Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/24

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

11. JULY i, ww,

that that abbey w*>s at first dedicated to two Keltic saints. The shamrock occurs on work of, I believe, the thirteenth century in the Cathedral of Raphoe. But ray query referred to Great Britain, and not to E. S. DODGSON.

"LOKE" (12 S. i. 510). In Halliwell's 'Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words' the second meaning of " loke " is "A private road or path. East."

In ' The English Dialect Dictionary ' it is also attributed to East Anglia :

"Also written loak Nrf. e Suf. ; and in form look Nrf. [/(>.] A lane, a short, narrow, blind lane, a 4 cul-de-sac ' ; a grass road, a private lane or road." ROBERT PIERPOINT.

This is denned in the ' N.E.D.' as a short lane having jno outlet ; a cul-de-sac. The word occurs frequently in the earlier works of Mr. James Blyth, the present-day East Anglian novelist. W. B. H.

A " loko " is defined in the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary as "a narrow lane or road, especially one closed at one end ; also a gateway or wicket."

In Kent the word is used to signify a private roadway. This meaning also is given to it in the ' Century Dictionary.' R. VAUGHAN GOWER. Mattield, Kent.

I am away from my books, but " loke " means a narrow way not (I think) available for wheels or draught animals. It is in common use all over Norfolk and, I fancy, East Anglia. We have several " lokes " hero. Hie ET UBIQUE.

Reepham, Norfolk.

I find in Wright's ' Provincial Dictionary ' (1857): "Loke, (1) v. A.-S., to look; (2) part. p. locked ; (3) s., the hatch of a door."

H. T. BARKER.

Ludlow.

The word " loke " is defined in the ' New English Dictionary ' as a lane, a short, narrow, blind lane or road, a cul-de-sac, a grass road, a private lane or road.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

[Mil. PENRY LEWIS and MR. A. E. MARTEN thanked for replies.]

"SHE BRAIDS ST. CATHERINE'S TRESSES " (12 S. i. 447, 498). The Spanish say of an old maid, " Ha quedndo para vestir ima- genes " (She has remained to dress images), f,n important function in Spain, where the wardrobes of some of the images are ex- tensive. G. S. PARRY.

" THREE-A-PENXY COLONELS" (12 S. i. 510). This allusion is doubtless a variant on the playful references of Sir W. S. Gilbert's witty song for Don Alhsrubra in ' The. Gondoliers,' beginning " There lived a king." The well-known lines run thus :

Lord Chancellors were cheap as sprats* And Bishops in their shovel hats Were plentiful as tabby cats

In point of fact, too many. Ambassadors cropped up like hay ; Prime Ministers, and such as they, Grew like asparagus in May,

And Dukes were three a penny. On every side Field- Marshals gleamed ; Small beer were Lords Lieutenant deemed ? With Admirals the ocean teemed

All round his wide dominions

WM. JAGGARD, Lieut.

SIR WALTER SCOTT : AN UNPUBLISHED- LETTER (12 S. i. 446). My attention has been called to this communication. Lockhart's letter, given as da ted Nov. 5, 1826, announces the engagement of his daughter to my father.. I understand that there was such an en- gagement, but certainly not in 1826, as that was the year in which my father was born. 1846 is a possible date for the engage- ment to have taken place ; in which case the Sir W. Scott referred to must be the second baronet.

HAMILTON MORE NISBETT. The New Club, Edinburgh.

Sir Walter Scott's biographer was married in 1820. His only daughter was his third born child, who married Mr. Hope. It is therefore obvious that Lockhart could not possibly have been writing about his daugh- ter's marriage in 1826. W. E. WLLSON. Hawick.

WILLIAM MILD MAY, HARVARD COLLEGE, 1647 (12 S. i. 488). As the Mildmay family were of Essex, I wrote to Mr. Frederic Chancellor of Bellefield, Chelmsford, our antiquarian authority, the author of ' Sepul- chral Monuments of Essex,' and he has kindly searched and sends particulars, which I forward. He answers some of the questions asked by MR. ALBERT MATTHEWS of Boston.

" 1. Sir Walter Mildmay of Apethorp had two sons, Anthony and Humphrey. Sir Henry of Wanstead was a son of Humphrey. Sir Henry had two sons, William and Henry. William was therefore a great-grandson of Sir Walter of Ape- thorp.

"There is a marble slab in the north aisle of Danbury Church with this inscription :

" ' Here lyeth interred y e body of Will 1 " Mildmay. Esq r (eldest son of S r Henry Mildmay of Wanstead, K nt, and of Dame Anne his wife, one of the daughters and coheirs of W m Holliday, Alderman