Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/123

 9 < s. vii. FEB. 9, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

115

" Gentlemen," was the reply, " we never fir first. Fire yourselves ! " Fontenoy was defeat, but, like most defeats, there was littl that the losers need be ashamed to re member.

The seven Irish regiments were in red, wit white breeches. One would suppose tha this colour had remained since the days o Sarsfield. The Royal Regiment of Ireland (1,400 strong after Limerick, of whom all bu about seven were true to their cause) pro bably wore red coats. Certainly at Cremona (1702) the immortal brigade would hav donned red coats had they had time to don any coats at all. But red must have been something more than a tradition in the French army in 1745. The famous Mousque taires were only " Gris " and "Noir" from the colour of their horses. The " Noir" were formed from the cardinal's guards, whose colours, as those of the League before them were scarlet. The Irish exiles doubtless re tained their distinctive uniform till 1794 when six regiments were received into British service, to be soon disbanded.

We badly want a history of the Irisl Brigade. No Englishman, of course, coulc write it impartially, but Judge O Connor Morris, for instance, might well set his hanc to the work. GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

ETYMOLOGY AND WHIST (9 th S. vii. 23). It may interest PROF. SKEAT to know that long before Dr. Johnson's 'Dictionary' appeared in 1755, Bailey, in his 'Dictionary '(my edition is of 1727), gave the correct derivation of surcease, Fr. surseoir, past part, sursis (cf. asseoir, assis). It is strange that Dr. Johnson overlooked this : probably a case of Homerus dormitans. It is well that PROF. SKEAT has called attention to this.

MICHAEL FERRAR.

Little Gidding, Baling.

MONOLITH WITH CUP-MARKINGS IN HYDE PARK (9 th S. vii. 69). I have seen it laid down, but where I cannot recollect, that the monolith which COL. CARNAC mentions is an ancient emblem of phallic worship. Is this correct? Can COL CARNAC tell us where the other similar stones are placed 1

W. H. QUARRELL.

SIMON ERASER (8 tb S. x. 156, 223 ; 9 th S. vi' 157, 338, 433 ; vii. 16, 51, 75). It is a mistake to suppose that, " as mentioned in the * Table Book,' there was a second likeness of Lovat, a full-length etched by Hogarth." There is no such etching in existence. The error has, perhaps, had its origin in the fact that there

were later copies by other hands from sketches made by Hogarth at the trial of Lovat, formerly in the possession of Horace Walpole. Infor- mation of this kind, in such books as Hone's and Knight's, is usually secondhand, and rarely to be trusted for technical accuracy. It is better to seek for that, in the present case, for example, in the works of J. Nichols and S. Ireland. JULIAN MARSHALL.

Facing p. 16, vol. ii. of the 'History of English Dress,' by Georgiana Hill, may be seen a portrait engraved on steel of " Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, Chief of the Clan Fraser," and underneath is engraved "Le Clare pinx e : Cook sculp*" (London, Richard Bentley & Son, 1893). The portrait is a half-length, and represents him habited in complete armour, excepting a large flowing wig covering his head and falling on his armour. Where the original picture is I cannot say, but I have an idea that the engraving has done duty in former years in other publications.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS (8 th S. iv. 425 ; 9 th S. vii. 13). The angle-post referred to by MR. HEBB as being formerly in Holy well Street is now to be found in the Guildhall Museum. ANDREW OLIVER.

"ViVA" (9 th S. vi. 266, 311, 391, 451; vii- 18). It is not quite true that one never hears

' New " for " New College " from a New Col-

ege man, though it is true that the abbrevia- tion is considered improper. A fourth-year man recently down from Oxford shows me a note from a New College tutor in which the

entence occurs, "I hope to see you at New this evening." I have compiled a long list of Oxford undergraduate slang, but it is

perhaps hardly of sufficient general interest
 * or these columns. C. C. B.

USK CASTLE (9 th S. vi. 489). I transcribe
 * he following from Wirt Sikes's 4 Rambles and

Studies in Old South Wales,' published in

881. While confirming the tradition, it eaves MR. PAGE'S request for proof un-

nswered :

"It [i.e., Usk] is a castle among castles, even in

Wales, because in one of its rooms the humpbacked yrant Richard III. was born. I am perfectly aware lat this fact is denied by the over-particular owadays ; but there is no comfort to be had in i is world if we do not put down these iconoclasts,

who have shattered William Tell's arrow and pared le apple story to an empty core, who have ground

3 ocahontas and Barbara Frietchie under the same gly millstone, and who will presently prove that

Washington never crossed the Delaware. The roud, shy, subtle, and bloody Richard was born