Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/262

 254 NOTES AND QUERIES. tr s. x. SEPT. 27,. im

nexion prompts to a further investigation of Cotgrave's dictionary, where (edition of 1632) we meet with the curious phrase bailler foin en come." As the sentence is repeated under three headings, each time with an amplified definition, it may be well to give them all. Under the word ' Bailler it occurs thus : " Bailler foin en corne. To giue one the boots, to sell him a bargaine. Under ' Corne ' the meaning is expanded thus : Io deceiue, cousen, gull, giue a gleeke, sell a bargaine." Under ' Foin ' occurs the further definition, to " giue a gudgeon."

In the first definition the remarkable juxtaposition of " corne " and " boots " may be a mere coincidence. This, however, by the way ; the chief point is the French phrase itself. It appears to mean literally, " to present hay on the horn, or on a pair of horns " (en corne) ; in other words, on the prongs of a pitchfork, or, maybe, on the spike of a spear. The tender is to all appear- ance innocent, but the wisp of hay con- ceals the point ready to pierce, just as, in the popular fiction, the keys of the fortress concealed the spear point on which they were carried.

MK. NBILSON'S citations (ante, p. 61) indi- cate that corn-bote, or horn requital, was a figure of speech familiar to the contempo- raries of the ' Bruce ' and ' Morte Arthure.' May we not suppose it to represent the four- teenth-century form of an allusive phrase similar to "foin en corne'"? And if Cot- grave's instance be correctly interpreted, may it not afford a clue to the original meaning of corn-bote ?

It happens that in Northumberland at the

present day, when an action is performed to

all appearance in good faith, but in reality

deceitfully, and for some sinister purpose, it

is said to be done "the horny way." If in

this the vulgar tongue preserves a reference

to a once current, but now forgotten allusion,

may it not be related in some way to this

same corne-bote? The sentences "He sail

hafe corne bote " and " Thow has corn botte,

sir kynge," thus tested, would read, "He

shall have bote the horny way," " Thou

hast bote, sir king the horny way," or, as

ME. NEILSON defines it, " a quid pro quo in

kind." R. OLIVER HESLOP.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Skene, in his 'De Verb. Signif. ' (1681), voce ' Bote,' says that " Bote is ane auld Saxon word signifying compensation or satisfac- tion, as man-tote, kinbote, tkiefbote, the first being assithmept for the slauchter of ane man, the second for that of ane kinsman," and thief bote being " quhen ony man agries

with ane thiefe and puttes him frae the law." He does not touch corn-bote.

J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

CROSSING KNIVES AND FORKS (9 th S. viu. 325, 433 ; ix. 14, 357 ; x. 74). Amongst the vil- lage folk in the Westmorland dales the kmle and fork were always crossed on the plate, and the latter pushed a little away to indicate the repast was finished ; not to do so was considered ill-bred sixty years ago When more food was required the knife and fork were retained in one hand whilst it was being supplied. I have also noticed old people, when they have finished drinking tea, bring the teaspoon to the near side of the cup. Crossed knives are esteemed unlucky, but not a knife and fork. M. E. N.

ITALIAN BELL (9 th S. ix. 406). -Having visited every cathedral city and provincial capital in Portugal and Spain, and read or copied many inscriptions on mediaeval bells in the towers of the Iberian Peninsula, I venture to inform MR. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY that a good number of them closely resemble that which he describes as transferred to Hendon. I could supply him with a few examples. A notable instance is to be seen in the bell-tower of the once cathedral church and Benedictine monastery of San Pedro de Siressa, near the French frontier in Upper Aragon, in the diocese of Jaca. That place ranked for centuries, until the kingdom was delivered from the Moors, as the civil and ecclesiastical capital of Aragon. In the blocked-up crypt under the sanctuary ot its massive, sculptureless, cruciform, Romanesque church it is believed that there are entombed the bodies of certain kings of Aragon and "bishops of St. Peter." E. S. DODGSON. San Sebastian.

' JACK-IN-THE-BOX" (9 th S. x. 190). No notice of the jack of the virginal earlier than 1598 though probably it may be traced back to 1530, the date of the first mention ^of vir- ginals" known to me appears in the H.Ji.lJ., whereas " jack of the box," as an opprobrious byname for the sacrament, belongs to 1555, and " jack in the [or a] box" denoted a sharper or cheat in 1570 (see also Nares's ' Glossary ). As a name for the toy it is not mentioned before 1702. In this case, however, dates prove nothing. The term " jack " is of such manifold use that its application to one object is independent of its application to another. Any machine or working part ot a machine might be called a jack : the list ot jacks set forth in the ' H.E.D.' is tremendous