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NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vii.s E pr.2,i92^

THE LIGHTS OF LONDON (12 S. vh. 229). As to Tennyson's lines, surely dawn is dreary when the clouds are low, and that is exactly the condition of things which brings out ""the lights of London." On a clear night dwellers in Golder's Green see none of the brilliant glow over Hampstead hill which delights the eye on a night of clouds.

G. G. L.

WINE BIBBER (12 S. vii. 211). This is

probably the Genetta pardina, or Berbe, an

animal very similar to the civet cat, but

without a scent pouch, and found in Africa.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

FONT NOT AT ONGAR, AT ALLER (12 S. vii. 207). As Aller in West Somerset is invariably pronounced " Oiler " in that locality it is quite reasonable to suppose that Mr. Hare misunderstood Sir A. Acland- Hood (who as a local man spoke of " Oiler " church), and thought he said " Ongar."

D. K. T.

PANNIER MARKET (12 S. vii. 110). The following advertisement will show the exist- ence of at least one other such :

The Dartmoor Sheepbreeders' Flock-Book

Association.

Annual Sale of Registered Dartmoor Rams in Tavistock Pannier Market on Wednesday, August 18th, 1920. at One o'clock, when Rams from well known Flockmasters will be offered. Entries respectfully solicited by

JOHN YOUNG, Auctioneer, Tavistock.

I have also heard the Plymouth " Farmers" Market called by this name. W. S. B. H.

HELL FIRE CLUBS (11 S. xii. 97, 354; 12 S. i. 466). Glasgow. The Session House attached to St. Mary's Church was used by the burgesses as a guard-house. On Jan. 8, 1793, some of the club members, excited by liquor, entered the building, and while warming themselves placed any available materials on the fire to increase it, until unable to endure the intense heat they fled in dismay, as a result, the Session House and church were entirely destroyed with the exception of the steeple. GENERAL.

Bolton (W.).- The Medmenham Friars, Journ. Ex. Libris Soc. xi. 1901, pp. 47-51.

Chambers (R.). Traditions of Edinburgh, 1869, p. 170.

Irish plasters, or, the votaries of Bacchus, 1738. Johnston (Charles). Chrysal, 1768, &c.

Thackeray (W. M.). The Notch of the Axe, Pt. 3 (Roundabout Papers).

On the back cover of vol. v. of the Georgian Society is a drawing by A. E. Jones of the Dublin club's clock-case. J. ABDAGH.

MAHOGANY AND THE DICTIONARIES (12 S. vii. 90, 157, 198, 238). The word "mahogany " does not appear in the third edition of Johnson's 'Dictionary.'

This edition is reported in the title-page^ to be "abstracted f rom *the folio edition.'* Can any of your readers tell me, in a general way, to what extent the third edition is an abridgment of the first ?

WENDELL HERBRUCK.

Canton, Ohio.

THE WESTMINSTER CHIMES (12 S. vii. 209)* In 'Being and Doing,' by Constance M. Whishaw, published by Edward Howell of Liverpool, the following quotation is given from Archdeacon Farrar :

" The great clock at Westminster booms out its chimes to the tune of :

Lord, thro' this hour Be Thou my guide So by Tliy power No foot shall slide.

ETHEL S. GRAHAM, 5 Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster.

OLD HORSE GUARDS BUILDINGS (12 S. vii. 232). Any guide-book will give the- desired date. Walford, in his ' Old and New London ' (1897), writes, "but in 1751 these [the old buildings] were pulled down to make way for the present edifice. !r Baedeker gives 1753 as the year.

K. S.

OLD SEMAPHORE TOWERS (12 S. vi. 335 ,* vii. 14, 32, 55, 113). Cobbett in his 'Rural Rides,' writing on Oct. 26, 1823, has a "fling " at these old structures. He writes from Thursley :

" Being out a-coursing to-day, I saw a queer looking building upon one of the thousands of hills that nature has tossed up in endless variety of form round the skirts of the lofty Hindhead. This building is, it seems, called a Semaphore, or Semaphore, or something of that sort. What this word may have been hatched out of I cannot say ; but it means a job, I am sure. To call it an alarm-post would not have been so convenient ; for, people not endued with Scotch intellect* might have wondered why we should have to pay for alarm-posts ; and might have thought,, that, with all our glorious victories, we had' ' brought our hogs to a fine market, ' if our dread of the enemy were such as to induce us to have alarm-posts all over the country."

In my edition of the 'Rides ' (Mr. J. H. Lobban's, 1908) I find a note to the effect that the semaphore was one of the inventions of Richard Lovell Edgworth, the father of Maria Edgworth. C. P. HALE.

117 Victoria Park Road, E.9.