Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/598

 498 NOTES AND QUERIES. EWS- VI- DIC- 22.19011 “ Pswxv’ =CUNN1Nc, CRAFTY (9“‘ S. vi. 409).-This word, which occurs also in the form “ pauky,” and is no doubt derived from A.-S. pecan, to outwit or deceive, seems in its earlier uses to have signified “wily” or “mali- ciously dece tive.” In the prologue to Gavin Douglas’s ‘flgneidf viii. st. 7, “ erellus paukis,” or hurtful devices, are included in a compre- hensive list designed to illustrate Quhat wickitnes, quhat wanthrift now in warld walkis. It may have been James V., or it may have been Burns’s chosen exem lar, Hamilton of Gilbertfield, who wrote ‘ll‘he Gaberlunzie Man,’ but, whoever was the author, he gives “ pawky ” with a touch of its modern sense in the initial line of the ballad :- The pawky auld carle cam ower the lea. In this instance the protagonist has a purpose of his own to serve; it may be to the dis- advantage or to the loss of those that come within the sweep of his action should he succeed in his project ; but, at any rate, with sagacity (somewhat, it must be admitted, of the vu pine order) he steadily advances to success. It is worthy of note in passing that the latest edition of J amiesons ‘Scottish Dictionary,’ in quoting the first couplet of ‘The Gaberlunzie Man to illustrate “ awky,” simply refers to Callander’s ‘ Ancient Scottish Poems,’ p. 1, while the ‘ Encyclo aedic Diction- ary’ gives as its authority fbr the same citation Scott’s ‘Anti uary, chap. iv. With what has been done Sl late years in Scottish literature to guidecompilers, greater precision of reference than this should now be possible in vocabularies. Denoting subtle, clever, with still an ele- ment of se f-seeking in it, “pawky” continued and continues to be a ver useful term. In the whimsical ballad in which he mercilessly travesties t-he pure and pathetic romance of ‘Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,’ Allan Ramsay has this felicitous quat-rain :- Fair Bessy Bell I lo’ed yestreen, And thought I ne’er could alter ; But Mary (}ray’s twa pawky een They gar my fancy falter. The cleverness of this antithetical delinea- tion is almost adequate warrant and com- pensation for the narrator’s essentially ruthless treatment of his theme. In a winning girl’s “ twa pawky een” the idea of wily ascination is undoubtedly present, but there is nothing gross in the attribution, and all is metaphorical and sweetly graceful. Nor is there any suggestion of a sinister motive, or of anything more, indeed, than native shrewd- ness and caution, in Galt’s use of “ pawkil y ” in this sentence from 'Sir Andrew Wylie,’ i. 85: “ ‘I’m thinking] said he, looking pawkily and peerin ly round the table, ‘that I have seen you before] ” In Scotland at this moment “ a pawky body ” is one that will not sell his hen on a rainy day ; but his skill and prudence -still tinged, if one must say it, with a dash of self-seeking-commend him rather than otherwise to those relentless critics. and censors, his immediate neighbours. Tnomss BAYNE. I doubt if the origin of this word will easily be found. lt certainly is not allied (as Jamieson suggests) to the A.-S. pecan, to deceive, M.E. pechcn, which would have given a modern E. peach nor yet to the modern E. lr. The word that most resembles it is the Hldrweg. polu, to be peevish cross, defiant (Ross); whence polrcn, adj. defiant, used of children ; goin, a refractory child ; but further light woul be acceptable. WALTER W. SKEAT. LINCOLN Housn, HOLBORN (9"* S. vi. 408). -Peter Cunningham, in his ‘Handbook of London,’ under the head of Southampton House, says it was on the south side of Holborn, a little above Holborn Bars. The building, which was at the back of 322, Holborn, was taken down in 1652. When he visited it on 17 Ma, 1847, he was shown the old remains, which were still called “The Chapel,” with rubble walls and a flat timbered roof. A reference to the works of Stow, Strype, and others will furnish further details. The old timber houses in the front of Staple’s Inn are still in existence. Evsman Home Consume 71, Brecknock Road. One has always been under the impression, since the arms of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, namely, Or, a lion rampant purple. are depicted on the left side of the picturesque old gateway of Lincoln’s Inn, that that inn occupies the site of Lincoln House and grounds. There is a trade token extant of the “Purple Lion ” in Southampton Build- in s, a sign, however, which no longer exists, eitgier there or, I believe, in any other part of London. J. H. LIACBIICHAEL. “IR1cNEss1::-BAG ” (9"‘ S. _vi. 408). -The near- est word in Derbyshire dialect is e1~ning~ba9. and articles of food overdone with “ rennet” taste of “ the ernings.” THOS. RATCLIFI-'E. Worksop. “Yirning ” is still a common name for essence of rennet in this district. Hog’s lard is frequently termed sow’s same (ante, p. 367, ‘Mort’). VV. E. Wxnsos. Hawick, Roxburghshire.