Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/12

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. y, JAN. 6, 1900.

it. The * Century ' vaguely guesses the word to be "African." Yet there are plenty of dictionaries which would have decided its origin. I turn to the 'Dictionary of the Amharic Language,' by the Rev. C. W. Isen- berg (London, 1841, p. 157), and I find that zebra is Ethiopian, Amharic being, I need hardly say, the court and official language of Abyssinia. Isenberg prints it in Ethiopic characters, which cannot be reproduced here. The transliteration is zebera. The short e's, corresponding to the Hebrew shew, are practically silent in pronunciation, and the stress should be upon the last syllable.

JAMES PL ATT, Jun.

A PASTILLE -BURNER. We have a china ornament, that has been in existence upwards of sixty years, in the form of a cottage, four by five by three inches, and that, in spite 01 its preposterous floral embellishment, in- dicates a purpose in its construction. The base is recessed, and pierced, as it were through the floor, in four places. At the sides and back of this base there are three inlets, measuring three-quarters of an inch each, apparently for air. The doorway at the back is ample and unobstructed by a door. There are six window-spaces at the front, also open ; and the flues of the two chimneys connect with the interior. This is doubtless one of the old pastille-burners, the pastilles being placed in the chimneys, and obtaining bv means of these various contrivances suffi- cient air for their free combustion.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

HENRY CAVENDISH. The notice in the 'Enoycl, Brit.' of this celebrated chemist states that he was educated at Newcombe's school at Hackney. This seems to have been a notable seminary in the middle of last cen- tury. It would be interesting to glean some facts about its exact site, &c., and respecting any scholars who were contemporaries of Cavendish, and made their mark in science, letters, or arms. M. L. BRESLAR.

" WROTH SILVER." The following, from the Liverj)ool Echo for 13 November, 1899, may be of interest :

"At sunrise on Saturday morning the ancient custom of collecting ' wroth silver ' on the Duke of Buccleuch's Warwickshire estate was observed at Knightlow Hill, a short distance from Rugby. The duke has rights over the common lands in a number of parishes, and he therefore claims to take dues from those parishes. One group is called upon to pay Id. each, another lot l$d., and so on to 2s. 3d. A large number of people go out at sunrise and follow the Buccleuch agent into a field where stands the cross at which tribute is paid. As a rule the money is forthcoming, not from the official coffers

of the parishes 'liable,' but from the pockets of stray onlookers. The ceremony lasts about a quarter of an hour, and then, by invitation of his grace, everybody goes to breakfast at the nearest inn, where the duke's health is drunk in hot rum and milk."

GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

[See 1 s * S. x. 448 ; 6 th S. ii. 386 ; 7 th S. xii. 442, 493; 8* S. i. 197, 238. See also under 'Wroth Money.']

EDGAR A. FOE'S ' HOP-FROG.' The original of this gruesome story may be found in Barckley's ' Felicitie of Man,' 1631, pp. 63-4, and maj% no doubt, be traced further back :

"The French King Charles the Sixth, his mind being distempered, committed the goyernement of his Realme to others, and gave himselfe to pastimes : there chanced a marriage to bee solem- nized in his Court, where the King was disposed to make himselfe and others merrie, he put off all his apparell, and disguised his face like a Lion, annoint- ing his body with pitch, and fastned flaxe so artificially to it, that he represented a monster, rough, and covered with haire. When he was thus attired, and five others as wise as himselfe, they came into the chamber among the Lords and Ladies, dauncing and singing in a strange tune, all the Court beholding them. The Duke of Orleance, whether that hee might better see, or for some other toy, snatched a torch out of a mans hand, and held it so neare the King, that a spark falling upon him set them all on a flaming fire ; two of the five companions were miserably burnt in the place, crying and howling most pitifully without any remedie ; other two dyed in great torment two daies after ; the fifth running speedily into a place where was water and wine, to wash himselfe, was saved ; the King having more helpe than the rest, before the flame had compassed his body round about, was saved by a Lady that cast her traine arid gowne about him, and quenched the fire."

RICHARD H. THORNTON. Portland, Oregon.

"WOUND" FOR "WINDED." It is rather to be regretted that in the 'H.E.D.' under 'Horn,' Scott's line ('Lady of the Lake,' I. xvii.)

But scarce again his horn he wound should be quoted without comment. It would have been more in place under " wind," as an instance of a false past tense. 0. C. B.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AS DUKE OF CORNWALL. (See 7 th S. xii. 362.) I would supplement this note which illustrated the fact that for nearly the first month of his life the present heir-apparent bore only the title of Duke of Cornwall, to which he had the right by birth, and that it was not until 4 December, 1841, he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by a reference to the phrase used by Henry VI. in ^1455 in reference to his unfortunate son Edward,