Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/101

 9 th S. V. FEB. 3, 1900.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

93

will be found in Boase's ' Collectanea Cornu- biensis ' and other Cornish works of refer- ence. The Hamblys are said to belong mostly to the parishes of St. Breward Egloshayle, and Bodmiii. CHEVRON.

If this item of information is of any use, the arms belong, or belonged, to a family called Hambley or Hambly. See Burke, Pap worth, &c. J. LONSDALE.

"THE ENERGETIC OLD MAN": "THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT" (9 th S. iv. 518). The latter was, of course, Sir William Sydney Smith. The three references are plainly to the ineffective siege of Acre by Bonaparte. The "French Renegads" were presumably the French army, as opposed to the royalist Col. Phellipeaux, who helped Sir Sydney Smith. For that help the colonel has not received half enough credit as a soldier, nor half enough discredit as a Frenchman. Sir Sydney Smith wrote a stupid, bombastic letter to the Druses, inviting them to " choose between the friendship of a Christian knight and that of an unprincipled renegade." The "energetic old man" was probably Djezzar Pasha, the Turkish commander. He rewarded all who brought him the heads of French soldiers, and was directly instrumental in the destruction of General Lasan's column. He allowed the leading files to enter the breach unchallenged, and then closed with them hand to hand, reaping a rich harvest of heads thereby, " the sabre proving more than a match for the bayonet." The reference to Constantinople is, of course, to Smith's duties as joint-plenipotentiary there. He was to the last an upholder of the " Chris- tian knight " traditions. A few years before his death, in Paris, he formed a fantastic society of "Knights Liberators," or "Knights Templars." This league fought with the arms of modern Crusaders words and senti- ments on behalf of the Algerian slaves.

GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

NURSERY RIMES (9 th S. v. 27). Halliwell, in his 'Nursery Rhymes of England,' considers solution, "An egg." Another edition of ' Hickery Dickery,' he states, will be found in BlackwoocVs Magazine for August, 1821, and ' Handy Spandy ' might be the game of "Handy Handy," mentioned in 'King Lear,' IV. vi., also in Florio's 'New World of Words,' 1611. 'Old Mother Hubbard ? has been dis- cussed in 'N. & Q.,' 8 th S. viii. 384, 458. Possibly your correspondent would find the information he requires in an essay on
 * Humpty Dumpty ' to be a riddle, and the

'Archaeology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes,' by John Bellender Ker, published in two volumes by Longman, and a supplement thereto, by the same author, issued by Ridgway. There is also ' Popular Rhymes of Scotland,' by Robert Chambers, and Temple Bar, vol. viii., both of which might be consulted.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

I have a copy of ' Wee Willie Winkie,' nearly forty years old, entitled " Wee Willie Winkie, A Nursery Song, by William Miller. Air by the Rev. W. B. Arranged by Andrew Thomson. Published for the Benefit of William Miller, by William Mitchisori, Glas- gow." E. MEIN.

I would suggest a reference to ' Golspie : Contributions to its Folk-lore,' edited by E. W. B. Nicholson, Bodley's Librarian (David Nutt, 1897). J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

BELLRINGERS' RIMES (9 th S. iv. 305, 446). In connexion with C. C. B.'s note at the former reference, I enclose an inscription I copied a few weeks ago (21 September, 1899) fiom the wall of All Saints' Church, in the old town at Hastings the exact position being on the north side of the church, under the tower, at the top of the steps leading into the nave from the west door :

1HS

This is a belfry that is free for all those that civil be and if you please to chime or ring it is a very pleasant thing

There is no musick playd or sung like unto Bells when theyr wellrung then ring your bells well if you can silence is best for every man

But if you ring in spur or hat sixpence you pay be sure of that ana if a bell you overthrow pray pay a groat before you go

1756

It will be noticed that only the first line of each verse commences with a capital letter. The inscription appeared to be written in black paint on the white wall, and also as if it had formerly been covered with whitewash, recently discovered, and the whitewash removed.

G. YARROW BALDOCK.

DANISH PLACE-NAMES IN THE WIRRAL OF CHESHIRE (9 th S. iv. 379, 442, 502). MR. J. R. BOYLE, of Hull, qualifies his appreciation of the little book that Mr. Elliot Stock pub- lished for me on 'The Place-names of the