Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/513

 v. JUNE 23, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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ancient times a sacred tree, supplying in its sap the first nourishment to the Grecian hero, as now to the Celtic Highlander? Nay, according to Hesiod. Zeus made the third or brazen race of hard ash wood pugnacious and terrible ; as Yggdrasil, the cloud tree of the Norseman, out of which he believed the first man was made, was an ash.

" When the year of infancy is past, and baby's nails may safely be given up to the scissors, care must be taken not to cut them on a Sunday or a Friday. Friday, of course, is an unlucky day, and as for Sunday the old rhyme says :

Better a child had ne'er been born

Than cut his nails on a Sunday morn ! Another variation of the verse runs thus :

Friday hair, Sunday horn,

Better that child had ne'er been born. And yet another :

Sunday shaven, Sunday shorn,

Better hadst thou ne'er been born. Or at greater length :

Cut them on Monday, cut them for health ;

Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth ;

Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news ;

Cut them on Thursday, a new pair of shoes ;

Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow ;

Cut them on Saturday, a present to-morrow ;

But he that on Sunday cuts his horn

Better that he had never been born."

RICHARD WELFOED.

BOROUGH-ENGLISH (9 th S. v. 376). By the custom of the honour of Richmond, of which Skidby was parcel, males inherit in common. In Brabner's ' Gazetteer of England and Wales ' it is stated under ' Skidby ' that " the manor belongs to Trinity College, Cam- bridge." It is probable that the tenants are copy nolders. In theSwailedale manor courts the same custom prevails. I am not aware that the custom still exists outside of manor courts. JAMES PEACOCK.

Sunderland.

The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Series of * N. & Q.' contain numer- ous articles on this subject, also lists of places where this custom prevails. Skidby is not named, or any other place north of the Humber. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

"PETIGREWE" (9 th S. v. 49, 117, 172, 233). Some one asks, " How came Pettigrew to be a surname 1 " I beg to answer, for the same reason that Pettifer (iron foot) and Crowfoot became surnames. HY. HARRISON.

THE GAME OF TABLES (9 th S. v. 435).' The Compleat Gamester ' (1674), the earliest Eng- lish work on the subject, describes nine table-games 'Games within the Tables' (backgammon, <fcc.) in chaps, xxvi.-xxxi., and 'Games without the Tables' (dice) in chaps, xxxii.-xxxiv. In the description given

of the game of "inn and inn " a throw of dice (not explained) is referred to as " two kings." This does not seem to be a misprint, as the expression is carried through all the editions. There may, therefore, have been other throws called queens and knaves. J. S. M. T.

FRENCH SOCIETY IN THE LAST CENTURY (9 th S. v. 67, 232). I should be glad of the following items of information concerning the persons named below, who were prominent in French society between 1770 and 1780 :

(1) the maiden names of the ladies mentioned ;

(2) their title when not indicated (as in the case of Madame de Chatillon) ; (3) date of marriage ; (4) date of death : Vicomtesse de Cambis.

Comtesse de Caraman, sister of Madame de Cambis. Madame de Montconseil (nee Rioult de Curzay). Madame de la Vauguion. I presume that she was

the wife of the duke of that name. Madame de Mallet. Madame de Blot. Madame de Marchais. Madame Holstein. M. d'Entragues. Madame de Roncherolles. Madame de la Remiere. Due de Brancas. Princesse de Poix. Due de Gontaut. Due de Chabot. M. Schomberg. M. de Pignatelli (died about 1765).

As regards the two Mesdames d'Egmond, the younger of the two, concerning whom I inquired, seems to have been a daughter of the notorious Due de Richelieu. Were there three bearers of the title living in 1765? It would be of great service if H. L. O. would be kind enough to indicate the sources of the information supplied in reply to my former queries. H. T. B.

STAMP COLLECTING (8 th S. xii. 469; 9 th i. 115; v. 404). I happen to possess vol. iii. of the Stamp Collectors Magazine, the editorial to the first number of which sup- plies some interesting particulars of the early period of stamp collecting. It begins by allusion to the timbrophilic annals and notes already in existence (i.e., previous to 1865), journals devoted to this subject in Brussels, Leipzig, Coburg, Paris (2), besides "con- currents " in London, Manchester, Weymouth, &c. The first collection seen by the editor was " more than ten years ago," presumably in 1854, when a collection of 200 in London was a marvel. In 1864 the varieties were cal- culated to be 3,000. Later on he quotes a paragraph from a Wiltshire paper : " A col- lector of postage stamps has advertised that le wishes to dispose of his collection for