Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/46

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 a.m. JAN. 13, 1917.

.considerable contribution to this number. Those who are interested in the Padstow May per- formances or analogous customs should make a note of it. The ceremonies are carefully de- scribed, and the editor discusses them in a good note, with ample references to the literature of the subject, supplying as well an appendix which gives other versions of the songs, and deals with the meaning and origin of ' Ursula Birdhood.' Miss Broadwood inclines to identify " Ursula," according to Schade, with the Earth-mother the many -named goddess of fertility and to see in " Birdhood " a reminiscence of the"Fliigel- haube " of N'ehalennia or Nerthus, the Earth- mother of Northern Europe. The whole essay though tentative and suggestive is carefully documented, full of detail, and of real value towards the elucidation of an interesting problem.

The Forfeit Songs include five versions of the ' Twelve Days of Christmas,' ' A Shoulder of Mutton jumped over from France,' and a singing game, ' Sir Roger is dead,' noted down from children in Derbyshire.

Delightful sections are the two composed of Sailors' Chanties, collected by Mr. Cecil Sharp and Mr. Harry E. Piggott respectively. Mr. Piggott adds to his version of ' Rio Grande ' a pleasant note upon Mr. John Perring the singer, who, after service in the Army and as a sailor, became a coal-lumper at Dartmouth, and then, though over sixty years of age, went back to the Army again on the outbreak of the War, and is serving at this moment in Home Defence. His gifts and his cleverness as a singer are remarkable. Mr. Sharp has noted two versions of the curiously charming ' Whip Jamboree.' Mr. Piggott, again, has a delightful windlass chanty, ' Heave away, my Johnny,' and a hauling chanty, ' A Handy " Ship,' of which we can easily believe what he tells us, that the effect of it when sung is extraordinary.

The section on Cornish Carols Mr. Piggott' s work also gives a fresh version of the words of the ' Cherry-tree Carol ' ; and on the well-known carol ' A Virgin Unspotted ' Mr. Frank Kidson contributes a good note which contains a York- shire version of the tune, and the version to be found in John Arnold's ' Compleat Psalmody,' published in 1750.

Our readers will gather that we have found much that is both curious and valuable in this number. It is satisfactory to know that, despite the many preoccupations and hindrances occa- sioned by the War, this study is still being kept alive and vigorous.

FREDERIC BOASE.

WE have to record with great regret the death of yet another old and valued correspondent of Leonard's-on-Sea in his 74th year. His name has appeared several times in the volume just con- cluded, as a contributor of biographical detail for the elucidation of the eighteenth - century Army Last'. Our readers will hardly require to be reminded that it is as a student of contem- porary biography, especially as regards the second half of the nineteenth century, that Mr. Boase was chiefly distinguished. His ' Modern English
 * N. & Q.' Frederic Boase, who died at St.

Biography ' is, indeed, truly a feat in its ;kind, accomplished as it has been single-handed, and in a succinct and telling style of his own. It is a permanent memorial of him which will be of value as long as the social history of this country is of importance to anybody. The original work, published between 1892 and 1901, consisted of three volumes ; and Mr. Boase was at work on a supplement of three volumes more, of which the first two have already appeared. We are glad to learn that the third is so nearly complete that his executors will be able to add the last details and publish it. Mr. Boase's contributions to ' N. &Q.' bear witness, however, to a further range of interest, principally, though not solely, in biblio- graphy and literature proper. By profession he was a solicitor, and had been for more than a quarter of a century Librarian of the Incorporated Law Society in Chancery Lane, a post from which he retired in 1903. He was a brother of the Rev. C. W. Boase of Exeter College, Oxford.

GEORGE THOMAS SHERBORN.

WE are sorry to learn that our old corresponden. George Thomas Sherborn died on the 3rd inst., at the age of 84. By profession he was a monu-. mental mason, and for many years had charge of the monuments in Westminster Abbey. He had great natural gifts as a linguist, and had made himself a proficient classical student, besides reading French, German, and Italian with ease in all these self-taught. The variety of topics on which he wrote to us shows that he made this facility subserve scholarly interests of no mean range.

The Athenaeum now appearing monthly, arrange- ments have been made whereby advertisements of posts vacant and wanted, which it is desired to publish weekly, may appear in the intervening weeks in ' N. & Q.'

s to d Queries' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers " at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, B.C.

CORRESPONDENTS who send letters to be forwarded to other contributors should put on the top left- hand corner of their envelopes the number of the page of 'N. & Q.' to which their letters refer, so that the contributor may be readily identified.

W. R. W. The history of the " Peccavi " pun was fully discussed at 11 S. vii. 220, 290 ; viii. 30 the first article being by Mr. Walter Woollcott of New York, the two others from the pen of Sir W. Lee- Warner.

MR. ALAN STEWART. Many thanks. The earlier reply was duly received, and appeared at 12 S. ii. 537 (Dec. 30).

CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 6, col. 2, 1. 34, read "-I678. Cf." nob " of."