Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/240

 232

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xii. SEPT. 19, 1903.

girls, and they'll get on with their work : mug 'em missess, mug 'em!' A singular, but perhaps a correct use of the word. Richardson in his ' Dic- tionary' says, 'Mug means merely a wet, .sc., a draught of liquor; afterwards applied to a vessel containing liquor.' The same may be inferred from a passage in the Taf/er: ' There is a mughouse near Long Acre.' ?>

I have never heard the word so applied in this locality ; nor in the following manner, as also recorded by Miss Baker :

" Mug. ' Another double mug 's broke.' A phrase importing that another disaster or misfortune has occurred, or fresh offence is taken."

Thps. Wright (* Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English '), who followed Miss Baker with respect to date of publication, gives amongst his six meanings of "mug" its use as a verb in Northamptonshire" To supply with beer."

I often hear in this village the expression "a mug of beer," but the real pottery-ware mug with a convenient handle has largely given place to the tumbler or glass. The smaller kind of mugs were known as '' tots," and the expression "a tot of beer " = a small quantity, still lingers on, although the actual receptacle is very rarely used.

Jfif=the face Miss Baker does not refer to, but I have occasionally heard a man with an exceptionally ugly face dubbed "an ugly unf" JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

[Liston was called " a notable mugger," the term equalling "grimacer." We are familiar with this phrase. ' Ugly mug" is a West-Riding phrase for an ill-looking man.]

ANTHROPOID APE (9 th S. xii. 169). The illustration of an ape trying to take off a boot forms part of a plate (xi.) from De Bry's 'Petite Voyages,' pars i., 'Vera De- scriptio Kegni Africani,' published at Frank- fort in 1598. H. C. L. MORRIS.

Bognor.

GILLYGATE AT YORK (9". S. xi. 406, 457, 518 ; xn. 50, 173). Where on earth does the writer at the last reference get his authority for

jPJlfS"^ | ueanin K of fl^fe something guarded If he is anxious, as a vaguely expressed sentence in the reply in question implies, not to " make foreigners laugh at us '' on account of the "low level" of our "lin- guistic knowledge," lie would do well to refrain from "Lilium-giglio" etymologies, to learn the A B C of linguistic study, and to add to his "small private collection of books" at least a few of the most trustworthy autho- nties. Y. J. C.

Your correspondent at York appears to be so proud of his Lilygate theory that he may

well be left to the solitary enjoyment of it. It is indeed a worthy ambition to wish to magnify the linguistic knowledge of his countrymen in the eyes of foreigners, but I must warn him that he will be not unlikely to excite the laughter he deprecates if he approach continental scholars with the theory that the primary meaning of "gate" is " something guarded." ST. SWITHIN.

THE POPE AND THE MASSACRE OF ST. BAR- THOLOMEW (9 th S. xi. 407, 512; xii. 57). Voltaire's account of the Pope's conduct is interesting :

" Le pape Gre'goire XIII. fit incontinent tirer le canon du chateau Saint-Ange ; on alluma, le soir, des feux de joie dans toute la ville de Rome. Le lendemain, le pape, accompagne de tous les cardi- naux, alia rendre graces a Dieu dans l'glise de Saint-Marc et dans celle de Saint-Louis ; il y marcha a pied en procession ; 1'ambassadeur de 1'empereur lui portait la queue, le cardinal de Lor- raine dit la messe ; on frappa des medailles sur cet evenement (j'en ai eu vine entre les mains); on fit faire un grand tableau dans lequel les massacres de la Saint-Barthelemy etaient peints. On lit dans une banderole, au haut du tableau, ces mots : 'Pontifex Colinii necem probat.'" 'Histoire du Parlement de Paris.'

E. YARDLEY.

' NOVA SOLYMA ' (9 th S. xii. 168). MADAME BYSE certainly gives a good additional reason why Milton should be so careless and reticent about the paternity of his youthful magnum opus. It does, I admit, seem strange indeed that "such a father should abandon such an offspring to an early grave." But the editor of 'Nova Solyma' has given many other reasons for Milton's reticence, and the romance itself leads us to infer that its author did not expect it to fall into "an early grave," but gave it to the world in Latin (urli et orbi) for the critics to pass judgment on, with the promise that if their remarks were encouraging he would proceed to put in the finishing touches.

This remarkable book fell dead directly after its birth (1648-9), for the critics, and the people of England generally, had some- thing very different to occupy their attention just then, when the king's trial and possible execution would be in every one's mouth. Now after 250 years, a resurrection occurs, and the critics get their second chance, and, so far as I have read their remarks, they seem to find it a very hard nut to crack. It has been accepted unreservedly as Milton's by good and thoroughly qualified critics both here and in America ; but the most remark- able result is that the great majority of the newspaper and magazine critics hold the extraordinary view that this singular, learned,