Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/500

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. ix. JUNE 20, 1914.

LOMBABD STREET BANKERS : SIR STEPHEN EVANCE (11 S. ix. 230, 272, 298, 373, 453). The following remarks from ' The Signs of Old Lombard Street,' by F. G. Hilton Price, F.S.A., in reference to No. 29, " The Black Boy," would appear to establish a con- nexion between Evans and Evance :

" Upon reference to The Little London Directory of 1677, we see that Peter Percefull and Stephen Evans were at this sign keeping running cashes. In 1697 The London Gazette informs us that Sir Francis Child resigned the office of Jeweller to the King and that Sir Stephen Evance was appointed to that honour in his stead. The firm afterwards became Evans & Hale."

WALTER E. GAWTHORP.

LIVERPOOL KEMINISCENCES (11 S. ix. 368, 436).

" The Streets of Liverpool, with Some of their Distinguished Residents, Reminiscences, and Curious Information of Bye-gone Times, Historical Notes respecting Everton North and South. By James Stonehouse. Published by Edward Howell, Church Street, Liverpool [no 1 * date], pp. 230."

This volume is bound up with

" Liverpool. History of the Mersey, Ancient and Modern. Early Recollections, the Old Dock, the Ancient Mersey, its Traditions, Wallasey Pool, ye Lyr Poole ; the Modern Mersey its Tides, Channels, Mersey Docks, and Harbour Board, &c. By Benjamin Blower. Published by Edward Howell, Church Street, Liverpool,' 5 n.d., pp. 88, in blue cloth.

On p. 199 is the following :

" When the pressgangs came on shore the utmost confusion and dismay took place among the denizens of Bridge-street, Wapping, Little Bird-street, and thereabout. On the 30th May, 1775, upon the arrival of the ship Upton in the river, from Maryland, the Winchelsea man-of- war, then lying at anchor off the town, sent her barge, under the command of a lieutenant, to board her. On the Upton's men finding the barge's intention, they seized their captain and 'chief officer and fastened them in the cabin. As the Winchelsea's barge ran alongside, the Upton's men swore that the man-of-war's men should not board them, and if they did they would depress their guns and fire upon them. At that time every merchant man was more or less armed, and able to make a stout resistance in case of attack. Seeing matters thus formidable, the Winchelsea s barge sheered off, to put back for a reinforcement. The Upton's men, seeing this, lowered their yawl and pulled to shore. They were, however, followed by the Winchelsea's men, when a fierce encounter took place, shots being fired on both sides, the struggle ending by the yawl being upset. Two of the crew swam -ashore, others were captured, and two were drowned. The offiser commanding the barge was shot in the cheek, the ball passing cleaa through his mouth."

ALFRED SYDNEY LEWIS. Library, Constitutional Club, W.C.

" STILE "=" HILL" (11 S. ix. 430). Under this word the ' English Dialect Dictionary ' refers to " steel," which occurs in Rox- burgh and Northumberland with the mean- ings " a ridge ; a point or tongue of land ; a precipice; a rock." High Stile, Steel Fell, and Steel Knotts are names of summits in different parts of the English Lake District. CHARLES MADELEY.

Warrington.

Webster's Dictionary, 1911, p. 2045, lower section, gives :

"Still [cf. dial, steel, a precipice, M.E. steal, a step, and E. sty, to ascend], a steep hill or ascent, obs."

Jamieson's ' Scotch Diet,,' v. ' Steel ' : " 1. A wooded cleugh or precipice. 2. The lower part of a ridge projecting from a hill, where the ground declines on each side. Also compare the adj. stett, steep Dan. steil, steep ; A.-S. styll. Scansio, styl-an, scandere, whence says Lye, our style, scansile."

TOM JONES.

CLACK SURNAME (11 S. ix. 428). On p. 80, vol. i., of ' Surnames of the United Kingdom' (1912) Mr. Henry Harrison says that this is

" the old Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Clac(c, Klak(fc, doubtless connected with Old Norse klaba, to chatter."

The word is still in extensive dialectical use. See ' E.D.D.,' i. 608. In Lincolnshire and elsewhere, worthless talk is spoken of as " clack." " Hohd your clack, I'm stalled o' hearin' ye"."

Like Robert Southey, King of Rhyme, Who now gets yearly butt of sack As payment for what we call clack.

See p. 114 of 'Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham,' by Edward Peacock, 2nd ed., 1889.

The " clack-dish " carried by beggars, and referred to in ' Measure for Measure,' III. ii. 113, was fitted with a movable lid, by means of which a clacking noise was made to attract attention. A. C. C.

LiEUT.-CoL. JAMES MACPHERSON (11 S. ix. 269, 314). Lieut. -Col. James MacPherson was a son of Lachlan MacPherson of Ralia by his wife, Grace MacPherson of the Banchor family. Further particulars of his family and career are to be found in Mr. Alexander MacPherson' s * Church and Social Life in the Highlands ' (Edinburgh, Black- wood & Sons, 1893). The present repre- sentative of the Ralia family is, I believe, Mr. MacPherson of Glentruim (in Burke's ' Landed Gentry '). J. A. C.