Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/43

 XL JAN. io, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

35

German as follows : " Weh, dass du mir die Wildganse verscheucht und die Enten samt der Kohrdommel." Antvogelos is a Latinized form of Antvogel, which is still used in the South German dialects ; horotumblum is from the O.H.G. horotumbil, hortubil, M.H.G. rortrumel, rortumel, N.H.G. Rohrdommel.

CHARLES BUNDY WILSON. State University of Iowa.

SWEEZING OR SQUEEZING WATCH (9 th S. x. 467). The word sweeze or sweezing is not in Bailey's 'Dictionary,' second edition, 1736, nor in Johnson's, fifth edition, 1784, but it is in all probability a mere phonetic spelling of a softened pronunciation of the word squeeze. The l N.E.D.' has not reached squeeze yet, but Bailey defines it as "to press closely together," and Johnson, among other definitions, men- tions " to press downwards, as of printing presses." I think there can be no doubt that MR. HILTON PRICE'S conjecture is correct, and that the phrase is a popular designation for a repeater the sweezing or squeezing process consisting in the pressing downwards of the knob to produce the " repeat."

H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY.

This question and the same quotation from the British Apollo, 1708, appeared in 4 th S. ii. 276, and from the two replies (p. 335) there can be no doubt that a repeating watch was known as a squeezing watch at the above date, from the fact of its being made to strike by compressing the side of the watch. Pope, in his ' Kape of the Lock,' has : Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

MIXED MARRIAGES (9 th S. x. 447). The arrangement referred to has never had the sanction of the Catholic Church, which permits a marriage between a Catholic and a non- Catholic solely on the solemn promise of the latter that any children of the union shall be brought up as Catholics. Such formal undertakings are sometimes ignored, with the result of forming a compromise like that which your correspondent has described. Very curious developments have ensued in cases within my own knowledge. In one instance the sons, brought up in the religion of their father, who was a Protestant, eventu- ally became Catholics ; while the daughters, baptized in the religion of the mother, left the Church in after years. In another case that I know of, where it was arranged that the sons should "belong" (as they say) to the Protestant father, and the girls to their Catholic mother, several daughters were

born in succession. The father, who was very desirous of male issue, then promised that he would forego the stipulation as to his sons. The next child was a son, and several more followed without another daughter. The father afterwards became a Catholic himself. I could tell a yet more strange and equally true story, but the facts lie too near home for publication.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS. Town Hall, Cardiff.

THE AUTHOR AND AVENGER OF EVIL (9 th S. ix. 22, 229 ; x. 35). The term "Old Scratch," as applied to the author of evil, may be found in a now forgotten book, published in 1822, and the story is entitled * The Devil and Tom Walker.' It is stated that Mr. Murray gave 1,500. for the book, so great was the prestige of the author. The story is much the same, though sixty years have elapsed since its perusal, as that recorded by your corre- spondent at the last reference ; but I think that after a long and severe struggle the wife is worsted, and shortly after- wards the husband, coming to the scene, and seeing indications of the conflict strewn around, observes, "Egad ! Old Scratch must have had a tough time of it."
 * Tales of a Traveller,' by Washington Irving,

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

"FURLONG" (9 th S. x. 428). In this neigh- bourhood, where small holdings are the rule, a furlong is a division of land, of variable size, in the unenclosed fields which surround the town. Sometimes generally, I might gay there are " meres " or "balks " between the different furlongs, but not always. They are subdivided into strips or sections, which in each furlong run all in one direction, though in contiguous furlongs they often run different ways, according to the "lie" of the land. Hence, I suppose, the name "furlong" (= "furrow- long") as applied to these divisions. In the Isle of Axholme the name is never given to an enclosed field ; but I remember such a field in my native parish in South Notts that was known as "eight (or ten) acre furlong." This would probably be a survival from the time before the land was enclosed, which may also be the case with the fields near Brackley, if, as I under- stand, they are enclosed. C. C. B.

Epworth.

Halliwell, in his ' Dictionary of Provincial Words,' explains furlong to mean the line_ of direction of ploughed lands, also a division of an unenclosed cornfield. Dr. Ash, in his dictionary published in 1775, says it is a cast of ridges or land in a field. ' N. & Q. ' 5 th S.