Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/354

 346

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th 8. II. OCT. 29, '

A.D. 60. No Tacitus has chronicled the deed o blood perpetrated in this lonely mountain fastness, but local place-names point out still the direction [in which] those carrying the locked shields of the shell formation advanced to murder the innocenl Welsh Druidic bards, who guided the nation in the paths of religion, philosophy, and social urbanity in Caer Moesau ! Their last cries of agony imder the daggers of the Romans awakened the echoes oi the valleys and the mountains of Pen Pych opposite, and .the hamlet has been called ever since ' the Curse of the Age ' Rheg Oes."

I may add that the site of this long- forgotten town is described as being fourteen miles from Pontypridd, and two miles from the Rhondda entrance to the tunnel of the Swansea Bay Railway. " Morion's " paper is well worth giving in full, but its length would prohibit its being reprinted in these columns.

R. CLARK.

PETER SCHLEMIHL. As Mr. George Allen is announcing a new edition of Charnisso's ' Shadowless Man,' this seems an appropriate time for correcting a misapprehension which is widely prevalent, even in works of reference, as to the name of its hero. " The name has become a by-word for any poor, silly, and unfortunate fellow," says Webster's ' Diction- ary ' Supplement. Wheeler's ' Noted Names' follows suit. This is the reverse of the truth. The by- word was not derived from the story, but rather the story from the by -word. Schlemihl (accent on last syllable : here again the works of reference go astray) is a Yiddish term of considerable antiquity, older, at any rate, than Chamisso. Abraham Tendlau, a good authority, identifies it with the Biblical Shelumiel, as Jewish rabbis call it, or Shelu- miel, as English clergymen pronounce it, in the book of Numbers. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

THE PRIORY CHURCH OF ST. JOHN, CLERKEN- WELL. At 8 th S. vii. 301 my friend MR. H. W. FINCHAM pointed out that the woodcut in Hone's 'Every-Day Book,' and later on in Walter Thornbury's ' Old and New London,' which was said to represent the above in 1508, really belonged to the Abbey of St. John, Colchester. Is it not remarkable that this error should ever have been made, or at least continue uncorrected for so long, seeing that Dugdale's ' Monasticon,' vol. ii. p. 900, contains a large engraving on copper (from which the wood is evidently copied) about which there can be no mistake, as it is entitled (engraved on the plate, and not a possible accidental addition in type) "Ec- clesise Ccenobialis Colcestrensis in Essexiano, (Ccenobio nondum everso) deliniatse, et in quodam Codice MS. in Bibliotheca Cottoni- anarepertse figura"? J. S. PHILLIPS.

<Hwm.es,

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

" FAROW." In the Gentleman's Magazine (1789), vol. lix. p. 18, a correspondent, telling a story of a murder of a pedlar in Monmouth- shire, says : " The farmer and his family had farowed the unfortunate man's life for the sake of his pack and purse." On p. 99 another correspondent says : " Faroived is to me totally unintelligible." So it is to me. Can any of your readers tell me anything about the word 1 A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

" FAUTY-GLASS." This word occurs on p. 49 of Robinson's 'Dialect of Leeds' (1862) in some conversations called " Rencontres." A woman is said never to see " noab'dy it' fauty-

glass bud her." Is the phrase " to see any- ody in a fauty -glass [faulty-glass]" heard anywhere besides Leeds ?

A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford.

ENSIGNS OTHO HAMILTON. Can any one enlighten me concerning the parentage and places of birth and burial ot Ensign Otho Hamilton, who was on Irish half pay in the 83rd Foot, Col. Armstrong's brigade (dis- banded in 1763), from 1768 to 1785 ; and also concerning Ensign Otho Hamilton of the 85th Foot (disbanded in 1783), who was on English half pay from 1786 to 1821? I shall be very grateful if any one who knows will write to me at once concerning these men. ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON

(Presbyter). 38, East Tenth Street, New York City.

PORTRAIT RINGS. I possess a crystal por- trait ring with heads of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette traced on a sort of "lusus naturae" ground of blue and grey. Are such rings common ? Have they any history ? Where may similar ones be seen 1 Any information gladly received. T. DE P.

KING'S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY. I have beeii compiling biographical notes concerning the head masters and second masters of the King's School, Canterbury. Information about any of them which is not to be found in the ordinary works of reference would be valued. In particular I want information about (1) John Gresshop, M.A., Christ Church, Oxford, Head Master 1566-75 or later;