Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/236

 308 NOTES AND QUERIES. p-s.iv.ooi.i4,-no. to in the notes the wit and statesman, b. 1725, d. 1767, and son of the third Viscount Townsend and the famous Audrey Harrison? Alfred Bowditcii. Boston, Mass. [The article after which you ask was by Mr. Thorns.] Helen Leigh, of Middlewich, was the author of ' Miscellaneous Poems,'Manchester, 1788, 4to. What is known concerning her? Rupert Simms. 27, Ironmarket, Newcastle, Staffs. "Capados." — This puzzling word occurs twice in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' (11. 186, 572), and nowhere else. Sir F. Madden, the first editor of the poem, derives it from the French cap-a-dos, and gives it the meaning of "a hood or close cap, descending low in the neck." The 'H.E.D.' accepts doubtfully both derivation and meaning, adding, however, that cap-a-dos is not found in French dictionaries. I think the right explanation of the word is contained in the following lines, quoted from ' Fierabras,' 612 et seq., by Viollet-le-Duc (' Mobilier Francais,' vol. vi. p. 85), in his description of a gambison :— Cuir de Capadoce va en son dos jeter, II fuhlans comme nois, boin fu pour le serrer. Par dessus vest l'auberc, &c. The passage describing the arming of Sir Gawain (11. 566-89) is too long for quotation here; but a reference to it will show that liis capados is not a hood, but a gambison reaching up to, and fitting close round, the neck. Like the snow-white garment that the knight in 'Fierabras' wore under his hauberk. Sir Gawain's gambison was doubt- less of Cappadocian leather, hence its name. Froissart also mentions the "cuir bouilli de Cappadoce" (see note to 1. 2065 of 'Sir Thopas,' Skeat's 'Chaucer,' v. p. 197). Is there any mention of the leather of that country anywhere else? F. J. Amours. Glasgow. " Howk."—In Scotland we use " bowk " in the sense of dig, to hole out, to make hollow. Robert Fergusson, e.g., tells how Geordie Girdwood, mony a lang spun day, Howkit for gentlest banes the humblest clay ; while in enumerating the occupations of his 'Twa Dogs' Burns records that Whyles mice and moudieworts they howkit. Kingsley uses the word several times in his 'Water-Babies,' and thereby prompts aScottish reader to inquire whether it is common in English speecn, and, if so, whether it has the same significance to the south of the Tweed as it has in Fergusson and Burns. In chap, vi., e.g., of Kingsley's charming story, after Tom has demolished the store of lollipops, the question is asked, "What did the strange fairy do?" "Did she," the narrative continues, " fly at Tom catch him by the scruff of the neck, hold him, howk him, hump him, hurry him, hit him, poke him, pull him, pinch him, pound hun, put him in the corner, shake him, slap him, set him on a cold stone to reconsider himself, and so forth?" This is deliciously fluent and pleasantly alliterative ; but it would not have occurred to a Scotsman to use " howk " quite in this way. Nor would he have thought of making the Gairfowl say of her wooer, as Kingsley makes her say in chap, vii., that she felt it to be her duty to " snub him, and hmok him, and peck him continually." Perhaps some one will elucidate this usage. Thomas Bayne. The Origin of "Tips."—A writer of a note in the Globe newspaper of 14 August, signing Edward J. Watherston, has the fol- lowing statement on the origin of this word, and I should like to ask whether there is good authority for it:— " Few people know the origin of the word ' tip.' It comes from the old coffee-houses, of which, 1 believe, ' Offley's' in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, was the last survivor. At the door of these coffee-houses was a box, made usually of brass, with lock and key. It had engraved upon it the letters T.I.P. (observe the stops between each letter), 'To insure promptness.' Customers, as they passed out, dropped a coin in for the waiters. Hence the word ' tip. " B. H. L. Jouillin.— In the register of marriages at North Wraxall, Wilts, 26 Feb., 1749, Joseph Brokenbrow is married to Hannah Jouillin. Can any of your readers tell me if the name Jouillin is to be found elsewhere? F. Harrison. "Ah! pourquoi l'amitie gemirait - elle encore?"—Can any of your readers kindly help me to the original English of some verses translated by Vinet about the year 1826. The first line of the poem in French is Ah ! pourquoi l'amitie gdmirait-elle encore? The refrain at the end of each stanza is lis ne sont pas perdus, ils nous ont devances. The refrain in English is " Not lost, but gone before." The English original is said to be by a Dr. Clarke, but I have not as yet suc- ceeded in obtaining his poems or in meeting with the verses in question. I may add that an English translation of Vinet's verses exists, apparently made in