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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. IL NOV. 26, '98.

apse ; and will he further point out in what respects it fails to conform to the plan of a church of the fourth or fifth century ?

MR. BADDELEY refers to the basilica of Constantino, and to its having "had a nave and two aisles ; at its N.W. end an apse : and at its S.E. end, or entrance, a vestibule- portico." I am afraid I cannot accept this reading of ^he plan. According to Ligorio's plan (Archceologia, li. 498), the basilica in question was a great hall, over 80 feet wide, with an apse at one end, and on each side three vaulted divisions, each of 68 feet span, of which the central one had also an apse. These divisions communicated with each other, but they certainly did not form aisles, and the building had three apses instead of one. The entrance hall seems to have been rather of the nature of a chalcidicum than a portico, and whereas the Silchester marthex is fully one-fourth the area of the building, the so-called portico of Constantine's basilica is less than one-twenty-fifth.

To those who are sufficiently interested in the Silchester building to pursue the question further I would venture to suggest a perusal of the account of its discovery and surround- ings in the fifty-third volume of Archceologia. W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE.

HOUNDS OR RUNGS (9 th S. ii. 386). Any one who cares to look at my ' Etymological Dictionary,' or any modern dictionary that gives reasonable etymologies, will see that rung is the old and correct word for what is now called the rovnd of a ladder. It occurs both in Lang, and and Chaucer ; it is known to German, Middle- Dutch, Icelandic, Anglo- Saxon, and Mceso- Gothic, and properly means K a spar." In Gothic it is used in Mark vi. 8, where the A.V. has "staff." Chaucer dis- tinguishes between the upright pieces of a ladder, which he calls " stalks," arid the cross- bars, which he calls " rungs."

There can be little doubt that round was substituted for rung by some one who fancied the former a more elegant word ; but it is a very poor substitute, as it is not at all descriptive of a bar. To complete the elegance of the description he should have called the upright pieces semi-rounds, and the whole would have Ibeen perfect and compact.

I believe that Shakespeare (' Jul. Cses.,' II. i. 24) is one of the earliest authors to use round for rung; if any one knows of an earlier example it would be a kindness to give it.

The ' Catholicon Anglicum ' (A.D. 1483) has the entry, "A ronge of a stee (of a tre, or ledder), scalare."

I think it is a very unsafe as well as unfair method of judging of the value of a word to say that it sounds ugly. All words that are unfamiliar are very apt to fall under this category. It is far better to consult a dic- tionary, or to endeavour to learn something about a word's history. Hung is duly given in Todd's Johnson, and in all other diction- aries that are of any value ; and the revival of its use is due to the revival of our know- ledge of the earlier stages of our language. WALTER W. SKEAT.

" FEGGY " (9 th S. ii. 387). Fegs ! = In faith t vide Halliwell. Feggy should mean confident, and the phrase would then read, " Their per- sons are generally plump and confident." One is reminded of ' The Excursion ' : A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays And confident to-morrows.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

MR. MAYHEW is acquainted, no doubt, with the word given in Holloway's 'Provincial- isms,' " Feg, adj. [fegen, Germ., to cleanse], fair, clean, handsome. North."

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

Hastings.

Is not this a variant of foggy, fat 1

F. ADAMS*

"FEGGES AFTER PEACE" (9 th S. ii. 387). This is suspiciously like the Latin proverb "Ficus post pisces," explained by Erasmus. It is not in Allan Ramsay's collection, nor in Bonn's. If Ray is the only proverbialist who- notes it, a doubt as to accuracy of transcrip- tion is permissible. The questionable word is " peace." F. ADAMS.

Faith, assurance, confidence, in consequence of settled peace. Fecks = faith. Cf. ' Winter's

Tale,'I.ii.: "I' fecks "

ARTHUR MAYALL.

'THE FARMER OP ST. IVES' (9 th S. ii. 386). This ballad is by the Rev. Paxton Hood. In his book ' Oliver Cromwell : his Life, Times, Battlefields, and Contemporaries,' 1882, this ballad is reprinted with two others, 'The Battle of Dunbar ' and ' The Martyrdom of Vane,' as an appendix. In a note the author says :

" The following ballads are selected from ' Lays and Legends of Puritan Heroes ' by the author of the present biography, privately printed, but not published, some years since."

JOHN PATCHING.

Brighton.

AUTHOR WANTED ( 9th s - " 387). The pas- sage quoted in Nares's ' Glossary ' occurs in. ' The Tricks of the Town laid open ; or, a.