Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/59

 12 S. VI. FEB., 1920.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

been sold, with all its contents, in 1785 to Sir James Bond, who in turn sold it in 1787 t< Lord Lincoln, and by him to Mr. Dehany the pictures, furniture, china, &c., having remained as sold after the death of Chatham After remaining in the Traill family for many years, it was sold to Mr. (Baron Everard Hambro, the present owner.

L. G. R.

"EST MELIUS NUNQXJAM," &C. (12 S

v. 317). The reference in " T. Wats. Am. Quer. 7 " is to Thomas Watson's 'Amyntas (1585) which is divided into eleven " Quere- lae." See W. W. Greg's ' Pastoral Poetry,' p. Ill G. C. MOORE SMITH.

Sheffield.

' Amyntas ' is described by Sir Sidney Lee in the ' D.N.B.' as " a distant para- phrase " of Tasso's ' Aminta.'

EDWARD BENSLY.

CAPT. 3. C. GRANT-DUFF (12 S. vi. 13). A good account of Grant-Duff is given in the Taylers' 'Book of the Duffs,' 1914 (p. 495), with a clear genealogical table of his mother's family and of his own descen- dants (p. 496). On the maternal side he was descended from the Duffs of Braco. One of Grant-Duff's grandsons is Sir Evelyn Grant- Duff, Framlingham, and his granddaughter is Mrs. Huth Jackson, 64 Rutland Gate.

J. M. BULLOCH. 37 Bedford Square, W.C.I.

SHIP'S YARDS A' -COCK-BILL ON GOOD FRIDAY (12 S. vi. 15). The yards of a ship are said to be " a' -cock-bill " when they are placed at an angle to the deck, which is done as a symbol of mourning. See the ' N.E.D.,' sub voce. A quotation from Dana's ' Two Years before the Mast ' is there given, as follows : " On Good Friday she had all her yards a-cock-bill, which is customary among Catholic vessels." This, no doubt, is the American sea story of Californian ports eighty years ago referred to by MR. LUCAS.

T. F. D.

Ships used to cock-bill their yards as a sign of mourning, which is why it would have been done on Good Friday. In my own experience I have never seen or heard of it being done for this reason, the commonest method nowadays being to paint a blue streak on a ship's sides. Yards are often cock-billed in order to clear cranes or elevators when going alongside a wharf. It is done by slacking away the lifts on one side and hauling down on the other, which brings the" yards from a horizontal position to one

nearly vertical. As a sign of mourning I cannot say when the custom originated or if it is still done.

J. W. DAMER-POWELL. Royal Societies Club. [REV. H. F. B. COMPSTON* also thanked for reply.]

TRADESMEN'S CARDS AND BILLHEADS (12 S. v. 317). About a century ago, more or less (I have no means of reference at hand), appeared a ' Directory of Birmingham,' demy octavo, engraved throughout on copperplate (so far as the advertisements went) consisting of trade cards, and an exceedingly interesting and attractive bit of Warwickshire work it was. No doubt a copy exists in the Birmingham Central Reference Library.

About the same period, or a little later White & Co. issued a number of county- directories, thick octavo in size, and these had many advertisements at the end, neatly engraved on copper or steel. In the- early part of the nineteenth century, it was a common practice for tradesmen to have their letter-headings and invoices engraved, often with a view of their premises at the top, and this custom still survives with old- established firms. It extends overseas, for as I write, two samples are before me, of old-fashioned letter headings : (1) Montreal Cottons, Ltd., of Valleyfield, Canada; 2) Collins Inlet Lumber Co. of Toronto.

A good example of the copperplate style of 1800, or earlier, is seen in the letter-- lead of the Standard Bank of South Africa of 10 Clements Lane, Lombard Street, showing a circular engraving of Britannia,. nolding an unfurled royal standard, on the ieashore and gazing at shipping on the; lorizon. W. JAGGARD, Cap*.

WILLIAM HOORDE (12 S. v. 179, 241). la there anything to connect our William Hoorde wth the following Berkshire recusants of 1592-3 ? " Willelmas Hourde ruper d Buckleburie gen." ; " Johannes Hourde d Letcombe Regis " ; " Maria Hourde uxor Willelmi Hourde." (See Cath. Rec. Soo.,, xviii. 12). JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

BIRD -SCARING SONGS (12 S. v. 98, 132* 160, 246). The following is a bird boy's song, from the county of Durham :

Shoo, birds, shoo !

Fly away from here,

Leave the com and wheat alone ;-

Or if you stop and take a feed,

Take no more than what you need,

For you must not waste a stone,

Or my master I will fear.

Shoo, birds, shoo !

J. W. FAWCETT,.