Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/603

 12 s. viii. JUNE is, i92i.i NOTES AND QUERIES. 497 THE SMALLEST PIG OF A LITTER (12 S. viii. 331, 376, 417, 435, 453). In Norfolk the smallest pig is called the " petman." I have never heard "pitman.." Forby's ' Norfolk Vocabulary * connects it with the French petit. R. T. HALES. Holt, Norfolk. I interrogated on this subject (1) a Worcester farmer who said " wreckling " ; (2) a bailiff (Devonian) who gave as from S. Devon " darling " and N. Devon " nissel (?) tripe " ; (3) a Cornishman, " widden corn " ; (4) a "Gloster"' labourer, who gave me two words, " waster ll and " pennuck " ; and (5) a Salopian, who gave me " nistle." I may say that these were collected first hand by myself in the course of two hours. A Dorset cowman gave the Cornishman' s " nissel tripe. ," MAUBICE A. VERNON. A friend, a native of Cornwall, tells me that in his county the smallest pig of a litter is called the " widden." CHAS. HALL CROUCH. The smallest pig of a litter in this part of Worcestershire is called the " kink." STAPLETON MARTIN. The Firs, Norton, Worcester. " THE POOR CAT f TH' ADAGE " (12 S. viii. 431, 475). Most rules have exceptions. I have known two cats lacking the usual feline aversion to water (which, by the way, is shared by the rabbit, though, when hard pressed, I have known rabbits take to water). A neighbour of mine possesses a large black cat, which sits, sometimes for hours, on the river brink, watching for fish. When a fish comes along it dives in, like a kingfisher, and emerges with the fish. This . cat also catches water-voles in the same way, and is a deadly enemy of the ordinary field or farm rat. W. JAGGARD, Capt. PITT'S PEERS (12 S. viii. 451). I doubt the suggested right to petition for a peerage. Probably it had its origin in the profuse creations of peers by Pitt. In his first five years of premiership 50, and in 17 years (1783-1801) 140 were created. Most history books have some account of Pitt's policy which so altered the status and character of the House of Lords. R. S. B. VISCOUNT STAFFORD, 1680 (12 S. viii. 409, 454, 478). At the last reference I meant to write, and am almost certain that I did write, of "Shifnal Manor in the county of Salop," and not of " Stafford Manor." Viscountess Stafford's father, Edward, died in the lifetime of his father, Edward, Baron Stafford, whose father was also named Edward and held the Barony. Doyle's ' Official Baronage,' though I have not seen the book, probably, in my opinion, has confused her father with her grand- father. JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT. CLEMENTINA JOHANNES SOBIESKY DOUG- LASS (8 S. xi. 66, 110, 157; 11 S. viii. 232; ix. 217; 12 S. viii. 411). The following, which appeared in The Barrow News, Oct. 12, 1918, seems to afford some slight addi- tional information to that contained in the first reference. FINSTHWAITE. MYSTERIOUS PRINCESS. From time to time interest in the Princess whose remains are in- terred in the Finsthwaite Churchyard is revived, and for the information of some visitors who have been making inquiries recently, the Rev. C. G. Townley, M.A., of Townhead, Staveley-in- Cartmel, who has done more than anyone else in bringing to light the history of the mysterious Princess, states that from research made a few years ago her signature to the will of Mr. Edward Taylor, of Waterside, Newby Bridge, April 28, 1770, has been found. In all probability the Princess was the daughter of Prince Charles Edward Stewart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and Clementine Wachenshaw, and was placed secretly in charge of the Taylors of ^insthwaite, through the agency of Dr. King, Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, a noted Jacobite, who had been secretary to the Duke of Ormond, and whose kinsman had married a sister of Edward Taylor, heiress of Finsthwaite House. A medal, struck in 1718, to commemorate the marriage of James Stewart to Clementina Sobieski, grand-daughter of John, King of Poland, the father and mother of Prince Charles Edward, was left at her death in 1771, by the Finsthwaite Princess, to Miss Jane Penny, of Pefimy Bridge Hall, whose mother had been a Miss Taylor, and Miss Penny left it to her nephew, William Townley, of Town- head, with whose heirs it has remained. Some years ago the Rev. C. G. Townley was mainly instrumental in causing to be erected a white marble cross over the grave of the Princess, in order that the site might not be obliterated. PAUL V. KELLY. " HOWLER " (12 S. viii. 449). According to the * O.E.D.' this word means something " crying " or " clamant." As first used it does not seem to have meant necessarily anything likely to provoke laughter. C. C. B.