Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/317

 9*8. XL APRIL 18, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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describe a piece of meat that had been too long unbought in his shop. Prof. J. Rhys supposes that it may be a popular corruption of French pendu, in the sense of too long suspended. This would apply very well to meat or game that has become high. Can any similar use of pendu be adduced from any French dialect 1 E. S. DODGSON.

CLARE MARKET. Can any one give the meaning of the relief in black of two nigger heads, with large earrings, facing one another, which occurs on the corner of a house in Clare Market? The letters S.W.M. are also inscribed, with the date 1715. As the house is about to come down, its history would be interesting. W. R. B. PRIDEAUX.

SYNAGOGA: CHRONISTA. On Palm Sunday the Passion is sung by three cantors, who take the parts respectively of Christus, Synagoga, and Chronista. Synagoga sings the narrative portions, Christus the words of our Lord, and Chronista those of the other characters, e.g., of Pontius Pilate. What is the history of the terms Synagoga and Chronista ? The latter especially needs explanation. R. J. WALKER.

St. Paul's School, W.

COLLIE -DOG AND ITS DERIVATION. Is there a serious objection to Prof. Skeat's suggested derivation of collie or colly from the Celtic languages (see his dictionary) ? Its origin is declared to be uncertain, accord- ing to the ' Oxford Historical English Dic- tionary.' Would it be untenable to identify this Low Scotch name of a shepherd's dog with Gaelic and Irish cuilean, Manx quallian, Cornish and Breton coloin, Welsh colwn, which have the restricted sense of Lat. catulus, a cub, puppy, whelp, or young dog (see Mac- bain's 'Gaelic Dictionary,' Inverness, 1896, and Williams's 'Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum,' 1865) ? H. KREBS.

"MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB." What is the age of this nursery treasure ? " Mary had a little lamb " is still a delight to little minds from two years old and upwards, as it was in the days of the grandmothers of the oldest of the contributors to * N. & Q.' It has recently been claimed as of American origin. Who made it ? THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS. Hone in his 'E very- Day Book ' (1826), p. 1604, says : " But more shall be said hereon in the year 1826 if the editor of the 'Every-Day Book' live and retain his faculties to that time." Can any reader say if this intention was carried out,

and, if so, where the results are to be found, as from a rather hurried examination of the same author's ' Table Book ' and ' Year-Book,' which were subsequently issued (1827, 1828, and 1832), I can find very little on this subject]

Information is also sought regarding ' Christmas and Christmas Carols,' c. 1845-50, with a valuable preface by J. F. R., which is mentioned in Julian's ' Dictionary of Hymno- logy,' p. 210, col. 1, as I am unable to find it in the Catalogue of the British Museum.

JOHN WIGELSWORTH.

WOOL AS A FOUNDATION FOR BUILDINGS. I have often been told that the foundations of Boston Church, Lincolnshire, were laid on packs of wool, because the large blocks of stone of which the lower courses consisted would otherwise have been swallowed up by the underlying silt. Is this folk-lore or an historical fact ? The railway bridge which crosses the Trent at Gainsborough, and which was, I think, opened for traffic in 1849, is also rumoured to be built on wool. This is evi- dently a transference from an older source. EDWARD PEACOCK.

CHAUCERIAN QUOTATION. I have seen a quotation from Chaucer referred to as "il n'y a pas de nouvelle coutume qui ne soit ancienne." Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' kindly refer me to the original passage 1 It may be heresy on my part, but just as I think that, if a foreign quotation is made when the language otherwise used is English, it should be in the first place given in the original, so it seems to me should an English quotation be given in the original when the language otherwise used is another one. Add a translation in either case, by all means.

EDWARD LATHAM. 61, Friends' Road, East Croydon.

SIR JOHN AND LADY TAYLOR. I shall oe glad of any information regarding these }wo. An engraving of a portrait of the iormer in my possession bears at the foot 'J. Smart pinx e ," "J. Dixon sculp fc ," and a coat of arms. From the coat of arms I gather, by referring to Burke's ' Landed Gentry ' under the name Watson-Taylor, that Sir John was an F.R.S. and of .Lyssons, Jamaica ; that he was created a baronet in L 778, and died ten years later. He married Elizabeth Gooden, daughter and heir of Philip loughton, of Jamaica. The engraving of the ady bears at the foot " Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds," " Engraved by W. Dickinson," ' From an original picture in the possession f Robert Graham, Esq., of Gartmore." Sir ohn is represented with his hair brushed