Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/143

 s. x. AUG. IB, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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reverence for the Divine name. I know this was my own feeling as a child, when I, in common with most people round me, always said Gaud. My friends were mostly Wesley an Methodists (without ceasing to be Church- people), and I fancy this pronunciation was and is more common among Methodists than elsewhere. The use of Wesley's hymns would certainly foster it, for in them the o in " God " is often lengthened. Charles Wesley lengthens it to provide a rime to "endued" ; either he or his brother makes it rime with u abroad " (more than once), and Cowper, in a hymn included in the Wesleyan book, with "road." "Abode," "bestowed," "load," "stood," and even " loud " are Irsed as rimes, as also, it is fair to add, is " blood " ; but it is noticeable that in almost all cases where a true rime is not used the vowel is length- ened. I believe this is because it was customary to pronounce " God " slowly, from a feeling of awe.

The case is different as regards " coffee " and "broth." Your correspondent will do well to consult the 'H.E.D.'for the history of these words. He will there learn that the o in " coffee " represents an earlier au (from the Turkish kahveh), and that in " broth '' the vowel seems to have been originally long, early forms of the word (though not the very earliest) being " broath " and " broathe." Probably "cawffee" and "brauth are dialectal survivals. As to the general question of vowel-sounds, I do not think it is possible to arrange these by "shires," but my impression is that the broader and longer sounds are more heard in the southern than in the more northerly counties. C. C. B.

On Tyneside, and I should say in the North and Durham generally, the o in "note," &c., has still the pure sound. The a in "glass," &c., is also sounded almost the same as a in "cat." R. B-K.

" BARRACKED " (9 th S. ix. 63, 196,232,355, 514 ; x. 76). In contradiction to Prof. Morris's theory that barrack is derived from borak may be mentioned the fact that both words are still in use with well-defined differing meanings. Barrack is a verb the substan- tive being formed by the addition of -er while borak, so far as my observation goes, is always a noun, signifying chaff or banter. Thus a barracker, barracking for his favourite football team, will " poke borak " plentifully at the opposing side or their supporters. Any one who has heard the barracking at a Victorian football match, even at a consider- able distance, will be disposed to regard the word as a playful variant of barking, in the

same way that larrikin was derived from an Irish policeman's pronunciation of larking, per medium of an ingenious facetious police- court reporter in the early eighties. I can vouch for the fact that in 1885, when I arrived in Victoria, both words were well established, and that a police-court origin of barracking was current and apparently accepted.

E. STEVENS. Melbourne.

BYRON'S BUST BY BARTOLINI (9 th S. x. 47). The following appears in 6 th S. vi. 422, under the heading ' Busts and Portraits of Lord Byron ' :

" Marble bust by Bartolini, Pisa, 1822. Property of Lord Malmesbury. In an unpublished letter to Mr. Murray, Byron says, ' The bust does not turn out a good one, though it may be like for aught I know, as it exactly resembles a superannuated Jesuit.' "

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

CEILING INSCRIPTION IN SHROPSHIRE (9 th S. ix. 386). The arrangement of the panel- ling, and the ornamentation within the panels, of the ceiling in the old house at Wilderhope, in the parish of Rush bury, are almost identical with ceilings in the abbot's house at the abbey ^t Build was, and in a small house, probatly a grange of the' abbey, distant from it about a mile and a half. The ornamentation in the small house consists of the Tudor rose, fleur-de-lys, a stellate flower, and shields, one bearing the word IESU, the other having the Prince of Wales's plume. The ceiling in the abbot's house is enriched with much foliate work in the rectangular spaces, and in addition to the other devices (excepting the star flower) has the portcullis, and at the intersections of the rectangles a panel with motto. The reverse order is curious, but it appears to be intended to read as MAL MEV EST DEV DROiT. Their order at Wilderhope is given differently, thus : MEV EST DEV IAM DROIT ; but the fourth word should no doubt be MAL. It is possible a terminal consonant may be omitted from MEV and DEV. The work at Build was is excellently done ; but the room at the abbey has been divided, and the ceiling much damaged in consequence. The use of the Tudor badges would indicate an intentional design and strong party loyalty in the owner. Whether the letters E E refer to the owner is doubtful.

Herefordshire and South Shropshire were strongly Yorkist. King Edward IV. granted representation in Parliament to the borough of Ludlow, and also to the territorial area, which he constituted a municipal borough, still known as the Borough of Wenlock,