Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/397

 9 s. vn. MAY is, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Quotations/ edition 1900, ascribes this very pretty song to Anne Crawford (1734-1801). Is this correct 1 I have an impression that I Sit is not so old as this. Who was the composer of the music?

JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

TROUBADOUR AND DAISY. It would have been natural for the daisy to be lauded in troubadour songs metaphorically or other- wisebut I have been unable to discover that it is so. If any reader knows of in- stances, will he be so good as to notify them ?

MEGAN.

LADY PURBECK AND HER SON. Gray to Whartpn, 18 Sept., 1759, mentions having found in the British Museum * Lady Purbeck and her Son's Remarkable Case.' I should be glad of any clue to this. D. C. TOVEY.

Worplesdon Rectory, Guildford.

DENDRITIC MARKINGS IN PAPER. In the first ten volumes of 'N. & Q.' there were occasionally dendritic markings, probably due to particles of magnetic oxide of iron. Could you say if the paper used was made wholly or partially from wood pulp?

J. M.

"PARLOUR." "Originally the room in a nunnery or monastery set apart for recep- tions or converse." Such is the explanation I find in a dictionary. Going back to the sixteenth century, we find, from a translation of * Adrianus Junius, the Physician's Remem- brancer,' that a summer parlour or banquet- ing house and a "house of pleasure" were synonymous that there was a "supping parler" below as well as above, coenatis, coenaculum. The French parloir hardly con- veys the same meaning, for might it not be a small saloon or a withdra wing-room ? and yet probably this comes nearest the ordinary significance of the word in every -day use. In Scotland, at least, the word "parlour" forty years ago generally denoted a reception, meal - taking, and general - purpose room. Gradually, however, this word gave place in many houses to the more fashionable " sit- ting-room." In recent years " parlour " has reasserted itself, while in America I believe it is in that meaning almost universally used. It is not the " to-day" use of the word I desire to call attention to, but rather to elicit, if possible, its correct and original meaning. I am not aware of the ground upon which the translators of the Bible based the use of the word, and it may not be generally remem- bered that "parlour" appears in Judges hi. 20, 23. We there find that Eglon, King of Moab, when he received Ehud, did so in " his

summer parlour, which he had for himself alone." In the margin it is noted, "Upper chamber of cooling." As we are here con- fronted with the statement that the room referred to was " for himself alone," the con- clusion could hardly be come to that it was a reception-room. Verse 22, I think, is an additional proof, if wanted, that the room in question was not a "parlour," but one to which Eglon retired to escape the unbear- able heat of the summer, if not for certain ablutionary purposes. What then guided the translators to the use of the word *' parlour " ? What was its origin, and how was it correctly applied ? ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.

["In sestivo coenaculo" are the words in the Vulgate. J

ROMAN CATHOLIC RECORDS. Are there any records remaining relative to marriages, bap- tisms, and burials of Roman Catholics in Ireland during the eighteenth century ? If so, where are they, and how can they be con- sulted ? An answer will greatly oblige an

AMERICAN.

BROWNE FAMILY. In the year 1884 a gentleman, Mr. E. Blacker Morgan, of Addis- combe, Croydon, was compiling a genea- logical memoir of the family of Browne of Cavers wall, co. Stafford, in the sixteenth century, and of the family of Browne of Caughley, co. Salop, connected with them. Can any one give me information on this subject? P. H. P.

DESIGNATION OP FOREIGNERS IN MEXICO. Can any of your numerous contributors inform me of the real meaning and deriva- tion of the words used to designate foreigners in Mexico, viz., Gringo, English man ; Guabacho, Frenchman; Gachupin, Spaniard] Although I know Mexico fairly well, I have never been able to obtain a satisfactory explanation.

GRINGO.

INCISED CIRCLES ON STONES. This subject was first brought into prominence by a paper read by the Rev. William Greenwell, F.S.A., at the Newcastle Congress of the Royal Archaeological Institute in the year 1852. Sir Gardner Wilkinson referred to the question in his communication on 'The Rock-Basins on Dartmoor and some British Remains in England ' before the British Archaeological Association in June, 1860. The Very Rev. James Graves dealt with those in Ireland in a paper before the Royal Irish Academy ; and others were discovered in 1864 at Achnabreek, near Lochgilphead, Argyllshire. The explanation given of the origin of these carvings is not satisfactory.