Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/259

 9>s.ii. EPT.24,'98.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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an old woman who lived in one of several old houses on the common at Woodroyd, near Bolsterstone which houses were demolished over fifty years ago and she well remem- bers how this old woman brought out of a recess in the wall and unwrapped very care- fully a cake compounded of oatmeal, wheat flour, and dripping, and asked them to par- take of her " dannikin."

She also remembers, when visiting her grandmother, how the old lady used to place some tempting little cakes on a rack in front of the fire to bake, and press her to stay to her " dannikin." These cakes were of similar composition, but were dotted over with pre- served " heps," i. e., the buds of the wild rose tree, which, when carefully selected, were a great delicacy in the days when flour was dear and sugar a luxury not to be thought of by poor people. I regret that my old friend cannot help me to decide whether the cakes were called " dannikin," or whether the invitation only meant that the visitor should share in the feast. I am inclined to think that the latter was meant.

Whether the etymology of the word is suggestive of Danish influence and custom I must leave to more able hands. The word and its derivation are exceedingly interesting, and I shall be amply repaid for any trouble I have taken in the matter if I have afforded any clue to its elucidation.

JOSEPH KENWORTHY.

Deepcar.

DR. WH ALLEY (9 th S. i. 67, 211). I am obliged to several correspondents for informa- tion about him ; but I wish to learn if he was married, and to whom. I am inclined to think that the Dr. Whalley who was alive in 1770 was so dubbed out of courtesy, and that he was the master of Christ's Hospital School, 1768, and of St. Olave's, Southwark, 1776 ; he was B.C.L., and at one time Fellow of St. John's, Oxford. He died in 1791.

M.A.OxoN.

PORTRAIT BY LELY (9 th S. ii. 148). If the portrait referred to is that of John Hervey, Treasurer to Queen Katherine, full length, by Lely, it was on the staircase at Ickworth Hall so recently as 1838 (Gage's ' History of Suffolk,' p. 309). W. B. GERISH.

THE WELSH LEEK (9 th S. ii. 146). Unfor- tunately for the writer in the Daily Mail, tradition tells us that, it was at the battle of Hatfield, near here, that the Welsh adopted the leek as their national emblem. I should be very much surprised indeed to find the sea-leek on Hatfield Chace, but the " common

or garden " leek might easily be found in the neighbourhood, even at this day, and much more easily I should say in the seventh cen- tury, when the plant was in universal repute as an article of food. It is true there are other traditions. For instance, a writer quoted by Friend ('Flowers and Flower Lore') refers the legend to some battle fought in 640, in which Cadwaladr, tjie son of the victor of Hatfield, was the British leader. But was this fought on the Pembrokeshire coast 1 I should say not ; and the other tra- dition appears to be the older.

There are other reasons for rejecting the sea-leek. I do not know the plant, but I doubt whether the description or the Welsh leek quoted by Folkard from a MS. in the HarL Col., British Museum, would apply to it :

I like the Leeke above all herbes and floures ;

When first we wore the same the field was ours.

The Leeke is white and green, whereby is ment

That Britaines are both stout and eminente.

The writer last referred to says the adop- tion by the Welsh of the leek for their emblem

" may have originated in the custom of Cymortha t still observed among the farmers of the country, where, in assisting one. another in ploughing their land, they bring each their leeks to the common repast of the whole party."

However this may be, it is a well-established fact that leeks have long been a favourite article of food among the Welsh ; and this suggestion does not necessarily contradict the tradition that Cadwallawn's men wore it in their caps in the fight with Edwin.

C. C. B. Epworth.

The qxiotation is indefinite. The leek is- called allium in botany, so classed with, onions and garlic.

A.porrum, the true leek, is called the Welsh, badge, having a large bulb, and is a valuable esculent ; its historical reputation dates from, a Welsh victory of 519 A.D., mixed up with St. David and King Arthur. The battle of Mons Badonicus took place just about that time. A. Jistulosum, or stone leek, is the Welsh onion, with a small bulb. Then we have wild leek and sand leek. The Solomonic James was fond of " cock - a - leekie," a poultry stew :

Such savoury plants must sure be good That serve at once for emblems and for food.

Fluellin would hardly get the true Welsh leek in France, as referred to in ' King Henry V.,' Act V. sc. i. A. H.

.RIVERS' BANKS (9 th S. ii. 205). Your con- tributor is wrong and the journalist is right. The question is as old as the science of geo-