Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/263

 9". S. II. SEPT. 24, '98.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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How prone syllables are to lapse into the familiar ham is shown in the case of Hamp ton, which is never primitive, but usually from hedn. ISAAC TAYLOR.

"IT BLOWS RAYTHER THIN" (9 th S. i. 226, 475)

Cf. Kipling, ' Barrack-Room Ballads ' :

The wind is as thin as a whip-lash. It is a mountain gunner who sings, up in the frontier snows. KILLIGREW.

" HUDDLE" (9 th S. ii. 187). MR. WHITWELL will find in Bailey's 'Dictionary' (edition 1733) a hudde denned as a bustle, disorder, confusion, and to huddle as " to put up things after a confused manner." In this sense the word is in very general use in Devonshire, e.g. "All huddled up in a corner," "All of a huddle," &c. A. J. DAVY.

Torquay.

MANOR HOUSE, CLAPTON (9 th S. ii. 7, 173). MR. HUSSEY avers that the Manor House was demolished some twenty years ago. From information obtained on the spot some weeks ago I incline to think him in error. A resident veterinary surgeon of twenty-five years' standing pointed out to me the build- ing (now used for some religious and educa- tional purpose), which faces Brook House, and is obscured partly by a greengrocer's shop, which forms the opening to the narrow lane where the old Manor House is to be seen. The tradition about Andre's birth is, as far as I could ascertain, not locally suspected. M. L. BRESLAR.

Percy House, South Hackney.

" CHILD-BED PEW " (9 th S. ii. 5). Another curious name for the " churching pew " may- be worth noting, i.e., "child wife pew." It occurs in an entry in the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of Cundal, quoted by Mr. Dyer in his ' Church Lore Gleanings ' (p. 194). The entry runs thus: "1636. A childwife Pew, 26s. 8d." H. ANDREWS,

DOG-GATES (8 th S. xi. 488; xii.37, 114). At the foot of the elaborate oak staircase in Cheyney Manor House, near Bath, a pic- turesque late Jacobean building of the Speke family, is a coseval dog-gate complete, with its old hinges and spring latch. Its construc- tion is such that a man could creep through its openings ; but it is apparent that passage through it may have been formerly obstructed by the addition of a light iron grating.

At the foot of the elegant inlaid and panelled staircase, of the early years of the eighteenth century, at Standerwick Court, near Frome, is a close lattice- work dog-gate

of the same date, shutting back into a pre- pared recess in the dado, and opening out, after the manner of a pair of lazy-tongs, across the gangway. It appears that these picturesque obstructions can only have im- peded the advance of small and indolent pampered dogs, because any creature of moderate enterprise could have jumped such barriers.

At the tops of old staircases, or at the levels of the different floors, should be found another gate that to prevent the children from tumbling down the steps ; but I have never met with any examples older than of quite modern times. In the two houses quoted above there are no indications of children's gates ; and assuming that the fence at the top or halfway is of more consequence than that at the bottom of the staircase, the ques- tion is. whether any seventeenth or eighteenth century children's gates en suite with the staircases have been noticed, and, further, whether any examples of old staircases can be cited which are complete with their gates at the top and at the bottom or at the inter- vening floor levels. ALBERT HARTSHORNE.

FRENCH CARDINAL (9 th S. ii. 48, 157). Would this be Charles, younger son of Louis, Prince of Conde? He was born about 1560, and was successively Cardinal of Bourbon- Conde, of Venddme, and, on the death of his uncle, of Bourbon, dying in 1594. He was foolish enough to follow his uncle in claiming the crown of France, relying on the mori- bund League. Henry IV. visited him on his death-bed. " Mon cousin," said the king,

prenez courage ; il est vrai que vous n'etes pas encore roi, mais cela serez possible apres moi." GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park Liverpool.

GREATEST HEAT RECORDED IN ENGLAND (9 th S. ii. 180). INFERNAL may be able to obtain the information he desires on applica- tion either to the Secretary, Meteorolo- gical Office, 63, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., or to G. J. Symons, Esq., 62, Camden Square, N.W. . CELER ET AUDAX.

SHROPSHIRE NAMES (9 th S. ii. 144). The eference to Arlescott in H. H.'s note reminds me that there is a bevy of villages and hamlets n this county, in the neighbourhood of Tow- jester, possessing a similar termination. The district is probably about the same size as will, at any rate, compare favourably with that given by H. H. The places are Fos- cote, Burcot, Duncot, Potcot, Grimscot,
 * he ley district in Shropshire ; and although
 * he list of names is not quite so large, it