Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/473

 s. V.JUNE 9, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

465

two parts on different levels are joined bj a curved part." And in the same work under the heading * Stake out, to ' (in build ing), will further be found (inter alia) :

" The operation of laying down the Lines on thi ground or site of the House which give the qutlin< of the ground Plan. This is done by driving ii Stakes at the angles or points where lines meet ; am if the distance between these be great, Stakes maj be placed along the Line at intervals.' 5

The above-quoted definitions would appea to throw light on the meaning of the wore "sweepstakes" as used in connexion with building by Lord Charlemont to Sir Willian Chambers, mentioned in ME. HENRY SMYTH'* query referred to above. Possibly some sub scriber in the architectural profession may authoritatively illustrate his lordship's mean ing. The above, however, appears to me the key. F. GREEN SMITH.

Moorland Grange, Bournemouth.

The phrase, so applied, would hardly be found in any technical work ; but it struck me, after reading in the 'Diet, of Archi tecture ' (1887), " Sweep, a semicircular or ova

form usually applied to a line of roads

in landscape gardening for graceful access to the entrances of the mansion," that Lord Charlemont was perhaps alluding in humorous fashion to the pillars or balus- trades of the terrace, or the fences bordering upon the "sweep," or drive, leading to the house. HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

Jamieson's ' Scottish Dictionary ' gives " Swap-Thak, s., thin boards of wood firmly fastened over a thatched roof, as a girding for the thatch." Most likely this is the origin of the special application of the word.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

'THE THREE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM' (9 th S. v. 169, 293). The reference in the shows that the mythology associated with the name has necessarily a remote and vague origin. In the prefatory note to Churchill's ' Gotham ' (Aldine edition) the following occurs :
 * Towneley Mysteries' to the " foles of Gothan"

" It is difficult to account for the title of this

SDem. The proverb ' As wise as the men of otham ' is a very old one. Gotham was a village in Nottinghamshire, celebrated for the stupidity of its inhabitants, who were said to have tried to drown an eel. John Ray, in a note on the above proverb, says: 'Men in all ages have made them- selves merry with singling out some place and fixing

the staple of stupidity and solidity [sic] there

As for Gotham, it doth breed as wise people as any which causelessly laugh at their simplicity.'"

There need surely be no difficulty about

Churchill's title ; he recognizes the fact that " Gotham " is a Utopia, a No-man's-land, and he utilizes it accordingly. He gives this as his own explanation of his choice :

Far off (no matter whether east or west, A real country, or one made in jest), Not yet by modern Mandevilles disgraced, Nor by map-jobbers wretchedly misplaced, There lies an island, neither great nor small, Which, for distinction sake, 1 Gotham call.

Ray's suggestion as to local Gothams will probably be very generally received as tenable. They are not unknown in Scotland, for example, although it would be invidious to give names. The fact remains that regarding certain communities pure Gotham- ite legends are passed on from one generation to another, the narrators never once having heard of Gotham itself or its celebrity. Not long since a group of harvesters made merry in the writer's hearing over the men of an east-coast village. An incisive rhapsodist told how a group of these worthies, paddling erewhile in the same pool on a summer day, lost their reckoning in the miscellany of feet, nor found relief from their confusion till a passing carter secured speedy disentangle- ment by the application of his whip. The narration was hearty, vivacious, and terse, and the auditors, while knowing that the villagers described were like their neighbours, accepted the legendary stupidity as relevant, and fully appreciated the situation as de- scribed. Self-binding reaping machines are steadily minimizing these joys.

THOMAS BAYNE.

FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR IN ENGLAND (9 th S. v. 269, 380). I would add to a com- munication of mine on this subject (8 th S. x. 457) giving a detailed account of the generous aid accorded to the French prisoners of war n this country in 1759 and 1760, this note from the * Annual Register ' for 1759 (p. 130) :

" December 12th. The following remarkable .rticle appeared in the Brussels Gazette: 'The ,nimosity of the English against the French de- reases. They are now suffered to hate only the French fleet that are in arms. A subscription is >pened in the several towns and counties for cloath- ng the French prisoners detained in England, and he example has been followed in the capital.' The English feel for their captives as men, and cannot lut pity enemies in distress, who are not in a apacity to hurt them."

ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

OLD WOODEN CHEST (9 th S. v. 88, 196, 275).

In Chichester Cathedral I saw, a few years

ago, a similar chest. In the Gentleman's

Magazine for 1824, part ii. p. 502, it is noted

hat "in the sacristy is preserved a Saxon

best of the rudest oak planks, 8 ft. long by