Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/551

 n s. vi. DEC. :, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

now be worth 567e/., or 21. 7s. 3d., and the respective bullion-value of the two chalices and patens would be about 891. and 214^. As each shilling-weight of the chalices and patens was valued at 12s. currency, which was the ratio of the values of the two precious metals at that time, it may be inferred that the values stated were for the metal only, exclusive of workmanship or of artistic value. The coffret being valued at 9s. 9d. for each shilling-weight, it may be inferred that it was of about 19^-ct. gold.

I may add that, Edward III. not having at that time begun to tamper with, the weight of the silver pennies and groats (shillings being only a money of account until Henry VII.), there is no question of any difference between the values of silver by weight or by tale. The weight of the treasures may easily be converted into mint- Troy ouaces of 480 grains ; but, as this standard did not come into use until late in the fifteenth century, and is now dying out, the less it is used the better.

EDWARD NICHOLSON.

C*ro3 de Cagnes, near Nice.

The explanation is very simple. Silver and gold were weighed by the pound Troy, which was divided into 12 solidi (shillings), and each solidtis into 12 denarii (pence). Taking the first chalice and paten, these weighed 455 silver pennies, but were worth 4,980 silver pennies, as they were of pure gold. The extract is instructive, as it shows the then existing ratio between the values of silver and gold. Some allowance must, of course, be made for workmanship and fineness. The screen was evidently not of pure gold, as the ratio is under 1 in 10.

L. L. K.

" SCHBEIB DIK'S HINTEK DAS OHK " (11 S.

vi. 388). I should like to point out that in Riehl) the phrase is used to mean "imitate." The exact reference is p. 3, 11. 19-20, in Hachette & Cie.'s edition (1890). The only suggestion I can offer as to the origin of the phrase is that, perhaps, "behind the ear" refers to the brain, and the phrase means
 * Kulturgeschichtliche Nfovellen ' (by W. H.
 * ' take especial note of this and imitate it."

HY. COOPEK,

Though this phrase may be used in the context as a threat, it is not necessarily so, being simply an energetic injunction to remember something. Who has ever con- nected it with the custom of putting the -pen behind the ear ? I have never heard such an explanation, which would be

certainly wrong. It no doubt originated in the ancient practice, so often treated also in ' N. & Q. : (see "beating the bounds"), of slapping boys' faces or boxing their ears the Romans pulled their ear-tips when they were taught important facts which they were to keep in mind for ever in after- life. That no threat need be implied in the saying appears from the fact that we can say, " Ich werde es mir fiir kunftig hinter die Ohren schreiben," and it would be better to register the phrase in this form.

G. KRFEGER. Berlin.

THOMAS PRETTY, VICAR OF HURSLEY (11 S. vi. 131. 175). May I be permitted to thank all those who have so materially helped me to information on the Pretty family and other vicars of Hursley, through the medium of this paper, or directly by post.

I think it may now be assumed that Thomas Pretty, who graduated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1666 at the age of 16, as " son of William Pretty of Fasely, Staffs " (having been " educated at Tam- worth "), and who was appointed Vicar of Hursley in 1673 by Oliver St. John of Farley"Chamberlavne, was brother or cousin of John Pretty, * instituted to the latter living in March, 1679. Vain has been the quest to discover why the St. John family went out of their way to purchase the presentation of the living of Hursley in 1673 for Thomas Pretty, a Staffordshire man, who was married at Whittington in that county to Ursula, daughter of William Harvey (of that place), on 18 Sept.. 1673; and, moreover, directly the living of Winch- field became vacant, to have him appointed there in June, 1684.

Thomas and Ursula Pretty had a large family. Only Thomas of their children appears in the Hursley baptisms, under date of April, 1678 ; but in the Winchfield Registers are the following entries as the children of " Thomas Pretty, Rector " : Lettice, buried 1686 ; Elizabeth. 1688 ; John, 1689; Frances, baptized 1693. A daughter, Katherine, was married on 14 April, 1702, to Edmund Combe of Hartney Wintney and of Lincoln's Inn (whose son. Harvey Combe, was baptized at Andover in 1717). Another daughter, Dionysia. was married on 10 July, 1717, to Daniel Xorris of St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street. London. She was " buried in woollen " at W r inchfield in 1723 as " Dionysia Xorris, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Pretty. '