Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/476

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NOTES AND QUERIES,

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directions, until he had fully satisfied him- self that the armour was bullet-proof. <The man was quite unhurt. EMBEE.

DOWAGER PEEEESS. I wish to know whether the present custom by which a dowager peeress retains her title on marry- ing a commoner or a peer of lower rank than that of her deceased husband is a recent one or of long standing. Are there many excep- tions of late years? There are, I believe, cases in which the widows of baronets and knights have retained their title on marry- ing, but I fancy that these have been comparatively few. R.

LEADBEATEE MS. 'An Answer to the Dis- senters' Pleas for Separation, or an abstract on the abridgement of the London Cases,' is the title of a volume of MS. now in my possession. It is beautifully written, and contains over 100 pages (24mo) ; on the fly- leaf is written, " E Libris Johan 8 Lead beater, 1752." The Lead beaters were Lancashire people. Was this book ever printed, and who was the author ? HENEY FISHWICK.

SIE RICHAED VERNE Y. Can any reader send me the date of the death of that Sir Richard Verney, Knt., of Compton Murdac, who was living in 1614, and a trustee in that year of Rugby School ? A. T. MICHELL.

Rugby.

JOHN SCOTT, CITIZEN AND SALTEE. Is any- thing known of John Scott, citizen and salter of London, born about 1644 1 He was a brother of Daniel Scott, the father of Dr. Daniel Scott, LL.D. He held lands called " Caines " in Great Hallingbury, co. Essex. DANIEL.

" GENTLIEE." Recently I saw it stated, as the opinion of a well-known poet and critic, that the following couplet of Tennyson was the " most euphonious ;; within the range of English poetry :

Music that gentlier on the spirit lies Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes.

Without disputing the justice of this dictum, about which, however, there may well be a difference of opinion, may I venture to ask whether the lines are as grammatical as they are said to be harmonious ? Is there any precedent in the English language for the use of the form u gentlier " as a comparative adverb? JOHN HUTCHINSON.

Middle Temple Library.

PHILLIPPO. We have in the county of Norfolk a family called Phillippo, rather large in extent, and having the right to bear

arms. They came to England after the revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes. It is believed that they originated from the Moors of Spain. What is the meaning of this name ? Does the root hippo mentioned in * Words and Places ' bear upon the etymology of this name 1

R. T. H.

FLAG OF EAST INDIA COMPANY. Can you tell me why the East India Company's nag during the eighteenth century happened to bear exactly thirteen stripes'? As the flag of the American colonies was originally the same as that of the East India Company, excepting that the canton bore the British union of that day instead of the cross of St. George, it is reasonable to suppose that the flag used during the siege of Boston was suggested by that of the East India Company. Is there any evidence tending to prove this? C. E. D.

CAPE GUAEDAFUI. Will some one kindly inform me if within the last few years a lighthouse has been erected at this place ?

W. CEOOKE.

Langton House, Charlton Kings.

THOMPSONS OF YORK. Can any of your readers supply a list of the members of Par- liament for York during the eighteenth century who bore the name of Thompson? I want also the names of the children and grandchildren of Edward Thompson, who married Arabella Dunch, 6 February, 1725. He was four times M.P. for York.

MES. SLACK.

Diss, Norfolk.

THE TEEMINATION "-ITIS." Can any learned reader help me to an etymological explana- tion of the termination -itis in such words as bronchitis, gastritis, &c. ? Of course everybody knows that it means or, rather, is employed to mean inflammation, irritation, &c. But why ? Liddell and Scott have nothing bearing upon it, so far as I can find, nor can I there find any root, or other etymological factor, which throws any light upon the subject. I find ITTJS, IT>?TIKOS, and ira/xos, all connected with i/*i, and all bearing shades of meaning more or less twistable into that attributed to -itis; but they do not help much, and I do not think that the latter termination has any- thing to do with ?/u. It seems to have been adopted by Hippocrates, and continued by subsequent medical writers; but again I ask, Why ? What warrant had Hippocrates, or anybody else, for reading into these four letters the sense of inflammation ? I do not say that they had no warrant for doing so ; all I seek to know is what that warrant was.