Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/230

 188 NOTES AND QUERIES. m» s. vi. SEPT. s, 1000. years appropriated a large share of the manufacture. It is said the name kersey is derived from the name of a town in Suffolk where this cloth was first made. J. R. NUTTALL. Lancaster. "NEWS."—There has always been a difficulty as to this word, the question being as to the final -*, which may indicate either the plural or the genitive singular ; for which compare quid noui. The question seems to be set at rest by the fact that it appears to be a trans- lation of the Lat. noua, new things, a plural used in the sense of tidings. And this Latin form was in use in the fourteenth century. Two excellent examples occur in Miss Toul- min Smith's edition (for the Camden Society) of the' Earl of Derby's Expeditions in 1390-3,' at pp. 107 and 109. " Cuidam naute Anglico portanti noua. de partu Hounfredi filii domini mei," z. e., paid to a certain English sailor who brought the news of the birth of Humphrey^ my lord's son. And again : " Nuncio socii Marescalli pro eo quod portauit certa noua de marescallo.' i.e., paid to a messenger of a friend of the marshal because he brought sure news concerning the marshal. After some search the earliest example I have yet come across of the English word is in stanza 179 of the 'Kingis Quair,' written (as I believe) before 1425 :— Awak ! awake ! I bring, lufar, I bring The newis glad, that bfisful ben and sure Of thy contort. Here the newis sure answers to the Latin certa noua in the second quotation. The ingenious gentlemen who used to derive news from North, East, West, and South quite forgot that the early spelling is invariably newis or newes. WALTER W. SKEAT. Cambridge. " PIN-PRICKS."—This political phrase occurs in a letter dated 11 August, 1777, from De Vergennes to D'Angiviller, then Director of the French Board of Works. He proposes to suppress the words "ordered by the United States or States General" in the description given in the Salon Catalogue of a monument to "General Richard de Montgomeri," who was killed at Quebec in 1775. " Ainsi," says De Vergennes, " nous evitons toute plainte, ce qui est toujours prudent, car ce ne sont jaruais les coups d'epingle qui decident de la fortune des Etats." See p. 40, 'Expositi du XVIII. Siecle,' J. J. Guiffrey. EMILIA F. S. DILKE. [See 9th S. iii. 46, 115,238.] tions •units. WK must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to .1 iii their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TERMS.—I should be grateful if any reader of ' N. <k Q.' could explain the following extracts from a six- teenth-century book of accounts:— 1. (a) "Paid for shellys" occurs amongst rebuilding expenses ; (6) "for a pece of olde bigge tymber and tow new shells." 2. "Two new brygges to the Lampe." 3. " Payd for the boylyng of the sensor." 4. "For cordes, Platters and fryngeaboute the Pascall." 5. "Ane yron deft" included in the parish armour. 6. " Balling three bell clappers." JOHN V. Knrro. SERJEANT HAWKINS, CIRCA 1673-1746.— The ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' (vol. xxv. p. 230) says that William Hawkins, the serjeant-at-law, author of ' Hawkins's Pleas of the Crown," was "admitted member of the Inner Temple 10 Feb., 1700 (or possibly 24 Nov., 1701, as two persons of his name appear in the hooks)." Assuming that Serjeant Hawkins's father was named John, as stated in the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.' (loc. cit.) and also in 'The Hawkins' Voyages' (Hakluyt Soc.. 1878. p. 1), it is clear from the books of the Inner Temple that (if that was his inn) the Serjeant was admitted there on the earlier of the above dates. For the person admitted on 10 Feb., 1700, was " Willielmus Hawkins generosus filius et hseres apparens Johannis Hawkins de Interiore Templo London Armigeri"; whereas the person admitted on 24 Nov., 1701, was "Willielmus Hawkins generosus filius et hseres Willielmi Hawkins nuper de Newport in Comitatu Salopie generosi de- functi." The books contain no other entry which can refer to the Serjeant's admission. Assuming that the above entry of 10 Feb., 1700, relates to Serjeant Hawkins, it follows that his father was also a member of the Inner Temple. Now the books of the Inner Temple have apparently only two entries which, can possibly refer to the admission of the Serjeant s father, viz.:— (1) 18 Oct., 1672: "Johannes Hawkins de Mort- lake in comitatu Surrie generosus." (2) 28 June, 1698: " Johannes Hawkins generosus films secundus Ricardi Hawkins nuper de London militis defuncti." Can your readers throw light upon the ques- tion which (if either) of these two entries