Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/495

 V.JUNE IB, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

483

the purest representatives of the Iberian race. According to theory, the Pictish clans ought to tan and the Scots to freckle. I should be glad to know if this accords with the facts.

P. F. H. asks why I say that the origin of the name of the Pentland Firth is different from that of the Pentland Hills. I answer that Prof. Rhys, in his ' Rhirid Lectures,' and in the Academy, 13 Aug., 1892, shows that the early name of the Pentland Firth was O.N. Pettaland f jorth or Petlands Fiord, and after- wards Pichtland Fyrth and Fretum Picticum, proving that the n in Pentland Firth is in- trusive, while the Pentland Hills were Pen- land, the t being intrusive and the n radical.

As to the Gwyddel ffichti, or Irish Picts, I may add that Spike Island in Cork Harbour is a corruption of Inis Pichht, the "Picts' Island." ISAAC TAYLOK.

" LARKSILVER " (9 th S. v. 376). It is perhaps what Sherlock Holmes would have called " a long shot " to connect the first two letters of this word with "lay " or "lea"; nevertheless, the * Imperial Dictionary ' does so, s.v. ' Lark/ Halliwell gives : " Larks-leers. Arable land not in use ; any poor or barren land. Somer- set." The second syllable in this latter word is connected with the M.E. tere=empty, useless. Larksilver, on these lines, would be payment for pasture land.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF BAUDELAIRE (9 th S. v. 375). About fifty of Baudelaire's poems may be found in a work entitled ' Some Translations from Charles Baudelaire,' pub- lished by Messrs. Digby & Long. Ten of his poems are also translated in ' A Century of French Verse,' by William John Robertson. The publishers are Messrs. Innes & Co.

ROBIN GOODFELLOW.

PETITION AGAINST THE USE OF HOPS (9 th S. v. 376). I find in the Harleian Catalogue, No. 980, fo. 282, the following :

" That about the 4th of Hen. VI. an Information was exhibited against one, for putting an unwhole- some kind of weed called an Hopp, into his Brewing."

But Mr. Prothero (' Pioneers and Progress of English Farming,' Longmans, 1888, p. 31) has it that hops were introduced into Eng- land in the reign of Henry VIII. LOBUC.

TOMB IN BERKELEY CHURCH (9 th S. v. 375). If H. T. B. refers to Ralph Bigland's 'Monu- mental, Historical, and Genealogical History of the County of Gloucester,' folio, 1791-2, under * Berkeley,' he will find as follows :-

" Between the nave and south aisle are the effigies of Thomas, Lord Berkeley, and Catherine, his second

lady, sculptured in alabaster. His lordship is repre- sented in the armour of the fourteenth century charged with the family bearings, and the lady with a headdress of extraordinary shape and size. This baron died in 1360, before which time the nobles of this family were interred in the Con- ventual Church of St. Augustine, now the Cathe- dral, at Bristol."

ALFRED HALL.

The effigy is that of Catherine, the second wife of Thomas, Lord Berkeley. Other parts of the lady's costume are worthy of notice, notably her corset worn outside. According to the Sumptuary Laws made in the fourth year of King Edward IV., no woman under the degree of a knight's wife or daughter might wear wrought corsets.

THOMAS A. MARTIN.

DANIEL DEFOE (9 th S. v. 285). Referring to this subject, may I be permitted to mention in * N. & Q.' that in John Forster's charming essay on the " Works of Daniel Defoe, London, 1843," it is related that in the midst of his labours and enjoyments there came upon Daniel Defoe a stroke of ill luck he saw his whole fortune swept away by an unsuccessful speculation ? One angry creditor took out a commission of bankruptcy, and Defoe, sub- mitting to the rest for an amicable settle- ment, fled from London.

" A prison," he said, ** paid no debts." His

Elace of retreat was in Bristol, and during is sojourn there he was called " the Sunday Gentleman," because, through fear of the bailiffs, he did not dare to appear in public on any other day. Good, however, came of his forced retirement ; he wrote in Bristol, remarks John Forster, "that famous essay which went far to form the intellect and direct the pursuits of the most clear and practical genius of the succeeding century." In fact, * The Essay on Projects ' suggested a series of reforms of the utmost importance to his fellow - creatures. It included a great design of education, the raising of a military college, and the training of women. Defoe's exile in due course came to an end by an arrangement with his creditors ; they con- sented to accept the sum of five thousand pounds in full payment of their claims upon him. He then returned to London, with the hope in his heart of serving his king, and by some influence obtained the office, which he held for four years, of Accountant to the Commissioners of Glass Duty. About the same time Defoe established extensive tile- kiln and brick-kiln works at Tilbury, and it was his boast in connexion with those works that he gave employment for years to more than one hundred poor workmen. In