Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/484

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [128.1.

An earlier instance is in Charles Dickens's ' Oliver Twist ' (1838), chap, xxvii., where Bumble discovers Charlotte and Noah Ctaypole in the oyster-supper scene : " ' Have another,' said Charlotte. ' Here's one with such a beautiful delicate beard ! '

Does not the use in the Marriage Service,

"Wilt thou have ?" fall within a like

category of meaning ? W. B. H.

This colloquial use of " have " is essentially a shade of the ancient signification of the word defined in ' The Oxford Dictionary ' (B. I. 14) as :

" To possess by obtaining or receiving ; hence, to come or enter into possession of ; to obtain, receive, get, gain, accept, take ; to have learned (from some source) ; to take (food, drink),"

the illustrative quotations to which date back to a. 1000. The amplitude of this definition well illustrates the chameleon-like character of the verb " have," which must have been one of the most difficult words tackled by the Dictionary workers.

The colloquial use in the shade of meaning illustrated by MR. LLEWELYN DAVIES is, however, much older than he imagines. In the second of those wonderful dialogues in Swift's ' Polite Conversation ' (printed 1738, but written earlier), Lady Smart, at the dinner- table, says to Lady Answerall : " Madam, will your Ladyship have any of this Hare ? " And when the ladies go to their tea, the same speaker, in the opening words of the third dialogue, says : " Well, Ladies ; now let us have a Cup of Discourse to our- selves." Gr. L. APPERSON. . Brighton.

ENGLISH CARVINGS OF ST. PATRICK (12 S. i. 429). If the carving certainly represents St. Patrick, and if the foliage be certainly meant for shamrock, and the work be of the fourteenth century, that is very remarkable, for the legend of the shamrock seems not to be found earlier than about A.D. 1600. See Adamnan's ' Life of St. Columba,' Oxford, 1894, p. xxxiii ; Smith and Wace, ' Diet. Chr. Biog.,' iv. 206 ; Journal of Royal Soc. Ant. Ireland, Fifth Series, vi. 211, 349.

J. T. F.

Durham.

" GALOCHE]" : " COTTE " (12 S. i. 429). If ST. SWITHIN has access to vol. xlvi. ( July to December, 1902) of L' Intermediaire, he will find a vast deal of correspondence on the subject of " Le jeu de bouchon, jeu de galoches," which was based on Adolphe Daudet's allusion thereto, cited by

ST. SWITHIN. Suffice it here to give a brief sumrrPfv. One of the first answers came- from " Erasmus," who wrote as follows :

"Si Alphonse Daudet a dit r^ellement que le jeu de bouchon avait ete introduit a Paris pendant la guerre de 70 par. les mobiles Bretons, il a commis une plaisante erreur. Je jouais au houchon en 1840, ayec tous les gamins de mon age !' Des que lea Parisiens ont eu des houchons et des gros sous, ils ont joue" h ce jeu que Daudet appelle je ne sais pourquoi jen de f/a/ochex ; et, par les me'moires du temps, nous savons qu'il e*tait la distraction favorite aver* les barrex des prisonniers de Saint-Lazare, et du Luxembourg, sous la terreur."

In the course of a subsequent letter " An Den " wrote a propos of the word galoche :

" C'est done une expression locale designant ce qu'& Paris on appelle le jeu de bouchon. Je crois que le norn de galoche vient des palets (quoitsy dont on se sert dans le jeu : il me semble bien me souvenir que ces palets sont appele"s ' galoches.'' "

All the savants who contributed to the correspondence in its early stages seem to have regarded the two games as identical until towards its close " E. T." wrote as follows :

" A Arlon et dans les environs le jeu de bouchon et le jeu de galoehe constituent deux jeux bien differents.

"Le jeu de bouchon est fort connu : on met sur un bouchon plante verticalement quelques sous qui forment 1'enjeu ; puis, a tour de role, chaque- joueur, place" a une distance con venue, vise avec une grosse pice de monnaie le bouchon qu'iF cherche a renverser. II devient proprie'taire des sous tpmbes les plus proches de la piece de monnaie avec laquelle il a atteint le but. Les autres sous sont replaces sur le bouchon, et le jeu' continue.

" Au jeu de galoche voici comment on precede. Une grosse pierre est plaoee au centre d'un terrain degarni ; sur cette pierre est disposee une pierre- beaucoup plus petite, de la grosseur d'un poing environ, a la garde de laquelle est commis un de joueur s. Chaque joueur, a tour de role, cherche^. a 1'aide d'une pierre, a faire tomber la pierre dont je viens de parler. S'il parvient la chasser de son support, il s'e'lance yers son propre projectile, sur leqnel il met le pied, et se sauve avant que le- gardien ait replace" le but sur son piedestal. Si le gardien reussit a le toucher apres que. le petit edifice est reconstitute, c'est lui qui devient gardien a son tour."

There appear from the correspondence in L' ' Intermediaire to be many varieties of the- game under different names ; for example, " baculot," " bigarelle," " tinecadet," " guichemay," " cristinoli," " piteau ' r (Breton for the Spanish pito), " bille,' r "pirlit," &c.

Cotte means simply blue canvas working" trousers. WILLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.