Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/304

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.iv. NOV., IQIS.

signature, &c. It is endorsed in writing " John Corlett hab [?] Master Douglas Isle of Man," followed by a great flourish.

Long ago, in answer to an inquiry, I received a letter dated Government Office, Isle of Man, Feb. 23, 1900, from Mr. A. B. Herbert Story, at that time Secretary to the Government and Treasurer. He wrote :

" The signature to the licence or permit a copy of which you send me is that of Cornelius Smelt, Lieut. GoV.

" An ordinance No. 4 of 1417, which, curiously enough, has never been repealed prohibited any person leaving the island without a licence ; and I assume licences to do so were issued as from then, though no doubt at that time very few were applied for. It is not accurately known when they ceased ; but as there are subsequent Acts imposing penalties on shipmasters for carrying away persons without permits, they probably were in force up to the time when the Government (Imperial) bought out the Duke of Athol's rights. The permits were issued in obedience to the law. The object no doubt was to prevent depopulation, especially of farm labourers and servants.

" Castle Bushen, a grand pile, is at Castletown; The Legislature, and some of [the] High Courts of Justice, sat there till a very few years ago ; and up to '92 or '93 the Gaol was "within its walls.... It contains the Countess of (Derby's chamber, and an old Banqueting Hall, now occupied by the nucleus of an Insular Museum. The Lieut. -Governor in the Duke's time resided there."

ROBERT PIERPOINT. [For Cornelius Smelt see ante, p. 296.]

TUDOR ENGLISH STILL IN IRELAND. " Heres such adoo now a dayes, heres prisoning, heres hanging, whipping, and the diuell and all." Henry V. log. in ' The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth,' 1598. This survival, I believe, is not in Joyce's ' English in Ireland.' W. F. P. S.

PRICES IN 1795. The present prices of foodstuffs, &c., are worth comparing with the following, which I have taken from a small MS. book evidently kept for house- keeping purposes in the year 1795-6 :

Beef, 7 Ibs 024

Mutton, 5d- per pound

Pint of rum .. 02

Leg of lamb. . 02

Calf's head. . 02

Mahogany table

White table

3 picture frames

A pair of bed stoops

Pair of drawers. .

A cradle .... 11

Looking-glass. . " 1 12

Pair of drawers. . 6 16

Child's coffin. . 12

Salt-box .. 03

2-leaved table 1 1

1 11 8 6

2 4 5 15

Tin water-can

Candle-box ...

6 knives, forks, and spoons

Set of chairs

2 doz. and a half of puter

Tea-chest

Feather bed and tick

Printed bedgown

2 pairs of stockings

3 yards of flannel A gown Gallon of gin Gallon of rum Cloth for "breeches Silk handerkerchief

a. d.

019

10>

040'

160

100

030

560-

076

068

046

100

11 6

17 &

12 5-

070

In support of MR. WEEKS' s note on p. 127 ante it will be seen that the word " stoop " is used here in the sense that he suggests : " a pair of bed stoops "=a pair of bedposts, though I should say that two- pairs would be more useful.

ARCHIBALD SPABKE.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

PRESIDENT WILSON'S ANCESTORS. Can any one give me particulars as to the- lineage of President Wilson, on whom the eyes of the world are fixed ? His people came from the north of Ireland. Was a Stewart Wilson, M.D. (of, I think, Omagh r co. Tyrone), among his forbears or con- nexions ? Any notes on the subject will be interesting. (Rev.) G. A. CROSSLE.

SHAKESPEARE MISQUOTED BY SCOTT. In 'As You Like It,' Act IV. sc. iii., is found the line

Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy. This has been frequently quoted erroneously as

Chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy.

Many people know that Scott is one of those who have perpetrated this error, and it would interesting to learn whether it was he who originated it. In the last sentence of the fourth chapter of ' Waverley ' the words occur, and again in the introduc- tion to ' Quentin Durward,' where they are put into the mouth of an imaginary French- man, and the spelling is altered for the purpose of reproducing the foreigner's mis- reading of the English words. HowardL Furness in his ' Variorum Shakespeare " has an interesting note on Scott's error.

E. BASIL LUPTON. 10 Humboldt Street, Cambridge, Mass.