Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/155

 9 th S. V. FEB. 24, 1900. J

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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1403 ; in 1400 he is Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Bucks ; in 1407 he is appointed Speaker to the House of Commons, again in 1410, 1411, 1415 ; in 1413 he is appointed Chief Butler, when, acting for the Vintners' Company, he executed a lease, using a seal of arms attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer. In 1416 he was recognized as Forester of Petherton, in succession to Geoffrey Chaucer, long deceased, he having performed the duties in the interim as de- puty, In 1422 he paid 26s. Sd. as six months' rent for the house taken by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1399 at Westminster, and such payments ceased at his death in 1434 as "Dominus Thomas Chaucer, armiger," lord of Ewelme, lessee of Woodstock Manor, &c., he was poetized by John Lydgate leaving Maud his widow, nee Burghersh, and a daughter named Alice, Duchess of Suffolk, who survived till 1475, as grandmother to John, Earl of Lin- coln, then in succession to the crown of Eng- land. The fine domain of Ewelme had come as his wife's inheritance through Fastolf and Bacon.

Lydgate is credited with a balade ' At the Departyng of Thomas Chaucyer on Arnbas- sade in to ffrance.' A. HALL.

Highbury, N.

[See 4 th S. iv. 256; vii. 413; viii. 516; ix. 468; x. 15 ; 7 th S. iv. 256; viii. 389; xii. 238.]

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

HELEN FAUCIT AND MARGARET GILLIES. When the late Miss Gillies was painting miniatures, she is recorded to have painted Macready as Richelieu, and Helen Faucit as Julie de Morteinar. Is it known in whose possession the latter portrait now is ?

ALFRED AINGER.

" IGNAGNING." Thornber, in his 'History of Blackpool,' 1837, p. 92, tells us that this was the name of a morris dance performed by young people on the afternoon of Easter Sunday in the Fylde in Lancashire. Can any one refer me to a quotation for this term earlier than 1837? A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

" ILL-MUGGENT."

Nor dp I fear his ill chaft taak, Nor his ill-muggent tricks.

These words occur in 'Ulysses' Answer to Ajax's Speech,' a poem written " in the broad

Buchan dialect," and printed in 'A Select Collection of Scots Poems,' edited by David Fergusson, 1785, p. 30. What is the meaning of "ill-muggent"? Jamieson gives a guess and two etymologies. I should be glad of more light. A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

WHITE CATTLE. There is a prophecy that " when the white cows come to Blair, the wheel of Blair Mill will turn round seven times with people's blood." The Gaelic ver- sion runs thus : " Meair thig an cro ban do Bhlar, cuirearseachd cuirde chuibhle mhuilinn Bhlair le fuil sluaigh." Is anything known of this prophecy, or of its having appeared in print in any book ? Local inquiry shows that the Duke of Atholl has no white cattle in Blair ; but there is a story that they were seen within the last half century in one of the corries. J. J. M. L.

" PEASE " : " PEA." Many years ago PROF. SKEAT told us that the sing, pea was evolved from pease by some one who had a taste for grammar. I wonder when this enterprising individual flourished. The earliest example of the word pea which I have found is in Dr. Plot's 'History of Oxfordshire' (1679). He says (v. 85) that he had in his possession an echinite, "not exceeding the Rounceval pea in bigness." Can any one mention an earlier example of the use of the word ?

C. B. MOUNT.

AMERICAN WORTHIES. Can any of your correspondents give me some details, includ- ing the date of birth and death, of Samuel Huntington, one of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, and of Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange in 1781 ; also of Generals Schofield, Meade, and Banks, who fought in the Civil War in the States 1

G. H. V.

POPE'S " LOVE-LETTERS." Writing to William Mason on 11 May, 1769, Horace Wai pole states that Dodsley has "published a dozen letters of Pope to Mrs. Blount." Cunningham, in a note on this passage, remarks that these letters were not addressed to Miss Martha Blount, but to Miss Judith Cowper (after- wards Mrs. Madan). Is this the case ?

H. T. B.

" MORAL POCKETHANDKERCHIEFS." Every one who knows his 'Pickwick' is familiar with the words " moral pockethandkerchiefs." Is a similar phrase still in use? There is mention of " tout un stock d'objets moral- isateurs" in the Baron E. de Mandat-

rancey's 'Chez John Bull' (1895), p. 247.