Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/366

 356

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. XL MAY 2. 1903.

horseback can hide himself, the Latin name of maize was Triticum turcicum or saracenicum, i.e., Turkish or Saracen wheat. The Turks themselves call it missirboghda-i, i.e., Egyptian wheat. L. L. K.

" PEELER" (9 th S. xi. 265). The first time I met with this word was in or about the year 1846, when a ^ parody of one of Macaulay's ballads was given in Punch in relation to a "town and gown" row at one of our old universities. I have not a set of Punch either in my own possession or near at hand, but the following lines have clung to my memory, and I think are fairly accurate :

He was rusticated by the dons that very night,

And when he show'd them his black eye

They said it serv'd him right ;

But long in our wine parties

We '11 remember how like bricks

Tom Noddy floor'd the Peelers

In eighteen-forty-six.

The whole of the string of verses was at the time regarded as remarkably clever.

K. P. D. E.

LUCK MONEY (9 th S. xi. 127, 196, 254). At neither of the first two references is it noted that in Lancashire luck money is called "God's penny" and "arles" (Gaelic arias, earnest money; Welsh arles, a gift, benefit, advantage); and in Northamptonshire it is called "chap money," " chap," of course, meaning " market " money, whence we have " a good chap," and even the endearing form of "chappie." Luck money is given either as "handsel," i.e., the first money received for the day, or is given back' for luck on the conclusion of a bargain. Handsel Monday is the first Monday of the New Year, " to give handsel " meaning to give or offer something auspicious at the commencement of the year or day, or at the beginning of an enterprise, whence we have "to handsel " = to inaugurate the use of a thing. The " bar- gain penny," or earnest money, is also called 4 arles ' in Northumberland, where at the statute fairs and at the hiring of domestic servants one shilling is the sum given. In Yorkshire, where the custom is not so common as formerly, it was called "fasten penny." At a public hiring in Berkshire a boy was engaged by a farmer, who gave him a shilling as earnest," "arles," or "fasten" money. Next day the boy returned the money in twelve stamps, wrapped in paper, on which ?*? i. ' vnfcten " 1>ve Peered on yer" (Sir Walter Besant, ' Voice of the Flying Day ' Queen, 3 December, 1898). The custom of running after carriages, with or without the accompaniment of "Catherine wheels" is

'ill, I should say, universally prevalent

Last Derby Day, standing on an elevation overlooking the road that crosses Wimbledon Common, I saw several children thus pur- suing the vehicles for largess. The custom of spitting on the coin given is universal as a specific against every species of fascination. Consequently information concerning it will no doubt be found in the valuable work to which MR. HENRY TAYLOR alludes, El worthy's 'Evil Eye.' To "spit at a bargain" is to confirm it by spitting on the coin, or upon the ground, or upon the hands an interest- ing relic of a decidedly pagan custom.

J. HOLDEN MAC MICHAEL.

"DOGNOPER" (9 th S. xi. 248). This was the name of special functionaries formerly very generally employed to keep dogs from coming into the churches. They were also called "dog-whippers." As recently as 1856 a "dog- whipper" was appointed in Exeter Cathedral, and in 1875 at Claverley, in Shropshire. Ten shillings and sixpence per annum was paid for this same duty. CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

Swallowfield, Reading.

The same as " dog-whipper," on which see ' N.E.D.,' and a full account in Peacock's

f'ossary ('N.W. Lincolnshire'), where the orkshire "dognoper" is referred to. The form tmper is Yorkshire for " knapper," a smiter. I have not 'E.D.D.' here to refer to, but no doubt it contains all the information required. J. T. F.

Winterton, Doncasten,

The "dognoper" was an official appointed for the purpose of keeping dogs out of the church. In Thiselton-Dyer's 'Church -Lore Gleanings' (1891) it is stated that a dog- noper " still holds office at Ecclesfield " (p. 61).

G. F. R. B.

MARY SEYMOUR, COUSIN GERMAN TO EDWARD VI. (9 th S. xi. 268). The 'D.N.B.,' at the end of the life of Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, says :

" Seymour's daughter Mary, born on 29 August, 1548, was committed to the care of the Duchess of Somerset, and restored in blood by an act passed on 22 January, 1549-50 (' Lords' Journals,' i. 381, 383). According to Miss Strickland, she married Sir Edward Bushel, and was ancestress of the Johnson Lawsons of Grove Villa, Clevedon, who possess some personal relics of her mother, Catherine Parr ; but the evidence of Wriothesley's ' Chronicle' and the silence of contemporary records as to her subsequent existence establish almost beyond doubt that she died in infancy."

A. R. BAYLEY.

HOURGLASSES (9 th S. xi. 268). In the Daily Mail of 3 December, 1896, appeared an illustrated article on hourglasses, entitled 'Time Machines.' Some notes on the same