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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9- s. vm. SEPT. M, 1001.

appears so far to be no record of these two shields. c ,1
 * any rate in colours ; and further, there

It is worth noting the imposition ot metal metal and comparing it with the coat ot

Wells

a bret or turbot, Norman.

grave has ' bertonneau,

This may be related.]

the turbot."

In ' The English Dialect Dictionary, edited

by Joseph Wright,

A fish identified with

brit is said to be "a

Bishop Beckington in a window in Cathedral. Both coats doubtless owe their composition to their owner, the use of yellow for the charges being quite needless in both cases. The drawing of the monogram is somewhat peculiar, the C taking the form very much of a scythe, making it rather difficult to recognize the letters. Another example of the arms of Prior Cantlow is in a window on the south side of the nave.

In a window on the south side of the sanctuary is a very fine figure of St. Cathe- rine, with the monogram of Prior Cantlow in the bordure, the glass being of the same date as the former.

The modern heraldic and other glass does not concern my present object, which is to put on record what actually exists, and to call attention to this the most ancient exist- ing evidence of the correct arms of the Abbey of Bath, put up while the conventual body still owned the manor and had a summer residence almost adjoining the church which Prior Cantlow adorned with this glass.

It is difficult to understand how Collinson passed over such an interesting window with such scant notice, although we know heraldry was a weak point with him, and he may never personally have visited this church, as he had assistance in collecting local infor- mation. ARTHUR J. JEWERS.

" BRIT" = BRILL. Prof. Skeat derives the name of the It-ill from some Keltic words meaning " streaked, variegated, pied, speckled." Brith, as a Welsh word, is defined by D. S. Evans thus : " A speckled or spotted one"; while in ichthyology he explains Britk y gro as "a samlet, salmonet, or parr," and Brith eof as "salmon trout." He gives brit as the Irish equivalent of the word. The ' H.E.D.' defines brit, britt. as "a local name of the young of the herring 1 sprat,' : but without any etymon or

small fish about the size of a sprat." Many different sorts of fish are brindled or spotted, noticeably the plaice. A fishmonger at Aber- ystwyth affirms that there is no doubt that a brill is called a brit on the coasts of South- West Britain generally. A turbot-like fish was recently served to me at Amroth, on the south coast of Pembrokeshire, and described a brit. I was told that that fish is known

by that name all along the coast of

-r-, i 1 1 __ __J MT1 >J T4- ,,,-.l/-J

little

England beyond Wales." It would seem, therefore, that the 'H.E.D,' while saying that birt, burt, is obsolete, ought to have added that brit is a variant in use in Wales and where Cornish formerly prevailed. Brill must be an Anglicized form of the British

adjective brith.

E. S. DODGSON.

and

geographical limit. It defines brill as "a kind of flat-fish (Rhombus vulqaris), allied to and resembling the turbot, but inferior in flavour," stating, however, that the origin and etymological form are unknown. One also finds there, " Bret, the name of a fish identified with the turbot=foVt." Under stated :
 * Birt ' the variants are seven, and it is

41 [Derivation and etymological form uncertain: written also brit(e) t brut, brytte, BRET, q.v. Cot-

THE LATE MR. SAMUEL NEIL. Not a few readers of ' N. & Q.' will hear with regret of the death of Mr. Samuel Neil, of Edinburgh, which occurred on 28 August at the house of the Rev. Charles Davidson, his son-in-law, at Sullom, Shetland. Mr. Neil's work as an original and learned literary student never received adequate recognition, and little notice of his death has been taken by the press. For many years rector of Moffat Academy, Mr. Neil, on retiring from that position, made his home in Edinburgh, and devoted himself mainly to literary work. He was the editor of the Home Teacher, and author of numerous educational books. All his lifetime a Shakespearean student, Mr. Neil was regarded as an authority on subjects relating to the immortal dramatist, and for many years was president of the Edinburgh Shakespeare Society. He contributed critical and explanatory notes to the " Library Shake- speare," published a quarter of a century ago. Mr. Locke Richardson, in advancing the suggestion in an article in the New York Critic of October, 1896, that the words "a babbled of green fields " might signify that Falstaff was "mustering his waning powers in an effort to die a fair death after repeating, in broken and half-audible accents, verses [from Psalm xxiii.] learned in childhood," was apparently unaware that his suggestion was not new. In vol. iii. p. 12 of the "Library Shakespeare " there is the following note by Samuel Neil :

"This gives a special Shakespearean touch to FalstafFs death. His mind appears to have wan- dered through the darkness till a little streak of light glimmered out from bis memory of his child-