Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/282

 274

AND QUERIES. L9 tk s. t APRIL 2, '98.

heie istihd ; al wiSufce broche " occurs at p. 424 of the book, in a context enjoining the raiment to be worn and the demeanour to be observed by the nuns, and is rendered by the editor, " Let their hesmel be high pointed ; none to wear a broach," a manuscript reading being " Hare cop beo hecje i-sticched." The rendering is doubtful, and the subsequent explanations in the glossarial index do not clear the obscurity: "Hesmel, a collar, or opening for the head to pass through, at the top of a garment made in the form of a shirt or blouse," suggested by the Icelandic hals- mdl, as explained by Haldorson ; " istihd, raised [pierced 1 ? A.-S. stician\j A.-S. stigan, to ascend." Hesmel is entered in Stratmann- Bradley's ' Dictionary,' with the queried de- finition of " collar " and without any con- jecture of etymology. F. ADAMS. 106A, Albany Road, Camberwell.

" TKOD "=FOOTPATH (8 th S. xii. 444 9 th S. i. 54). This word is also in use in North- umberland. I find it given in Mr. E. O. Heslop's ' Northumberland Words '=a beaten path, a track. MR. PEACOCK'S mention of the footpath known as " Milner's Trod " recalls to mind that there is a road or track in or near the town of Middlesbrough, known by the name of " Sailors' Trod." Could any reader explain the origin of this name 1

0. P. HALE.

EEGISTEKS OF GUILDHALL CHAPEL (9 th S.i. 188). Nearly five-and-thirty years ago JOHN S. BURN, the author of ' The History of Parish Registers in England,' sought, through the columns of 'N. & Q.' (3 rd S. iv. 326), for the whereabouts of the Register of Marriages at Guildhall Chapel, but without success. He stated it was not to be found at the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, as represented by Peter Cunningham in his ' Handbook of London Past and Present.'

Twenty years passed away, when MR. J. E. PRICE, author of the ' Descriptive Account of the Guildhall of the City of London,' made a similar inquiry (6 th S. x. 47), but he also failed to obtain the required information.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

LANCASHIRE CUSTOMS (8 th S. xi. 285, 398; xii. 516; 9 th S. i. 172). The custom at Crosby of praying for the soul of the dead while still unburied is not peculiar to Lancashire. It is practised by Catholics in all parts of the world. GEORGE ANGUS.

St. Andrews, N.B.

"PLURALITY" (9 th S. i. 124). This word, in the American tongue, and in the instance

cited at the above reference, does not mean " majority," but has a special political mean- ing. For the election of a candidate in the United States a majority, as a rule, is not required, but the person having the largest number of votes is elected, even although he receives much less than a majority of the whole number of votes cast. F. J. P.

Boston, Mass.

HOST EATEN BY MICE (8 th S. xii. 263, 330, 514). Sir Martin Bowes was the Lord Mayor who interrogated Anne Askew :

"L. Mayor: 'What, yf a mowse eate yt after the consecration, what shalbecome of the mowse ? what sayeste thow, thow folyshe woman?' Anne Askew : ' What shall become of hur say you, my lord.' L. Mayor: 'I say that that mowse is damned.' Anne Askew: 'Alack, poore mowse!'" See ' Reminiscences of John Louth,' Camden Society, 1859.

AYEAHR.

The question which MR. J.G. ALGERsays was propounded to Anne Askew can apparently be traced to an inaccurate recollection of the following passage in her account of her examination, recorded by Foxe in his ' Actes and Monumentes' (ed. 1576, vol. ii. p. 1205, col. 2) :

" Besides this, my L. Maior laid one thing vnto my charge, which was neuer spoken of me, but of them : and that was, whether a mouse eating the host, receiued god or no? This question did I neuer aske, but in dede they asked it of me. Wherunto I made them no answer, but smiled."

When, a few days later, a priest put a similar question to her, she bade him "assoyle" it himself. W. G. BOSWELL-STONE.

Beckenham.

The * Select Works of Bp. Bale 'containing as much of the writings of that coarse contro- versialist as the prudent Parker Society dared print has the two " Examinations" of Anne Askew. The reference on p. 154 will be found not to support the story which ASTARTE asks about. EDWARD H. MARSHALL.

Hastings.

WIFE VERSUS FAMILY (9 th S. i. 185). It may be because I am a " Britisher" that I do not see any want of politeness in the custom of which WIDOW complains. Indeed, it might reason- ably be construed as an indication of superior politeness. Originally a man's " family " in- cluded his servants. To exclude his widow from the scope of the term would seem, there- fore, to give ner a higher position than if she were included in it. But this is to consider too curiously. To say that a man who dies childless leaves no family, even though he leaves a widow, results naturally from our habit of speaking of a man's wife and famiJy,