Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/371

 * s. in. MAY is, mi NOTES AND QUERIES.

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istory of England ' in terms of the severest isure. He accompanied his fallen master i nes II. to Ireland, and died there a few < eks afterwards in 1689, and is thus dis- used :

Of all the Anglican divines the one who had the ai *est share of James's good graces seems to have >e< n Cartwright. Whether Cartwright could long la e continued to be a favourite without being an state may be doubted. He died a few weeks t ar his arrival in Ireland ; and thenceforward his church had no one to plead her cause." Chap. xii.

Five Dukes of Bolton kept up the succes- sion from 1689 to 1794, when the dukedom became extinct. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

SAGAMORE." This well-known American rm is an interesting example of the British se of final r as merely a letter of prolonga- istinguishing between more and maw. Ac- ording to its etymology it should end in the atter instead of the former. An old importa- on from one of the Algonquin dialects, it as originally written tiagamo for example, y Capt. John Smith in 1624. Our English (dictionaries do not give its modern Indian forms, but it is to be hoped Dr. Murray will Jo so. They are striking, because the initial p has suffered in them the same fate as in so many Greek words that is to say, it first ioecomes an aspirate and then disappears. Thus, what in the seventeenth century was lar/amo is now (in Baraga's ' Chippewa Dic- /ionary ') reduced to Ogima, while the variant Houkituo is used by a contemporary novelist n a Canadian story called ' Sinners Twain ' 1895): "You know it might possibly put hat dreadful thing, whom you call the 'loukimo, into a somewhat better humour " p. 67). JAMES PLATT, Jun.
 * ion ; in other words, of our incapacity for

" SERVEEY." A correspondent in ' N. <fe Q.,' h S._viii. 286, directed attention to the use this word in the light of service-room at n hotel at Herne Bay. I have now to add le Athencewn of 15 April, p. 450, where three rooms, bath-room, and servery " are Ivertised to be let. I am unable to find the ord in any of the many dictionaries to hich I have referred.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

PENS: "NIBS" AND "NEBS." The art of ittinga quill by adept " quill-drivers " was ying when I first began schooling. Steel ens had Jbeen known for some time, but ere not in general use. The goose-quill en died a hard death as a commonly used Titmg tool. My first schoolmaster was a

first-rate hand at cutting a quill, and he could use it with wonderful effects in flourishes. It was his boast that he could fill the first page of a lad's school-book with name, age, date, and flourishes in which were depicted wonderful swans and other birds in such a fashion that none but experts like himself could tell where the quill pen was taken from the paper for a fresh dip. My last master could neither cut a quill nor use one with advantage. Quills as pens remained in use in some houses as the only writing tool up to a dozen to twenty years ago. Those who can cut a decent writing quill are now few. People used to ask for "a quill pen," or " a quill," when they wanted a pen, and both steel and quill were always called "pens," buyers asking for fine or other "nibs" or "nebs." Nowadays nearly all ask for " nibs " when they require pens. The word "pen" has almost dropped out of usage, except to express the pen and holder com- bined. Persons invariably ask for a box of "nibs," appearing to lose sight of the fact that " nib " or " neb " is a point, and that the points of pens alone are not to be had. One would think that in these days of much schooling teachers would define " pen " from "point" or "nib," but they, too, ask for "nibs" when they mean "pens." Children only know a pen as holder and pen combined. They ask for " nibs " or " pen nibs," and when asked if they do not mean "pens," the reply is, "No ! nibs !" THOS. KATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

A BRIDPORT DAGGER. 'Notitia Parlia- mentaria,' by Browne Willis, Esq., published in 1716, has the following curious note :

"But what chiefly impoverished it [Bridport], was the Loss of the Hemp-Manufacture, in which Burport drove so considerable a Trade, by Reason of the Soil hereabouts yielding good Store of Hemp, that Anno 21 Hen. VIII. an Act was made for the making of Halters, Cables, and Ropes in Burport, and within five Miles thereof ; which I find reviv'd and confirm'd almost every Session of Parliament for upwards of sixty Years after, as may be seen in our Statute-Books, whence came that noted Proverb of a Man's being hang'd, viz., 'That he is stabb'd with a Bridport Dagger.' "

RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

A HOY. A Margate hoy was something like the present fishing smack; it was the popular way for Londoners to get to Mar- gate before steamers came into vogue. It had a square sail on the mast. At the British Museum Print-Room there is a draw- ing of a Margate hoy by J. T. Serres. Hoys are mentioned in Entick's 'Naval History,'