Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/21

 j-2 s. ix. JULY 2, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 11 reign, representing Richard II. confer- ring a barony, the recipient of which has two bars on his mantle. That must be an anachronism. But was the distinction in- stituted as early as Elizabeth's reign ? A. G. KEALY, Chaplain, B.X., retired. Stone Close, Maltby, Yorks. FENNING' s ' ROYAL ENGLISH Die- i TIOXAKY.' I recently unearthed a copy of! an old English dictionary entitled ' The i Royal English Dictionary ; or, A Treasury of the English Language,' compiled by j D. Fenning and printed in 1763. A special charter was issued by King George II. on July 3, 1761, giving Fenning exclusive rights to publish for fourteen years from that date, and the volume above referred ! to is a second edition. From personal ! inquiries I believe this is one of the first j English dictionaries printed, but shall feel obliged for any further information on the subject. GEO. M. WASON. QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. It is related that Queen Elizabeth rode on horseback to meet a coming French ambassador and, when they met, held a mask before her countenance and continued straight ahead without paying the least attention to him until he followed her on foot. Only then, when she had made him thus show her deference, would she deign to acknowledge his presence. Where can I find the authority for this story ? -COLENSO. " WILD-CAT SCHEME." We all recognize a " wild-cat scheme " from its prospectus, but whence the name ? The ' N.E.D.' has " wild-cat " under " cat," but nothing to answer the query. The ' Century Dic- tionary ' (The Times Book Club) is more help- ful. A " wild cat " may mean an oil-well ; a " wild-catter " is one who prospects for! oil or ores, and carries on a dangerous | business ; and k ' wild-catting " means pro- i specting for oil. But a " wild-cat " scheme means, in the City, a wild, impossible scheme the prospectus for which is issued by an optimist, a fraud or individuals under the influence of such person or persons. The enclosed clipping from an American financial paper on " wild- cat " currency may supply a further clue : On December 23, 1816 (writes Breckinridge Jones, president of th' Mis-issippi Valley Trust Company). there was approved by the Missouri legislature " an act to encourage the killing of wolves, pan- thers and wildcats." It authorized a reward of $2 for killing a wolf or a panther, and 50 cents for killing a wildcat, to be paid out of the treasury of the county in which the animal had been killed. A justice of the peace was to de- stroy the scalps and "issue a .certificate on the county treasury for the same." The form for the certificate was prescribed and said " the treasurer of the county is hereby directed to pay the same to bearer," and was made a legal tender for any county taxes and should be so received by the sheriff. These "wildcat" certificates came to be used as currency and led to the name of " wild- cat " being given to other kinds of currency that were not redeemable in specie, and being specially applied to the bills of the non-specie paying banks in the ajoining territories. L. L. K. SIR THOMAS BROWNE'S ' RELIGIO MEDICI. ' In 1894 was published by G. Moreton, 42, Burgate Street, Canterbury, with subscription list approaching 700 names, principally of the medical pro- fession, a choicely printed edition of the above, having prefixed a Prefatory Memoir with the initials " G. B. M. " appended. The latter vary from those of the publisher as given on the title page, and I should be glad to know to whom the Prefatory Memoir may be attributed. W. B. H. VARIETIES or CHEESES IN 1534. In ' Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic,' there is recorded under date 1534 a Peti- tion on the " Regrating of Butter and Cheese " which reads : It may please the King, with the advice of Parliament, to enact that no one, English or stranger, may ship or convey any butter or cheese that shall be bought or that may be sold above the following prices : butter at 14s. a barrel and under ; Essex cheese 10s. a wey and under ; Suffolk and other cheese at 9s. a wey and under. Are there any references as to the " other " varieties of cheese in 1534 that were classed with Suffolk cheese ? R. HEDGER WALLACE. JACKETED CHEESE VAT. A patent was granted in July, 1853, for a " metal cheese tub with a double bottom, having a coil of tubing into which steam or water is ad- mitted." Are there any references earlier than this date to cheese vats or tubs with double bottoms and sides like the cheese vats now in ordinary use ? R. HEDGER WALLACE.