Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/37

 s. vii. JAN. 12, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Lord Berners. Can anybody tell me where there are other good and early manuscripts which could be consulted 1 Johries mentions an unmutilated copy at Breslau, but there must be many. It it has not already been done, it might be interesting to collect for comparison the various readings.

G. S. C. S.

NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. What is the most exhaustive, up-to-date book upon Norman architecture, and by whom published ?

ICTINUS.

SAINTHILL OR ST. HILL FAMILY. Can your readers give me information relative to any Sainthills or St. Hills living at the present time, or any details of members of such family living in the eighteenth century ? They were originally a Devonshire family, but a branch settled in Middlesex and another branch in the Barbadoes. I shall be very glad of any information that is sent direct to me. C. SAINTHILL.

36, Beaufort Gardens, S.W.

"PETERING." Is not this a new word? What are the derivation and meaning of it 1 It occurs in the Academy of 22 Dec., 1900 : "A sense of the petering out of the autumn season, the year, the century, sits heavily on literary chroniclers." W. B.

[To run short or give out like an exhausted fuse, originally, perhaps, American mining slang, which Mark Twain and other writers have made iamiliar. Used in Stevenson, ' Vailima Letters, 3 pp. 171, 348. " Peter" looks like the same word as " petard."

MEMOIRS OF EARLY METHODIST PREACHERS. I have several named portraits of Wesleyan Methodist preachers removed from the con- nexional magazine. Can some reader refer me to any list or book which will inform me as to the dates and places of their births and deaths? C. KING.

Union Street, Torquay.

[The Wesleyan Methodist Book-room, 2, Castle Street, City Koad, E.C., seems the likeliest place to apply for information. There is a connexional editor.]

FLOWER DIVINATION. In 'N. &Q.,' 6 th S. viii. 194, Miss BUSK says that in Spain the daisy is called by the people " Bemniequer, malmequer" (he or she loves me, loves me not), because of the augury of its petals. Is this phrase actually used as a daisy-name, or is it merely used by Spanish children when pulling off the petals to read their augury? The above custom is a very old one, and is prevalent in many countries with varying formulae: in England, "He loves me, he loves me not"; in Germany, "Er liebt mich,

er liebt mich nicht " ; in Spain (?), as above ; in France, U I1 m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnement, pas du tout." Can any reader give me similar formulae used in any other countries by children when plucking off daisy petals 1e.g., the custom is still alive in Italy and Wales, but I am ignorant of the form of words used. MEGAN.

MESSITER, A SURNAME. Whence derived?

\j. O. Jj.

" TWOPENNY TUBE." When and where was this now familiar nickname for the Central London Railway first used ? A. F. R.

[We fancy that it was first printed by C. L. G. in a journal called the Londoner.}

" THACKERAY'S BED BOOKS." I shall be glad to know what these are, and why they are so called. F. M. T.

HAWKINS FAMILY. James Fynmore, writing to his brother William, a solicitor in Jamaica, under date 1765, speaks of "my sister Haw- kins living at Kensington." As he writes " my " instead of 4k our," she may have been a sister-in-law. I should like to identify her.

R. J. FYNMORE.

Sandgate, Kent.

ETYMOLOGY. Is there in any Celtic lan- guage a word which would serve as the root of the following names of rivers and burns ? Nethy, Nethan, Nith, Nid or Nidd, Nittans- head, Nochty in Glennochty, Invernoth or Invernorth (meaning a ford), Inverythan, Powneid (pow itself means a burn), Nether- dale, where nether does not mean lower. If the n represent the Gaelic article, the same root would serve for Ythan, and perhaps for Bithnie and Balbithnie. JOHN MILNE.

POEM BY THE LATE DR. E. HATCH. Wanted the whereabouts of a poem by Dr. Hatch containing the lines

Saints of the marts and busy streets, Saints of the squalid lanes.

They appeared posthumously, but are not given in the * Remains ' edited by his son.

J. A. OLLIS.

"!N THE SWIM." Can you or any of your contributors tell me the origin of the common English phrase "In the swim"? Is it good English, or is it slang ? What is its origin ? EDWARD WAKEFIELD.

GEORGE ALSOPP was admitted to West- minster School on 25 February, 1782. I should be glad to obtain any information concerning him. & F & B.