Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/260

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. vi. S*PT. u, 1912.

of 1793 was spent by Wordsworth in the company of this friend, and they renewed their wanderings on foot in North Wales.

On the nomination of his college Jones was instituted to the rectory of Souldern, in Oxfordshire, on 6 December, 1806. He obtained a licence for non-residence from 1807 to 1809, during which period he " laid out a considerable sum of money in im- proving the South front " of the rectory house. A good engraving of the picturesque old building is given in J. C. Blomfield's ' Deanery of Bicester,' part vii. p. 98. It was pulled down in 1890.

He resided on his living from 1810 to 1822, was then absent for some years, and, after resuming his life at Souldern for a short time, obtained a third licence of non- residence in 1833. Wordsworth, his wife, and his sister visited Jones in Wales in September, 1824, meeting him at Llanrwst. He was then in the " valley of meditation " (Glyn Mavyr) on a curacy " with a com- fortable parsonage." They passed three days in the company of his friends in the vale of Clwydd, and Jones then set off with them for the rest of their tour. He was at Rydal Mount in October, 1831.

Wordsworth was a frequent visitor at Souldern. The seventh sonnet in the third part of his ' Miscellaneous Sonnets,' entitled ' A Parsonage in Oxfordshire,' which was composed in 1820, refers to that place. The opening

Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,

Is marked by no distinguishable line, is explained by the fact that until quite recently (after 1893) there was no fence of any kind between the garden and the north side of the churchyard. Now there is a low wall. Wordsworth's poem ' A Character ' (No. IV. of his ' Poems of Sentiment and Reflection '), written in 1800, portrays his friend Jones :

I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face.

Jones died at Plas-yn-Llan, Denbighshire] on 3 April, 1835 (Gent. Mag., 1835, part i. p. 666). Wordsworth, in a note to the above-mentioned sonnet, calls him " this excellent Person, one of my earliest and

dearest friends Much of the latter part of his

hie he passed in comparative solitude often

cheered by remembrance of our youthful adven- tures and of the beautiful regions which, at home nd abroad, we had visited together."

I have been assisted in this notice by Prebendary Eric J. S. Rudd, the present Rector of Souldern. It is to be hoped that local investigation will furnish further details. W. P. COURTNEY.

"MOOLVEE" (11 S. vi. 9, 92). It is difficult to understand in what sense the words " molla " and " mewla " (pronounced in Turkish " mevla ") can be described as radical. These words are derived from the Arabic root-verb wala", which primarily signifies " he held command or authority " (see Lane's ' Arabic -English Lexicon,' viii. 3060). From this verb we obtain the words wali", a manager or guardian, and wdli, a prefect or governor, and thence wildyah (in Turkish, vilayet), a district or province. A further derivative is maulaiyy, a lord or chief, a word known to Englishmen as the prefix of the Sultans of Morocco, " Muley " or " Mulai." It is also the same as "molla," "mullah," or "mevla." The term maulawiyy, about which MR. MAYHEW inquires, is a lengthened form of maulaiyy. It is not a classical word. From meaning a person who presides or commands in civil affairs, it has acquired the sense of a religious leader.

The sense of proximity is conveyed in the third form of the verb, which is " walaV This generally has the meaning of reci- procity. In this particular verb it means "he was next " or " adjacent," and is said of a place or tract in relation to another. From this form maulawiyy cannot be gram- matically derived. W. F. PRIDEAUX.

IRELAND'S STOLEN SHIRE (11 S. v. 468). As to the extract from ' The Elephant in the Moon,' the following foot-note appears in ' The Genuine Poetical Remains of Samuel Butler, with Notes by Robert Thyer,' 1827 (a new edition), p. 11 :

" As true as that of Ireland, &c.] This probably is a satirical allusion to Sir William Petty, who was employed in taking a survey of Ireland in Cromwell's time, and was afterwards impeached in the Parliament of 1658, for mismanagement in the distribution and allotments of the Irish lands. See ' Ward's Lives of the Professors of Gresham College,' p. 219. (Thyer.) "

This may be the explanation, though Bishop Warburton, criticizing the book, wrote of Thyer : " He is always in the wrong where there is a possibility of mis- taking." See Allibone, s.v. Butler, Samuel. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

" ON THE NAIL " (11 S. vi. 47). An Act of Parliament of King Robert the Bruce (Thomson's ' Acta Parl. Scot.,' i. 123) contains the phrase " super unguem " for " on the nail," in the sense of " cash down." At this Parliament, held at Cambuskenneth in July, 1326, the king set forth that the lands and revenues which used to pertain