Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/118

92 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2S .ix. JULY so, 1021. I can find no explanation either of their names or of their original purposes. Can there be any connexion with the old story of "walling the cuckoo"? Or might "Cuckoo Pen" be a euphemism for cock-pen or cockpit? There was formerly an inn at Wytch where "skittling" was played; possibly cock-fighting was another attraction. Are there any other cuckoo pens or cuckoo pounds in Dorset or elsewhere? Any light on the subject would be gratefully received.

SIDESMAN. On p. 43 of ' Xew Elements of Conversation, French and English,' by C. Oros, author and editor of severa-1 books of instruction. Fifth edition, carefully revised 3,nd corrected. London : 1824, and under the heading, ' A Diner : At Dinner,' you rec.d : " Que vous offrirai-je ; une cuisse ou une aile ? Je pref ere un morceau de la car- casse, le cote du croupion. / prefer a bit of the body, a sidesman." In the wordbooks one finds no example of " sidesman " in this sense. Where are other specimens of it to b3 met with ? EDWARD S. DODGSON. Poste Restante, Douglas, Tsle of Man. SIR THOMAS MILLER, OF CHIC-HESTER. Sir Thomas Miller, of Chichester, b. 1635, d. Dec. 2., 1705 ; knighted in 16, 1st baronet (cr. 1705), J.P., Mayor and M.P. for Chichester, married in 1665 " Hannah." Neither on the memorial marble to him and " Hannah :! in the N". chancel aisle of Chichester Cathedral, nor in the Miller pedigree given by Dallaway and Cart- wright in their 'Western Sussex,' is any maiden name given for " Hannah."' This is now sought, also date of knighthood of Sir Thomas Miller. Family tradition says that Hannah was an " heiress " UVEDAXE LAMBERT. AUTHOR WANTED. Can any of your readers kindly tell me Author and Publisher of a book in which the following lines occur : " At last she raised her hand, appalled, And quickly found that she was bald, And for her speech did strive." And How would yoa feel, if General Bligh Were taken from us to the sky And you should be the cause ? The book, which is in verse, is a kind of bur- lesque on the " didactic " poetry once written for children. The writer is, I think, a woman. ALICE M. WILLIAMS. 7, Ullswater Boad, West Norwood, 8.E.27. And Life is a Story in Volumes three. The Past, the Present, the Yet to be. The first is finished and laid away ; The Second we're reading day by day. The Third and last of the Volumes three Is locked from sight, God keepeth the kej. Walsall. s. A. GRUXDY-^EWMAN. 'TO CURRY FAVOUR." (12 S. viii. 512; ix. 77.) THE ' X.E.D.,' under ' Favel,' says that ;i the phrase ' to curry Favel/ O.F. estriller, torcher Fauvel, comes from the Roman de Fauvel (1310), the hero of which is a counterpart of Reynard the Fox ;: and refers to Paulin Paris's ' Les manuscrits francais de la Bibliotheque du Roi,' I. 306. We are told that the phrase has been adopted in German as den fahlen hengst streichen,' but that ic it is not clear whether before the date of this poem a ' fallow ' horse was proverbial as the symbol of dishonesty." The German ' den fahlen hengst reiten ' (re- corded from the loth century) is quoted with the sense "to play an underhand game, act deceitfully." See also ' curry ' in Prof. Weekley's ' Etymological Dictionary of Modern English.' Paulin Paris, in the place referred to by !the ' X.E.D.,' gives a detailed account, with extracts, of a manuscript in the Biblio- theque Xationale containing the ' Roman de Fauvel ' with the curious addition of " motets, ballades et autres morceaux chantes," which were designed apparently to accompany the recitation of the Roman. The latest edition seems to be ' Le Roman de Fauvel par Gervais du Bus public d'apres tou's les manuscrits connus par Arthur Langfors,' Paris, Firmin Didot et Cie, 1914- 1919 (Societe des anciens textes francais). The poem is an allegory. In the first book we are shown all people on the earth, the highest princes and potentates included, doing homage to Fauvel, who typifies the Vanities of the World. The second book describes Fauvel's Court and his proposal I to marry Dame Fortune. She repulses him and^he takes as his wife Vaine Gloire, The work has been ascribed to more than one author. In the text printed by Lang- f ors his name is given by means of an enigma as Gervais du Bus. " EDWARD BE^SLY. Much ITadham, Herts.