Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/205

 9* S.V.MARCH 10, 1900.] NOTES AND QUERIES

197

the Turks did ; of these moustachios, or whiskers I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat ui)on them, but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such as in England would have passed for frightful."

The " old dictionary " consulted by the Saturday Review is doubtless that of Bailey, but Johnson, in the last folio edition of his dictionary, defines whisker as " the hair grow ing on the cheek unshaven ; the mustachio.' A. F. R-. will perhaps find my articles on
 * Algernon ' interesting. F. ADAMS.

101), Albany Road, Camberwell.

Outside the Saturday Review's old dic- tionaries, to many of which I could refer, I quote from Sir Walter Scott's 'Abbot,' chap, xviii. (1820) :

" There the soldier in buff and steel, his long sword jarring against the pavement, and his whiskered upper lip and frowning brow looking an habitual defiance of danger, which perhaps was not always made good."

Again, in Sir George Scharfs 'Catalogue of the National Portrait Gallery': "Whiskers, in ancient descriptions, meant the hair over the mouth, now called moustaches"; the meaning given in the ' Imperial,' a modern dictionary (1883), by Charles Annandale, M.A. ('N. &Q.,' 6 th S. iv. v.) EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

The following example of this word in the sense of moustachios is not without interest. I have extracted it from Southey's ' Common- place Book,' iii. 144 :

" ' Wilson's History and Antiquities of the Dis- senting Churches,' vol. i. p. 141. Joseph Jacob, an Independent preacher at Turner's Hall, Philpot Lane, [in] the beginning of the last century, made a church of his own. ' He past an order obliging the whole of the congregation to stand during the time of singing. This, though by no means an un- common thing in the present day, was then looked upon as a great novelty. In this reformed church all periwigs were discarded ; the men members wore whiskers upon their upper lips, in which Mr. Jacob set them an example.' "

I have also a reference to Archceoloc/ia, xxxvi. 191, for whiskers meaning moustachios, but as I have not the series at hand I cannot extract what is said. ASTARTE.

"They [the Hungarians] shave their beards, except the upper lip, which is generally adorned with a pair of huge whiskers " (John Hunter, 'Travels in the Year 1792,' ed. 1796, p. 426). W. G. BOSWELL-STONE.

The Saturday Review's "old dictionary" is evidently Bailey's, whose definition of "whisker" is "a Tuft of Hair on the upper Lip of a Man "; of " mustaches": "That part of the Beard growing upon the upper Lip,

Whiskers." Walker's ' Dictionary ' (1827) has : " Whisker. The hair growing on the upper lip unshaven, the Mustachio." C. C. B.

COINS IN FOUNDATION STONES (9 th S. iv. 499). No reply having appeared, may I ask if it has been noted that coins were formerly placed over the doorways of houses to denote the approximate date of the erection of the building, for good luck, as horseshoes are so frequently hung near the doorway now, or for some other reason? During repairs to my house in 1867, silver coins of the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and Charles I. were met with ; these had been placed on the oak lintels, which were then round (except the outside being rather weather-worn), or in the masonry close above. I am told by builders that they have been met with in other houses built at the period indicated.

B. B.

LINCOLNSHIRE SAYINGS (9 th S. iv. 478 ; v. 38, 95). "As black as the devil's nutting- bag " is a comparison in common use in the part of Suffolk from which I write. F. H.

Marlesford.

THE JUBILEE NUMBEE (9 th S. iv. 533 ; v. 89). At the first reference the Editor was kind enough to mention MR. EVERARD HOME COLE- MAN as one of the earliest contributors to C N. & Q.' At 9 th S. v. 90 A. H. alludes to this statement, and indicates that his first appearance was at 4 th S. viii. 32. May I, as one who has now enjoyed the friendship and valued help of MR. COLEMAN for some years, venture to correct A. H. by submitting the following facts 1 MR. COLEMAN has been a subscriber to ' N. & Q.' from the first, and is, therefore, in the happy possession of a complete set. His first contribution will be found at 1 st S. vii. 66, and at 9 th S. iv. 542 his notes, queries, and replies had reached the astonishing total of 1,367. He is, therefore, not only one of the earliest contributors, but also one of the largest and most frequent.

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

W. C. B. is correct in surmising that the signature J. M. (Oxford) stands for that of my father, John Macray. His first con- tribution occurs in No. 13. Early in the Second Series, at the request of his and my friend Mr. Thorns, I sent some specimens of the notes with which Francis Douce enriched many of his books now in the Bodleian Library. W. D. MACRAY.

LES DETENUS (9 tl1 S. iv. 288, 354, 425, 522 ; v> 97). Although Junot was Governor of