Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/254

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. m. MABCH si, 1917.

SHRAPNEL FAMILY. I find in the Register of Baptisms still in use in the small parish of St. Olave, Chicbester, the following entry, which may help some one who is interested in the Shrapnel pedigree :

" 1837, July 4th. Zachariah Scrope, son of Zachariah and Eliza Scrope Shrapnel, St. Olave, Gentleman, by W. Watkins, Rector."

Zachariah was the Christian name of the father of Henry, the inventor, whose eldest son was Henry Needham Scrope Shrapnel. Presumably, Zachariah was another son or grandson. I have found as yet no trace except this of his residence in Chichester, which may have been temporary. For the inventor see ' D.N.B.' CECIL DEEDES.

WORDS OF WILLIAM DONALDSON, 1775. ' The Life and Adventures of Sir Bar- tholomew Sapskull, Baronet ' (London, 1768) is attributed at the British Museum to William Donaldson. The Keeper of the Printed Books in that collection informs me that the third volume, promised at the end of the second, never came out. Does it exist in manuscript ? At least seven words passed from it into the Oxford Dictionary, namely, fat-headed, fornica- trix, galenical, immutual, meadowing, per- spicience, and thermantic ; a.nd I have forty - seven others from it which might seem worth publishing in ' N. &. Q.' It is clear that " Agriculture considered as a moral and political Duty.... By William Donaldson, Late Secretary to the Government of Jamaica " (London, 1775) proceeds from the same pen. It is dedicated to King George III., and on p. 192 the author calls himself "an Englishman, who has the honour of his country at heart," and on pp. 192 and 193 writes admiringly of Dr. Johnson and " the Journey to the Western Islandr, of Scotland." On p. 138 he says that he was in Dublin in 1757, and in several places he shows his 'respect for Ireland, whose " White Boys " he mentions on p. 139. In both books he exhibits the same interest in agriculture, the Fens, and Lincolnshire, and protests against the en- closing of commons. In both we find the same tendency to use out-of-the-way words. Here are twenty-one from ' Agriculture ' (" D." is the Oxford Dictionary):

Absonance, 14...., to the present day of political absonance, (not D.)

Aratory, 155...., exert their arafory powers, and restore Agriculture to its ancient dignity ; (D. records it merely as an item in Bailey's Dictionary of 1731, without examples.)

Cattle-mill, 182...., before the invention of man had contrived water and cattle-mills,

Ebriosity, 188. Ebriosity will upbraid the crutches, (D. 1646 and 1859 onjy.)

Feodaries, 199...., and the feodaries are, at this day, dupes to the passions of the lord ;. (D. not 1836-1650.)

Flexuous, 127.... are adapted to the flexuous humours of many, (D. not 1828-1661.)

Furor, 125. The present furor of enclosing common lands is a sort of Lycanthropy ; (On p. 134 one reads : " The many bills for enclosing common fields," which recalls the passage : " The present furor of enclosing common fields is very injurious to the public " ; which occurs on p. 195 of ' Sapskull,' vol. ii. D. not 1865-1704, in the sense of " craze.")

Grinding -maid, 182 .... the king's grinding- maid, (Not D., where its equivalent " milleress " is quoted from 1680 only.)

Interdeal, 188. When time decyphers the inter- deal character, (D. not after 1612 ; nor, as here'' adjectivally.)

Meal-maid, 182. . . ., the chastity of a meal-maid appears to have been of more importance. . (not D.)

Outclamour, 161. . . . ; and outclamour her complaints. (D. no specimen.)

Outglare, 161. The fashionable vices of the present times outglare the distresses of virtue ; (D. 1648, 1822, 1837 only.)

Over-load, 147. . . ., from those over-loaded carriages ; (D. not before 1821.)

Plash, 157...., the labourer that plashes the quickset, (An example worth adding.)

Red- fisted, 115, or his red-fisted drudge

to a party at cards ; (D. not.)

Theomachy, 68. . . ., overthrew the papa) theomachy ! (D. not 1858-1690.)

Tod, 110, in the small parcels of wool

their little flocks afford them : the poor man will get only twelve shillings a tod, (A specimen worth quoting.)

Tumify, 74 .... ; London in particular tumifiedi to an alarming size, (D. not 1811-1689.)

Tup, 104. These thrifty people tup their ewes the beginning of November, (D. not before 1799.)

Wool-buyer, 110...., or compel the wool- buyers to his own terms,

Wool-driver, 111. The wool-drivers, or owlers, are the only persons who profit by their necessities.

Let us add as characteristic of the author four " nonce-words " : from p. 152 ". ., he- drags him through his unfractuous, virmi- culated walks," and from p. 153.. "black- embowering woods ! and such magnificent* horrid objects as would frighten a,\brocaded- brained mercer out of his senses ' ' The Dictionary of National Biography ' says nothing of this William Donaldson. Perhaps the archives of Jamaica might throw light upon him. Is he the " William Donaldson (Poetical Writer)" who published in London, in 1757, his 'North America, a Descrip ive- Poem ' ? What is known of his birth and his death ? EDWARD S. DODGSON.

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