Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/459

 *s. vm. NOV. so, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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W. Sussex,' 225). In 1562 Westbourne and other estates in the neighbourhood were conveyed by the Earl of Arundel to Thomas Bromley and two other trustees to the use of his son-in-law Lord Lumley and his heirs ; subsequently the earl appointed Sir Thomas Bromley overseer of his will (Longcroft's 1 Hundred of Bosmere,' 248).

According to Hutchins's 'History of Dorset,' Anthony Fortescue was presented to the living of Symondsbury by Queen Elizabeth in 1562, possibly through the influence of his mother, Lady Parry, then a widow, and one of the Ladies of the Privy Chamber. Is there any proof that he held the living subsequent to the month of October in that year, when the conspirator was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower 1 The registrar of the diocese of Bristol has no records of any institutions prior to 1619, and no information on this point can be gathered from the Symondsbury church registers or parish records.

The conspirator is frequently styled Sir Anthony Fortescue. Does this indicate a knight or a cleric ? ALF. T. EVERITT.

High Street, Portsmouth.

CANN OFFICE (9 th S. viii. 304, 371). Ogilby's 'Book of the Roads,' 1675, gives this as " Cannon's Office, a noted house," on the way from " Welshpool to Carnarvon." It was in my youthful days better known as a busy coach and posting house on the Aberystwyth road. It is still a comfortable inn, well frequented by fishermen and quiet travellers. Three years ago, when I was last there, the host and hostess together counted some- thing over a hundred and sixty years. " Office " was a word frequently applied to a place of public entertainment, as was also "booth" eg., "Foster's booth," on Watling Street, between Weedon and Towcester. "Cannon," I think there is little reason to doubt, was the name of a man who estab- lished or kept the "office." The locality is very ancient, and there is a tradition that a religious house once occupied the site of the inn. St. Cadfan is said to have founded the church in the village of Llangadfan, a mile below. The parish is certainly named after him and the church dedicated to him. In the garden of the inn is a large prehistoric tumulus. W. H. DUIGNAN.

Walsall.

" KEEL " (9 th S. vh. 65). Trade on the Missis- sippi and Ohio was formerly carried on by keelboats. These were long and narrow, sharp at bow and stern, a building in the middle, and a walking board on each gun- wale. The crew walked from bow to stern,

pushing with poles set against their shoulders. There was a mast with a large square sail. Sometimes the only way of advancing against the deep and rapid Mississippi was to warp by lines fastened to trees. As steamboats were improved they gradually got all the trade on the lower rivers. But on the Upper Ohio and tributaries keelboats were used in summer until about 1870. Railways took away this trade. On these waters the boats were always towed by horses, a line, sometimes as much as one hundred yards long, being fastened to the top of the mast. Coal is now taken south by flats and barges whenever the rivers are high. The "empties "are brought back by towboats. O. H. DARLINGTON.

Pittsburg.

"PARVER ALLEY" (9 th S. viii. 325). Is MR. HUSSEY really serious when he refers to "the centre aisle of the church"? No church possesses a centre aisle, although the majority have central passages. An aisle, alley, or allye (derived, of course, from the Latin word ala, a wing) must be at the side of a church, never in its centre. In England we accept the word '* par-vise " as meaning a room built immediately over a church porch. In France, I believe, it signifies all the open space round about cathedrals and churches.

HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

"ALEWIVES" (9 th S. vii. 406; viii. 250). I was surprised to find in looking into the 'H.E.D.' that there was only reference to American usage of "ale wife," as I had long assumed that it was brought into America by the Pilgrim forefathers. On referring to Couch's and Day's works on British fishes, it may be seen that both authors refer to "ale- wife" as one of the popular names of the "allis shad." As to the etymology, I have believed that it was corrupted from the etymon of "allice," perhaps an accommo- dative form. For example, "John Josselyn, Gent.," in 1675, said that " the Alewife is like a Herrin, but has a bigger belly ; therefore called an Alewife" Still earlier, it appears that " shad " and " allice " were used as inter- changeable terms ; thus Thomas Morton in 1632 in his ' New English Canaan ' remarked, " There is a Fish (by some called Shadds, by some Allizes) that, at the spring of the yeare, pass up the rivers to spaune in the ponds," &c. A number of other old authorities might be adduced.

The Indian name of the alewife (in plural form) was aumsuog (Roger Williams) or umpsauges (Stiles). So far as known, the originator of the idea that alewife was