Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/237

 9* s. vm. SEPT. u, IDOL] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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they were almost starved. He repaired to the churchwardens, and promised to give the profits of a night's conjuration to the poor, if the parish would pay for hiring a room, &c. The charitable bait took, the benefit proved a bumper, and next morning the churchwardens waited upon the wizard to touch the receipts. ' I have already disposed of dem,' said Breslau ; ' de profits were for de poor.

trick.' ' I know it,' replied the conjuror, ' I live by my tricks!'"

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

The following from the Morning Herald of 2 April, 1783, may prove a clue in MR. BRESLAR'S further pursuit of inquiry :

"Breslaw's new Deceptions and Experiments, and the new Rossignol's Imitation of Birds, will be displayed at the New Room, King's Head Tavern, in the Poultry, near the Mansion House,

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, And likewise at his New Room, No. 19, Hay- Market,

the fourth door above the Theatre Royal,

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

In each place to begin at Seven o'clock in the

evening.

Admittance Half a Crown each Person. The Particulars are expressed in the Bills. N.B. Mr. Breslaw will perform to Private Com- panies at their own houses ; or if any Ladies or Gentlemen are inclinable to learn some Deceptions on Cards, Money, &c., they may be taught in a few minutes, on reasonable terms, by applying to Mr. Breslaw," &c.

J. H. MACMlCHAEL.

S.v. * Cape of Good Hope,' Asiatic Journal, July, 1825, No. 115, vol. xx. (July-December), p. 98, is :

"Letters from the Cape of Good Hope, dated the 6th of April, mention that Mr. Bresler, one of the members of the court of justice, had com- mitted suicide. The Governor had returned from his journey into the interior. The exchange was at 180 per cent, premium."

Indexed, p. 736 : " Bresler (Mr.) commits suicide at the Cape of Good Hope, 98."

THOMAS J. JEAKES.

NEEDLE PEDLARS (9 th S. viii. 105). Needles and pins are so closely associated in various ways that one need offer no excuse for men- tioning the following incident. In a South Lancashire village, in the late sixties, I remember seeing a pedlar selling pins some- what in the mariner described. Unfolded packets of pins, lightly attached, covered his body. He was dancing in the style of a dancing bear, and sang as he danced, " Any row a penny, oh ! " His pin-bespangled body was one that could not be forgotten, and the unusual spectacle greatly pleased the house- wives. The 'E.D.D.' says, s.v. 'Bodge,'

" * Bodge ' differs from ' botch ' in that while the latter implies more of awkwardness, the former has more of the ludicrous." To "codge" is also to botch, or mend clumsily. This and "codge-bodge" were dealt with by
 * N. & Q.,' 7 th S. ix. 97. ARTHUR MAY ALL.

A similar jingle was sung to me about 1855, in Hull, by my mother, and also by a son of Ebenezer Elliott, the Sheffield poet. I think it had variations of " knitting needles," " sewing needles," " darning needles." There was also a version for pins : " Twenty rows a penny, isn't that a many ? " The vendor had specimens stuck round his hat. W. C. B.

A HULL SAYING (9 th S. vii. 445; viii. 52, 130). I fear A HULL ATTORNEY OF 1870 makes a statement at the last reference far from being correct. I have carefully noted local lore from the year 1872, and I have not heard nor seen printed before an account of persons being " twisted " under Mr. Twiss.

WILLIAM ANDREWS.

Royal Institution, Hull.

In Lancashire " Ah '11 skin tha wick " (? wic) would mean " I '11 skin thee alive." I think this is what the Hull fisherwoman would mean, and that it has a mental connexion with the writhing of eels skinned alive and similar motions. CLIO.

Bolton.

"ATTE" (9 th S. vii. 388, 474). This is not Latin, but pure Middle English, being nothing else than at the, where the th of the article has become assimilated to the t of the pre- vious word ; and all the names preceded by it plainly show that it is Saxon : at the well, field, hill, lee, lay, tree, ridge, wood, worth, cliff, tun, burg. Compare Dutch and Frisian van der Meulen, van Dam, Terborg, ter Meulen, ten Brink. Also in High German we have names like Zumsteg (=atte bridge), Zum- worth (=atte worth), Zum brock (=atte brook), Amdohr (atte gate).

DR. G. KRUEGER.

Berlin.

DR. GENTIANUS HARVET (9 th S. viii. 44). MR. SKEEL probably means Gentianus Hervet, known to students of Dutch literature as the writer of an 'Epistle' against Protestants, which was the occasion of Marnix's famous ' Beehive of the Holy Roman Church ' ('Bien- korf der H. Roomsche Kercke '). This bitter satire appeared in 1569. As it in fact ridi- cules Hervet's views whilst pretending to advocate them, the latter's 'Epistle' must have appeared before or in 1569 (not about 1598). Further information about Hervet will pro-