Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/291

12 s.x. MAR. 25, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 237 the water at high tide." See 'History of Totnes Priory and Medieval Town,' in which are many instances of the name.

(12 S. ix. 510; x. 14). It may interest C. H. S. to know that a William Spry was Governor of Barbados. He left an only daughter and heiress, Wil- helmina, who was married on Aug. 30, 1792, to William Earle Welby, eldest son of Sir William Earle Welby, Bart. JAS. SETON-ANDERSON. 39, Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex. OLDMIXON (10 S. vi. 249, 416). In casually looking through some numbers of ' N. & Q.' for 1906 I came across notes regarding this family at the above references. It would be interesting to know whom John Oldmixon (1673-1742) married and what issue he had. In this connexion the following extract from The Edinburgh Adver- tiser, dated Jan. 27, 1789, may be of interest : In the 84th year of her age, Mrs. Hannah Old- mixon of Newland, Gloucestershire. This lady was the daughter of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Esquire, in the county of Somerset, the renowned antagonist of Pope, and the great Whig historian of the last century. JAMES SETON-ANDERSON. 39, Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex. CEEESE SAINT AND CHEESE SACRIFICES (12 S. ix. 130, 239, 255, 279, 335). For sacrificial gifts of cheese see ' Gregory of Tours,' quoted by H6fler in the Archiv fur Anthropoloqie, new series, vi., p. 10 Ib. I owe the reference to the article ' Kase,' in Hoops' s ' Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde.' L. R. M. STRACHAN. Birmingham University. VERLAINE AT STICKNEY (12 S. ix. 429, 472' 518 ; x. 14). May I be allowed to supple- ment my letter under this heading. On looking through some volumes of cuttings the other night I came across an article which will be of interest to ST. SWITHIN as it deals mainly with Verlanie's bearing at Stickney. It was contributed to T. P.'s Weekly, now happily come to life again under another name, and entitled ' Paul Verlaine in Lincoln- shire,' by One who knew him there. I extract the following : It says a good deal for Verlaine's personal bear- ing that he quickly won toleration, and presently popul u-ity. among the villagers. One of Verlaine's Subjects in the school was drawing. This was taught in class. The boys liked their teacher, and none the worse because his unusual English added lightness to the proceedings. Red faces grew redder with suppressed mirth, until suppres- sion failed, as Verlaine turned upon one rustic pupil suffering from old-fashioned influenza, yet guiltless of the use of the handkerchief, and roared out, " Sweep your nose, sir ! sweep your nose ! " A difficulty with some of the villagers was to get at Verlaine's true designation. " Monsieur " was taken as a first name, and they wished to be respectful to the genial foreigner. So it came about that he found himself addressed as " Mister Mossoo," to his own great enjoyment. Verlaine's good nature was great. One re- members how tvo big boys used to presume on it in the long walks they regularly took with him. The question would be frequently propounded, " What is the French for water ? " The answer would be duly returned. " L'eau." Then the tvo would be bracketed, " Waterloo ! How is that, monsieur ? " Verlaine would give desperate chase as the two boys sought safety in flight. He took it all in excellent part. One remembers teaching him to charge in the football field, the lesson being accompanied by practical lessons upon Verlaine's person. What wonder that English boys' prejudices yielded to him, and they voted him the freedom of the country. Verlaine went to the plain-brick Wesleyan chapel in the village. He was anxious to know the points of divergence between church and chapel. He stored up one sentence from a sermon, and would roil it out as a stock quotation, " This question is shrouded in impenetrable mystery." He attended the Sunday School anniversary. . . . Verlaine's quick sympathy appreciated the simple ritual and the evident reality of the occasion. A relaxation which Verlaine allowed himself j was a trip to Boston on the Saturday school holiday. The mode of conveyance was &- carrier's spring-cart. Goods were carried as well as passengers, and Verlaine woijld find himself mixed up with baskets of butter and eggs, and crates of poultry, and bags of farm produce. At Boston he made friends, and later resided there for a while. VerMne in the cn-rrier's cart was a strange figure. He used to make He^er sketches of himself wedf,ed in and obscured by large countrywomen with exaggeratod baskets, his own slim figure almost at vanishing point under the pressure. The arrival of Verlaine's mother at Stickney added a new interest to the Klace. She had a room over the tailor's shop over- >oking the rectory grounds, and almost beneath the shade of the noble chestnut trees. She knew no English at all and must have found the village unutterably dull but for the devotion of her son, who attended her with gentle assiduity. This devotion was one of the touches quicklv appre- ciated in the domestic atmosphere of old village I life, and went straight to the hearts of the people. His speech and his manners might be outlandish and fair subject for their clumsy ridicule, but he was a good son to his mother, and public opinion regarded him, therefore, as a man who at all events had the root of tho matter in him. The arrival of Verlaine's mother at ! Stickney does not agree with Lepelletier. W. A. HUTCH INSON. 32, Hotham Road, Putney, S.W.