; Mungo Park, Selkirk ; Prof. Playfair, Sir J. Simpson, Sir D. Brewster, and Dr. Livingstone, Edinburgh ; Hugh Miller, Cromarty ; Dr. Pierce, Den- bigh. JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Jtchington, Warwickshire.

FIFTEENTH-CENTURY LAND MEASURES AT SALISBURY. Mr. A. R. Maiden, F.S. A., the piocesan Registrar, has copied from the Salisbury (1455) the following land measure, which is interesting both from its date and the regulations which follow it. I thought it might also interest readers of ' N. & Q.'
 * Liber Niger ' of Bishop Beauchamp of

Folio 11 b. JJensura terre arrabilis secundum standard Anglic

Longitude trium granorum ordei in medio spice facit unam policem, et xij polices faciunt unum pedem, et tres pedes faciunt vlnam qua lipmo mensurat pannum, et quinque vine et dimidium [interlined afterwards : cum dimidio pedis] faciunt vnam virgam [interlined : vocatani a perche] de qua homo metit terram et sciendum, est quod xl ta virge in longitudine et iiij in latitudine faciunt unam acram terre. Then follow several other measurements of length and breadth of pieces of land which make an acre, from x by xvi to iiij by xl.

Ass(isa) terre arrabilis vbi campus dividitur in tres partes. Et sciendum est quod vna caruca terre potest continere ix xx acras terre quarum. Ix erunt seminate cum semine yemali & Ix cum semine vernafi 3 Ix erunt verectate 3 vna caruca potest eas arare, quia sunt in anno lij septimane de quibus vij vel viij sunt festiue ab operibus 3 per perturbacionem temporis 3 tempestatis. Et debihs erit caruca que non potest ire vno die arans sex leucas vie 3 cum circumiuerit septua- gmta duabus vicibus circa vnam acram terre et ynurn quodque remum sit vnius pedis in lati- tudine, tune perarauerit vnam acram et iuerit sex leucas si sit iiij virge in latitudine 3 xl ta virge an longitudine 3 homo potest stercorare vnam acram m vna nocte cum mille ouibus quia x xx puce possunt circumuenire vnam acram 3 quelibet plica eat de octo pedibus 3 dimidio in longitudine 3 quelibet plica potest retinere quinque oues 30.

EDMUND R. NEVILL, F.S. A.

Salisbury.

"KNICKERBOCKER." The 'New English Dictionary,' while explaining that Knicker- bocker is " the name of the pretended author of Washington Irving's ' History of New York,' " says nothing as to the meaning of the word itself, an omission all the more striking as, in the very same column, appears the derivation of knicker (a boy's marble), which is the key-note to the aforesaid Knickerbocker.

As a matter of fact, Knickerbocker is but a slight variant of Knickerbacker, a family name which may be seen in the New York City records for a full half - century before the publication of Irving's ' History,' and in those of New York State as far back as 13 October, 1709, when Johannes Knicker- backer, a miller in Albany, leased 30 morgen (some 62 acres) of land recently purchased by the City of Albany from the Schaghticoke Indians ; and the name must have been pretty well known even then on the banks of the Hudson, for Johannes was the oldest of seven children, of whom Herman Jansen Knickerbacker was the proud father.

When Herman, who is looked upon as the first American Knickerbacker, came to this country is not known ; but, be that as it may, his patronymic, like that of our Taylors, Carpenters, Weavers, Millers, &c., was originally nothing more than the trade- name " Knikker-bakker," a marble-baker.

The Dutch cnikken and knikken, the Mod. H.G. knicken, and the Eng. dial. to knick, all convey the idea of cracking ; and what English schoolboy would fail to recognize his own nicker in the Dutch bnikker or the German knicker, or to appre- ciate the close relationship between the Dutch children's knikker-tijd and his own marble-season or marble-tide ?

Bakker needs no comment ; and should an example of its compounding with another word be desired, it could readily be found in steenbakker, brick-burner; tichelbakker, tile-baker, &c. A. ESTOCLET.

Philadelphia.

A POSTSCRIPT TO NOTE ON OLD LONDON NOMENCLATURE. (See 11 S. v. 247.) In Riley's ' Remembrancia of the City of London ' I find a reference (p. xvi) to " Puddynglane " in 1427 (Letter-Book I, 288) ; and in the Introduction, p. xxix, a mention of Henry Pudding and Floria his wife, as occurring in Letter-Book C, 46, with foot-note : "In the Rolls of Gaol Delivery for London, 25 Ed. I. (1297), John Pudding, a cutpurse, is sentenced to be hanged."