Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/238

 310 NOTES AND QUERIES. b»* 8. iv. Oct. m, m queer fashion, "The Festival of St. John the Baptiser, 1843." Another very important omission is that of the original broadside of 'The Song of the Western Men' (the Tre- lawny ballad), which was printed by Mr. Da vies Gilbert at "East Bourn " in 1825. In my copy of this very rare production the date is misprinted 1835 ; but that it should be 1825 is proved by the note appended to the ballad in ' Records of the Western Shore,' 1832, of which I possess a very fine copy, in the original wrappers. Hawker was still a layman when he wrote this ballad, and in the heading of Mr. Gilbert's broadside he is described as " Esquire." Having, in one form or another, nearly everything that Hawker wrote, I did not provide myself with Mr. Wallis's recent edition of his works, and do not know if the compilation of a bibliography formed a part of his editorial duty ; but if such a work were ever given to the world as a separate publication, it should, I venture to think, include the valuable papers which were written by the late Mr. John Eglington Bailey, and printed in 'N. & Q.' shortly after Mr. Hawker's death (5th S. v. 403, 441 : vi. 42). Mr. Bailey was an old and valued contributor to this journal, and all his writings were imbued with the strictest spirit of accuracy and of judicial fairness. The note on 'Ecclesia' is especially im- portant. W. F. Prideaux. " Indispensable " (9th S. iv. 247). — An " indispensable" was a small bag provided with a long string in which the ladies, at the beginning of this century, put their money, spectacles, handkerchief, and snuff- box when they went out, and which they hung on the back of their chair when sitting down. Later on this " indispensable " became " sac," and then " reticule or " ridi- cule." Littre", Larousse, Bescherelle, and ' La Grande Encyclopedie' give the above defi- nition of the term. Moreover, you can find in Bacinet's 'Costume Historique,' vol. vi. plates 406 (figs. 3 and 13) and 407 (figs. 15 and 20), several coloured reproductions of these receptacles. Henri Chateau. Paris. Shagreen (9th S. iv. 68, 115, 171).—The art of preparing shagreen is not lost, but hitherto no one has been able to rediscover the method of staining it the beautiful shade of green seen on bonbon boxes and other trifles made in this country at the beginning of the cen- tury. The art of staining ivory knife-handles a permanent green is also lost. The dyeing material may nave been the same for both. The Japanese green shagreen is cold and repellent in tone. The shagreen that is seen in London shops of the better kind, as Leuchars' in Piccadilly, is prepared in Paris, but the old English green is not to be had. For some years past I have experimented with this substance, and at the Exhibition of the Artful and Crafty ones now being held in the New Gallery, Regent Street, I am showing a little box, the lid of which I have covered outside with pearl-grey, and inside with light-blue shagreen. Mr. J. P. Cooper is exhibiting some prettily designed boxes covered with the same beautiful material. Guinevere might like to see what is being done in this direction. Andrew W. Tuer. The Leadenhall Press, E.G. Henbane (9th S. iv. 226, 274).—It was henne- dwole for which I looked in vain in the great 'Dictionary,' and I must confess that I omitted to look for hen-dwale, under which it occurs. Dr. Murray's remarks have therefore some justice, so far as they refer to me. But having found henebon in its alphabetic place, I think it was not un- reasonable to expect to find hennedwole similarly placed. For hen-dwale in its modern spelling no quotation is given. It is hyoscyamus, not henbane, for which the earliest quotation in the ' Dictionary ' is 1706. I should have expected to find it earlier. In Prof. Henslow's recently published ' Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century ' (p. 118) I find, " ribe-planteyn, Iusquiamus, peny-gres, morell." 'Alphita' (frequently cited in the 'Dic- tionary ') is the name of a medico-botanical glossary edited by Mr. Mowat for the " Anec- dota Oxoniensia ' series. Hen-cress (an old name for Bursa pastoris) is another word I cannot find in the ' H.E.D.,' but I will not say it is not there. It occurs in ' Sin. Bartholoraei' (p. 23) as hennekersen. C. C. B. Oliver Cromwell and Music (9th S. iii. 341, 417. 491; iv. 151, 189, 276).—I was not aware that your correspondent was waiting for me. But I cannot accept his distinction ; neither, I think, does the world at large. "Qui facit per alium facit per se." To ex- onerate Cromwell there will need explicit and incontrovertible evidence that he did his best to hinder, to remedy, and to dis- avow a destruction wrought by those whom, in this respect at least, lie did control when he pleased. Are we to suppose that the vic- tories in which he did not command in person were contrary to his mind and will ? The same method has been used to shift from him