Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/192

 272 NOTES AND QUERIES. the pen, as distinguished from the holder, was meant. Even now I find "nib" the commoner form. Three out of four of the clerical staff in a business house with which I am con- nected preferably use the word " nib "—the other, who is, I think, a Lincoln man, alone calling the instrument a " pen." C. P. HALE. Might not J. T. F. as well call to mind that " horn " owes its name to its shape, and is. therefore, rightly applied to horn-shaped things, whether of tin or brass ? W. C. E. "SCANDAL ABOUT QUEEN ELIZABETH" (9th S. iv. 187).—For a crop of scandals about our good Queen Elizabeth, see' N. & Q.,' I"1 S. ii., iii.. iv.; 2nd S. vii.; 4th S. ii.; 8th S. ii.; which yield no fewer than twenty-two articles on this unsavoury subject, from which your corre- spondent may make his selection. EVEEARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. BANKING (9th S. iv. 146).—The L. & C.B.C. would not call itself a "second-rate" bank; but does it not allow interest upon deposit accounts varying according to the notice of withdrawal ? EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. Hastings. AMEN COURT (9th S. iv. 27, 134, 190).—From another quotation in Stow with respect to Paternoster Row, it seems " there lived here turners of beads, called Pater Noster Makers," but what seems to me more to the point, "as also Stationers who wrote and sold Books then in use, viz., ABC with Paternoster, Ave, Creed, Graces, <fec." But is it not a fact that there was a religious house, of Black or Grey Friars, situated somewhere in the neighbour- hood of Amen Corner, Avemary, and Creed Lane ? I do not, of course, refer to the monas- tery of Black Friars, from which Blackfriars takes its name. If this was the case, is it improbable the names under observation were given by the friars 1 But then what can be said about Little Paternoster Row, near Spitalfields Market; and, if not irrelevant, Jackanapes Row, of which Paternoster Row formed a part ? In 1708 Creed Lane is said to have formerly been called Spurrier Row; but this seems un- known to a writer in 1732, and is not men- tioned in 1691, in which year Sermon Lane is referred to as being in the same ward as part of Avemary Lane, Creed Lane, and Pater- noster Row, Castle Baynard Ward, in which part of the streets named and others were wholly destroyed by the Great Fire. Oi course there was more than one Sermor Lane in London; and although it is saic Stow makes the Sermon Lane a corruption of " Shermoyers," yet the other Sermon Lane could hardly have the same origin. Is it worth consideration that in Avemary Lane the smaller beads were made, and in Paternoster flow the larger ? ALFRED CHAS. JONAS. MR. BOYLE is unnecessarily satirical about books before printing. If for books he will substitute manuscripts, and understand the productions of professional "scriveners," the subject will be clearer. The succession is proved by the fact that the modern Sta- tioners' Company of London is an offshoot from the more ancient Guild of Scriveners, and we now include in our body printers, booksellers, stationers, and publishers—I may also add bookbinders. A. H., Citizen and Stationer of London. THE MAGNETIC POLE (9th S. iii. 447, 493; iv. 198).—Is not the magnetic pole, now situate somewhere in the far north of America, itself changing its position 1 I have found in at- tempting to fix a vane truly to the points of the compass great difficulty in ascertaining what the local variation of the compass needle is. Should not this be given as nearly as possible in the 'Nautical Almanac'? T. WILSON. Harpenden. The quotation from Peter Heylin at the last reference appears to refer only to the angle of " declination," and not to the angle of "dip" = 90°, which is the subject of the query. C. S. HARRIS. THE GAUNT FAMILY (9th S. iii. 327 ; iv. 91, 160).—Messrs. Gaunt & Sons are drapers in the city of Worcester. W. C. B. EARLY HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE (9th S. iv. 167).—Mention of the window in Stoke Poges Church is to be found in ' N. <fe Q.,' 4th S. iv. 215 ; 8th S. x. 256. It is described in the Athenaeum, 1869, and has been discussed over and over again in the cycling press. The following notice is to be found in 'Cycling and Health,' by Dr. Oscar Jennings (Iliffe & Son):— " The date is 1643. Mr. Taylor is of opinion the date of the glass is about 1580, and the work executed in Italy. A square-shaped central section of glass depicts a strongly built naked youth, pre- sumably an angel, having curly yellow hair and seated on the transverse beam of a two-wheeled con- veyance. The front wheel, containing seven spokes, is small, the hind wheel, of which the rim only is seen, being about three times its diameter. The head of this machine (an undoubted ' Dandy-horse") terminates in a scroll shaped after the fashion of an old pattern couch. In the scroll ie a narrow slit, to accommodate a trumpet with a large bell, somewhat