Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/123

 12 s. in. FEB. 10, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

117

21. "Crete, home of the Minotaur, whose inhabi- tants (Cretans are liars : Cretans are men. There- fore all men are liars' had furnished the stock example of fallacy in the syllogism." ' The Won- derful Year,' by William .T. Locke, London, 1916, p. 259.

33. " Cleverness is an attribute of the selecter missionary lieutenants of Satan " ^Meredith, ' Diana of the Crossways,' chap. i.).

39. Cf. the motto of the Order of the Thistle : " Nemo me impune lacessit."

As to the phrase " as hot as pepper," perhaps MR. SVARTENGREN may be interested in the following epitaph of one William Pepper, which is said to be found at St. John's Church, Stamford, with the date 1783 :

Though hot my name, yet mild my nature, I bore good will to every creature ; I brewed good ale and sold it too, And unto each I gave his due.

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.

"STAIG" (12 S. i. 68, 116; iii. 34). An instance of the use of this word in the North of England, in the sense of a " young horse," will be found in the ballad ' The Death of Parcy Reed.' The first stanza of this runs :

God send the land deliverance

Frae every reaving, riding Scot : We '11 sune hae neither cow nor ewe, We '11 suue hae neither staig nor stot.

T. F. D.

JILL, GILLIAN (12 S. iii. 49). Canon C. W. Bardsley, in his ' English Surnames ' <1897), p. 73, says :

" Julian, the abbreviated form of Juliana, as a Norman introduced name became very popular, ,and its after history was a very curious one. "Such appellations as ' Gillian Cook," or ' Gilian of "the Mill,' found in the Hundred Rolls, or that of the well-known ' Dame Julyan Berners,'. . . .only represent in fuller forms the ' Gill ' or ' Jill ' who is so renowned in our nursery literature .... I have already mentioned ' Cocke Lorell's Bote,' where allusion is made to

Jelyan Joly at signe of the Bokeler."

The Canon then quotes from Heywood's
 * Epigrams ' :

I am care-full to see thee carelesse, Jylle ; I am wofull to see thee wytlesse, Wyll, &c. ,

,nd resumes :

" But ' Gill ' at some time or other got into evil odour, and this brought the name into all but absolute disuse. As a term for a wanton flirt or inconstant girl, it was familiarly used until the eighteenth century. It would seem as if the poet T have jus^ quoted were referring to this charac- teristic when he writes :

All shall be well, Jacke shall have Gill; Nay, nay, Gill is wedded to Wyll ;

or where in another place he says :

How may I have thee, Gill, when I wish for thee ?

Wish not for me, Jack, but when thou mayest

have me.

Jack and Gill seem ever to have been associated. Will squabbled in a tavern very sore, Because one brought a gill of wine no more ; Fill me a quart, quoth he, I'm called Will, The proverbe is, each Jack shall have his Gill. ' Satyricall Epigrams,' 1619.

One can scarce forbear a smile to find in the ' Townley Mysteries ' Noah's wife, being pressed by her husband to enter the ark, replying : Sir, for Jak nor for Gille Wille I turne my face Tille I have on this hille

Spun a space upon my rok (distaff).

The diminutive ' Gilot ' or ' Juliet ' is used in the same way. In an old metrical sermon it is said : Robin will Gilot

Leden to the nale, And sitten there togedres,

And tellen their tale.

This at once reminds us of the origin of our ' Jilt,' which is nothing more than a relic of the name for inconstancy the sobriquet had obtained. In our ' Gills,' ' Gitsons,' and many of oiir ' Gillots,' a further remembrance is likely to remain for a,l\ time."

And in the index the author mentions :

Richard fil. Gille ) -a n ^j^ n j -o,^ a Gille Hulle f Hundred Rolls.

A. R. BAYLEY.

The venal pen of the song-poet, D'Urfey, was put into requisition by the ministry of William III. in 1701. Just at the period when the reports were prevalent that King William meant to adopt the son of his uncle, the Whig songster favoured the public with the following song of his own devising, adapted to the metre and tune of the popular old English melody of ' Gillian of Croydon ' :

' Strange news, strange news, the Jacks of the

City

Have got,' cried Joan, ' but we mind not tales That our good king, through wonderful pity, Will leave his crown to the Prince of Wales, That peace may be the stronger still And that they no longer may rebel.' ' Pish ! 'tis a jest,' cried Gillian of Croydon Gillian, fair Gillian, bright Gillian of Croydon. ' Take off your glass,' cries Gillian of Croydon, ' Here's a health to our Master Will ! '

From ' Lives of the Queens of England, by Agnes Strickland.

S. B.

Jack and Jill were typical names a century before the date of Heywood's ' Proverbs.' The ' N.E. D.,' under ' Jill, jill (abbreviation of Gillian),' quotes " For lak nor for gill " from the ' Towneley Mysteries ' (about 1460). See also Mr. J. S. Farmer's note in his edition of Heywood's book. ' Jyl of Breynt-