Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/56

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. JULY 19, 1902.

I should be glad to know if any gallery or private collection claims to have the original bust or a replica of it ; and whether it was the custom of Bartolini to execute replicas of his work. EMILY JOURDAIN.

63, Chesterton Road, Cambridge.

O AND ITS PRONUNCIATION. Will some one learned in the changes undergone by English speech inform me when it first oecame fashion- able to pronounce " God " as Gaud, " coffee " as cauffee, and " broth " as braiith ? When, too, did such words as "go," "note," and "oh !" take their present accepted sound, in which the vowel is no longer pure, as French novelists have noticed, since they write the English " oh !" as aoh ! to represent the insu- lar pronunciation ? Has any one ever shown in which of our counties the various vowel- sounds now considered correct are naturally current? In which shires, for instance, has the a in "glass," "grass," or " path " the value of a in " father," and in which does the sound more nearly resemble the a in " cat " ?

G. W.

DICTIONARY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY. Is there an English guide or dictionary to Greek mythology, containing brief accounts of the less-known myths, outside the popular cycles?

L. K.

[We are aware of no work of the kind other than the well-known dictionaries of Lempriere and Smith.]

DOUGLAS. James and John Douglas were admitted to Westminster School in 1768, William Douglas in 1771, and another Wil- liam Douglas in 1785. Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' help me to identify these names ?

G. F. B. B.

THE GHOST AT THE FUNERAL.' Who is the author of the poem entitled ' The Ghost at the Funeral ' ? The first two verses are, 1 think, in these words :

The funeral pageant fills the aisles : Slowly they come, all robed in black.

The poem was published anonymously about twenty -five years ago, and I understand was, at that time, supposed to be written by Longfellow. WM. A. PLUNKETT.

San Francisco.

THE CUCKING STOOL OR DUCKING STOOL. (See every General Index.) Among the 'Ordinaunces of the Towne of Nethe made by the Constable, Porterive, and the Burgesses of the saide Towne,' in 1542, is the following :

"item, if any woman doe scoulde or Rage any Burgesse or his wyfe or any other person and his wife, if shee be found faultye in the same by sjxe men, then shee to bee broughte, at the first defaulte to the Cooking stoole, and there to sitt one houre,

at the second defaulte, twoe houres, and at the third defaulte, to lette slipp the, pynn or els pay a good fyne to the Kinge." P. 4 of the copy in G. G. Francis's ' Original Charters and Materials for a History of Neath and its Abbey,' Swansea, 1835.

What is the exact meaning of the words italicized? O. O. H.

[Is not the meaning that the woman was at the third offence let into the water by the withdrawing of the pin ?]

SIXTEENTH -CENTURY DUEL. I find in a not very legible MS. an account of a duel or combat, temp. Queen Elizabeth, in which one combatant seems to have been armed with " baculus cum forcipe et pugione," and the other with rapier and (apparently) sica the last word not very legible. What was the distinction between pugio and sica ? How would such a combat oe fought ? LOBUC.

"CARE, VALE." Who was the author of " Care, vale, sed non seternum, care, valeto " ?

ASTARTE.

"HARRY DICK HAT": "ADELAIDE WAIST- COAT." What were the peculiarities of these articles of attire? They occur in a pro- gramme of Coronation sports held nere 28 June, 1838. The items in which they occur are : " The celebrated Grecian Game called Penny-Loavesand Treacle, for a splendid Harry Dick Hat." " Eating Hot Hasty Pud- ding, for a dashing Adelaide Waistcoat."

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

"ARMADA" CHESTS. How many of these made of the oak of the famous fleet still survive ? They would at first be numerous ; the wood was seasoned, partly worked, was to be had in every seaport, and had that subtle flavour of honour and glory which suggested the tradition (if fact it be not) that our famous Middle Temple Hall screen was made of it. Yet the name died out, and it was only after I had bought my specimen at a country farm sale that an old man told me, " Us calls them Armada chests." And its appearance corroborated it, its original white having toned down into paly gold, and its hinges being hooks. Experts date it about 1590. A very similar one, attributed to Anne Hatha- way, occurred in Christie's sale of the Hornsby Shakespeariana, 4 June, 1896, lot 101,' bought by Mr. Sotheran for 81. 5s. These Hornsbys were Stratford folk, probably traceable now, claimed descentfrom Joan Hart, once tenanted Shakespeare's house, and when evicted therefrom opened a museum across the road where this chest figured. The sale was made by their people. My chest is 54 in. by 21 in. wide, is carved with scroll-