Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/335

 12 S. V. DEC., 1919. 1

NOTES AND QUERIES.

329

at Benjamin's birth, while Mrs. Jeaffreson found a nurse, and supplied linen and clothes from her own stores. Mr. J. C. Jeaffreson thinks it difficult to believe that the surgeon could have been mistaken on a matter of this kind in relation TO the wife of his familiar friend, though he admits the possibility that having attended the lady on several such occasions he, after the lapse of years, might have confused the birth of her first child with that of her second or third. As Lord Beaconsfield is said not to have been clear about either the place or the year of his birth this narrative is at least worthy of consideration. Mr. J. C. Jeaffreson. admits that he is " not wholly without doubt " on the subject.

R. S. PENGELLY.

REDE-BIRDS (12 S. v. 265). By "rede- bird" is perhaps meant the "reed-bird," i.e., a bird which frequents reeds. ' N.E.D.' gives many quotations under the latter heading, as

1648. Hexham. Een riot-meese, a reed e bird like a titmouse. Also (a) reed- warbler ; (b) sedge warbler.

1848. Zoologist,' vi., 2186. The sedge warbler is the ' reed-bird."

1871-4. Newton, ' Yarrell's British Birds,' 370.

Its partiality for reeds makes the name[s] of

reed-bird or reed-wren, by which it is commonly known, sufficiently applicable.

'N.E.D.' also gives four quotations attri- buting the name to a North- American singing bird, Dolichonyx oryzivorus : the bobolink or rice-bunting.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

This appears to be the American trivial name for the well-known ortolan bunting (emberiza hortulans), one of the many species of the bunting family. It is the " ortolan " of gourmets.

The expression " reed bird " is not to be found in the ordinary British books on ornithology and, so far, I have only come across it in a novel, ' The Rifle Rangers,' by the late Capt. Mayne Reid, where, in his description of the sumptuous lunch given by the Spaniard, Don Cosme, at his Hacienda, it is referred to as the ortolan, or reed bird. Neither the reed bunting (emberiza schceni- j streperus) is the " ortolan " proper.
 * clus) nor the reed warbler (acrocephalus

M. BALFE.

On referring to the original query at 8 S.

t v. 448 I rather suspect this to be a ghost -


 * word. It looks as if the scribe, by writing

the word " bookes " more than once, had

finally written " cushions for rede birds ' x

instead of " for rede bookes," i.e., reading

books. Such cushions might be placed about the pulpit and choir.

As to the suggestion at 8 S. vi. 72 that lecterns were intended, I have noticed that reading desks supported on the outstretched wings of brass eagles are very common in ritualistic and other English churches.

N. W. HILL.

[Dn. LKFFMANN and ST. SWITHIN also thanked ^ for replies.]

PSEUDONYMS (12 S. v. 293). O. E., the^ author of ' Iron Times with the Guards,' is the name adopted by Mr. Geoffrey Fildes,. barrister, third son of Sir Luke Fildes.. O. E. is, of course, Old Etonian.

J. M. BULLOCH.

37 Bedford Square, W.C.I.

' Is Russia Wrong ? ' with preface by J. A.. Froude, was written by O. K. (Mme.. Novikov, formerly Olga Kiryeeva). M.

[MR. H. G. HARRISON and W. S. B. H. also- thanked tor replies.]

GIANTS' NAMES (12 S. v. 267). To the list given may be added perhaps Colbrand and also Guy of Warwick. See the latter's reputed porringer and other enormous relics,. preserved at Warwick Castle, always sources of wonder to the credulous.

W. JAGGARD, Capt.

Repatriation Records Registry, Winchester.

CAPT. ROBERT BOYLE (12 S. v. 294). The story referred to is generally considered to have been written by Benjamin Victor, Irish poet and manager of the Theatre Royal,, Dublin (d. 1778). Bohn's edition of ' Lowndes,' however, ascribes the authorship of the book to Wm. Rufus Chetwood. (d. 1766). H. G. HARRISON.

Aysgarth, Sevenoaks. [MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE also thanked for reply 1

'ADESTE FIDELES ' (12 S. v. 292). MR. MURRAY'S quotation from Rabelais alludes not to this hymn but to a portion of the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday (Feria VI. in Parasceve) in the ' Missale Romanum,' therein described as " adoratio Crucis," but which amongst our English forefathers was known as the " creeping to the Cross." At this portion of the service the priest takes of his chasuble and goes to the Epistle corner of the altar, where the deacon having taken down the Cross covered, with a veil from the altar, hands it to him. He then turns towards the people and uncovers the top of the Cross, singing " Ecce lignum Crucis," and the deacon and sub- deacon join him in singing " in quo