Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/61

 9 th S. II. JULY 16, '98. ]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

53

the translation of the body to Pershore seems hardly supported. Her brother vEthelstan gave her Drocenesford in 930, then " sancto velaraine consignatw," Ebrington, Bicester, Broadway, Yardley, and Leigh are all dedi- cated to some St. Eadburgh,

There was an Eadburgh, daughter of King Ealdwulf of East Anglia. As she was abbess of Repton, she was probably called saint.

Eadburgh, wife of King Wulfhere of Mercia, who died 735, second abbess of Gloucester, might have been the " principal " of Edlesborough, the aunt who brought up the first St. Eadburgh. T. W.

Aston Clinton.

THE STANDING EGG (9 th S. i. 386, 472). As no ungrammatical expression occurring in ' N. & Q.' should pass unnoticed, I am sorry to note one at the last reference given above, where the writer says that " an egg can be stood on end." The correct expression is, of course, " made to stand," or, in abbreviated form, "made stand." "Stand," as an in- transitive verb, has no passive.

E. M. SPENCE.

It would be interesting to know on which end MR. HISSEY makes eggs stand. Their centre of gravity is always nearest the small end ; but the ability to stand depends upon the equilibrium being stable, which requires the centre of gravity to be no further up than the centre of curvature. I can imagine some eggs standing on the large end and some on the small, but no single egg on both. Another question is the possibility of so shaking an egg as to detach its air-bubble from the large end. Some other part would then feel warm to the lips instead of the large end ; but I never have known this to happen.

E. L. G.

If MR. HISSEY will first shake his egg well he will have no difficulty at all in making it stand. The shaking breaks the yolk, which soon settles to the bottom of the egg, and gives it a stable equilibrium. C. C. B.

THE AGE OF YEW TREES (8 th S. x. 431 ; xi. 276, 334, 433). On 28 August, 1886, I was making a water-colour sketch of Bowdon parish church, Cheshire, with a view of a large ancient yew tree in the churchyard. A local gentleman came to look at my drawing, so I inquired whether he knew the age of this tree. His reply was, " It is said to be 1,000, and was very healthy till a few years ago, and was killed by banking up the earth round the trunk." He further said, "The two yew trees near the gates are over 200, from records in the church." These two are

much smaller than the old one, and they are quite in their prime. FRED. L. TAVARE, 30, Rusholme Grove, Rusholme, Manchester,

"To CHI-IKE": "CHI-IKE" (9 th S. i. 425).*- The late Mr. Milliken, the author of the ' 'Arry Letters ' in Punch, repeatedly used the word in the effusions just referred to e.g., Punch, 26 December, 1891, 303a ("Arry on Arrius ') :

Though Arrius's haspirates rucked, and made

Mister Cat Ullus chi-ike, He M r as probably jest such a rattler as poets and

prigs never like.

Punch, 7 May, 1892, 217b (' 'Arry on Wheels'):-

Pace, dust, and chyike make yer chalky, and don't' we just ladle it down ?

C. STOFFEL.

Nijmegen, Holland.

CATALOGUE OF ALTON TOWERS SALE, 1857 (9 th S. i. 468). The late Earl of Shrewsbury's collection of pictures was disposed of during the week ending 12 July, 1857, by Messrs, Christie & Manson. The whole amount of the six days' sale exceeded 13,000^. The price paid for any particular picture and the name of the purchaser could DC obtained from the auctioneers.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

It may be of interest to many inquirers besides INCUS to know that this sale was conducted by Messrs. Christie & Manson, and that a fully priced catalogue may be consulted at their offices at 8, King Street, St. James's (Square. Brief accounts of the sale appear in Bedford's 'Art Sales,' i. 154, and in my 'Memorials of Christie's,' i. 190.

W. ROBERTS.

BISHOPRIC OF OSSORY (8 th S. xi. 489 ; xii. 34, 253). In reply to your correspondent from Cheltenham, who asks, "What is the origin of the name Ossory ?" I may quote from 'Topographical Poems,' &c., ed. by O'Dono- van, and published by the Irish Archaeo- logical Society, 1862, introduction, p. 8, where we read :

" Many Irish names of tribes are formed by the addition of terminations, such as raighe, to the cog- nomens of their ancestors, as Kiarraighe (Kerry), Osraighe (Ossory)."

Os in Gaelic means fawn. The name which is anglicized Ossory was first that of a tribe, then the name of a sub-kingdom, and after- wards that of a bishopric, whose seat is now in the city of Kilkenny. The dean of the cathedral in Kilkenny, however, is still called "Dean of Ossory," according to the