Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/504

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. JUNE 18, '98.

"Sirs, yf ye wyll aduenture to remedy this matter, it behouethe that in this towne of Gaunte, ye renewe an olde auncyent custome, that some- time was vaed in this towne, and that is, that ye brynge vp agayne the whyte hattes, and y* they maye haue achiefe ruler, to whom they may drawe, and by him be ruled. These wordes were gladly herde, and than they sayd all with one voyce, we wyll haue it so, lette vs reyse vp these whyte hattes. Than there were made whyte hattes, and gyuen and deluyered to such as loued better to haue warre than peace, for they had nothing to lese." Berners's ' Froissart,' 1523, f. 225.

R. R.

Boston, Lincolnshire.

In an article in Walford's Antiquarian Magazine for September, 1887, which was editorially named * Vulgar Etymologies,' but which was practically an endeavour to find an etymology for the word cad#=hat, pre- viously propounded by a writer signing " George (perhaps Mr. George Red way, the publisher or the magazine ?), and in which I made my debut as a blunderer in literature (as in other things), I endeavoured to show the connexion of the donkey of the white hat with the white hat of the miller. Perhaps the original Radical "dickey " was the uncom- promising son Richard of the miller of Mans- field. THOMAS J. JEAKES.

WILL FOUND (9 th S. i. 405). The confusion of dates suggested by the editorial note is cleared up by assuming that the docu- ment reported to have been discovered was the probate of the will, and not the original instrument. The latter would have no national " official stamp " impressed on or attached to it by way of seal, the former would. It may well be that a will dated 1646 did not obtain probate until several years afterwards. The probate is now in- variably engrossed on parchment, but during the Protectorate paper might have been em- ployed, or the word "paper" in the report may be a misdescription, which, considering the alleged state of preservation in which the relic was when found, I imagine is pro- bably the case. NEMO.

Temple.

LENGTH OF FOOT MEASURE (9 th 8. i. 388). Without consul ting the authorities mentioned, I find strong reasons for doubting whether our measure has varied as late as Henry VII. Westminster Hall, built by Richard II., is exactly 66 feet wide, or four perches. The spire of Salisbury, finished under Edward III., is just 400 feet from the pavement, and the severies of the nave 20 feet each. Many old walls are 2 ft. 9 in. thick, or a sixth of a perch. E. L. GARBETT.

"ARE YOU THERE WITH YOUR BEARS'?' 3

(9 th S. i. 387.) I cannot answer MR. BOUCHIER'S query, but to his references may be added an earlier quotation of the phrase noted than has yet appeared in ' N. & Q.' Howell, in his 'Instructions for Forreine Travel!,' 1642, p. 20 (Arber's ed.), warning travellers against the habit of alloying French with Anglicisms, gives an instance of an Englishman who, " when at the racket court he had a ball struck into

his hazard would ever and anon cry out, estea

vous la avec vos Ours, Are you there with your Beares ? which is ridiculous in any other language but English, for every speech hath certaine Idiomes, and customary Phrases of its own, and the French, of all other, hath a kind of contumacy of phrase, in respect of our manner of speaking, proper to it selfe."

W. G. BOSWELL-STONE. Beckenham.

SWANSEA (9 th S. i. 43, 98, 148, 194, 370, 433). PROF. SKEAT seems to have shifted his ground. The original challenge was as to the possibility of initial s becoming sw before e, " or indeed any other vowel," in English. I gave an instance showing the possibility of such a development before the vowel o. Either o is not a vowel, or I have fairly met the learned professor's challenge. But no ; everybody who has read PROF. SKEAT'S or Dr. bweet's handbooks knows perfectly well that English o is really ow ; and, as I must be convicted of something, that little fact con- victs me at once of ignorance of those eminent authorities' works. If, however, the learned professor had had the patience to read, even cursorily, my short note, he would have seen that the little remark appended to James Payn's " S'help me " implied a consciousness of the facts as to o. But then my example is "ridiculously inapplicable" to Norman- French, which is probable enough and so it may be to Japanese so far as I know. I have never, as it happens, even mentioned Norman-French in reference to the derivation of Swansea. So far my note, like the Ameri- can quack's famous pill, which has afforded so much innocent amusement to Latin versi- fiers, has "attended strictly to business." But I cannot part so with the veteran philologist to whose works I owe so much, in spite of his disbelief. At the very time when his formidable projectile was being launched at my humble notice of Col. Mor- gan's and MR. KOBERTS'S papers, I happened to quote the familiar phrase "the story of Cambuscan bold " within the hearing of some young people, who thereupon asked me for some information respecting it. I got up and fetched PROF. SKEAT'S Clarendon Press edition of the ' Squier's Tale,' and read some?