Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/355

 9* s. vii. MAY 4, i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the Abbey, the coronation, and the State carriages of the ambassadors equipages, as they used to be styled ; and that of Marshal Soult was the most splendid. This must now be a very scarce book.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

EASTER MONDAY AT HALLATON, LEICESTER- SHIRE. The following excerpt is from the Standard of 8 April. As no account of this custom has appeared in *N. & Q.,' I send it for publication :

"From time immemorial a most extraordinary custom has been observed on Easter Mondays at Hallaton, in Leicestershire, and to-day is to be no exception to the general rule. In order to retain to the parish a piece of ground left in the good old days the villagers have to indulge in the doubtful pleasure of a game of bottle picking. But before they can begin to play certain preliminaries have to be gone through. Two large meat pies and two dozen penny loaves have to be scrambled for. The real fun, from an onlooker's point of view, then begins. A large wooden bottle, bound round with iron rims, and containing ale, is thrown on the ground for the men of the neighbouring village of Medbourne to try and wrestle from the Hallatonian grasp. It is hardly necessary to add that the struggle is invariably provocative of a good many casualties. When the battle has been won, the victors drink the contents of the bottle. The bottle to be used to-day has done duty for close upon half a century."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

H. S. ASHBEE. (See 9 th S. vi. 121, 176, 358, 494.) It may be worth placing on record that a water-colour drawing by Sir J. D. Linton, lot 26 at Christie's on 30 March, entitled 'Portrait of a Gentleman, seated, in his Library,' represented the late Mr. H. S. Ashbee. The picture was purchased by Mr. Atkins for five guineas. W. ROBERTS.

47, Lansdowne Gardens, S.W.

ETYMOLOGY OF "CRAW-CRAW."! see that in the * N.E.D.' this pathological term (the name of a skin disease) is said to be "appa- rently" a Dutch-Negro name, from Dutch kraauw, scratch. This may be correct : but a different and to my mind more plausible- derivation is given by an eminent authority, Dr. Thomas Winterbottom, in his 'Account of the Present State of Medicine among the Native Africans of Sierra Leone,' 1803, vol. ii. p. 164. The quotation is as follows :

" Kra-kra is an Ebo word, corrupted from kra- thra, which signifies the itch. Although every nation on the coast distinguishes this disease by a peculiar name, yet the term kra-kra pervades the whole. It has been produced, probably, from the West Indies, where Ebo slaves are held in the highest estimation ; hence it is likely their language

should predominate, and give origin to many cant phrases in those islands."

I may explain that Ebo is the chief in- digenous language of the Niger. All the slaves who carne from the Niger were in America called Ebo. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

TITLE OF 'H.E.D.' I am probably in the plight of many others who view with mis- givings as to the future the title on their club library bookshelves ' New English Dictionary.' In passing I may say that I know of two small towns or villages with the sign of "The Old New Inn." Mr. Henry Sweet has lately written that this is a dictionary, not of one language, but of six (I quote from memory). There is the more reason that the word "Historical" should be maintained in the future. A word of authority from the Editor might induce our powers that be to have the current title altered. H. P. L.

[The Oxford authorities prefer the title they have adopted. See 8 th S. xii. 321 ; 9 th S. iv. 184, 337.]

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES OF LONDON. As president of the Society of Physicians and Surgeons of the Society of Apothecaries of London, I am writing a history of the society from its inception in 1616 to the present time, and shall be grateful if any reader can refer me to (1) a view of the old Apothecaries' Hall, (2) a view of the exterior and interior prior to the alterations, (3) a copy of the original charter, (4) a copy of the diploma in vogue 200 years ago, (5) the questions sub- mitted to the candidate by the examiner, i.e., an old paper with questions, over one hundred years, (5) a list of the masters of the society, and particularly a full list of the society's distinguished alumni. Answers direct.

PERCY LODGE, L.P.S.A. and L.S.S.A.Lond. Lee House, Bradford.

MOORE MS. In April, 1879, Messrs. H. Sotheran <k Co., of 36, Piccadilly, offered for sale in their catalogue a volume of Moore manuscript, which was described as follows :

" Manuscript Commonplace Book, entirely in .he autograph of Thomas Moore, in Prose and Verse, comprising Notes kept at Bermuda, Memoranda and Excerpts for ' Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion,' with numerous Verses, pub- ished and unpublished, and minute Verbal Correc-