Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/416

 456 NOTES AND QUERIES. f9"- s. iv. DBC. 2, -99. This superstitious practice is severely referred to in the Talmud. It may well be that the phylacteries, which are a species of cameo work, were worn in pre-scientific times as medicinal or spiritual charms. The Arabians, who borrow largely from the Hebrews, calj amulets " cameas," and our own word ''cameo" may possibly emanate from the Aramaic "koraeeong." M. L. BRESLAR. Percy House, South Hackney. BATTLE OF HASTINGS.—Revisiting Battle Abboy recently, I was interested to notice that the guides still glibly inform tourists that Telham Hill is the spot where the Con- queror "told off" his men before the battle, and Caldbeck the point whence he "called back" his victorious troops ; and that the crowdj as of yore, complacently nudge each other in the ribs and repeat" Tell 'em, Telham, see !" I thought that Lower conclusively disposed of these fallacies a long time ago :— " Neither does Telham Hill mean the place where William ' told 'em,' i. e., counted his men, any more than Caldbock means the spot where the Conqueror ' called back' his men."—' Hist, of Sussex,' 1870, p. 31. As to the meaning of " Telham," it would be instructive to have trustworthy evidence of the early spellings of the name, so that de- finite opinions could be formed. Comparison should probably be made with Telscombe, also in bussex. Freeman abstains from con- jecture ; so does the Duchess of Cleveland. But Walcott ('Battle Abbey,' twenty-first edition, 1892, p. 56), dealing with the local appellations, gives a batch of etymologies which is enough to make the ancient name- givers turn in their graves. Doubtless much information on these points is buried in Sussex archaeological papers. HY. HARRISON. UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS.—On 9 Nov. the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Ontario celebrated the hundred and tenth anniversary of the passing of Lord Dor- chester's " order in Council " at Quebec in 1789. According to this order, all loyalists who had joined the cause of Great Britain before the Treaty of 1783 and their children were to be distinguished by the letters "U.E." (United Empire), and, as Mr. Hugh Egerton reminds us in his most interesting work on British colonial policy, " the title U.E. became and has continued to be 'a badge of honour and dignity' treasured by all as it is clung to by their descendants. U.E. " SJAMBOK."—I cannot find this word in any English dictionary, yet it is probably familiar to every reader of this paper, as it constantly occurs in books relating to South Africa. It can be used either as a noun (a book has just been published called ' Under the Sjambok') or as a verb («.</., " I 'd sjambok them out of the compound," chap. ix. p. 89 of Bertram Mitford's new book ' John Ames '). It means "a whip" or "to whip," and is a corruption of a Persian word, which, under the heads of 'Chabouk' and 'Chawbuck,' will be found in the ' Historical English Dictionary,' and doubtless reached the Cape through the medium of Malay. JAMES PLATT, Jun. "LEX NON SCRIPT A."—A Dalziel telegram in the Liverpool Courier for 23 Oct. contained the following :— " An extraordinary incident took place in the Chancery Court in Jersey City (U.S.A.) this morn- ing (Saturday, October 21). Attorney Thomas Noonan was arguing a case in the presence of a crowded court, when a messenger entered and whispered a message to Judge Emery, who presided. The judge suddenly announced that the Court would be adjourned for a quarter of an hour, and, address- ing Mr. Noonan, said, ' The messenger tells mo two men have insulted your wife at the next corner. I will adjourn the Court while you go and thrash them.' Mr. Noonan ran out of the Court, found and chastised the men, left one of them senseless, and then went back to the Court and completed his argument." GEORGE MARSHALL. Sefton Park, Liverpool. PABNELL'S ' HYMN TO CONTENTMENT.'—In his ' Eighteenth Century Literature,' p. 137, Mr. Gosse says that Parnell's 'Hymn'opens thus :— The silent heart which grief assails, Treads soft and lonesome o'er the vales. In this statement the critic, no doubt, is misled by himself, for these lines are the beginning of trie extract from the ' Hymn to Contentment' which he gives in Ward's 'English Poets,' vol. iii. p. 136. As a matter of fact, there are eighteen lines in the hymn before the quota- tion given by Mr. Gosse. This is the opening of the poem :— Lovely, lasting peace of mind ! Sweet delight of human-kind ! Heavenly-born, and bred on high, To crown the favourites of the sky With more of happiness below, Than victors in a triumph know 1 With customary critical felicity, Mr. Gosse insists on the poetical importance of this ode and also the same author's 'Night-Piece on Death.1 It is too common to find Parnell disposed of as the poet of the exquisite ' Hermit,' and of that alone, and Mr. Qosse does good service by emphasizing the " real inspiration " of these two odes. THOMAS BAYNK,