Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/259

 12 s. vii. SEPT. ii, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

211

"YOU BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR."

-Could any reader of ' N. & Q.' kindly tell me if this Americanism still obtains ? "Bottom " presumably means last ?

CECIL CLARKE. Junior Athenaeum Club.

SUGGESTED GERMAN SOURCE OF 'MERRY WIVES or WINDSOR.' There is a play by Prince Henry of Brunswick (1592) which is supposed by some commentators to have suggested Shakespeare's comedy.

What is the title of the play, and what is the point of resemblance ?

R. L. EAGLE.

19 Burghill Road, Sydenham, S.E.26.

'THE LONDON MAGAZINE.' Does any one know anything of The London Magazine, Charivari, and C-ourrier des Dames, a periodi- cal which first commenced in February, 1840 ? I shall be glad to know if this was -continued beyond vol. i., part 4, which -seems to be the end of vol. i. It has no title-page, but was published by Mr. Richard Fennell, 28 Arundel Street, Strand, and Messrs. Simpkin & Co., of Stationers' Hall Court. It seems to have been divided into three distinct parts, each part bearing one of the above titles. It contained illustra- tions by Phiz, Gillray the Younger (some- times spelt with only one I), and John Leech, who signs one of his illustrations with a leech in a bottle. The serial, which is in- complete, is entitled 'The Diurnal Revolu- tions of Davie Diddledoft, by Sir Tickelem Tender, Bart.,' and so far I have failed to tfind who used this pseudonym.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

BEST OF BESTFIELD, Co. CARLOW. I wish ior genealogical data of this family during -the eighteenth century (especially the second half). I believe that the last of the Bests died c. 1820 in a house at Carlow which at the end of the nineteenth century was a newspaper office. About an Irish mile from Carlow on the Athy Road there is a small enclosure containing a stone (or .stones) inscribed as follows :

" Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Sarah Best the wife of Arundel Best Esq. who departed this life ye 15th Day of February, 1743 aged 72.

" Here alsoe lyeth the Body of George Best son of the said Arundel and Sarah who departed the 16th Day of March, 1739. Here lyeth the Body of Arundel Best Esq. who departed this life the First Day of M,ay in the year of Our Lord 1755, aged 78. Also the Body of Calfield Best second -son of Elias and Elizabeth Best and Grandson to tthe said Arundel Best of Bestfield in the County -Car low."

An Elizabeth Best of this family married a Kennedy (? Army officer) of what family I know not. I believe he died after a few years, and his widow lived with her children on the border of Co. Carlow and Co. Kildare. The children were a daughter (Mrs. Holroyd), a son Robert (d. young) and a son Francis (born Aug. 9, 1788 or '89) who was first a subaltern in an Irish militia regiment (? Kildare Militia) and then a subaltern in the 51st Foot. STANHOPE KENNEDY.

94 Worting Road, Basingstoke.

" WINE BIBBER." What animal is meant by this name ? It is briefly described thus :

"Here are yet three or four Sorts of small Quadrupeds. The first is a little Animal, in appearance of the Cat kind, only its snout is sharper and Body smaller, being spotted like a Civet- Cat. The Negros call it JBerbe, and the Europeans, Wine-bibber, being very greedy of Palm Wine." William Bosnian's " Guinea," in 'Pinkerton's 'Voyages and Travels,' vol. xvi. p. 439, London, 1814.

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

POMONKEY. In the Banbury Registers we find : Ann Peregrina of the kingdom of Pomonkey in the East Indies was baptized at the age of 16 or 17 years on the 6th day of August 1682 in the parish church of Banbury in the County of Oxford in the kingdom of England.

Can the kingdom of Pomonkey be identi- fied ? A. D. T.

" SECOND WIND." What is the physio- logical explanation of a runner's ** second wind ? " ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.

AUTHORS OP QUOTATIONS WANTED.

(1) Who was the Elizabethan who said " Every man of character hath a touch of singularity and scorns somewhat ? "

(2) Who wrote the following epigram, " made by, good Blundellifce " quoted in chapter Ixi. of Lorna Doone,'

Despair was never yet so deep

In sinking as in seeming, Despair is hope just dropp'd asleep,

For better chance of dreaming.

J. E. H.

3. I sho\ild be glad to trace the following quotation :

A mild wind shakes the elder brakes, And the wandering herdsmen know That the blackthorn soon will blow.

G. M. NEWTON. Griston School, Thetford, Norfolk.