Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/233

 9" S. IV. OCT. 14, '9 305 NOTES AND QUERIES. BELLKINGERS' RIMES.—The following verses hung in the bell-tower of Haxey Church, near here. I believe such rimes were once common in such places, but this is the only instance I have actually seen. The verses are dated 1785 :— All you that here intend to ring Mind well before you do begin. If yon ring in Great Coat, Spurs, or Hat, Sixpence yon pay stright [viol down for that; If you break Nlaij, or Quarrel breed, Twelvepenue you pay right down with Speed; If you be Fair and do no Wrong C. C. B. Then unto us you shall belong. Epworth. INSCRIPTION ON MACE.—In the town hall at Ilchester, Somersetshire, is a thirteenth- century cast latten mace, seven and a half inches long, with the following inscription round the head, in two lines :— + IK SV DE DRVRIE . + NE ME DVNET HIE . which may be interpreted, " I am a mark of amity ; do not forget me, or take me away " (Barrett's 'Somersetshire, p. 19.r>). The word dnierie occurs in Chaucer in ' The Romaunt of the Rose'(5062-4):— For certeynly no such [a] beeste To be loved is not worthy. Or here the name of dru[e]ry. And again in the following lines :— Of bataille and of chivalrie, Of ladies' love and druerie, Anon I will you tell. It is said by Prof. Skeat in 'The Student's Chaucer' to signify loyal affection. Littre, under ' Dru,' has :— " II y avait dans 1'ancien francais un autre mot tint, flriif, qui signifiait un fidele, un aniant, unc aniante; un substantif druerie; dm en ee sens est d'origine germanique." Godefroy, ' Diet, de 1'Ancienne Langue Franchise du IXe au XVC Siucle,' explains druerie as " Marque, te'raoinage, enseigne, gage d'amour, cadeau galant, bijou, ornement de toilette," and cites the following quota- tions :— lo stii druerie Ne me dunez inie. (" Attache d'une ch. de Rich. Ccrur de Lion, 20 Juin, 1190. Arch. Calvados.") 8i jo li envoi druerie Et jure qu'el n'en preridra mie. Parton 6259, Crapelot. The Gentleman Usher to the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth and James I. was named Sir Dru Drury (1531-1617), and was sent by Elizabeth t<> Fotheringay to assist Sir Amias Paulet in the wardship of Mary, Queen of Scots. The translation of the inscription on the mace at Ilchester should more properly read, " I ant for loyalty ; do not interfere with me." JOHN HEBB. 2, Canonbury Mansions, N. MUSICAL EPITAPH.—When in Youlgreave Churchyard, Derbyshire, recently, I noticed the following curious epitaph. It is on an upright stone to the memory of Samuel Taylor, M'lio died 14 January, 1848, aged seventy-two: To the down Bow of Death His Forte gave way, All the Graces in sorrow were drown'd; Hallelujah Cresendo Shall be his glad lay When Da' Capo the Trumpet shall sound. CHARLES DRUEY. "You ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM." (See ante, p. 240.)—In ' Tales in Rhyme for Boys,' by "Old Humphrey" (the late Mr. George Mogridge), published by the Religious Tract Society about half a century ago, is a poem entitled ' The Woodcutter.' In it occurs the following couplet:— You 're a hearty old man, father Peter, I know, And are up at your labours betimes. The poem contains many similar expressions, and it is highly probable that it formed the basis of the burlesque in ' Alice in Wonder- land.' JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. [Dodgson burlesqued Southey's poem ' The Old Man's Comforts and how he gained Them,' beginning " Youareold, FatherWilliam,"the young man cried, " The few locks that are left you are grey."] THE BIRTHDAY OF GEOROE III.—In the Morning Chrcmicle of 3 Jan., 1801, appeared the following :— " An important discovery has just been made by our almanack calculators, though too late for their published works. The fourth of June, which has so long l>een dear to the loyalty of our countrymen, is a festival no more. His Majesty was born on the 24th of May. 1738, and completes his sixty-third year on thejtfth of June, 1801. Whether the Court will think proper to notice this alteration, we know not, but it is required by consistency and accuracy." The paragraph was repeated in the Morninq Post of the following Monday, 5 Jan. ; ana, although nothing came of the suggestion, it raises the interesting question of the exact date of George III.'s birth. All the accus- tomed works of reference give it as 4 June ; but this date would appear, from the state- ment just quoted, to be made by adding the eleven days omitted by the reform of the calendar in 1752 to 24 May, the actual day of birth ; and it is obvious that the writer of the paragraph considered that as, by this same reform, another day was dropped by