Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/466

 458

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIL JUNE s, 1901.

" The use of the cockade by their livery servants has been supposed to be limited to officers in the army and navy, militia and volunteers ; to members of the Royal Household, and to those (e.g., Deputy- Lieutenants) who hold the Sovereign's Commission. But this by custom, and by custom only, lo be consistent those who insist on the use of cockades as a matter of right and privilege should wear them themselves ,

" The cockade without the stiff projecting comb at the top is often used by the servants of naval officers ; the distinction is a modern invention of the tailors, &c. The stiff leather cockades pro- bably originated in the water-proof coverings of the silken ones. ,

"These are mere matters of modern custom, and only the 'ignorant and foolish' exalt them into matters of right! No amount of assertion can make them so in reality !"

J. S. UDAL.

Antigua, W.I.

ARBUTHNOTT (9 fch S. vii. 368). The earliest known form of this word is Aberbothennothe, and it appears to be so written in a decree of the Synod of Perth in 1202 in a dispute about the church lands of Arbuthnot. In course of time this gradually changed to Aberbuthenot, Arburthnott, Ardburthnot, Arbuthnett, until there was evolved the pre- sent form of Arbuthnot. See * The Re tours ' and Martine's * Divi.' In 1632 the name of Sir Robert of that ilk is spelt with both one and two 's. Subsequently in 1656 his son, as a viscount, has his name spelt Arbuthnet, and the next holder of the title likewise. The particular spelling of the name is a pure matter of fancy, as is that of the Kerrs of Lothian and the Kers of Roxburghe, or the ducal Argyll and the county Argyle. As to the derivation of the word, with " Aber " we are all familiar. "Buthnot" is not clear, par- ticularly as there is no stream there of that name now. It may have been lost a non utendo. There is no record, as there is no tradition, to tell us. J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

There can be no doubt that originally there was but one t. The name, of course, is territorial. In the twelfth century it was spelt Abirbothennothe = Gael. abhir-hothan- neithe, "confluence at the booth of Neithe't stream." In 1355 Philip de Abirbothnot owned the lands of Abirbwthnot the two spellings being in one deed. Thirty years later the thanage of Aberbuthnot was in the hands of the Earl of Sutherland. About the time of the Reformation a member p: the principal family wrote a history of it entitled 'Origines et Incrementi Arbuth noticse Familiae Descriptio Historical There are other proofs that of old time one t onlj was used, and it may be taken that the nam

s more correct without the excrescent t of ater use. WALTER M. GRAHAM EASTON.

This family and place name occurs in many ! orrns in early documents, as Aberbuthnocht, Abirbuthnot, Arbuthnat - net - not, and as requently with the double f, so the modern brm of spelling with one t at the end is probably as correct as the modern form with wo $'s. J. G. WALLACE-JAMES.

Haddington.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (9 th S. vii. 369).

I saw a Judas, &c.

The lines, as given, suffer from wantonly intro- duced words which can be eliminated. Mr. Wills .learly took them from Hazlitt. They occur in prose in a letter or essay I think a letter. He says of some picture that the conventional Judas is wrong; then practically as follows: "I saw a Judas once, he was eating in a hotel ; a regular- featured man, with delicacy of feature, a small mouth and clear blue eyes ! " The words were quoted in an Academy article on Hazlitt about last November or December. C. S. OAKLEY.

(9 th S. vii. 388.) 'Tis might half slumb'ring on its own right arm.

Keats, ' Sleep and Poetry,' 1. 237. This is said of poesy. C. C. B.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

German Book-plates. By Karl Emich, Count zu Leiningen-Westerburg. Translated by G. Ravens- croft Dennis. (Bell & Sons.)

IN England, as in Germany, the Count of Leiningen- Westerburg, a member of a princely house closely connected with our royal line, has been known as an indefatigable collector of ex-libris and as an authority on heraldic subjects generally. There are few who have been connected with the study of book-plates who have not had proof of his erudition and been the recipients of his generously imparted knowledge. His latest contribution to the subject he loves consists of a history of German and Austrian ex-libris, which serves as a companion volume to the series of works on English, French, and Ame- rican book-plates which have been issued by the same publishers. This work is the largest, the most ambitious, and in many respects the best of the series. Originally begun by Dr. H. Pallmann, of Munich, who through stress of other work found himself compelled to suspend his labours, it has been taken in hand and completed by the Count, who fortunately has been able, without going far outside his own collection which numbers ten thousand German plates out of a supposed total of eleven thousand, apart from those of other countries to carry it to completion. In Germany the practice of employing book-plates seems to have begun, and the most ambitious and elaborate plates in existence are of German origin. In Germany also the observance of heraldic rules has been scrupulous, and the work before us,