Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/120

 112

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. vm. AUG. s, 1901.

livered in the form of bundles. The expres- sion, however, in the case of the cloth is applied to that which used to be made on the handlooms at home, and does not apply to that now made in the weaving sheds. With regard to the yarn, each knot also is in the form of a bundle, and one may surmise that the reeler makes the bundles of ,yarn in a similar sense to that in which she " bunts" or coils her hair at the back of her head. Also the man who carries the knots forward to the next stage of manipulation is said to " bunt for t' reelers." For the different mean- ings cf. also butt, bunch, and bounce.

ARTHUR MAYALL.

" Bunt "=to butt can hardly be considered slang; the 'H.E.D.' takes note of it, and it is still in familiar use, at any rate here in Warwickshire. BENJ. WALKER.

Gravelly Hill, Erdington.

THE NATIONAL FLAG (9 th S. v. 414, 440, 457, 478; Supplement, 30 June, 1900; vi. 17, 31, 351, 451, 519 ; vii. 193 ; viii. 67). I do not know why MR. ROWE should apply so strong an expression as " very glaring error " to a perfectly simple matter, but perhaps the extreme heat is to blame.

I am quite unable to see where my " very glaring error " comes in. If MR. ROWE will (1) draw two saltires of equal width, one white, the other white surcharged with St. Patrick's red cross, (2) then halve them throughout, and (3) rearrange half the halves of the one with the opposite pieces of the other, he will surely find himself looking on the saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick "dimidiated per saltire." I think he will also see on consideration that the expression "per saltire" renders unnecessary the addi- tion of "quarterly" or any other word.

Is not MR. ROWE committing the "very glaring error" of mistaking dimidiation for ordinary division per pale, per bend, &c. ? W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE.

Some of your readers may like to know that Mr. Barlow Cumberland, the chairman of the Marine Section of the Board of Trade, Toronto, has just published a second edition of his l History of the Union Jack : How it Grew and what it Is' (8vo, pp. i-xii, 13-324). The preface is dated 1 October, 1900. The title-page, sad to say, is dateless. There is much interesting information as to the vicis- situdes of the "Jack" in the. North American colonies. Q_ y

"HlLL ME UP" (9 th S. iii. 285, 435, 496; iv. ' Hilling " and " happing," that now in different localities mean the whole of the uppe

bedclothes, must have stood in the sixteenth century for that article only which was usually uppermost. In 1509 Dame Alice Soothill, of Dewsbury, left to a daughter-in- law her " best feder bed, a pair of my best shets, a pair of my best blankets, 3 of my best pillows, 2 of my best couerlets, a hyllyng of a bed of white and blue," &c. ; also to a daughter "an hillyng of a bede, light greene and sade " (' Records of Batley ') These must have been the smart things with which a best bed would be covered.

"Happing," so often mentioned in such wills and inventories as those printed by the Surtees Society, means the outermost article : it seems to be home made, perhaps netted or fancy worked not a "covering," nor a "coverlet," nor a "quilt." In 1559 Francys Wandysforde left " one hapen and coverlate." In 1570 Gerard Salveyn left "ij happings, iij cov'letts," &c. ; and Gawyne Swinburne left " 14 cou'lets " worth 34s. 4d and twelve "happings" worth 20s., the coverlets being valued at about 2s. 6d. each, and the " hap- pings " at only Is. 8d. These are sometimes worth 2s., but often only a few pence. In 1574 John Cornefurth left "vij happings and a coverlet, x s ." When a single bed is in question there is commonly one coverlet and one "happing," rarely a " twylt," which might be worth 4s., and was probably wadded for winter use.

In 1570 William Dagg, of Gateshead, left "9 pounds of happin yarne" (probably for knitting or netting), worth 3s. Robert Richardson, of Durham, left " one thrummed happen," which might be simply knitted or might be adorned with the "thrums" that had their name from the tufted ends of a weaver's warp beyond the line to which the shuttle could work; also "a list happinge," evidently a home-made article. In Holder- ness I once heard a child, that in a full house had to share his bed with two others, mysti- fied with the information that he would sleep "in the cold middle where there is neither room nor happing." THOS. BLASHILL.

GUN REPORTS (9 th S. vii. 207, 258, 493). The following is taken from 4 The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present,' by the late H. O. Nethercote, Esq. (1888), p. 9 :

"A remarkable instance of the far-reaching

power of sound is given in the interesting Diary, written in Latin in the seventeenth century (admirably translated by the Rev. Robert Isham), of Mr. Thomas Isham of Lamport Hall. It is there stated that during the naval engagement between the English and French combined fleets on the one hand and the Dutch on the other, in 1672, the report of the guns was distinctly heard at Brixworth [Northamptonshire]. It was in this action that