Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/198

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2nd s. N" 10., MAR. 8. '50.

employed in " marbling " calf book-covers, and the effects produced upon the leather by the acid stains placed there years ago, causing a corrosion of the leather in places, spots and streaks upon the surface that may be scraped into powder by the finger-nail. I am a great admirer of marbled calf and all natural stains upon book-bindings, except where they destroy the surface of the leather. " Tree marbled " and " French dab " patterns, effected by iron black and Tartan brown, not deeply stained are durable ; those produced by vitriol and other burning acids ought to be avoided, for though beautiful at first, become in time rotten where touched by the destructive chemical.

The dyeing of calf skins has almost superseded the binder's stains so familiar to the last genera- tion a beautiful process that I would not abolish from my shelves ; my Note being merely one of warning to the lovers of good bindings against the elaborate marbles effected by acids deleterious to leather. LUKE LIMNER, F.S.A.

Regent's Park.

" Winchelsea" its Etymology. I have never been satisfied with the derivations of this name, as given by ancient and modern historians, viz. :

" Wincel-angulus ; Ea, mare ; a nook or bend of the sea coast."

" Wind, chills, sea ; Friget mare ventus." " Wind, chelseum ; exposed to winds." " Wind cold island," or " Cold wind island."

The first syllable, Win, we find as a prefix to the names of several places, as TFi'ncanton, Win- borne, Winchester. It is derived from the British gwent, white ; which the Romans converted into venta, and the Saxons transformed into winta. Thus, Caer gwent, the white city, became Venta Belgarum ; then Winta ceaster, Winchester. The second syllable is probably derived from the Saxon word Ceosel, chysel, chesil, gravel, or shingle ; the transformation into chyls, or chels, being easy and natural enough. The third syllable is manifestly from the Saxon Ig, Ey, Ea, island. Thus Win- chysel-ea, or Win-chyls-ea, would signify " white shingle island;" and might have been appro- priately applied by the early inhabitants to the piece of land consisting of sand and shingle washed up by the sea, and surrounded by it at high tide, on which the ancient town of Winchelsea was built ; and from thence the name was transferred to the town itself. W. S.

Hastings.

Lady Arabella Denny, The following piece of information, as given in Edwards' s Cork Remem- brancer (p. 196.), may be worthy of a corner in " N. & Q." :

" 1760. The thanks of the governors of the workhouse of Dublin were presented to Lady Arabella Denny for her unremitting attention to the foundling children, but particularly for a clock lately put up at her ladyship's

expense in the nursery, -with the following inscription : ' For the benefit of infants protected by this hospital, Lady Arabella Denny presents this clock, to mark, that as the children reared by the spoon must have but a small quantity of food at a time, it must be offered fre- quently; for which purpose this clock strikes every twenty minutes, at which notice all the infants that are not asleep must be discreetly fed." "

Village Signs. The following rhyme might, until recently, have been seen under the sign- board of the "Fox Tavern," at Frandley [Frank- by?], Cheshire :

" Behold the Fox, near Frandley Stocks,

Pray catch him when you can ; For they sell here good ale and beer, To any honest man."

J. K.

Epitaph at Kailzie. The following quaint epitaph I copied from a tombstone in the church- yard belonging to what was formerly the parish church of Kailzie, near Peebles :

" Gulielmus Horsburgh,

De eodem obiit

Edinburg Septimo

Julii, 1711, anno

^Etat xxiv.

" Of four and twenty years of age here lies Th' apparent chief of two old families : The Horsburgh of that Ilk, and Tait of Pirn, Lies in one person in his isle and urn ; A man of courage, strength, and comley feature, Of a good temper and obliging nature."

P. D.

Monkshood. Two cases of dogs eating this plant (the Ac.onitum napeUus) have occurred within two years in Yarmouth, Norfolk. Now as it, as well as the A. lycoctonum, is also called wolfs- bane, and is said to have been used for destroying wolves, the question occurs, how was it adminis- tered ? The dogs above-mentioned ate the green leaves and stems when it first appeared in the garden in spring. One died in convulsions in twenty minutes ; the other's life was saved by the copious administration of castor oil. But both were pets, and might therefore eat it from a de- praved appetite, instead of grass which, as is well known, dogs eat when they require an emetic. It does not seem probable that wolves or other animals in a state of nature would commit a similar mistake with such a pungent and acrid plant. Could it have been mixed with carrion and laid as a bait for wolves ? It may be doubted whether this would effectually conceal its taste, and also whether putrid flesh would not be an antidote to it, or at least diminish its virulence.

I have read somewhere, that in our war with Nepal, the Nepales poisoned the wells with a plant called bikh Aconitum ferox and that its pernicious effects were neutralised by adding putrid horseflesh to the water. This result must be due to the same chemical process which renders