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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. n. SKPT. 10, i

PETIVER'S AND RACKSTROW'S MUSEUMS. Where can I find accounts of these two old collections ? Petiver's became the nucleus of Sir Hans Sloane's famous museum.

G. L. APPERSON.

FRENCH VILLAGE NAMES. The termination -oz is found in names of places between the Rhone and the Ain ; the termination -as in those of some localities between the Ain and the Sadne. These terminations are silent- thus Buellas, Servas, Culoz, are pronounced traditionally Buel, Serve, Cule. This informa- tion I derive from a French source. I wish to know if CANON TAYLOR or any other reader can give the etymology of these endings. I do not see any mention of them in the supplementary chapter on "French Village Names " in that most useful book ' Names and their Histories.'

JAMES PL ATT, Jun.

SIR PETER GLYNN. 1 have in my possession an oil painting of Sir Peter Glynn, supposed to be the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Can any one inform me whether he is known to have painted a portrait of this gentleman ? ROBERT GLYNN.

LONDON AND ESSEX CLERGY. How can I trace Robert Hearse, of Holy Trinity, Mino- ries, 1579(1), and William Pontifex, of St. Christopher-le-Stocks and East Ham, d. 1518 ? His niece owned the advowson, yet they are both ignored in the ' History of East Ham.'

A. C. H.

"AIDEN." This word is said to have been once used in North Yorkshire as an oppro- brious intensive, in the sense of thorough, arrant, "regular." "He's a aiden vogue,"

He 's a aiden lang tahm in comin' back," " He 's a aiden leer." Can any of your readers testify to the fact from personal knowledge that the word is still in use in any part of the north of England ? No doubt it represents the Scottish " eydent." A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

SIEGE OF DERRY. Prof. Witherow in his account of the siege of Berry narrates how the inhabitants were divided into eight regi- ments. Can any one inform me where I can find any details as to these regiments, the names of the officers, &c. 1 B.

GRASS OF PARNASSUS. Not Mr. Andrew Lang's book of verse, but the plant so called. Has this most beautiful and graceful wild flower any popular English name? Gerard calls it white liverwort. The plant grows in profusion on the commons near here, and both its undergrowth of leaves and its crown

of flowers are so noticeable that one would have thought our natives would have given it some name of their own coining ; but, so far as I know, this is not the case. Andromeda (A. polifolia), again a plant than which no

Lady of the Mere, Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance,

was ever more beautiful has no English name ; but this may be accounted for by the fact that andromeda grows only in out-of-the- way places, and is not often found except when sought for. There is great plenty of it, however, on Hatfield Chace, five miles away, and yet only some two or three professed plant-lovers in the neighbourhood appear to know anything of it. Surely this want even of names for such beautiful things argues a great lack of sensibility in our country folk.

C. C. B. Epworth.

VALDARNO. In the late Thomas Forster's ' Perennial Calendar ' (1824) some lines are quoted, said to be by " the poet Valdarno." Can any of your readers furnish particulars respecting this author and his writings 1 The lines in question begin thus :

Now at the close of this soft summer's day, Inclined upon the river's flowery side, I pause to see the sportive fishes play, And cut with finny oars the sparkling tide.

W. T. LYNN.

Blackheath.

JOHN BRAMFIELD AND RICHARD HOBBEY were elected from Westminster School to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1576. Any particulars concerning them would be of use to me. G. F. R, B.

"PROGRESSING." In 'Easter Day,' xiv., Browning appears to accentuate this word on the first syllable. It is as if he retained the pronunciation of the noun " progress " after attaching to it the suffix of the imper- fect participle. Is the word as used in this couplet part of the verb "to progress "; or is it merely an expanded noun ?

Your progressing is slower right !

We deal with progress and not flight.

THOMAS BAYNE.

Helensburgh, N.B.

WHAT is STYLE? In the Bookman for August, Mr. Clement Shorter, in a review of Mr. Leslie Stephen's 'Studies of a Bio- grapher,' states his conviction that that dis- tinguished essayist has " no style." My own impression is that Mr. Stephen possesses a very good style strong, bright, incisive. - Is not " style," if at- all correct, simply an in-