Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/523

 9” S- VI- DEC- 1. 1900-J NOTES AND QUERIES. 435 in the fine gicture ‘The Death of Re ent Murray/ by ir William Allan, in the colllec- tion at Woburn Abbe ,for which it is said that the Duke of Bedtlymrd gave 800 guineas. Erroneously both the Earl of Morton and John Knox are depicted, neither of whom was present. This fine picture has often been engraved. J oHN P1cKroR1>, M.A. N ewbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. PELLING, THE FLYING MAN (9°“ S. vi. 269).- I also copied this inscri tion last year, and have since been informed) by the author that particulars of “The Flying Man ” are given in ‘Pocklington Churc and School,’ by Dr. Alexander D. H. Leadman, F.S.A. _ CuAs. H. CROUCH. Nightingale Lane, Wanstead. H GRAMMATICAL GENDER or “CHURCH (9°" S. vi. 350).- Do not the common errors in the gender of “Church ” often arise from failure to distinguish between the two mean- ings of the word? Church, the building, 1-6 xvpnaxév. is neuter in English as in its Greek original, but Church, the congregation of faithfu men, 15 éxx/'qo-ia, is, I think, used by our best writers as a feminine noun. The Book of Common Prayer is not uite con- sistent in the gender of the word. In the Preface we are told, “It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first compiling of her publicliturg ”; but the Twentieth Article of Religion dyeclares, “The Church hath power to decree rites and ceremonies ...... neither may it so expound.” Dryden, in the preface to ‘Religio Laici,’ writes, ‘ I submit them with all reverence to my mother Church, accounting them as no further mine than as they are ...... uncon- demned by her.” Gibbon, in chap. xv. of his ‘History,’ referring to the Church of Jerusalem, says: “The distant churches relieved her distresses by a liberal contribu- tion of alms.” Macaulay, in his reviews of Gladstone on ‘Church and State,’ and of Ranke’s ‘Histor of the Popes,’ uses Church, whether applied' to the Roman or Anglican Communion, as a feminine KouJn. H .. . OUSDEN. Canonbury. If any one seriously doubts that “ Church,” whether applied to the Church of England or to the whole body of Christians, is neuter, it ought surely to be enough that it is neuter both in the Articles of the Church of England and in our New Testament. It is, however, natural-and, indeed, inevitable-that, as the Bride of Christ, the Church should be regarded as feminine; but this is to _o beyond the sphere of grammar. C. B. “SUB” : “SUBs1s'r MONEY ” (9“‘ S. vi. 246, 354).-My reply at the latter reference is, b a printer’s error, made to end with the word); “a payment” instead of “a sub-payment,” and my meaning therefore quite altered. In my opinion, “sub” is not an equivalent of “subsist money,” but of a sub- (or under-) payment, 1I.e., of a payment on account. W. I. R. V. I beg to confirm MR. HARRY Hams in his definition of the above word. My own ex- perience is that workmen use the word indifferently both as a noun and verb, “I want a sub,” “ I want to be subbed,” “I have subbed so much,” or “I have been subbed,” the word in question being used as interim payment on account of wages earned. J. R. N UTTALL. Lancaster. Hereabout “ sub ” means an advance on account of the sum due to a Workman at the end of the week, and seems to be short for “subtraction,” as the amount “subbed” is taken oil' the total wages or money earned at the week end. The “subs ” are mostly for drinking purposes. Tnos. RATCLIFFE. Worksop. ‘  reggzkrgd to the quelstiim as to wlhether ‘ su ’ is use, can on y say that in a twenty years’ regular experience, dating from 1877 to 1897, I am of opinion that I never once heard the passive infinitive used. This was in Lancashire. My opinion was con- firmed on conference with another Lancashire man well qualified to judge, who said that the varyin expressions use( are “Aw want a sub,” “Don aw sub T ” and “ D’ye think they ’ll sub us?" He, like myself. found something altogether foreign to the local spirit in the use of the passive voice. He wou d be a bold man, however, who would assert that “ to be subbed ” would never come into widespread use. As education extends dialect and slang acquire fresh forms, especially if they be in- corporated into the language. 1 showed at the first reference that “sub ” and “subsist money ” are independent germs. M RTHUR AYALL. SHAKESPEARFS ‘SoNNETs,’ PRINT 1609 (9“‘ S. vi. 348).-MR. HALL does not seem to have studied very carefully Mr. Lee’s remarks on the ‘Sonnets,’ or he would have known that Mr. Lee distinctly denies Sonnet cxxvi. the character of a valedictory envoi, which MR. HALL, following other critics, assigns to it. At . 95 of his ‘Life of Shakespeare] Mr. Lee slgows how the fact that, though loosely called a “sonnet,” No. cxxvi. consists of only