Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/474

 466

NOTES -AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. DEC. 7, HOI.

lieu of

' Time and

the

ordinary figure IV inverted in

four strokes ; and in Benson's

Time Tellers' (London, Hardwicke, 1875),

p. 40, is a picture of an English watch, dated

1593, with the same marking.

RICHARD WELFORD..

There is a tradition among watchmakers that the first clock that in any way resembled those now in use was made by Henry Vick in 1370 for Charles V. of France, and that the king, anxious to find some fault with a thing he did not understand, said, " You have got the figures on the dial wrong." " Wherein, you r Majesty ? " said Vick. " That four should be four ones," said the king. "You are wrong, your Majesty," said Vick. "I am never wrong !" thundered the king ; " take it away and correct the mistake "; and corrected it was, and from that Bay to this four o'clock on a clock or watch has been Till instead of IV. CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

Swallowfield.

The four on the clocks at Putney and Fulham churches, at either side of the bridge, is given both forms. RALPH THOMAS.

Four o'clock is not "always" expressed by IIII. For ^ example, the clock on the Albert Memorial, in the heart of Hastings, the centre of its chief thoroughfares, has IV. W. S.

FLOWER GAME (9 th S. vii. 329, 397, 474, 511 ; viii. 70, 232). The dandelion chain, as well as chains of daisies, buttercups, &c., is made by Scottish children, without any thought of eneuresis in the minds of the youthful weavers, though they do call the plant " pissabed," or rather "pishbed." If they associate anything with the folk-name, it is a feeling as to the character of the plant itself, and not an apprehension of consequences in their own experience. Stained palms of the hands they readily assume as the outcome of their amuse- ment, just as boys do who gather dandelions tor their rabbits ; but beyond this there is no anxiety as to results. THOMAS BAYNE

The more one studies the customs and dialects of England and Germany the rongerbecomesone's conviction that, happilv

also with our country children that sug- gests to me this remark, but also the dia- lectal designation for "ant" mentioned by MR. WELFORD. In my little native country, the Duchy of Anhalt, people west of the Elbe those of Dessau, Cothen, for instance call it Sech-emse (long e = English a in fate, s in the second word = 2) ; sechen is a very low word for urinate; emse is contracted from e'mese, your emmet. East of the Elbe, in and about Zerbst, they give it the name -of Piss- mire, which is exactly the same as that used by Shakespeare, and very likely he pro- nounced it as we still do. It is to the pungent liquid which ants emit when irri- tated, and which the common folk take for their urine, that this appellation is due.

DR. G. KRUEGER.

Berlin.

MR. RICHARD WELFORD'S note is deeply interesting. I have never heard the word pissemmet applied to an ant in this locality, although I observe that Sternberg gives piss- emmott in his glossary. The word emmet is practically unknown here, but pismire (which I see is duly placed in Bailey's * Dictionary ') is in constant use. JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

Has MR. WELFORD forgotten what Gerard says of the uses of the dandelion 1 " Boyled in vinegar, it is good against the paine that troubles some in making of water."

C. C. B.

SONG WANTED (9 th S. viii. 145, 228). This song is to be found in ' Gaieties and Gravities,' oy one of the authors of ' Rejected Addresses,' vol. ii. pp. 148-9, where it is called 'Bachelor's Fare,' and is said to have been sung by Bruin the farmer " to the old tune of ' The Hunting of the Hare.' " My edition, the third, is dated 1826. It is most probable that this is the original source of the song that is, of the words. ERNEST B. SAVAGE, M.A., F.S.A. St. Thomas, Douglas.

stock of beliefs usages, and words than the so-called well-educated modern Englishman and German suspect ; and to one who could embrace with one glance the counties and provinces of the two lands, and could per- ceive their languages, such as they still exist, all at once, the resemblance would striking. It is not only the

_ SARGENT FAMILY (9 th S. vii. 329, 432 ; see viii. 16, 234). The following information may possibly assist MR. LARPENT. A pedigree in r .--, Dallaway and Cartwright's 'Hist, of Sussex,' countries of the old j II. i. 275-6, states that William, third son of John Sargent, M.P. for Seaford, &c., by Charlotte, daughter of Richard Bettesworth, married Sophia, daughter of George Arnold, of Halsted Place, Kent, and had children. This William Sargent, who was baptized at Woollavington on 8 Feb, 1787, was a Win- chester scholar 1798-1803, and afterwards a " clerk in the treasury " (Kirby). He was

appear practice of

rv. i_- j i i.,. " ~ j-^i iv, 1/j.vyc/ \JL uieifc. 111 tut; treasury liviruy;. xit; was

making dandelion chams-a favourite sport identical, I believe, with William Sargent,