Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/605

 12 s. ix. DEC. 17, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 499 PRINCIPAL LONDON COFFEE-HOUSES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (12 S. ix. 385). Perkins (p. 385). The Perkinses were Surrey brewers. I could quote an example from an inn at Theale, Berks, of repeated change of name with change of ownership. E. E. COPE. Pie Tavern (p. 386) (Mare Street, Hackney, 1762). " An existing and dated water-colour drawing." I should be glad to learn where this drawing can be seen to-day. WILLIAM R. POWER. ENGLISH ARMY SLANG AS USED IN THE GREAT WAR. (12 S. ix. 341, 378, 383, 415. 423, 455, 465. )| Go WEST. Is it not possible that this phrase j arose from some lingering memory of St. | Brendan (or Brandon) and his " Promised j Land of the Saints " which lay out toward | the sunset in the Altantic, west of Ireland. I According to the ' Encyclopaedia Britan- nica ' this happy isle was fully believed in ' as lately as the eighteenth century, and the j original legend might well have been known i to Highland, Welsh, or Irish troops. It was re-introduced to English children in a most attractive form in Kingsley's ' Water Babies.' MEDINEWS. OLD SWEAT (p. 344 A) implied something more than that a man was a time-serving soldier ; synonym, old soldier, one who was up to all sorts of tricks and dodges to improve his own conditions, and who could not be imposed upon by his superiors. Many pre-war soldiers were indistinguishable from those enlisted for the " duration." APREE LEB GARE FINEE (p. 345, C). First line of refrain of French song, ' Chanson des Anglais,' of which our troops had a parody. HIPE (p. 344, B ; p. 346, C). Introduced at com- mand schools of instruction, probably late. ITTY-UMPTY (p. 383, A). Usual spelling, " iddy- umpty." It represents the sounds made by signalling flag when sending Morse signals. LOBBY-HOPPING (p. 384, C). To get from one place to another by chance lifts on lorries. To cover any distance usually meant riding on a number of lorries, with alternate foot- slogging. F. WILLIAMSON. SWING THE LEAD (p. 348, C). I should be very glad if anyone could tell me how this phrase gets its slang meaning of " malingering." BOLO (pp. 343, 378, 459, A). I have only heard this used by an officer who was fighting in North Russia after the Armistice, and it was the equivalent of " Bolshie " and applied only to the enemy. SHOW A LEG (p. 379, C). In amplification of what your correspondent writes, this, I believe, dates back to the days when sailors had their wives on board with them ; the sailors had to get up, the wives might lie abed longer (in harbour at home ports). DEGOMME (p. 346, C). Additional meaning is, merely reduced in rank no disgrace at- tached applied to brigadiers, &c., who became colonels after the Armistice, when establishments were reduced. E. C. COBBEB (p. 344, A) and DIGGEB (p. 344, A) are both applied to Australian soldiers, but there is a subtle difference. One, I think, refers to a townsman and the other to a countryman, a sheep-farmer (one who rides a cob round the ranges ?). BLOTTO (p. 345, C). Can anybody give us the derivation of this word ? FLEA-BAG (p. 346, C), described as an officer's valise, is surely the Army sleeping-bag. F. W. THOMAS. BIG NOISE (p. 343, A). For any important personage. ' American. CHINK (p. 343, A). American. BINGE (p. 345, C). Doesn't this come from Oxford ? Certainly used in pre-war theatri- cal circles. SMOKE (THE) (p. 347, C). Tramp's word for London. STIFFS (p. 347, C). American. Occurs, I think, in a poem by Colonel John Hay. STUMER (p. 348, C). In the form of " stumer cheque " pretty old. VELVET (TO BE ON) (p. 348, C). Used for many years in racing circles. F. J. H. ROB ALL MY COMRADES (p. 344, A). A correspondent writes : " The derivation of this nickname for the Royal Army Medical Corps was scarcely ' honourable.' It originated in 1915 after a large number of officers' kits had been rifled in hospital trains taking wounded and sick from the front to the various bases. The matter became a scandal, and it was not till a number of examples had been made of R.A.M.C. orderlies that the practice ceased." A. F. S. on Publications of the Dugdale Society. Vol. I. Minutes and Accounts of the Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon and Other Records, 1553- 1620. Transcribed by Richard Savage, with Introduction and Notes by Edgar I. Fripp. Vol. i., 1553-1566. (Oxford, printed for the Dugdale Society by Frederick Hall, Printer to the University.) THE Dugdale Society was formed in January, 1920. Its object is to promote the study of the history and antiquities of Warwickshire, and the publication of documents which form the groundwork of that history. Warwickshire, as students know, is as rich as any part of England in such material, and the volume before us may be considered not merely as valuable in itself but as the earnest of a rich harvest. The whole enterprise is under the general editorship of Mr. Frederick C. Wellstood, who is much to be con- gratulated upon the very attractive appearance with which the work of the Society now comes before the public. The paper, printing, and proportions of margin and letterpress are all excellent, and the text of the documents is set