Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/377

 9 ih S. I. MAY 7, '98.]

T-ti AND

f influential friends and relatives to obtain j commutation of the sentence. Can any leader of 'N. & Q.' kindly give the date t f such execution ? It was early in this cen- tury, but I am unable to ascertain it by ]3ierence to the 'Annual Register' or bio- graphical notices of Griffin.

J. FITZGERALD.

CRABE OF THE GREINE. In a booksellers' catalogue (H. Young & Son, Liverpool, Feb- ruary, 1898; is a manuscript scrap-book con- taining a large number of documents formerly belonging to Mr. W. H. Black, the antiquary, with his autograph, "E Bibliotheca Guil. Henr. Black (olim amici Joh. Farrent), Oxonii, A.D. 1833." On the fly-leaf is the following curious rhyme, said to be in a hand circa 1550 :

" Had I eatt ever when I lyst

And drank when I soyr thrist

And fowght when I was teine

Then had I never beine

Called Crabe of the Greine.

Written in Aberdene on y grave of one called Crabe of the grene and merchant of y e forsaid towne of Aberdene.

Who was Crabe of the Greine 1

JOHN HEBB.

Canonbury Mansions, N.

THE WORD "SCOTCH." Can any one say who it was that first introduced this hideous corruption into the English language ?

JACOB MONTEATH.

2, Percy Square, W.C.

EDWARD PARRY. Can any of your readers give me the pedigree of Edward Parry, rector of Llanferris, Denbigh, about 1795? His eldest son John, a serjeant-at-law, assassinated in the Caroline riots, 1825, was father of the late Serjeant Parry. Edward Parry married Grace Wynne. E. H. P.

THE ROMAN " POSCA." What was the posca of the Roman soldiers 1 Did it more nearly resemble our vinegar or a rough claret ? _ The lexicons generally say " vinegar, sour wine " ; but this is beautifully vague. If it was really vinegar, one finds difficulty in under- standing how a drink at once so nauseous and so unwholesome could have been in general use. I have looked up all the ancient authorities accessible to me, but can find nothing to decide the point definitely.

ALDEBARAN.

LENGTH OF SCOTCH FARM LEASES. A farm lease in Scotland is usually for nineteen years. How did it come to be for this specific period ? Has it anything to do with the Metonic period? R. HEDGER WALLACE.

THE SIEGE OF SIENA.

(9 th S. i. 168.)

THIS was the celebrated fifteen months' siege (Jan., 1554-April, 1555) endured by the city in the war between Henry II. of France and the Emperor Charles V. With favour of the French, Siena, under Piero Strozzi, rose against her hated Imperial garrison, com- manded by Don Juan de Luna and Don Diego de Mendoza, and drove it out. Thereupon Cosimo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, advanced with a Spanish-Italian army to besiege it. The Duke strongly desired possession of Siena, and had for some time carried on a vendetta with the Strozzi family. His generals were respectively Baglioni and Gian Giacomo di Medici, the notorious brigand of the Lake of Como, presently Marchese di Marignano, brother of the future Pius IV., and uncle of San Carlo Borromeo. The Marchese, failing to storm the city, invested her with one hundred and six squadrons, so as to reduce her by famine. Moreover, he desolated the country far and wide so pitilessly that scarce a tree was left standing upon which there did not hang the bodies of Maremman peasants. Pestilence duly followed. Here are a few items of the food- value during the blockade :

"II vino costava ducati 30 la soma. Galline, ducati cinque il pajo ; carne salata, soldi 50 la libbra ; formaggio, soldi 70 la libbra. Piccioni grossi, lire 12 il pajo; uove, soldi 20 la coppia."

Among those who held a command within the walls were Mancini dei Tommasi, Antonio Venturi, Girolamo Piccolomini, and Nicodemo Forteguerra. Each of these captains was appointed by the Gonfaloniere, Scipione Cnigi, and led 150 men. Nicodemo Forte-

fuerra, however, seems to have been sent by trozzi during the early portion of the siege into Piedmont (Saluzzo) in order to procure succours from the French, and he did not return until the siege was over. The name of Alessandro Forteguerra (probably his brother) likewise occurs during these events. Either of these may have been the husband or father of the heroic lady referred to by F. B.

The family of Forteguerra is an ancient one, and is not likely to become extinct. In 1172 Forese Forteguerra attained consular rank at Florence. In 1260 members of it had become citizens of Siena, and took part in very serious events.

In the interesting church of Sta. Cecilia, in Trastevere there is a beautiful fifteenth-