Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/501

 us. vi. NOV. 23, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

413

26*4 in. : the same as the Turkish ell the Stambouli pik. This varies in Northern Africa from 26'4 in. to 26'8 in. In Egypt it is 27 in., which is also the length of the Bombay guz.

There is in Turkey a somewhat longer ell, the arshin, probably an old Byzantine measure, -equal to 27 '9 in. This arshm passed to Russia, where it was fixed at 28 in., thus becoming exactly one-third of the sajeng. seven Anglo-Russian feet. It is curious to find in Java the standard of the ell increased to 27f in., apparently to make it, as in the case of the Russian ell, one-third of an ijke (standard), which seems to be a Malayan long fathom, like the Russian sajeng.

It is thus seen that in countries so distant from one another, but connected by com- merce, there is a common measure of three spans, or about 27 in., varying according to the local standard of the 9 inches, or 12 digits, of that primitive but universal measure, the span.

EDWABD NICHOLSON.

Cros de Cagnes, near Nice.

MR. PIEEPOINT asks the length of a Dutch ell. I have received the following from a Dutch lady of Amsterdam :

'" As children we were told a Dutch El (so spelt in Dutch) was 67 centimetres, but now they

make it 69 c every shop ought to sell by the

metre, but ' le peuple ' stick to their el, and so the smaller shops do the same .... [although the shopkeeper] would be punished for selling by the el."

The Dutch el at 69 c. is 27-165 in.

The English ell is 45 in. according to ' The Century Dictionary,' but is 49 in. according to ' Webster's Dictionary.'

EDWIN DURNING LAWRENCE.

13, Carlton House Terrace, S.W.

The Bureau might note that the' three ells are multiples of the nail of 2^ in. Four nails are one quarter, three quarters one Flemish ell probably the ell of MR. PIERPOINT'S inquiry. Five quarters, or 45 in., are one English ell, the length of an arrow used in war and the chase ; six quarters, or a yard and a half (English), one French ell. Dutch linen is measured by the ell (English), and tapestry by the Flemish ell. JOHN PAKENHAM STILWELL.

SACRED WELLS (11 S. vi. 190, 311). There is a holy well or spring known as St. Osyth's Well in Bridge Street, Bishop's Stortford, which, although hidden from sight in the yard of business premises, is (or was till quite recently) resorted to by

persons bearing jugs or bottles, craving a supply of the precious fluid, which was held in high estimation both as a cure for sore eyes and for the making of pea-soup. It is, of course, chalybeate.

The body of St. Osyth is reputed to have rested here on its journey from Colchester to Aylesbury, about 665 A.D., hence the title of the spring. W. B. CERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

DATE OF PUBLICATION WANTED {II S. vi. 348). According to Lowndes, The New Wonderful Magazine was published in 1854, and a copy sold at Sotheby's, March, 1862, realized 10s. Gd. WM. NORMAN.

The dates given in the B.M. Catalogue (Periodical Pub.) for vols. i. and ii. are [1849, 1850 ?]. ROLAND AUSTIN.

JUDGES WHO HAVE DIED ON THE BENCH (11 S. vi. 248, 354). Two more instances of judges dying almost on the bench can be added at once to the instances already men- tioned in ' N. & Q.'

Sir Edward Sullivan (1822-85), Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in April, 1885, on reaching his own house after leaving the Courts, died almost immediately.

Richard Dowse, 1824-90, Baron of the Court of Exchequer. A writer has called him " a judge ever full of infinite jest of most excellent fancy." Died suddenly on circuit at Tralee, Spring Assizes, 1890.

S. HORNER.

Dublin.

PRICE OF TOBACCO IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (US. vi. 268, 336). On 6 Dec., 1654, Daniel Fleming paid in London " for two pounds of Spanish Tobacco 00 16 00 " (' The Flemings in Oxford,' i. 86).

JOHN R. MAGRATH. Queen's College, Oxford.

The item " Tobacco 3d." occurs in the expenses of the annual parish feast held at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, 24 May, 1666. There is no record of the number of persons attending, but, having regard to the quantity of food provided, it could hardly be less than twenty adults. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

PORTRAIT OF SIR PETER LELY (11 S. vi. 308). There is a portrait of the painter by himself in the National Portrait Gallery (Xo. 951), purchased by the Trustees in November, 1893. It is the head only, face tliree-quarters to the right ; dimensions, 17 f in. by 13 in. Another portrait of Lety by himself is, I think, at Hampton Court Palace. A. R. BAYLEY.