Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/436

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. Nov.25, wie.

and lawyers. But, in the Latin which they knew was " Forum " in use as a constituent 'of place-names ? In their mouths would not " Bath Forum " or " Forum de Bath " have merely meant either " the law-court of Bath " or " the public square of Bath " ? I ask simply for information.

R. J. WALKER.

EFFECT OF WAR ON A NATION'S PHYSIQUE. It has been claimed that war improves the physique of a nation. What evidence has been found to bear out the statement ? And if it has been shown to be true, how is it to be explained ? The contrary seems more likely to be the case, and it has also been stated that the Napoleonic wars lowered the average stature in France by one inch or, perhaps we had better say, 2*5 cms. Is this a fact ?

ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.

SPANISH WOMEN AND SMOKING. Is it usual for Spanish women of the upper and middle classes to smoke ?

ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.

TILLER Bo WE : BRANDRETH : RACKEN- CROOKE : GAVELOCK : MAUBRE. The above unusual words occur in a document which was shown to me recently by an old friend, and which is entitled :

" The INVENTORIE of all the goods and chattels vr^ were John Sleddall's, late of Skalthwattrigge deceased taken and prized the xiiii th Day of February Anno Dni. 1620, by m r Charles Benson Robert Edmondson Tho' n8 Doddinge and Thomas Docker."

The headings in which the words occur are as follows :

It m a Tiller Bowe, vj d.

It m girdle, brandreth, rackencrooke, tongs, a spitt and an axe, vij" vj d . It m a gauelock, V. It m Maubre, xx 8.

The value of money at the time may be judged by the following items : " one yoake of Oxen v u " ; " 40 olde Sheep xj 1 tf (i.e., 5s. 6d. each) ; " a table Clothe & a To well ijV

I find in ' N.E.D.' that one of the meanings in which tiller bow is used in the sixteenth century is that of a long bow with an attachment to enable it to be used somewhat like a cross-bow. In 1620 this would be antiquated ; hence the low value of 6d. put upon it would be accounted for.

The " brandreth " was, I think, a trivet or tripod to stand in the ashes and support the griddle used for baking oatcake the bread of those parts.

A " rackencrooke " was the pot-hanger with step adjustment used over the fire.

The " gavelock " was probably a lever.

" Maubre " puzzles me. Perhaps your readers can help me and throw light on the other words, and the particular use of such articles about a Westmorland farm three hundred years ago. H. W. DICKINSON.

TIMOTHY CONSTABLE. (See 11 S. xi. 150.) I shall be glad if any reader can give me any information relating to the ancestors of Timothy Constable, who married on Jan. 13, 1736/7, at St. James's Church, Westminster, Elizabeth Hunting, and who was buried at Melford, Suffolk, in March, 1750. The marriage certificate reads as follows :

" Timothy Constable of Bradfield Combust in ve County of Suffolk and Elizabeth Hunting of this P. L. A. B. C. 1736/7."

CLIFFORD C. WOOLLARD.

68 St. Michael's Road, Aldershot, Hants.

NUMBERING PUBLIC VEHICLES. In The London Post for Feb. 2/5, 1699/1700, it was related that

" On Tuesday [Jan. 30] in the afternoon, a Hackney coach man rid over a man at the corner of Catherin street in the Strand, and gushed him to death, and drove away so fast that he got clear off, No body by having been able to take Notice of the Number of the Coach."

When did the practice begin of placing identifiable numbers on vehicles licensed to ply for hire ? A. F. R.

CHAPETS OF EASE : TITHE BARNS. What books enter thoroughly into usages, connexions,fand curiosa jelicitas appertain- ing to Chapels of Ease ? And what works might be judiciously consulted for general information as to the construction and antiquity of tithe barns ?

ANEURIN WILLIAMS.

HUNGARY HILL, STOURBRIDGE. This name is to be found in an official report just issued on the geology of the district. Is any- thing known about the origin of the name ?

L. L. K.

JOHN PRUDDE : " KING'S GLAZIER." In the year 1440 one John Prudde, glazier (i.e. glass painter), was granted for life " the office of Glazier of the Kinge's Works to hold in such fees and wages as Roger Glou- cester had," &c. (Patent Rolls).

In the years 1443-4 two of his men were working in the newly erected Fromond's Chantry in Winchester College, probably inserting glass designed by their employer (US. xii. 295).