Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/32

 26

NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. 11. JULY s,

See " The Araignnient of John Selman, &c., London, Printed by W. H. for Thomas Archer, and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-head Pallace, 1612," of which there is ;', copy in the British Museum (C. 27, k. 2) ; from which this account is taken.

JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.

" POCHIVATED." This term occurs in a letter of Sir Jerome Horsey (flourished 1573-1627) quoted in the account of him given in the ' D.N.B.,' vol. xxvii. p. 379. He having set out for Russia on April 5, 1586, on his arrival the Czar " semed glad of my return pochivated and made me merrie."

The word (or the verb to pochivate) does not occur in the ' N.E.D.' I suppose it to be a sort of academical slang and to derive from the Latin poculum, meaning that the Czar toasted him or drank to his health. Is this its significance ?

HUGH SADLEB.

MBS. CHARLES KEAN AND CATHCABT. Messrs. Maggs have magnanimously pre- sented me with the most interesting and -cleverly compiled catalogue of autographs J have ever read, " No. 343, Spring, 1916."

The particular object with which I send this note has reference to a letter therein of .Mrs. Charles Kean's, while on tour in the United States in 1866, in which she says she will never act Lady Macbeth again to Cat heart's Macduff. What brought this about is thus related :

" Cathcart is at his low tricks again, and was last night called on in Macduff after the scene had changed to my sleeping scene and I was assailed by cries of ' Cathcart, we want Cathcart,' with yells and shouts.

" I made a halt and surveyed the house. ' We want Cathcart.' I made a solemn courtsey and retired, saying to the Prompter, ' Send Mr. Cathcart on and change the scene, I shall nob go on again.' Nor did 1 ; and I do not care one jot about this while we are here ; but 1 could not stand this in England..

" It has annoyed your Papa more than I can tell you, for of course it was a great insult to me."

Your contributor MB. WILLIAM DOUGLAS points out to me that the fault was Mrs. Kean's own. When the call came she should not have gone on the stage, but should have allowed Cathcart to take it, and then have gone on after he had answered the call. The -curious tiling, however, is that Cathcart (this was James Fawcit, not his brother Rolleston) continued with the Keans on their return, and for seven years after ! This may have been unknown to the cata- loguer, as he does not explain it.

RALPH THOMAS.

(fiwms.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

THE MOTTO OF WILLIAM III. " Je maintiendrai," as William III.'s motto, is dealt with at 5 S. vi. 268, 314, and is the only motto of this king that I know of, but I find the following in Coleridge's ' Table Talk,' under date June 15, 1830 :

" Swift was anima RaJbellaitsii habitant in sicco the soul of Rabelais dwelling in a dry place. Yet Swift was rare. Can anything beat his remark on King William's motto, Secepit, nan rapwt, that the receiver was as bad as the thief ? "

What is Coleridge's authority for this statement ? I have failed to find it.

Inner Temple. HABBY R ^^^'

MEWS OB MEWYS FAMILY. Could any of your readers throw light upon this family, from which the St. John-Mildmays descend in the male line ? The earliest trace of their branch which I have, so far, been able to find, comes with Ellis Mews of Stourton- Caundle, circa 1550, who heads the Mews pedigree in the Visitation of Hampshire of 1686, and whose grandson, Ellis Mews, married Christian St. John, while his great- grandson, Ellis Mews, married Frances St. John (heiress) and took the surname of St. John by Act of Parliament.

It would appear that the Mews family is a very old Hampshire family, indeed as old, almost, as the St. Johns and the Mildmays in their respective counties.

There is a famous brass at Kingston in t he Isle of Wight to a Mewys, dated 1535. Kingston appears to have been the family base. The arms shown in the Hampshire Visitation are those borne by Meux. There is little doubt that the families Meulx, Meux, Mewys, Mewes, and Mews are all one in origin. They all bear the same arms, I believe. As your readers doubtless know, Meux is pronounced as though spelt "Mews."

The Bishop of Winchester (Peter Mews) was, no doubt, one of the clan. Any information will be gratefully received.

S. GBEEN.

The Gate House, King Henry's Stairs, E.

TIDE-WEATHEB. In Leicestershire and Rutland, when unseasonable darkness or dull cloudy weather prevails, they say : "It is tide-weather." Does this mean "Whitsun- tide " weather, or weather influenced by the tide-of-the-sea. ? G. C. TICKENCOTE.