Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/11

 9 th S. III. JAN. 7, '99.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

which makes a sharp angle in such an arti- ficial way as to break the connexion in fact, to suggest an engineering feat to form the connexion, that is, to carry off the super- abundant water, necessary to the safety of Eiknield Street. This particular opera- tion may be compared with the Roman limes Germanicus, from Moguntiacum on the Rhine to Reginum on the Danube ; the simile is exact. So, starting at the important post of Uriconium on the Severn, we proceed along a section of Watling Street to Well, near Lichfield ; then turn north-east along Rik- nield Street towards Alrewas, Wichnor, Bur- ton, and Derby (Little Chester) ; at Derby we meet with the Derwent, and that is the Trent. Let us compare Derwent, Darenth, Tarrant, Tranent, and Trent, the latter being also a place-name near Yeovil in Somersetshire. At Wichnor is a reputed Roman camp ; at Alrewas (cf. wash, woes, a marshy district) is a Roman vicinal way called "Stratford Lane," to connect Alrewas with Wichnor, at a junction for Stretton-in-the-Field and Wat- ling Street, about Atherstone. It seems to me that the position taken up by Publius Ostorius Scapula may thus be very fairly guessed at without discussing the language actually used by Tacitus. A. HALL.

13, Paternoster Row, B.C.

WEIGHTS OF KING GEORGE III. AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. The fol- lowing memoranda, partly, it would seem, written by George III., were formerly in the possession of MR. W. J. THOMS, the genial first editor of 'N. & Q.' They are copied verbatim :

" The King and Queen breakfasted at Caversham Park, July y e 7 th, 1778. The Queen was weighed by Merlin's Steelyard in the library; her Majesty's weight was eight stone thirteen pounds. Their Majesties did Lord and Lady Cadogan the honour to stay four hours in the house, park, and gardens. " The King 14 s 10 lb.

" Sept. 13, 1779.

" The Queen was weighed by Merlin's Steelyard Sept. 13 th, 1779. Her weight was Nine Stone and half of a pound.

' Princess Royal Six Stone and ten pounds.

' Princess Augusta four Stone and thirteen Pounds.

'Prince of Wales thirteen Stone and half of a Pound.

' Prince Frederick ten Stone and one half.

'Their Majesties repeated their visit, with their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince Frederick, the Princess Royal, and Princess Au- gusta, when the last Six Lines were entered in this book by the King Himself."

PHILIP NORMAN.

MYRMECIDES. This curious word, appa- rently a derivative from /zvp/zr^, is used, possibly invented by Bishop John King, who

died 1621. See his tenth lecture on Jonas, ed. 1618, p. 131 :

"Others, though they went not so far as to ex- empt all things, yet they withdrewe the smaller from the heauenly prouidence. For it was thought most iniurious to bring doun the maiesty of God so lowe, as to the husbanding of bees and pismires, as if in the number of Gods there were some Myrme- cides to carue and procure the smaller works.

RICHARD H. THORNTON. Portland, Oregon.

A " REPRINT." In 1855 Mr. John N. Bag- nail issued what he calls a " reprint " of three books on the manufacture of iron : Dud Dud- ley's 'Mettallum Martis,' John Rovenzon's 'Treatise of Metallica,' and Simon Sturte- vant's * Metallica.' At p. 44 of the last-named book a solid block of twenty-two lines is omitted. Q. V.

RIMING ADVERTISEMENT. The following advertisement appears in Lysons's 'Collect- anea ' (ii. 163) :

Hannah Ward

At the sign of the Four Coffins in the Strand, From Surry street the second Door, The Number is One Hundred Four-score ; Where are sold Comic Masks with many Ends and

Odds,

And also Watson's History of the Heathen Gods. W. G. P., Deer. 2nd, 1769.

The site of the house with this strange sign is either No. 170 or No. 173 Strand. The houses between Nos. 161 and 166 Strand were renumbered in 1880, but the other num- bers near Surrey Street appear to have been undisturbed since the beginning of the cen- tury. I have not been able to find Watson's 'History,' but I noticed in a catalogue the other day an 'Historical Account of the Heathen Gods and Heroes,' by Dr. King (1727), priced at Is. 6d. JOHN HEBB.

Canonoury Mansions, N.

A FRENCH "GLASTONBURY THORN." The following cutting from Le Petit Journal of Monday, 31 Oct., 1898, will be best preserved in your pages :

" Un de nos lecteurs, M. Julien, nous informe qu'il existe k Dagny (Seine-et-Marne) une vieille souched'e'pine prunelieredont les rejetoiis s'e"tendent a droite et a gauche de ladite souche. Cette epine, ainsi que les rejetons, ont la particvilarite" de fleurir deux fois par an : une premiere fois au printemps avec fruits et une seconde fois en hiver, au mois de d^cembre, mais sans fruits. Ce phenomene de vege"- tation n'a jamais 6te expliqu. Void la legende qui a cours dans le pays k son sujet. En 1'an 611, 1'abbe Geroche, cur6 de 'Dagny, confesseur au couvent de Faremoutiers, allait porter le viatique k une fenmie de la Malgagne, hameau de la commune de Dagny. C'etait & fepoque cle Noel, par uri fort degel ; 1'abM avait une canne d'^pine. II glissa un peu et se retint sur sa canne, qui s'enfona dans le sol assez pro-