Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/274

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.iv.oc T .,i9i8.

Vincent, then Agent in Bengal, " for being to impertinent in the Bussines Concerning the Accounts," and shortly after letters arrived from England by which Bugden was dismissed -the service.

His affairs were found to be greatly involved, but in January, 1680, it was reported that he had " cleered several debts to the Company and is discharged, giving bond to live under the Fort Government." In consequence, he re- paired to Madras, but in 1682 was back at Hugll. The Court ordered that he should be compelled to make good547i. for goods " found wanting " in calicoes sent,- to England.

Once more, however, Bugden found sup- porters, and on " the solicitation " of his friends he was readmitted to the service in March, 1684, "in regard he hath made an honest shift to gain a livelyhood and. repent," and because " he has had noe dealings with interlopers " and " has considerable ex- perience." Unfortunately, Bugden did not live to hear of his restoration to favour, and was probably dead at the date of his re-election.' His wife had predeceased him (apparently in England), and his brother John, a pilot and " freeman," disappears from the Records after 1680. Edmund Bugden left four children, a daughter and three sons, all minors. His goods were administered on Sept. 24, 1684, by his sister Elizabeth Turner, but bis property must have been very small, for in 1689 SOL was paid by the Court to Ducy Turner, his brother-in-law, " out of charity, for relief " of Mr. Bugden's three children. * Edmund, Charles, and William Bugden were all entertained in the Company's service on May 27, 1691, the first two as writers and the other as an apprentice, and were " transported " to India in the Charles the Second free of charge, " they being poor orphans born in India and their Father imployed in the Com- panys service in the Bay of Bengali." Edmund Bugden's daughter Rebekah had, two years previously, been granted a passage to Fort St. George. His father, Edmund Bugden senior, died in 1698.

The name of Bugden was perpetuated in Bugden's Point (Bugden's Arbour) on the western shore of the Hugll river, the modern Huldia point above Huldia river. See ' Court Minutes,' vol. xxvi. pp. 39, 47, 98 ; vol. xxvii. pp. 181, 184, 188 ; vol. xxxiv. pp. 34, 266, 270 ; vol. xxxv. pp. 139, 177 ; vol. xxxvi. pp. 70, 79, 87 ; O.C. 2735, 3192, 4502, 4603, 4606, 4664 ; ' Factory Records,' Hugli, vols. i., ii., iv., Fort St. George, vols. ii., xxviii., Miscellaneous, vol. iiia.; 'letter Books,' vol. iv. p. 123; vol. v. pp. 25, 391, 516 ; vol. vii. p. 261 ; P.C.C. Wills (63 Lort) and Admons. ; Yule, ' Hedges' Diary,' vol. iii. p. 208.]

Hugly 1st February 1672/3 Mr Richard Edwards Respected freind

Yours of the 25th January is by mee, which could not well answer untill now, being I have just now laded yours &ca. Goods to your residence. There goes on severall boates your 19 Baggs Pepper, they takeing up so much roome, and your 6 Chests

of Copper, and 9 barrs Tinn, all inkt* E. Here is 5 of Tinn more of your marke, but know not to whome it belongs to ; when do, shall send it them. Here is two Dutch shipps lately arrived fro' Japan so shall suddenly send the Ballance of your account in Copper or Tinn. The hire of your goods comes to 6 ru. 8 an. with the Porterage up and downe, the boate 6J r.

Pray Sir, by next opportunity send mee halfe a Dozen Breeches strings, and 2 pr. ordinary Cott strings, f and charge them to the account of him, who is to His Power Your assured reall friend

EDMD: BTJGDEN [Endorsed] To Mr Richard Edwards

Merchant "In Cassambazar

R. C. TEMPLE. (To be continued.)

A GHOST WORD. Discuss- ing the origin of ,the new military term mebus, a correspondent in ' N. & Q.' for March, ante, p. 86, writes : " According to Smith's ' Latin-English Dictionary,' a mcebus signifies a castellated watch-tower." This is an error. On looking up various editions of Smith's work from the first (1855) to the nineteenth (1888), I find that no such word is there given. I have failed to find it in any dictionary of the Latin language, ancient or mediaeval. If such a word as mcebus did exist, it is certainly strange that it should have escaped the notice not only of the mediaeval compilers of glossaries, but also of modern lexicographers (e.g., For- cellini, Du Cange, Freund, Quicherat, and Georges).

The correspondent adds (p. 87) : " In Slater's ' Dictionary of Provincialisms and Low German' mcebus =' a bastion.' The word also occurs in this sense somewhere in Korner's verses, but I cannot find where."

Firstly, Slater's ' Dictionary of Provin- cialisms and Low German ' seems to have as shadowy an existence as mcebus itself. Neither the British Museum nor any other library that I have been able to consult possesses it. Bibliographical repertories (e.g., ' The English Catalogue of Books,' ' The London Library Catalogue,' &c.) do not mention it. No information is supplied in ' N. & Q.' concerning its date or place of publication.


 * Marked.

t Strings to tie back mosquito curtains. Letter L.

See