Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/425

 us. vii. MAY 24, 1913. j NOTES AND QUERIES.

417

"OF SORTS" (11 S. vii. 10, 56, 117, 136, 197, 274). I think that, while his remarks do not bear directly on the point, MR. JAGGARD is right (p. 197) in sending us to Shakespeare for an explanation of this ex- pression. The well-known passage in ' King Henry the Fifth,' I. ii., describing the " Mon- archie of Bees," shows that in the drama- tist's time the phrase " of sorts " meant " of different kinds " :

So work the honey-bees ; Creatures, that by a rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts,

such as magistrates, merchants, and soldiers. This meaning is, of course, identical with that employed, as MR. PENRY LEWIS points out. in Government store returns, &c-, in a manner with which I was very familiar when acting as quartermaster of my regi- ment in India fifty years ago. " Chisels of sorts " and " gimlets of sorts " are chisels arid gimlets of different kinds and sizes. The phrase got into the ordinary parlance of the Anglo-Indian about thirty or forty years ago, and gradually acquired a slight nuance of depreciation. Sir Henry Campbell - Bannerman's phrase " a sort of a war " was " a war of sorts " i.e., not of the highest class. It is probably owing to Mr. Kipling that the expression has found a footing in the common speech of England to-day.

W. F. PRIDEATJX.

"FURDALL" (11 S. vii. 228, 297, 337). MR. CLARE HUDSON has evidently correctly solved the meaning of " furdall " as an " eyed " spike.

The word appears to have come to us through the Normans as a hawking term, the vervelles being rings (of silver) placed on the legs of falcons, and inscribed with the owner's name, and soon corrupted into vardels. The French still use verveux for a sweep or ring net.

Then, also, " fardell " = a pack or bundle {the origin of which Prof. Skeat gives up), falls into place, as something tied up or " ringed " round. H. A. HARRIS.

ALMSHOUSES NEAR THE STRAND (US. vii. 130, 236, 315). I am obliged to MR. ALAN STEWART for correcting my identification of New Inn Hall as a chapel. I had written from memory. My interest in London past and passing had not developed before New Inn was swept away. The second volume of Diprose contains a more important refer - ence]to the almshouses.

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

OCTAGONAL MEETING-HOUSES (11 S. vii. 27, 72, 238). In the Chester Valley, Chester County, Pennsylvania, not far from Valley Forge, there is a small octagonal schoolhouse which has been in existence for over a hundred years. It stands at cross roads, and I have been told that it was built in that form in the early days of the settle- ment in order that a watch might be kept on all sides to avoid a surprise by the Indians. It is also said to have been origin- ally a blockhouse.

LYDIA S. M. ROBINSON. Paoli, Pennsylvania.

HARCOURT'S ELECTIONEERING SQUIBS (US. vii. 369). I never heard of Sir William Har court writing verse ; but he published, over the name of " An Englishman," two letters ' On the Morality of Public Men,' which made a great stir at the time. They dealt with the Protectionist revival of 1852, and are capital reading. G. W. E. R.

'THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCALES' (11 S. vii. 350). The poem entitled ' The Philo- sopher's Scales,' written by Jane Taylor of Ongar, was contributed by her to The Youth's Magazine (1819), and signed " QQ." After her death the poem was published, with other papers written by her, in a volume entitled " Contributions of QQ, by Jane Taylor." P. M. TAYLOR, [ST. S WITHIN also thanked for reply.]

"DIED IN HIS COFFIN" (11 S. vi 468; vii. 96, 134, 156, 214, 298, 395). The late Capt. Washington Hibbert kept for a number of years his coffin, which was designed by the elder Pugin, in the belfry of St. Marie's" Catholic Church at Rugby. He was not, however, buried in it, for he gave it, several years before his death, to the Rosminian Fathers for the burial of one of their priests I think for Father Rinolfi, but of that I am not certain.

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME. 23, Unthank Road, Norwich.

CHURCH GOODS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (11" S. vii. 361). Reading with much interest the inventory kindly supplied of the Church of St. Thomas, Sarum, I observe mentioned a " booke of sermons uppon Joell." This is by Edward Topsell, who wrote the ' Historic of Four-Footed Beastes.' The date is 1599. See Lowndes, p. 2698. The " borde " attached to the " litle desk " was probably a sloping book- rest on which to place the Prayer Book during service. WILLIAM JAGGARD.

Rose Bank, Stratford-on-Avon.