Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/123

 9<* s. x. ATTO 9, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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may be further noted that the bank occupied the site of the premises of Messrs. Harley & Co., bankers, the latter bank having become extinct in 1789. There was a house here with the sign of the " Cock " in 1734, in the occupation of Thomas Stevenson. Possibly the iron slab appertained to tbis date, when street signs had not yet been abolished, as well as to the date it bore, namely, 1652. The relic was, I believe, preserved on the premises. Possibly it was of ^Esculapian origin, for the cock and serpent were sacred to the god of healing, and I believe there was, and still is, a similar representation of the " Cock and Serpents " to be seen let into the front wall of a house in Lower Church Street, Chelsea.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

ME. W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY'S note is ob- viously derived from the long re'sume' of the history of Messrs. Smith & Payne's bank published in the Daily Telegrapli, 17 June. This, in due order, is "inspired" by that familiar work 'The Handbook of London Bankers,' by Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, who quotes from Mr. F. Martin's ' Stories of Banks and Bankers.' This evolution is interesting, but it is to be regretted that the con- tributor of the note to these pages did not think it necessary to refer to original autho- rities. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

DOWNIE'S SLAUGHTER (9 th S. ix. 367, 474). Instances of death due to fear were legendary even in the sixteenth century. In his essay 'Of the Force of Imagination' Montaigne, as translated by Cotton, writes thus :

" Some there are who through fear prevent the hangman ; like him whose eyes being unbound to have his pardon read to him, was found stark dead upon the scaffold, by the stroak of imagination."

THOMAS BAYNE.

SCHAW OF GOSPETRY (9 th S. x. 8). Is MR. CRAWFORD acquainted with what has already appeared in ' N. & Q.' respecting the Schaws of Ganoway, c. Down, about the years 1033-41? See 7 th S. i. 169.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. " CORN-BOTE " IN BARBOUR's ' BRUCE ' (9 th S.

x. 61). I thank MR. NEILSON for his sug- gestion, viz., that the right reading in 'Bruce,' ii. 438, is corn-hut, where but is the mod. E. boot, a recompense. Cf. fut for "foot" (iii. 418),

I was rather sorry than otherwise to see Mrs. Banks's edition of the 'Morte Arthure.' It tells us little that is new, and stands in the way of a much better edition, such as might otherwise have been offered. I have myself noticed many possible improvements, and I

know there are others who have done the same. At any rate, Mr. Gollancz drew my attention to corn-bote long ago. We do not believe that corne has anything to do with the E. corn, or is an English word at all. Surely it is the French corne, a horn, used metaphorically as the symbol of pride, and is closely related to escomer, which meant to dis- horn, or to take a man down. As Cotgrave says, corne prendre meant " to wax proud," and escomer is "to dishorn, to disgrace." Corn - bote is requital for pride, a taking down. MR. NEILSON should have quoted just two more lines from the 'Morte Arthure,' viz., 11. 1840-1, which throw a strong light on the context :

Thow skornede us lang ere with thi slcornefidl wordez, And nowe hast thow cheuede soo ; it is thyn awen skathe,

i.e., "You scorned, us formerly, and now you have been repaid in kind ; it is your own turn to suffer now."

I was careful to say in my glossary to the 'Bruce,' s.v. 'But,' "The reading is perhaps corrupt." My explanation was merely a forced explanation of a reading which I distrusted. I should now explain the line by " we shall, in some measure, requite them with a recom- pense for their pride," though corne is, more strictly, the outwaraL/md visible expression of pride, very evident in the scornful cry of Sir Philip de Mowbray in 1. 416, " Help ! help ! 1 have the new-maid king."

We live and learn. Here are three examples of a word not in the great ' English Diction- ary.' WALTER W. SKEAT.

It does not seem unlikely that this may be a satirical reference to the ancient custom of "acervation," in'which the amount of com- pensation was estimated by pouring "clean wheat " upon the body of the slain until it was completely hidden. See 9 th S. viii. 70, &c.

W. C. B.

In such a case as this one regrets to see no reference to any light the ' N.E.D.'may throw on the passage in question, for it seems to me that this invaluable lexicon affords a solution to the. corn-bote enigma. Under 'Choose' (A 6) the past participle corn is registered, and a couple of columns are devoted to boot, sb. 1. of which bote is but a variant. The general sense of this latter word is "advan- tage, profit, avail, remedy, compensation": but the " especial " meaning of " a medicinal cure or remedy" appears to be appropriate here. Sir Cador ironically vows the king shall have a choice remedy for homicidal brag, and, after administering it personally, indulges in further satire at the expense of