Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/395

 S. I. MAY 14, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

387

strosity, which appears in one or two of his levels. I may point out that " Hamish " is amply an attempt to represent phonetically 'Sheumuis," which is the vocative form of 'Seumus"= James. It would be just as sensible to call a child " Errish," because the vocative of " Feargus " is so pronounced. 4 Hamish " has the additional disadvantage vhat the a is almost certain to be mispro- nounced like German a.
 * xtent for the popularizing of this mon-

DONALD FERGUSON. Croydon.

<8itm.es,

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

" DEMON'S AVERSION." This is said to be a name for the plant vervain in Wales. In what part of Wales ? In a Welsh or English dialect? In Florio's 'Italian Dictionary' I find that caccia-diavoli ("a chace-devil ") is a name for St. John's wort ; c'p. Fuga demonum, " herba Sancti Johannis," in ' Sinonima Bar- tholomei,' ed. Mowat (1882).

A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

" DEWSIERS." This word is used in Berk- shire, Hampshire, and Wiltshire for the valves of a pig's heart. Is the word in use in any of the adjoining counties ? Its form points to a French derivation. It has been suggested that dewsier represents Old French jusier, the modern French ge'sier, the gizzard of a fowl ; but there are difficulties in the way of this etymology, both in form and meaning. A. L. MAYHEW.

R. L. STEVENSON. In the 'Dictionary of National Biography' Mr. S. Colvin says Stevenson wrote in Vanity Fair. Can any one say what these contributions were ?

JOHN D. HAMILTON.

" TURTHEL Cow." In the will of John de Welde,* of Aungre (Ongar), dated 1337, occur the following quaint particulars. His body to be buried in St. Margaret's, Aungre ; five pounds for expenses of burial ; a brown turthel cow, with its calf, to be led before the body on the day of burial for the mortuary ; a cow and three pounds of wax to maintain a candle burning daily at mass in St. Martin's parish church before the altar of St. Mary and

Mus. Cat., Desk D).
 * Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, Essex A. 466 (Brit.

St. Margaret ; a cow called Turtel, with its calf, to maintain a candle on every double festival in the year before the great altar in High Ongar Church, &c. Is turthel, turtel, equi- valent to turtle, i.e., tortoiseshell-coioured or pied 1 Was it a local term or general ; and does it still survive ?

I have just come upon this item, from the private account-book of George Stoddard, a London grocer in Elizabeth's reign : " For a lyttel whyt turtall, otherwyes a horse, 2 U ." ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

HOOK OF HOLLAND. Why is the Hoek van Holland (i.e., corner of Holland) persistently dubbed Hook of Holland? What is the grammatical term for the process here under- gone by the word Hoek 1 A. V. DE P.

BUNKER'S HILL. There are several places so called in England. Can the name be explained? It is not probable that it has any connexion with the American battle-field. One with which I am acquainted almost certainly bore the name before the days of the American War of Independence.

A. O. V. P.

HERALD'S VISITATION. Where is there to be seen a copy of the Visitation of North- amptonshire and Rutland, 1681? The ori- ginal is in the Heralds' College. Has it ever been printed? BERNARD P. SCATTERGOOD.

19, Grove Road, Harrogate.

SAMUEL IRELAND. Can any of your readers tell me who was Samuel Ireland, of Prince's Street, in the parish of Christ Church, Middle- sex ? He is witness to a will in 1780.

M.A.OxoN.

"ARE YOU THERE WITH YOUR BEARS?"

(See 4 th S. ix. 137, 178, 228, 310.) Sir Walter Scott seems to have been fond of this pro- verbial expression. He puts it in the mouth of the " dragon," i.e., Dan of the Howlet-hirst, in the " Abbot of Unreason " scene in ' The Abbot,' chap. xy. ; again, in the mouth of Anthony Foster in 'Kenil worth,' chap. iv. ; and yet again in the mouth of King James I. in 4 The Fortunes of Nigel,' chap, xxxii. Does any other eminent author introduce it into any of his books ? JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

PENNEFATHER OR PENNYFATHER. Can any one give me the name of the father and mother of Mat-hew Pennefather, Esq., cornet of horse, who was granted lands in co.Tipperaryin 1666? He died in 1688. His father is called Mathew in Burke's ' Landed Gentry,' but I have been informed that his father was Abraham Penne- father, son of the Rev. William Pennyfather,