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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. i. APRIL 23, '98.

" Thus duelling, though a crime of the highest magnitude, has, time immemorial, been metamor- phosed into heroism." Anon., New Spectator (1784), No. v. p. 1.

" We all know that a shilling has been the price of an oath, time immemorial. "Morning Chronicle (1801), in 'Spirit of the Public Journals' (1802), vol. v. p. 338.

"As it has been the custom of all your prede- cessors, time immemorial, to take our sex under their immediate inspection," &c. H. W. L., in Miniature (1805), No. 29, 1T 3.

In the ensuing quotation, which is much older than any hitherto given, a learned author bulls it quite as completely as Mrs. Manley :

"Of whom, with the rest of his felowes, equal both in dignity and degree, it may be truly verified that their names shal live in glory from generation to generation, timeout ofminde." Thomas Staple- ton, translation of Bede's ' History of the Church of Englande ' (1565), fol. 160.

Constructions like " I had not before seen him [for] a long time" were once very fre- quent. F. H.

Marlesford.

THE FIR-CONE IN HERALDRY (9 th S. i. 207). Unless specially blazoned as pendent bend- ways or barways, &c., the fir-cone is depicted upright with the point towards chief and in a ripe but unopened state, as in Pyne or Pine, Gules, a chevron ermine between three pine- apples or, the charges being what we term pine or fir cones, and not the fruit known by that name. For a figure of this coat, vide Guillim, ' A Display of Heraldrie,' first ed., 1611, p. 109; 1679 ed., p. 101; or indeed any of the numerous editions of the work, which contain the following note:

" The pine tree was in much request in ancient times, for adorning of walkes about mansion houses ; according to that of the Poet :

Fraxinus in sylvis pulcherrima, Pinus in hortis, Populus in fluviis, Abies in montibus altis : The Ash in Woods makes fairest shew,

The Pine in Orchards nie : By River's best is Poplar's hew,

The Firre on Mountaines hie." Beyond this, I am not aware that it has any heraldic signification, ecclesiastical or other. WALTER CROUCH. Wan stead.

The fir-cone "naturally" points upwards, as in the well-known arms of the city of Augsburg; but occasionally it is "versed," and points downwards, as, for instance, in the shield of the French (Provence) family of "De Mayol de Luppe," which bears "De sinople a six pommes de pin versees d'or, posees 3, 2, et 1," to which MR. ARTHUR MAYALL possibly refers. The fir-cone has no more special heraldic signification than have

the other vegetable emblems frequently used, and can be blazoned in any colour or metal. It is depicted in a conventional shape, with the point either straight up or down, and not oblique, and both sides curvilinear in fact, " cone-shaped." MYRMIDON.

The customary method of depicting the pineapple or cone of the pine tree is erect and pendent, and according to Sloane Evans, if the position is not expressed, the stalk should be downwards, that is, the cone erect The blazon is often indefinite. The arms of the Pinon family and of Baron de Douzi are "D'azur, trois pommes de pin d'or" (2 and 1). In the former the cones are pendent, in the latter erect, showing how requisite it is to give the position and number in the blazon. The matured fruit will be depicted, and for the form some allowance should be made for the cones of the various species of pines, also for the imagination of the limner. The pine tree is an emblem or symbol of death and oblivion. JOHN KADCLIFFE.

"CAPRICIOUS" IN THE 'H.E.D.' (9 th S. i. 65). The note at this reference appears to me to be hypercritical. I think there is very little doubt the word is derived from the Italian capriccioso, whimsical, frisky, fitful, goatish, from capra, a goat. Prof. Skeat inclines to this belief, but ventures upon a second derivation, cajjo-riccio, a bristling of the hair, from capo-, a head, and riccio, bristling, which is certainly inadmissible, as riccio does not mean bristling, but a curl, frizzled. The word occurs in the following lines by a modern Italian poet, in which it is used in the sense of frisking like a kid or goat :

Quando lo vedo per la via fangosa,

Passar sucido e bello, Colla giachetta tutta in un brandello, Le scarpe rotte e 1' aria capricciosa.

Ada Negri, ' Biricchino di Strada.'

JOHN HEBB.

Canonbury Mansions, N.

DUELS IN THE WAVERLEY NOVELS (9 th i. 42, 169). ASTARTE is mistaken, I believe, ii his reference to the Englishman's Magazine I have a set of the volumes, and cannot fin( the passage mentioned, while in one article the novels are recommended without qualifi- cation. Further, the magazine was never issued in a weekly form, but only in monthly. The first thin volume (edited by Kev. W. 1 Teale, of Leeds) appeared in quarto in 1841 ; vols. ii., iii. were in octavo in 1842-3 ; and then the magazine was incorporated with the Christian Magazine, published at Manchester, and one small volume appeared in 1844 in duo- decimo under the title of The Englishman's and