Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/131

 9"'S- VI- AUG- 11, 1900-1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 105 ‘Principles of Agriculture,’ uses the word in the same sense, as, for example: “ Muck is often useful as a source of humus ...... it is generally improved if dug and allowed to weather ...... Dry muck is very useful in stables absorb the liquids.” The use of the term muclc for eat by American agriculturists should, I think, be noted. L R. HEDGER WALLACE. LOCAL RIME.-I quote the following from Th_omas Hearne’s ‘Remarks and Collections,’ edited by C. E. Doble for the Oxford His- torical Society, vol. iii. p. 156 :-- “Here it will not be improper to remember the merry northern adage:- He y' will fish for a Lancashire Lad, At any time or tide, Must bait his Hook with a ood Egg py Or an Apple w’th a red si e.” 5 K. P. D. E. AN ANCIENT IDYL.-On fly-leaves of “A Diary Astronomical and Astrological for the year of our Lord 1680. London : Printed by . D. for the Company of Stationers, 1680,” which belonged to my great- reat-great- grandfather, are (with many  entries relating to his accounts and transactions) the following lines :- In a may morning as I was walking: I heard two _ Louers together talking: with words so sweet he spoke unto her: and thus _ he did begin to woo her: said he w_el1 met my dearest betty: thou art a girl _ that is wondrous pretty; if I could gain but your oue and fauour: Ile be _ thy dearest Loue for euer: slight not sweetheart this Louing motion: a hundred pouend it is my portion: but if we neuer enjoy one penny: true Loue is better than bags of mony: The maid’s answer:- good sir your words are kindly spoken: but hasty _ Loue is soonest broken : its good for you obserue yore doin : and be not you too guic in woing: lf I shoul grant you my Loue to marry: perhaps you’d wish you did longer tarry : and in one year begin to iiout me : and wish _ that you had gone without me : sume men do flout their wifes tis certain: and say they mitght had better fortune: so this they always frown and Louer: and scarcely live one quiet hour: The man’s answer: - sweetheart my Loue on the is fixed: both night and day I am perplexed: then prithee do not thou deny me : but come sweet- heart and sit dowen by me : doubt not sweetheart ile nere offend the: my Loue is true which I pretend the: ile not forsake the for gold nor money : then do not Slight me my derest honey : bettey blame me not for my speeches: I do not aim for gold or riches: my heart is fixed without moueing: sweet bettey be thou kind and Louing. I doubt whether my worthy ancestor was author or more than a transcriber, of the lines, but the antiquity of the transcript may perhaps find it a place in the pages of ‘N.&Q.' J. H. J. “ CREAK.”--Th6 oldest example of the verb to crea/c, in the usual modern sense, is found in Stanihurst. It is worth noting that the word occurs also in Friesic. Cummins, in his ‘ Old Friesic Grammar/ second edition, p. 104, quotes a Friesic proverb of the seventeenth century: “Kraeckjende weijen doerje aller- langst,” i.e., creaking waggons last the longest. The dictionaries omit the word, though Koolman has something( parallel to it, viz., “Krakwagens gan lan ,’ creaking waggons go long. WALTER W. SKEAT. Quzrizs. WE must re uest correspondents desiring infor- mation on famidy matters of only private interest to aiiix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. “MACABAA.”-This word occurs as the title of a poem written by “Geordie Wushart” in answer to a friend who had sent him some good snufi, and is repeated four times in the course of the short piece. The poem begins with the line Sir, I gat yer sang wi’ the fine Macabaa. I infer therefore that “Macabaa” means some kind of snuff. Can any native of Galloway tell me what kind? Geordie Wushart’s reduction may be seen in Mac Taggart’s ‘ lgncyclopediaf ed. 1876__I>. 223. A. L. AYHEW. Oxford. NURSERY STORIES, c. 1830-40.-It is possi- ble that some one may be able to identify a collection of tales of above date, in which occurs the following story, which I have expressed in shortest terms. A poor widow and daughter are living alone on the borders of a forest. They are reduced to the extremity of poverty, when one evening an old woman agpears at their door asking for bread. They s are with her their last crust, upon which she departs, leaving with them her blessing. The next morning-this is the delicious part-mother and daughter are awakened by sounds of cows lowin ,pigs runting, ultry cackl1ng,_&c.- untold wealtgi is, in shirt, at last theirs. I