Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/263

 9* s. vi. SIR. is, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 217 —one full and one abbreviated — in De Quincey's 'Works,' edited by Prof. Masson, vol. xi. p. 290, and vol. viii. p. 33. The fuller version appeared first in the London Maga- zine, March, 1824 (vol. ix. p. 242). This magnificent dream of Bichter's was a favourite with Mr. R. A. Proctor, who used to recite it at the end of his lectures on ' Star Depths' and the ' Birth and Death of Worlds.' (See Knowledge, vol. iv. p. 288.) WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Moss Side. It is many years since I read Richter's romances, but, unless my memory deceives me, this dream occurs towards the end of ' Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces.' C. C. B. "CREAK" (9th S. vi. 105).—It may interest PROF. SKBAT to hear that the saying " a creak- ing gate hangs longest" is often applied to a person who has been ailing for a long time. R. B—R. VIRTUES AND VICES (9th S. v. 289, 443; vi. 136).— In Cheddar Church, Somerset, the carved oakwork of the bench-ends in the north aisle presents a series of grotesque faces, descriptive of the various sins of the tongue—blabbing, reviling, gossiping, " shoot- ing out arrows, even bitter words." Etched drawingsof someof these bench-ends appeared in the volume of Proceedings of the Somerset- shire Archaeological Society for the year 1888, and are thus tabulated :— "No. 1 will be found nearest the screen. This seems to exhibit the blabber and the reviler. " No. 2 apparently portrays, on the right hand, two gossiping women with tongues interlaced ; and on the left hand, a three-f&oed individual, whose tongues set forth deceit. "No. 3 is west of the entrance door, the figure on the right showing the man who shoota out 'arrows, even bitter words'; and that on the left, the man whose talk is best symbolized by the head of an ass." WILLIAM LOCKE RADFOKD. llminater. DR. HALL (9th S. vi. 67).—Surely it is no uncommon case to give as a Christian name alone the name of a good friend. That was the case with Dr. Marshall Hall; and Mr. Edward Marshall Hall, the barrister, was so named by his father, Dr. Alfred Hall, from regard to his esteemed friend Dr. Marshall Hall, whose only child, also Marshall, died a few years ago, leaving three sons, Algernon, John, and George, who all keep up the hon- ourea name of Marshall in addition. I knew a lady who had no other Christian name than Knightley; and Hallam Tennyson is a well- known example of this use of a surname. M. E. FOSB. THE CYCLOMETER (9th S. vi. 88). —Ac- cording to Charles Hutton's 'Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary,' 1796, a " Way-wiser is an instrument for measuring the road or distance travelled, called also Perambulator and Pedomiter. Mr. Lovell Edgworth communi- cated to the Society of Arts, &e., an account of a Way-wiser of his invention, for which he obtained a silver medal." Then follows a description of the machine:— "It appears from the constitution of this machine that it operates like circular compasses; and does not. like the common-wheel Way-wiser, measure the surface of every stone and molehill, &c., but passes over most of the obstacles it meets with, and measures the chords only, instead of the arcs, of any curved surfaces upon which it rolls." JOHN RADCLIFFE. "SHOT-FREE" (6th S. vii. 287; viii. 12,357, 504).—The ' Dictionary of Architecture' (vii. 173) gives the following definitions :— " Syttion (Lat. selio, seliones; Fr. siUon, furrow). Used in ancient terriers to denote a quadrangular allotment [of land] bounded on the sides by furrows. Synonymous therewith was Shott, also Quarantine: hence the expression ShoU-free, i. e., exempt from rent or other expenses, not Scot-free, exemption from taxes, scot and lot. Five selions make an acre." These definitions appear to be misleading, especially that relating to shot-free and the constituent of the acre. By the 34 Henry VIII. an acre—160 perches^ but before that date the acre varied in different counties. Skeatsay s, "Scot-free, free f rompayment(E.); A.-S. scot, payment, especially a contribution to a common fund, into which it is shot; A.-S. scot-en, pp. of scedtan, to shoot; Du. schot (whence O.F. escot, a tavern score); Icel. shot, a scot." JOHN HEBB. DOUBLE CHRISTIAN NAMES (9th S. vi. 107).— 'N. & Q.,' 1", 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8'" Series, has contained^very many communications on this subject. Early instances of a double Christian name are not so uncommon as is generally imagined. Four of the communications above referred to are examples in the fourteenth century, twenty-eight in the fifteenth, fifteen in the sixteenth, and twelve in the seventeenth century. EVERAHD HOME COLJSMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. NEGRO NICKNAMES (9th S. vi. 148).—MR. LELAND asks for a complete list of the seven old Guinea coast male names derived from weekdays. I beg to refer him to an article of mine in these columns (8th S. viii. 388), wherein he will find (1) the personal names; (2) the names of the weekdays; (3) the names of the gods from which the weekdays
 * /,•"/, a shot, a contribution; Ger. Schoss, a