Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/477

 9* s. VL NOV. 17, ism] NOTES AND QUERIES. 397 Church, " Like to an owl in ivy bush," <fec., but I have never been able to trace the words in any version of the Psalins. The version actually used must have been either Stern- hold and Hopkins'* or Tate and Brady's, in neither of which does the " ivy bush " appear, and I take it to be a humorous touch added by some member of the Wesley family in telling the tale. "Like an owl in an ivy bush" is a proverbial saying in North Lin- colnshire, and, if it has not arisen out of the above story, it may have suggested the " im- provement on the versions formerly bound up with the Prayer Books, and used in all English churches. J. T. F. Durham. The anecdote, as related by Dr. A. Clarke, is thought by good judges to be apocryphal, at least in some of the details. See the whole subject discussed at length in Tyernmn's 'Life of Samuel Wesley, Senior,' 1866, pp. 451-5, and in Stevenson's ' Memorials of the Wesley Family,' 1876, pp. 155-6. Steven- aon says the lines "Like to an owl," <fcc., "cannot be found in any version of the Psalms then known to be in use." Brewer's ' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ' has a note on the proverbial comparison which quotes from a carol of the time of Henry VI., but not the words in question. 0. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. Bath. The fact of the ivy bush having been formerly supposed to be the favourite haunt of the melancholy author of " Too-whit, top- whoo," gave rise, I believe, to this phrase in its application to a "sawny," or to one having a scared or ugly look, or to one possessing some startlingly unusual characteristic feature or headdress:— /.»/••' Sp. Prithee, how did the fool look? Col. Look 1 I »i'i, he look'd for all the world like an owl in an ivy bush."—Swift, 'PoL Conv., Conv. 1. Halliwell has the saying, "I live too near the wood to be frightened by an owl," meaning "I am too old to be scared by a bogey of that sort." J. H. MACMICHAEL. MARGARET OF BOUEBON (9th S. vi. 289).—: send this to correct an error in the query Married 6 January, 1472, died 19 April, 1483 The date of birth I am unable to ascertain. JOHN RADCLIFFE. MBDUSVAL TITHE BARNS (9th S. vi. 309).— When the subject of tithe barns was being discussed in 8th S. ii. and iii. I sent a note respecting the one at Naseby, but I presum it was only acknowledged with the "many •eplies " at 8th S. ii. 331. May I now say that bis fine old barn is still to be seen standing n the south side of Naseby Church .' I was ooking at it again only the other day. It is a most picturesque building, being con- tructed largely of oak beams, with the addi- ions of thatch for the roof and mud for the walls. In the beam over the main doorway >n the west side is deeply carved E.S. 1(501 presume these initials and date refer to ikiward Shuckburgh, who died 25 April, 1658, a,ged eighty-six, and whose gravestone, though low much defaced, may still be seen in the iooring of the chancel. I was glad to be able (i secure a good photograph of the old tithe >arn from Naseby Post Office. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. I have seen illustrations and descriptions of such in various issues of the Country Life newspaper during the past twelve months. W. CURZON YEO. Richmond, Surrey. YEOMANRY RECORDS (9th S. vi. 269).—I have n my possession a number of pay-sheets of /he old Derbyshire Yeomanry, date about L820, but I am not certain as to exact date, as L am writing from memory. These sheets contain the names of the officers and men of each troop, and the pay they received whilst up for training. I have also one or two old liotel bills in connexion with the same. These show the amount paid for dinners, bottles of wine, <fec., and are considerably interesting. I am thinking of sending them for publica- tion in the Reliquary or some Derbyshire journal. CHARLES DRURY. ' Historical Kecord of the Shropshire Yeo- manry Cavalry,' by Col. Wingfieki, was pub- lished by Adnitt & Naunton, of Shrewsbury, in 1888. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. "PEACE, RETRENCHMENT, AND REFORM" (9th S. iii. 287, 334; vi. 256).—Writing in the Morning Herald of 2 August, 1899, Sir Charles Dilke makes a statement corroborative of that in the 'D.N.B.,' namely, that it was chiefly through the efforts of Joseph Hume that " retrenchment" was added to the words "peace and reform " as the party watchword. He says:— "When you apeak of the old Liberal phrases, ' Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform,' and ' the greatest good of the greatest number,' yon must remember that they are somewhat musty. The former was the emendation of ' Peace and Reform' —the Whig watchword of the Ureat War—which