Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/125

 9 th S. I. FEB. 5, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

117

" CREX " (9 th S. i. 67). The Cambridge word for wild bullace is not crex (or rather creeks) but crixes, or rather crickses or cricksies, pro nounced as glossic (kriks'iz). This is a double plural ; original form crecks-es, with the passing into i. At p. 83 of Mrs. Palliser' or wild-plum (see Littre), which was borne coloured gules, by the De Crequy family, on a field or. This formal heraldic tree with its seven plums was sometimes mistaken, ingenious blunderers, for a candlestick with seven branches. WALTER W. SKEAT.
 * Historic Devices ' is a picture of the crequiei

White bullaces in this parish and neigh bourhood are always called " winter cracks." W. D. SWEETING. Maxey, Market Deeping.

I find from inquiry amongst the market folk and others that the bullace is known by the term crickseys or cricksys in various districts, such as Trumpington, Wilbraham, Bottisham and the fen lands below, and even in parts of Hunts. The word is written solely from sound, as no one of my informants could say if that was the right way, never having seen it himself in print. The market people also know it as the " white " bullace, but the term above is better known locally, even as well as to the townspeople of Cambridge.

W. if. B.

Chesterton, Cambridge.

WEBBE THE MUSICIAN (8 th S. xii. 126). In reference to MR. F. T. HIBGAME'S note let me say that we have much more than " probable " evidence that Webbe was buried near the spot where the new monument stands. The stone was standing in 1869, when Mr. Cansick copied the inscription and published it in his book of St. Pancras epitaphs. Mr. D. Baptie, author of ' English Glee Composers,' remem- bers the place of the tombstone, which he missed on his last visit to the churchyard. He fixes the spot as close to that on which the granite obelisk now stands. I may add that I have just issued the audited accounts of the Memorial Fund to the subscribers. The total amount raised was 371. 10s., and I had to make up only a small deficiency.

J. SPENCER CURWEN.

" TIRLING-PIN " (8 th S. xii. 426, 478 ; 9 th S i 18, 58). I have a copy of ' The Book of Old Edinburgh,' by Dunlop, 1886, which has a sketch of the old house of Andrew Symson, the parson, author, and printer, who died in 1712 ; and I quote the following from its remarks upon the house :

"It is to be noted that on the door of this house in the old Edinburgh street, 5 there is a risp, or

ringle, or tirhng-pin, the modest, old-fashioned pre- cursor of door-knockers and door-bells. A risp was a twisted or serrated bar of iron standing out ver- tically from the door, provided with a ring, which, being drawn along the series of nicks, gave a harsh, grating sound, summoning the inmates to open. Tirling-pins are often mentioned in Scottish ballad literature, e.g., in 'Annie of Lochryan,' the 'Drowned Lovers,' 'Glenkindie,' and also in 'Sweet William s Ghost.' Ghosts and lovers, being modest in ballads, may have tirled at the pin that is, touched it gently but it was possible for a dun seeking money to make the ring grate along the risp in a way calculated to rasp the feelings of all within the house, and hence the homely name of ' a crow,' or, in Edinburgh parlance, 'a craw,' the noise being not unlike the croak of the raven. Andrew Symson, in a small Latin vocabulary, pub- lished in 1702, makes mention of this appliance by defining comix as ' a crow, a clapper or ringle.' See Chambers's Traditions.' "

W. S.

Under the word tirl in 'Northumberland Words,' Mr. K. O. Heslop makes reference to the " tirling-pin " as follows :

" To ' tirl at the door,' to ' tirl at the pin,' [is] to make a tearing or grating noise on the ' pin ' or door- handle with a 'tir ling- ring.' Doors were formerly provided with a long, notched iron handle, on which a loose iron ring was hung. Instead of rousing the house with a knock, the caller ' tirled ' the ring up and down the notches of the ' tirling- pin,' or handle, and produced the sound from which the apparatus took its name."

The method of "tirling" the ring here described is similar to that referred to by J. B. P. C. P. HALE.

ETCHINGS (8 th S. xii. 469). It is impossible bo answer this question properly. E. B. can only get a satisfactory answer by himself studying etching. Take two proofs of the same etching : one will be worth as many pounds as the other is shillings. There is nothing new in this ; it is the same with every- thing in art, or, for that matter, all first-class work. KALPH THOMAS.

'BESOM" (8 th S. xii. 489). Amongst some lotes I have been making on Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary' (Paisley, Alexander Gardner, 1879), I find the following :

Byssym, besum, vol. i. p. 201 (much more fre- [uently spelt bissum}, 'a woman of unworthy character. This is not at all a correct definition f the word. It has nothing to do with character, t has to do with characteristics. Many a bissum s of a perfectly irreproachable character. It is riore a nagging, ill -willy woman. The English quivalent is the ' Aggerawayter ' of Dickens in ' A ?ale of Two Cities.'"

To our Scotch notions the definition in the English Dialect Dictionary' is not exactly orrect either : " A term of reproach or con- empt applied to a woman, especially a r oman of loose or slovenly habits." A woman