Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/234

 226

NOTES AND QUERIES, [9* s. vn. MAKCK 23, 1901.

milting its number to this ridiculous scrutiny. Manv a time I have puzzled myself as ^o the origin of this silly habit ; yet it would appeal- that the affection for number nine displayed by this lad reached Turkey vid Arabia. Ac- cording to the anonymous author ot la Die Talk,' published in 1836 by Charles Knight, long residence in Cairo by the famous traveller J. L. Burckhardt had also rendered him susceptible to the strange fascination ot odd numbers. He spent many years collecting a storehouse of Arabian sayings illustrative of the manners and customs of this en- lightened people, but, strange to say, he stopped short at the number 999, " adopting, says my authority, "a notion prevalent among the Arabs that even numbers are unlucky, and that anything perfect in its quantity is particularly affected by the evil^ eye.' Whereupon the writer proceeds to give an instance that came under his own notice. At that time there lived in Islington a wealthy cowkeeper named Rhodes, who made many futile attempts to keep 1,000 cows on his premises in a thriving condition at one time, but was invariably baffled. He could however, keep 999 without experiencing an;v loss of stock. A similar prejudice the authoi discovered to prevail in his journeying? through the remoter districts of France, Spain Italy, and Switzerland. Jews have for ages paid special veneration to the number sever and its multiples, though a strong partiality for minj/nn, or number ten, has been fosterer by the llabbis in the dicta of ' Ethics,' vi. 9 Thus prayer is impossible in synagogU' without a quorum of ten. I was told afunn; story about this the other day by a scholarly contributor to ' N. it Q.' Some years ago being in Prague, he strolled one Sabbat! evening inside the old synagogue to have i <juiet look round. Suddenly the voice o prayer startled him out of his musings. Th oeadle had mistaken him for a regula worshipper who was late in arriving to fon: the regulation number or ruiny February (Transactiom vol. xxxiii. part vi), the following paragrap occurs on p. 231 :

" In the tailoring trade, among other*, there is contrivance mysteriously called a 'log.' The tailor


 * orks either on day-work or on piece-work, but his

iece work is done under the disguise of day-work, [so much per hour. Every part of a garment has eenSed and estimated in time, and is paid for v "hi artificial hour. If he finishes a day's work n advance of the clock, he can leave with his day's Jay If he is behind the clock, he must put in more ime But, as I understand, he cannot be sweated n a fair shop that adopts the log. There is no ndividual bargaining. In arranging for day-work he wa^e varies according to individual aptitude, ioth parties having in their mind some reference to the cost of work by the log. I see no insuperable difficulty in devising, for any branch of the building ndustry, a log that may act as a standard day.

FKANCIS P. MAECHANT.

THOMAS FLETCHER (1664-1718), POET,' &c. Under this heading in the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.,' vol. xix. p. 321, two distinct persons are evidently confused, viz.,

1. Thos. Fletcher, of Wirley Magna, Staf- fordshire : born 1664; married Catherine, widow of Thos. Richards of Cannock ; died 1718. See further Burke's 'Landed Gentry,' ninth edition, vol. i. p. 526.

2. Thos. Fletcher, D.D.Oxon. 1707, author of 'Poems on Several Occasions ,' Lon- don, 1692, 8vo (see Brit. Mus. Cat. Printed Books), who became second master (1701) and Fellow (1711) of Winchester College, and to whom apparently the biography, : was meant to relate. Owing to the confusion, the details of his parentage, birth, marriage, issue, and death are all given wrong. He was buried on 12 August, 1713, in Winchester Cathedral, where on the floor of the nave there is a long monumental inscription to him, ending thus :

Natus Avingtoniffi prope Wmton. 1666.

Kcclesiai \Vellensis 1'rebendarius 1696.

Schoke Winton. Didascalus 1701.

Obiit 1713.

It has been said that he married "a daughter-in-law of Mr. Masters, formerly Fellow of New College, and afterwards parson of Holton, near Oxon." (Hearne's 'Collections,' by Doble, Oxford Hist. Spc., vol. i. p. 291). This "Masters" was William Master, rector of Holton 1684-1703 (Foster's 'A. O., 1500-1714,' p. 987, No. 4), of whose family some details are given in Hasted's ' Kent,' vol. iv. p. 122, n. (a), and who appears as a scholar (1662) in Kirby's 'Winchester Scholars.' Mr. Kirby seems to err in stating that he became rector of " Hal ton, Bucks." The reference by Mr. Doble (ubi supra, p. 389) to the elder brother, Edward Master, D.C.L., the civilian, is probably a mistake.

Thos. Fletcher, D.D", had three sons, who, like their father, were Winchester scholars, viz., Thomas, who became Bishop of Dromore, 1744, of Kildare, 1745; Philip, who became