Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/335

 12 s. vm. APRIL 2, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 273: among those who then specialized in books of the county. If DR. HAMBLEY HOWE is right in his estimate of its present character it must have made rapid progress, and one would therefore all the more like to know wherein its particular excellence consists. As Plymouth has not hitherto been men- tioned may I call attention to other libraries in the town. The Library of the Plymouth Institution, besides possessing a large number of books by Devonshire authors and on Devonshire subjects, has the (I suppose) unique collection of pamphlets known as the Davidson Collection, and this alone consists of 1413 separate items. The Proprietary (formerly known as the Public) Library, in Cornwall Street, has I believe fully as numerous a selection of county books as the Plymouth Institution, though they have not gone to the length of making a complete separation of them. If DR. HAMBLEY HOWE does not person- ally know the assembly of Devon and Corn- wall books at the Plymouth Free Library in Tavistock Road, I can only hope that he will soon be able to take an opportunity of making acquaintance with them, under the guidance of the present courteous and able ibrarian. Mr. Kitts. W. S. B. H. " COUNTS OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE " (12 S. viii. 148, 212). Language, after all is the vehicle of thought. When language is precise and clear, thought is fixed, and no room is left for speculation or conjecture. The Patent to Thomas Arundel is to him and to his " children heirs and legitimate descendants of both sexes already born or that ever hereafter shall be." Again " every of your children and legitimate posterity both male and female for ever." There can surely be no possible question as to the significance of this limit aticn. If actual property was in consideration and a claim was made under such a limitation, there is, surely, not a Court of Law that could hesitate, for one moment, as to what should be done. It must be reme nbered,- if. a right view of the case is to be taken, that at the Battle of Gran Thomas Arundel performed a service of very great heroism and of immense value to the Empire. In the depths of his gratitude the Emperor, as can well be understood determined to set upon Thomas Arundel a mark of the most signal and permanent honour. He decreed t hat every legitimate descendant of Arundel' s through time, should be a sharer in^ the' honour his (or her) great ancestor^ had gained ! It was the surpassing value of the actv which secured the almost boundless range- of the honour. A. A. A. THE GALLIC ERA "EIGHTY-EIGHT" (12 S. viii. 251). In 1788 matters came to a head with a meeting of the three estates of Dauphine at Vizille, which demanded the- convocation of the States -General. Lo- menie de Brienne was incapable of dealing with the situation, especially as the treasury was practically empty. It was therefore- decided to summon the States -General for May 1, 1789; Brienne was dismissed on Aug. 25, and Necker became Minister of Finance. But, perhaps, the date was ruled by the rime : " eight " riming to " late " two lines earlier. A. R. BAYLEY. A " PHIOLAD " OF BARLEY (12 S. viii. 210). The dictionary spelling of phiolad ia- ffiolaid. The word means a dishful or bowlful and is formed by affixing -aid' ( = -ful) to the noun ffiol, a dish or bowl. When I was a boy fiiol was used only for the- wooden basin in which cawl (broth) was served to farm servants. The Britons doubtless obtained both the name and ther thing from the Romans. In some parts of Wales a ffiolaid w^as a rough and ready measure, equal to about a third of a busheL- DAVID SALMON. Swansea."] ~* THE PANCAKE BELL (12 S. viii. 106, 154^ 198). ' A Calendar of Somerset ' dealing with customs, superstitions, weather lore,, popular sayings and important events con- nected with this county, is on the eve of publication for private circulation. In it will be found numerous references to the- pancake bell in Somerset. It was rung at 10 o'clock and, after the Reformation, was= popularly believed to be merely a signal for people to begin to make their pancakes,. An old lady over 90 related to a corre- spondent that " at 12 o'clock the bell did hit out ' Pan, pan,, pan, pan' and you could see the women run from-, streets and gardens to start making pancakes,. rapping the bottoms of the frying pans with spcons as soon as they could get to them, so that they made a pretty (i.e., considerable) noise." The pancake or "fritter" bell is men- tioned in some Somerset parish registers.