Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/62

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. JAN. 20, im

heirloom; but in any case their christening scheme suggests a feasible manner of upsetting social distinctions, for the titles of "Sir," "Marquis of," "Lady," "Judge," or even "Lord Justice," might be selected without infringing any known statute.

CHAS. F. FOESHAW, LL.D.

There was a Doctor David Dickenson who kept the Waterloo Hotel in Burnley in 1896. I noticed while in that town the use of Ad- miral, General, Major, and Squire as Christian names. J. HAMBLEY HOWE.

BROTHERS BEARING THE SAME CHRISTIAN NAME (9 th S. i. 446 ; ii. 51, 217, 276, 535 ; iii. 34, 438 ; iy. 74). Mr. James Gairdner, in his introduction to 'The Paston Letters,' says that John Paston, son of the justice of the Common Pleas, temp. Henry VI., " had a con- siderable family, of whom the two eldest sons, strange to say, both bore the same Christian name as their father. They were also both of them soldiers, and each in his time at- tained the dignity of knighthood."

F. L. MAWDESLEY.

The following is perhaps the most remark- able case in England. The sixth Earl Fitz- william had eight sons all named William, seven of whom had second or third names also, by way of necessary distinction. " Wil- liam, son of William," has been perpetuated for many generations. A. H.

On p. 45 of a charming book entitled "Quelques Legendes Poetiques du Pays de Soule, par Jean de Jaurgain," printed at Liguge (Vierme) in 1899 we are told, "II ressort done des conditions de ce retour de dot que Pierre d'Irigarai mourut le jour meme ou il avait epouse Gabrielle. Ses deux freres se nommaient Pierre, comme lui."

PALAMEDES.

MARRIAGE AND BAPTISM SUPERSTITIONS (9 th S. iv. 518). There is a basis for the usage of bringing babies to be baptized in the church where the parents were married, which is quite apart from any superstition, but which is worth noting, the more so as it applies usually only to the firstborn. The mother would go to her parents' house in order to be under the care of her own mother in the first confinement. Thus it happens that the baptism of the eldest child of a family will often have to be sought for in the church where its mother was married, even when the baptisms of the subsequent children are to be found in the parish where their parents resided. My attention was called to this usage by a correspondent of ' N. & Q.' when he was showing me some registers a

year ago, and I have since found many instances of it. A. T. M.

Women folks especially those of country places certainly used to consider their married life would be "full of luck" if they were married at the church where they were baptized. My mother often spoke of this as being a common belief when she was a girl, and she was a "'98" woman. With men it did not signify much, but women ought to be married, if possible, in the church in which they were baptized. There were no railways and other things to take young people from Derbyshire villages into towns in those days. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

"SOFT AS A TOA.D" (9 th S. iv. 516). The popular antipathy to the toad is well illus- trated in the story of the rustic who, finding one in his path, smashed it with his spade, saying as he did so, " Thou varmint ! I'll larn thee to be a to-ad." This is said to have occurred in this neighbourhood. The word toady, however, implies no dislike of the creature ; it is merely a corruption of toad- eater. Does MR. RATCLIFFE know the pudding called " toad-in-a-hole," which used to be a favourite dish in farmhouses in Nottingham- shire ? It is, if I remember rightly, a batter- pudding with a hole in the middle containing meat, beef by preference. C. C. B.

Epworth.

[The rustic's remark and the pudding " toad-in- the-hole" are both widespread.]

I entirely agree with MR. RATCLIFFE in his statement that toads are capable of appre- ciating kindness. I have one or two in my garden here, and as we invariably treat them with kindness, they seem to be quite fearless, and have occasionally even visited the kitchen. I may mention that I have several times noticed that whistling affects them strangely, and from this I judge that in some small degree they possess a musical ear. As a boy I remember being assured by a farm- hand that toads spat fire if teased. I have often since found this idea rampant amongst children. I have not heard the expression " a soft toad " or "a silly toad " here, but "a dirty toad" and "a nasty toad" are in common use. JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

THOMAS BROOKS (9 th S. iv. 478). An account of Thomas Brooks, with a list of his works, appears in Calamy's 'Abridgment' and in Palmer's 'Nonconformist's Memorial,' 1802, i. 250-53 ; also in the Rev. A. B. Grosart's collective edition of Brooks's com-