Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/21

 ^S. IV. July 1,'99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. daughter and coheiress of Symon Paterick, only son of Symon, late Lord Bishop of Kly, by whom he had two sons, Charles, late Archdeacon of Wilts, and now Prebendary of Durham, London, and Lin- coln, and Rector of Therfield, in Hertfordshire, and Edward, who died at Batavia, in the East Indies, 1762. His second wife was Anne, younger daughter of John Fountayne, late of High Melton, in the county of York, Esq., by whom also he had two children, William, who died 22 April, 1767, in the ser- vice of the East India Company in Bengal, and Anne, who married in the year 1766 to Sir Jacob Wolff, Bart, of Great Britain, and Baron of the Roman Empire. He died at Buxton, the 15th day of July, in the 68th year of his age and in the year of our Lord 1770, in sincere repentance of many and great transgressions and in the humble hope of a happy resurrection, through ye unbounded mercies of God in Christ Jesus. W. P. Courtney. " Spancel."—A spancel is a kind of tether. In the ' Century Dictionary' it is derived from the Mid. Du. span-zeel, which Hexham explains by "horse-fetters or shackles"; cf. Mod. Du. spansel. And, of course, the Du. zee/, a rope, is cognate with A.-S. sal, a rope : as is duly noted. But spancel is a good old North-Country word, as noted by Ray in 1691. So I see no reason why it may not be a native ■word, though rather of Norse than of Wessex origin. Thus the true components are rather to do seen in the Icel. sponn (stem spann-), a span ; and seil, a rope (with voiceless s, not voiced z). The sense is " a rope a span long "; ?'. e., a very short rope indeed, as it was used for fastening the two hind-legs of a cow or horse together. I believe the sense " stretched rope," as given in the ' Century Dictionary,' is unoriginal. The point is that the rope was short and unyielding. The heraldic use is somewhat different, and later. A " horse spancelled" has a fore-leg and a hind-leg joined by a wooden clog having a short chain at each end. Walter W. Skeat. "Minute-men."—Garfield, as a boy, was called by some one a " minute-man," and, asking the meaning, was told :— "Men in the Revolution, who stood ready to defend their country at a moment's warning, were minute-men. 'Then I'm a minute-man,'promptly answered the future President."—' From Log-Cabin to White House,' by Wm. M. Thayer, forty-ninth editiou, 1897, p. 108. James Hooper. Shelley at Oxford. — As every scrap of information about Shelley's career is esteemed valuable by his admirers, it is worth while drawing attention to the interesting little passage in the ' Memoirs of a Highland Lady (Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus),' 1897, where his Oxford escapades are alluded to by the niece of the Master of University (p. 120). Edward H. Marshall, M.A. (gumos. 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. Admiral Sir Charles Tyler, G.C.B.—I am now engaged in compiling a biography of this distinguished naval officer. During his service he commanded H.M.S. Meleager (at Toulon), L'Aigle, Diadem, Warrior, and Ton- nant (at Trafalgar). I shall be very grateful for any information concerning him. His father was Capt. Peter Tyler, 52nd Regiment, and his mother Anne, daughter of the eighth Lord Teynham. Of what family was Peter Tyler ] W. H. Wyndham-Quin, M.P. Late Major 16th Lancers. House of Commons. "A gillyvine pen." —In Grose's 'Pro- vincial Glossary' (1790) this is said to be a Scottish term for " a black-lead pencil." I should be very much obliged if any Scotch- man would tell me whether the expression is still in use. A. L. Mayhew. Oxford. " Geleez."—This is said to be a Dorset wordmeaning "in great abundance," "galore." Can any of your readers tell me whether they have ever met with the word ? A. L. Mayhew. Oxford. "Melius superius indumentum."—In a composition between the vicar of St. Gluvias, in Cornwall, and the burgesses of the neigh- bouring town of Penryn, bearing date at Glasney College, October, 1322, the vicar's claim to " melius superius indumentum " of every servant and lodger dying in Penryn was upheld and allowed. The best upper cloak is an unusual mortuary. Is the word " indumentum " ever used for the bed-cover —a not unusual mortuary ? Ygrec. Menilek.—The Queen of Sheba said to Solomon, " What shall we call our son ?" and he answered, " Menilek, meaning from me to thee." Where can I find this 1 I should be glad of the reference. Richard Hemming. 11, East Grove, C.-on-M., Manchester. Parry Arms.—In Burke's' General Armory' the following arms are entered under the name of Parry: " Argent, on a chevron, between three lions rampant azure, as many garbes or." Can any one tell me what family named Parry bears, or bore, these arms 1 Are they figured or mentioned in any work prior