Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/498

 `414 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9“'S. VI.Nov. 24,1901 1892, and I know every stone of the fabric perfectlly. The old fragment or fragments referre_ _to were never parts or portion of the original cross, which dates back to A.D. 1291-2. The_Lzcensed Victuallers’ Gazette has on this occasion been hopelessly hoaxed. _ HARRY Hams. Fair Park, Exeter. El.'RENTAL=‘°MONTH’S MIND” (9"‘ S. vi. 104, 195, 295).-The following quotations from the church wardens’ accounts of St. Martin-in- the-Fields may be useful to others besides Mn. bancaorr RANDALL. The accounts begin in June, 1525:- 27 Oct., 1525.-“ For the grete lyghts at Rob’t Arnoldes yeres mynde.” 3 Nov., 1525.-“ Receyuyd of M’ Edward Norrys at his monyth mynde.” Jg;sQCl5-» 1526.-“ At the -monyth mynde of Thom’s I _forbear to quote more of these. The entries of both monthly and yearly “ minds ” are constant down to 1547, in which year there was a month’s mind in the church on 5 May and a_year’s mind on 5 Oct. Neither of these serv1c_es occurs again until February, 1556, from which date ti l 17 Dec. 1558, they are found, though less frequently than in Henry VIII.’s time. The entry on 17 Dec. occurs as the receipt of twelvepence “for the black Clothe that laye on Roger leas grave the moneth.” There is an isolated “ monethes mynde” in June, 1567. It would clearly be incorrect to confine these phrases and the services they recall either to pre- or post- Reformation days. The word “ trental ” does not occur in these accounts at all. J. V. Krfrro. The following assage which ' t} will of Ed ward £atson,’of Lyddghfglthinxlatdfg 1_5 July, 1530, may help to throw additional light upon the question raised at the first reference :- f‘Item I will that my executo’s cause an hole trigintall of masses to be saide in the churche where I s albe burved upon the day of my buryall if it so may be or ells the next day or dayes folowing and likewise as manny at the moncths mynde and as- many at my yeres day And I will there be spent at the dave of my buryall and gyven to presteg clarks and poore people xx" and at my monethes mynde x" And at my yeres day x“.” See ‘Rockingham Castle and the Watsons,’ pr 184. The whole of this interesting will is given in this work. “Trigintall ” explains itself, but to revent misunderstanding, Whishaw (‘Law Bigtign- ary,’ London, 1829) refers it to “trental ” which word he explains to be an oflice for tlfe dead that continued thirty days, or coiisigtefl of thirty masses. This word ouight f~0 Present' no difficulty, as it is to be foun in most Eng- lish dictionaries. e.g., Webster (London, 1852) gives both words, and also, under ‘Month s- .find,’ after iving the modern meaning of “ an earnest dhsire,” &c., he says :- “ This phrase originated in the remembrance dags of monkish times, when, at periodical seasons, t e mind or memory of the bountiful testator was to be kept alive by masses and prayers.” It is curious that the_ generally accurate Littleton seems to think that tre{¢ta.l== “month’s mind,” when he ex(pla1ns trzcefnale as “a t-rental or mont-h’s-min ” (ed. London, 1735), Criss. Wlss. Weekley, Kettering. “ PEamo'r,” “ Psm'rsn,”on “ Pxunon ”(9**'  vi. 348).-‘ N. & Q.,’ 8* S. i., contains five articles on this mineral. In that bg the late PROP. C. ToML1NsoN, F.R.S., it is sai :- “ It was formerly much used in iewelleri, but has now fallen into the contempt imp ied in t e follow- ing couplet :- Qui a deux Peridots En a un de trop: which may be thus translated z- Who two peridots doth own, More than needful hath by one. According to Littré the etymology of the word_is unknown; but that philologist quotes some varia- tions from Du Cange (1610-88), such as ‘Peritot-,’ ‘ Pelidor,’ and ‘ Periodus.”’ Evsasnn Home COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. ‘ Aamoua IN Polvrasltrs (9"‘ S. vi. 389 _- The conventional armour of portraits as survived even later than the dates named by M. N. G.-for example, to the well-known miniature of the Prince Consort and his brother. 1). Housss wrrnour STAIRCASES (9°“ S. i. 166, 210, 356, 418; ii. 89 ; iii. 116; iv. 55 ; vi. 273). --Notwithstanding Léon Gozlan’s contradic- tion in his ‘ Balzac en Pantoufles ’ of the story that Balzac built himself a house at Jardies, near Paris, and forgot the staircase, which was said to have been added after the house was finished and otherwise read ' for occupation, I find that the legend is still) believed, and is repeated in ‘ Autour de Honoré de Balzac,’ by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, pub- lished so recently as 1897. The le end gppears to have originated with Gérarg de erval, who, in an article in La Presse of 7 Oct., 1850, a few weeks after Balzac’s death, gave the following description of the great novelist’s building exploits :- °‘ A_cette élpoque, il ne révait que d’architecture, ce qui ne s’é oignmt pas bcaucoup, au fond, de la