Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/62

 46

NOTES AND QUERIES. tns.vi. JULY 20, 1912.

clear, and well formed, just as the corre- sponding German " Flugwesen." I suggest for a future edition also the insertion of " turnout " in the sense of bearing (" The King expressed great satisfaction at the ""turnout' of the Volunteers"), and the addition of the pronunciation of " verdigris."

Berlin.

G. KRUEGEB.

I" Turnout" in the sentence quoted by our corre- spondent though it includes "bearing" refers primarily to neatness and good order in the Volun- teer's equipment.]

"BOBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL."- The ' N.E.D.' rejects the explanation of the phrase given by Heylin, 1657-61, that it arose from the lands of St. Peter, West- minster, having been robbed to repair the church of St. Paul ; but it goes no further than to derive it from a French phrase (Cotgrave, 1611), " descouvrir S. Pierre pour couvrir S. Pol," and to give " also in mod. F. decoiffer Saint Pierre pour coiffer Saint Paul." Littre gives no instance of this -use of either decouvrir or decoiffer. I do not remember having seen the latter word in the French equivalent of the phrase ; but I was led to look up the subject by finding in ^mile Faguet's ' Le Socialisme en 1907 ' the phrase " decouvrir saint Pierre pour couvrir saint Paul," as in Cotgrave.

While it is possible that the phrase may have become current through some un- roofing of an old church to roof a new one, yet it seems probable that it originated in something at the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, 29 June, requiring the transfer of garments from one statue to the other, perhaps as part of a regular ceremony. An authentic explanation would be interesting.

The English phrase, used in a slightly different form by Wyclif, 1380, is also interesting as throwing a light on the origin of " rob." The ' N.E.D.' decides that the word is of Teutonic origin, without any mention of its certain connexion with It. roba, Fr. robe, Pr. raubo, &c., originally the clothes or other spoils stripped from the enemy. The Fr. derober, literally to appropriate the robes, the belongings of some one, means to steal, to steal away or hide ; the Pr. rauba is to steal, to steal away, to elope. Under "rob/' as under "Peter," the 'N.E.D.' gives " pay (tto clothe)," introducing a sense of the word for which no example, actual or obsolete, is given under " pay " in either of the senses of the verb. It appears most unlikely that "rob," in the sense of " un- clothe," could ever have had "pay" as its opposite, the second meaning of the latter

word being to coat with pitch Pr. pega, O.F. poyer, pronounced peyer. Any exten- sion of it to " clothe " would be in the very modern sense of paying the skin of an ob- noxious person with tar in the process of giving him by lynch-law what I have seen described as a " piceoplumacious " suit of clothing. EDWARD NICHOLSON.

LAST FATAL DUEL IN ENGLAND. In some notes on duelling in one of the morning papers the meeting between Lieuts. Hawkey and Seton at Gosport on 20 May, 1845, was recently cited as the last [fatal duel in this country. Having frequently heard relatives speak of their recollections of a fatal, en- counter which I thought to be of a later date than this, I made inquiry, and received from Mr. Wm. Joseph Norton of Teign- mouth the following interesting particulars :

" On Oct. 19, 1852, in a field beside the high- road on Priest Hill, between Englefield Green and Old Windsor, a duel was fought by two French refugees, Cournet and Barthelemy, the_ former being killed. I happened to pass the spot just afterwards, as Barthelemy and the seconds were leaving the field, and saw Cournet carried away on a hurdle. The inquest was held at ' The Barley Mow ' on Englefield Green. I was present in Eghani Churchyard at the strange, atheistic funeral. From ' The Barley Mow ' to the grave, a distance of a mile and a half, the coffin was shouldered by relays of 6 Frenchmen, followed by some 150 refugees, walking 2 abreast, and headed by a red flag bearing the inscription ' Republique D^mocratique et Sociale.' There was no burial service, but an address eulogizing the deceased was given at the graveside, after which came a united shout of ' Libert^, Egalite, Fraternity ! Vive la Republique ! '

" Of the crowd of onlookers that day few can be surviving. A copy of The Windsor and Eton Express of Oct. '50, 1852, is before me as I w r rite. At the close of a long account it adds :

" ' As a striking proof of the all-pervading interest created by the sad event, we may mention that Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in one of their recent drives, proceeded to Priest Hill, and stopped, for some time, in their carriage, while the spot where Cournet fell was pointed out to them by their attendants;.' "

Was not this, perhaps, actually the last fatal duel in England ? E. FRANKS.

FEES AT THE CITY COMPTERS. ' Great Britain's Vade Mecum,' by G. J., published in London in 1720, is. I believe, the only work providing details of the fees payable at the several Compters. They varied con- siderably both in amount and detail.

The Wood Street Compter had four grades of lodging the Master's Side, the Knight's Ward, the Twopenny Ward, and the