Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/200

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 h 8. XL MARCH 7, 1903.

." At p. 50 there will be found a com- munication from MR. OSBORNE ALDIS, 2, Chesham Place, Belgrave Square, who pos- sessed the first and sixth editions. Another contributor (see 2 nd S. v. 82) describes the difference in six of the titles. Further de- tails of the pages in question will be found at pp. 322, 400, and at 2 nd S. vi. 72 ; x. 155.

Possibly these references will be of assist- ance to MR. WRIGHT.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

" CYCLEALITIBS " (9 th S. xi. 109). This word has figured for some years in the advertise- ments, in the cycling papers, of a certain manufacturer of cycle accessories. That particular trade (cycle manufacture) is re- sponsible for many uncouth novelties in the English language. What sport has not its own mysterious and uncanny dialect and slang? JOHN A. RANDOLPH.

I received some months since a little hand- book and price-list of " cyclealities " from a Birmingham firm, whose advertisement I see in the C.T.C. Gazette. I fancy the term is of their coinage, and I had hoped that, at any rate, they alone would use it. C. C. B.

HOTSPUR'S BODY (9 th S. xi. 50). Prof. James Tait, in his account of Sir Henry Percy in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.,' says as follows :

" His body, over which the king is said to have shed tears, was delivered to his kinsman, Thomas Neville, Lord Furnival, who buried it in his family chapel at Whitchurch, sixteen miles north of the battlefield. But a day or two later, in order to prevent any rumours that he was still alive, the body was brought back to Shrewsbury, rubbed in salt, and placed erect between two milestones by the side of the pillory in the open street (Wylie, i. 364 ; of. ' Chronique de la Tra'ison,' p. 285). After a few days' exposure the head was cut off, and sent to be fixed on one of the gates of Y ork ; the quarters were hung above the gates of London, Bristol, New castle, and Chester."

A. R. BAYLEY.

The same question appeared in ' N. & Q. exactly thirty-five years ago (4 th S. i. 76, together with a note from the Editor, bui still remains unanswered.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

" WITCH," A KIND OF LAMP (9 th S. x. 483) A " kitty- witch " is a female spectre, anc although it is not given in the 'E.D.D.' as a feminine form of " will-o'-the-wisp," I fee sure I have either seen or heard it so applied " Witch " alone is a small candle to make up the weight of a pound (Halliwell's ' Diet, o Archaic and Provincial Words'). Another

eminine name for the " Jack - a - lantern " s, in Northamptonshire, " Jenny bun- ail" i.e, "burnt-tail," while a glowworm s a " Jenny-wisp." Irish names for the ' wandering fire " are " walking fire " and 'the fair maid of Ireland," and it is a urious fact, alluded to by Miss PEACOCK, that he night-light arrangement made of a tin 3up, which was formerly in vogue, should be called a "Peggie "as well as a " witch," for eg - p' - lantern was another distinctive
 * eminine name for the " friar's lantern,"

vhich in Scotland is called a "spunkie," fee. "Mab-led" (pronounced mob -led) sig- ified, in Warwickshire, one led astray by a will-o'-the-wisp. "This is that very Mab," &c. (Mercutio in ' Romeo and Juliet'). Other names for the "ignis fatuus," masculine and neuter, are, in Wiltshire, " Kit-of-the- canstick," the "devil's lontun" (Shropshire), 1 Jemmy Burty " (in Cambridgeshire), ' Hobby lantern " or " Hob-wi'-the-lantern " (Suffolk), " Jack-of-the-Wad" (Halliwell), " willerby-wisp " as well as " will - o' - the- wisp " (N.-W. Lincolnshire): " elf -fire," pas- sim, when anciently associated with the fairies ; in Scotland an " elf - candle "; in Wales " corpse candle," or "canwyll corpt," "fetch- light," or " dead man's candle"; also "Tan- we" or "Tan-wed" (Brand's 'Pop. Antiq.'), and " torch-candle " ; and one of the earliest allusions to it, as the " fire of destiny," occurs in Richard Johnson's 'Seven Champions of Christendom,' 1595.
 * rom " spunk "=a match, taper, small fire,

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

161, Hammersmith Road.

I well remember lamps, or rather lights of this kind, when I was a child in Derbyshire. They were called " wick-lamps " by some, but the general name for them was " poor light." Those I remember were made of Day & Martin's glazed earthenware blacking-pots, and the poor light was made by putting a piece of doubled rag into the pot, about three-quarters of an inch projecting above the rim, and into the pot the melted tallow from the iron candlesticks was run, as well as fat from cooking. When the fat was cold the lamp was ready for use. When lit it gave out a good light, by no means " poor," though often there was a good deal of splut- tering and smoke from it. Candles were then dear, and burnt as a rule with a good deal of "guttering," running into the candle- stick dish, and also into the candlestick socket. It was customary to clean the candle- sticks once a week, when they were placed on the hob or before the fire. When the fat was melted it c was run into the " poor