Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/204

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. SEW. e, 1902.

attentively, appears to be unwarranted. I regret, too, that I did not make myself acquainted with his interesting essay dealing with the subject, and thank him for direct- ing my attention to it; but I had not the Eighth Series available for reference at the time I wrote. I have since read the article in question, but still see no reason to think otherwise than that in this phrase we have merely a poetic allusion to the universally acknowledged sway of Cupid a divinity constantly identified with the erotic passion by the poets and dramatists of the seven- teenth century, and so ubiquitous in its literature as to warrant the assumption that the numerous instances where " babies " and " naked boys " occur to express figuratively the " love-light " in the eye are but cavalier variations of and synonymous for "Cupids." In the following quotations the image is directly likened to that of " the boy with the bird-bolt "the "winged wag," as Ben Jon- son prettily designates him in his ' Hue and Cry after Cupid ' leaving no room to doubt, one would have thought, what kind of " babies " is meant in the more numerous passages where that word is used instead of " Cupids ":-

A thousand Cupids from her eyes Shoot all at once at me. Drayton, ' The Quest of Cynthia,' verse 35.

Fidelia to Manley :

"Pray have you a care of gloating eyes; for he that loves to gaze upon 'em will find at last a thou- sand fools and cuckolds in 'em instead of Cupids " Wycherley, 'Plain Dealer,' Act IV. sc. i. The Naiads, sitting near upon the aged rocks, Are busied with their combs, to braid his verdant

locks

Whilst in their crystal eyes he doth for Cupids look. Drayton, ' Polyolbion,' song xi. 1. 129. J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

To those who are studying this question the following quotation may be of interest. It is taken from the Rev. S. Baring-Gould's new story 'Nebo the Nailer,' now running serially in the Quiver :

" She stood below. There was not room for two on the steps. He was above. The evening sun shone upon her pleasant face as it was lifted to speak

.. im ,i and lfc s P ar .kled in her large dark eyes

Ihey tell, said Bessie, 'that there is a golden fish swims in this well, but it is only visible by the elect on Midsummer Day.'

I see two holy wells, deep and crystal clear, and a go d-hsh in each,' said Fred, looking down into the limpid orbs of Bessie.

'It is the sun,' explained the girl, colouring, it is the precious soul priceless beyond gold- deep beneath,^ said Fred."- fade chap. xlii.

JOHN T West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

BIRMINGHAM: "BRUMAGEM" (9 th S. x. 22, 112). Dr. Samuel Parr, who died in 1825 at Hatton, in Warwickshire, renowned as a scholar, said that the name of the town was Bromwycham properly Broorn-wych-ham from which the transition to Brummagem is easy. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

PEPYS AND SANDERSON FAMILIES (9 th S. x. 108). For the pedigree of Richard Pepys, of Great Bartholomew, London, citizen and upholder, devisee of his father's property at Burnham Westgate, Norfolk, your corre- spondent may consult Mr. Walter Courtenay Pepys's ' Genealogy of the Pepys Family, 1273-1887' (London, George Bell & Sons, 1887), Pedigree IV., ' First Norfolk Branch,' if the book is not already familiar to him.

C. E. D.

"HOPING AGAINST HOPE" (9 th S. x. 63). Does not this curious phrase arise from a misquotation of Romans iv. 18, " Who in hope believed against hope " (R.V.)?

FRED. G. ACKERLEY.

British Vice-Consulate, Libau, Russia.

DOSET HALL (9 th S. ix. 288, 433). I have duly noted W. B. H.'s reply to my query hereon, and thank him for it. But the main queries still remain unanswered viz., Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' supply particulars of the history of it? And can " Martyn," " Mar- tin," or "Martin Novell" be explained as the then name for Merton? How did "Nevell" come to be added? Would the Gentleman's Magazine have any mention or illustrations of Doset Hall 1 If so, in what year? JOHN A. RANDOLPH.

KNURR AND SPELL (9 th S. ix. 385, 452, 511; x. 111). Forty years ago a game, the same as that described by MR. PAGE, was played by lads on Tyneside, and I daresay it is still played there. What was its name, if it had a name, I forget. The objects used were a narrow piece of wood, about three or four inches long, flat on one side, curved from end to end on theother, known as a " trippet," a large marble, and a bat. The marble was placed in a hollow made for it at one end of the trippet, the opposite end was then struck by the bat; by this the marble was thrown into the air, and the object was to hit the marble while in the air with the bat and drive it as far as possible. R. B R.

Fox (9 th S. x. 108). Charles Fox, the eldest surviving son of Sir Stephen Fox by his wife Elizabeth Whittle, was born in 1659, and King Charles II. was his godfather. Before