Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/455

 9 th S. II. DEC. 3, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

447

to be totally wrong. It inclines to the sus- picion that the alleged descent of very few families that had their beginnings in the middle or commercial classes prior to the days of parish registers and wills is reliable.

W. D. PINK. Leigh, Lancashire.

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.

THE NORTH-EAST CORNER OP HERTFORD- SHIRE. The writer, who has been engaged in recovering the ancient field and place names of the village of Barley and the immediate neighbourhood, in connexion with the history of this parish, will be glad to receive any assistance which the readers of ' N. & O.' can

ive upon names which are doubtful and ifficult of original interpretation, especially with a view to indications of racial occupa- tions. Below are given the names of the open common fields of Barley, in Herts, and of the two Chishills, over the border in Essex. The fields themselves, in their limits and areas, pay no attention to the boundaries of manor, hill, parish, hundred, or shire, recog- nizing only such lines of division as the Icknield Way or some other Romano-British street. Most of them have been histo- rically (by means of charter, or court roll, or other ancient document) traced back to the thirteenth century, some of them two centuries earlier still, while the names of many smaller agricultural divisions and physical features are older, by historical evidence, than Domesday. The obvious names are set down with the others in order to give a complete enumeration :

Great West Field, Little West Field, Church Field, White Field (older form, Whitelowe), Cobdell (older form, Copdale), Aldwick, Picknage, and Picking Field. The last named extended eastwards across the border into the parishes of Great and Little Chishill, being bounded on the north by Ick- nield Street. Ralph de Pikeham held in Barley before 1278, it may be noted.

Standing Field, Great Mudlins Dane Field Little Mudlins Dane Field, Mill Field, Down Field, Branditch Field, Ashdon Field, Ardlow Field, Twisley Field, Shapens (or Shepon) Field, Harry's Field, and the Old Warren These extend indifferently over the areas oi the two Chishills. J. F. W.

MIDSUMMER GILLYFLOWER. Can anycorre-

pondent of 'N. & Q.' kindly tell me the

proper botanical name of this wild flower,

which grows freely on the banks of the river

Monnow? G. F. R. B.

" MELT." In a cookery recipe lately I met with the following : " One pennyworth of melt." What is the meaning of the word in this connexion 1 D. M. R.

[The milt is the spleen of an animal, and is sold ay most butchers.]

CHARACTERS IN FICTION. In what works of fiction appear the characters of Argemone Lavington and Barbara Frant? In his preface to 'Pride and Prejudice,' Prof. George Saintsbury cites them as two of his five favourite heroines of fiction.

MARY LYON HAGAR.

Burlington, Vermont, U.S.

[The first is in Kingsley's ' Yeast,' the second in Stevenson's 'Catriona.']

"MONEY is A GOOD SERVANT," &c. I read in ' Menagiana,' 1695, ii. 296 : " Bacon dit un bon mot sur les avares, que 1'argent est un bon serviteur, mais un mechant maitre." This adage, which has been adopted from the Abbe Tuet's 'Matinees Senonaises, ou Proverbes Fran^ais,' published in 1789, into Le Roux de Lincy's 'Proverbes,' is kindred to another relating to " fire and water," printed in Clarke's ' Parcemiologia,' 1639. I shall feel obliged to any of your readers who can give me the reference to Bacon. F. ADAMS.

106A, Albany Road, Camberwell.

EARL OF CARNWATH. (See 8 th S. i. 163.) I happened to see the statement at the above reference that the second Earl of Carnwath married, in 1661, for his second wife, Katherine Abington. Burke and Debrett make out that the second Earl of Carnwath died in 1646, and only married once. Which statement is correct, since both cannot be so 1 I am much interested in learn- ing, since I am descended from the Earls of Carnwath. C. M. L. DALZELL.

"BuoY." Dr. Murray describes this as "floating obiect fastened in a particular place," &c. ; but I find no quotation tech- nically describing the position. It seems a buoy is "laid." The Trinity House notice to mariners, No. 24, dated 8 August, 1898, says : " Further notice will be issued when the buoy has been laid." RALPH THOMAS.

GODDARD FAMILY. Can any of you readers tell me who was the father of Martin Goddard, of Cliffield par. Norton, Derby-