Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/305

 12 8.1. APRIL 8, 1916.1 NOTES AND QUERIES.

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GENNYS OF LATJNCESTON (12 S. i. 126, 193, 249). According to the pedigree Ihave of this family, John Gennys of Plymouth married Catherine, daughter of John Edgecumbe of Plymouth, at Charles Church, May 4, 1706, and she was buried there Feb. 28, 1759. The widow of their grandson, John Gennys of Whitleigh Hall, who was Mary, daughter of Jacob Acworth Pownoll, married after 1781 some one of the name of Collins. Who was he ? A. STEPHENS DYER.

207 Kingston Road, Teddington.

" JERRY-BUILDER " (11 S. xii. 482 ; 12 S. i. 19). In reference to the above word, I can confirm C. C. B.'s letter to the effect that it was in common use in the early sixties, and I have just come across a reference to it in a local paper, The Porcupine, dated Jan. 12, 1861, as follows.

A correspondent had written to the editor complaining of the wretched building con- ditions in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, and inquiring why the Borough Engineer did not control buildings- more thoroughly. The editor in a reply points out that the locality quoted was outside the borough, therefore not subject to the Borough En- gineer's control ; but he goes on to say :

" The evil arises from the uncontrolled, system of Jerry-building which our correspondent describes, and which prevails to a large extent within the boundaries of the town."

A. H. ARKLE.

Elmhurst, Oxton, Birkenhead.

The mention of the port of Liverpool as the earliest home of this word suggests that perhaps, instead of being derived from a personal name, the word is merely a corrup- tion of the well-known nautical word meaning temporary, viz., " jury," as jury-rigged, jury-mast, &c. Is it not probable that a retired mariner, finding his new residence of less permanent construction than he expected, would refer to it as a " jury- building," or as " jury-built " ?

R. FREEMAN BULLEN. Bow Library, K.

Although it may seem impertinent to hope to succeed where so many have failed, T. G. will find many meanings attaching to the words " gerry " and " jerry " (ex- crement is one of them) which indicate how the name " jerry-builder " came to be coined.

Baumann's ' Londonismen ' gives an in- teresting reference to Harman, which I have had no opportunity of verifying ; and I think Copland and Dekker might be searched with advantage. BEE.

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A New Account of East India and Persia, being- Nine Years' Travels, 1672-1681. By John Fryer. Edited with Notes and an Introduction' by William Crooke. (Hakluyt Society.)

THIS volume contains first the four concluding' chapters of ' The Present State of Persia,' which* relate to the climate, country, habitations, cities,. and means of travel ; to the social organization,. the court, and army of the Persians ; to their- books, religion, philosophy, science, and methods of justice ; and, finally, to their more remarkable manners and customs. These contain some of Fryer's most telling disquisitions and observations, as well as several fairly good stories ramblingly related. With his shrewd unsparing line of judg- ment; his relish for the outer aspects of the people and the land in particular, his admiration for the good air and his seventeenth-century inability to seize the finer side of Moham- medanism, those who have read the two former volumes are already acquainted. The editor prints a few pages of ' Additional Notes ' relating to these.

Following the ' Persia ' are the two letters which constitute ' A Farther Discovery of India,*" and the closing account of the return to Eng- land. The former has some interesting, though confused references to Chitor, with a " Draught "" of the city walls and gates, transmitted by an English gunner, to illustrate the military opera- tions under Shah Jahan, and also a description of the comet of 1680. The author's interesting ' Table of Principal Things ' is reproduced ; and there are a good list of authorities and an Index,. which, as far as we tested it, is satisfactory.

The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605. (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 4s. Qd. net.) THIS anonymous monograph sets out reasons for believing that the person who handed to Lords Monteagle the letter supposed to have led to the^ discovery of the Gunpowder Plot was one William Vavasour, servant to Francis Tresham. Part of the evidence offered is contained in five facsimiles of handwriting; part is circumstantial. We are bound to say that the evidence from handwriting seems to us precarious ; on the other hand, the- circumstantial evidence is weighty, and does indeed appear to fasten on Francis Tresham as the author, and his man William Vavasour as the enactor of the counter-plot, of which the letter was the great feature. It is argued that the official story left out the most interesting and important detail, viz., that the plot had been revealed before ever the letter was written or delivered ; and that the Monteagle incident, involving an unusual and mysterious visit on Monteagle's part to his house at Hoxton, was merely a device to make the reve- lation public in the least embarrassing or dangerous: manner. Vavasour's escape, when several of the serving-men of the conspirators were executed, and that in spite of Coke's having called him "deeply guilty " ; and the extraordinary consideration shown to Tresham in the Tower, point, indeed, to some obligation under which the Government lay towards them both ; and that Vavasour should have been the man trusted by Tresham with the