Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/573

 ii s. vi. DEC. 14, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

473

Some steps do require whitening or rubbing with " yellow stone " at times to prevent the growth of a green moss, or allied plant, which is very wet and slippery when the air is full of moisture. More than once I have heard the request, " Bring sum yella stoane fra th' shop, will ye, or we sh'll be 'vin' foaks doon."

People tell me that in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire the whitening is not confined to the steps of the house. The window - sills of the basement and the top of a low wall supporting railings before the dwelling may receive treatment. Not infrequently elaborate patterns are made in "stoning," or laying on whiting.

A. Z.

OLIVERETTO (11 S. vi. 288, 372). The name should be Oliverotto. The following is the short account of this man by Sismondi in the ' Biographic Universelle,' Paris, 1822, vol. xxxi. p. 578 :

" Oliverotto cle Fermo, general italien, avait acquis, a 'la fin du quinzieme siecle, quelque reputation comme condottiere : il s'etait attache a Cesar Borgia, qui 1'employa dans plusieurs guerres, entre autres, centre les Florentins. Oliverotto, de retour a Fermo en 1501 ou 1502, invita dans sa maison, a un grand repas, son oncle Jean Frangiani, l'homme le plus considere de Fermo, avec les chefs de la magistrature, de la noblesse et du peuple. Au milieu du festin, ses soldats, d'apres son ordre, se precipiterent dans la salle, massacrerent tous les convives ; et Oliverotto demeura souverain de sa patrie. Le tyran de Fermo, aprds avoir servi Cesar Borgia, entra dans la ligue formee centre lui a la Magione, dans 1'etat de Perouse. Borgia s'efforca de le regagner ainsi que les Orimi et les Vitelli ; et Oliverotto, qui s'etait souilte lui- meme par une trahison si noire, se confla aux serments du plus perfide des homines. II attendit Borgia, a Sinigaglia, avec ses compagnons d'armes, et il y fut massacre^ par son ordre, le 31 d^cembre 1502.'"

In the Index to the eleventh edition of ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica,' s.v. ' Oliver- otto,' there is a wrong reference. For " 4. 428d " read 4. 248d.

L. R. M. STRACHAN.

Heidelberg.

CHAINED BOOKS (11 S. vi. 69, 136, 177, 215, 274, 373). I rejoice to learn that the history of the Royal Grammar School at Guildford has been " recorded in quite recent years." But my quotation from Mr. Morris's ' Guide ' (fourth edition, 1910) is a trifle more " recent " than that from Mr. Judges's volume (1895). In equal ratio the figures of the latter are more antiquated than those of the former. The difference between Mr. Judges's " thirty retain their

chains " and Mr. Morris's " eighty-five chained volumes " is thus authoritatively explained by a letter, under date 20 Nov., 1912. from Mr. J. C. Honeybourne, head master of the school :

" The number of books at present with chains is 86 ; but no doubt Mr. Judges's figures are also correct, for subsequent to 1895 many chains which had been found in various parts of the School premises were restored to the books, and the volumes were placed where they now are. Marks on the covers of some of the books indicate that the number of chained volumes was formerly greater."

Thus this interesting matter is definitely brought up to date. J. B. McGovERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

PORTRAIT BY JAMES GODBY : IDENTIFICA- TION SOUGHT (US. vi. 367). Mr. Algernon Graves in his Catalogue of the exhibited and engraved works of Sir T. Lawrence gives the entry, " Wyatt, Edward. Engraved by James Godby in 1810." This is probably the name your correspondent is seeking, but no further particulars are given, so it may be presumed that the portrait was not exhibited. The exact reference is to p. 169 of Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower's work on Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1900.

W. R. B. PRIDEAUX.

TORCHES : " PEPPER FORDIRIGE " (11 S. vi. 390). A groat was often paid to a chantry priest for singing a dirge " Dirige gressus meos "in connexion with the " annals," "annuals," "year-minds," and "obits" of the departed.

I think the entry at Stoke Charity refers either to the payment of a priest in kind for a dirge sung probably on All Souls' Day, when there was a general commemoration or to a contribution by the churchwardens to a " dirge ale," or funeral feast.

A. C. C.

" THE ORANGE BOND " OF HOLLAND (US. vi. 389). The " Oranjebond van Orde " (Orange Bond of Order) has no political or religious aims (clause 4, of the statutes). Its purpose is the bette ment of social conditions in the Netherlands (cl. 2 and 3) by establishing (a) savings and other popular banks and (b) labour exchanges,by (c) erecting workmen's dwellings, (rf) promoting home industries in the villages, and (e) turning the Dutch moors into arable land by apply- ing the small holdings system. The Bond came into being in 1893, and all, or nearly all, its energy is being given to the last- named activity. C. THIEME.