Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/62

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9*s.vin. JULY 13, 1901.

heirs. Strange to say, even Clark s report is inaccurate, as on p. 429 he has " grandson twice for "son," and consequential errors afterwards. (For the report of the appeal case of 1805 see Vesey, jun., 'Cases in Chancery,' xi.) E. H. BROMBY.

University, Melbourne.

"CAPT. ROCK" (9 th S. vii. 227, 353). If your contributor is interested in "Capt. Rock," he will find 'Letters to His Majesty King George IV.,' by "Capt. Rock" (B. Steill, London, 1828), worth perusal. The book can be obtained for a small sum from the second- hand shops. ALBERT GOUGH.

Glandore Gardens, Antrim Road, Belfast.

"BULL AND LAST" (9 th S. vii. 128, 254, 331, 411). In the case of the "Bull and Gate" in Holborn there is, according to Peter Cun- ningham's 'London' (s.v. 'Bull and Gate'), a reference by the presumably accurate George Steevens in his edition of Shake- speare, which, considered in connexion with the fact that the " Gate " is often met with as an old English sign, is somewhat puzzling. He says :

"The Bull and Gate was originally (as I learn

from the title-page of an old play) the Bullogne Gate, i.e., one of the Gates of Bullogne, designed, perhaps, as a compliment to Henry VlIL, who took that place in 1544."

Both Dr. Brewer ('Diet, of Phrase') and Mr. Hotten (' Hist, of Signboards ') seem to have rested their statements on this evidence, and if Steevens can be shown to be correct in his surmise, we may rest content with this ex- planation ; but the ' ' Gate," both alone and in combination with other signs, was not uncommon, and doubtless arose when "iron gates " came to be used more generally, the novelty of such an architectural appendage being remarkable enough by itself to form a landmark. There is still a "George and Gate " in Gracechurch Street ; a " Red Gate " is mentioned in the ' Vade Mecum for Malt- worms '; and there were formerly signs of the "Iron Gate," the "Golden Field Gate," and a curious one of the " Pesfield Gate." As a landmark for direction in old advertise- ments it is of frequent occurrence. For in- stance, horses are advertised for in 1725 to be taken in to grass in Chelsea Park at 2s. Qd. per week till Candlemas, and inquiries were to be made of Anthony Clarke, at the " Great Gates " in Chelsea Park, near Little Chelsea. With regard to the "Bull and Mouth," according to the 'History of Signboards,' the tavern known latterly by that sign, and still later as the " Queen's Hotel," in St. Mar- tin's-le-Grand, was in Taylor the Water-Poet's

time known as the "Mouth" only, though Mr. Hotten does not mention this in con- nexion with the "Bull and Mouth"; while, again, in Wood's 'Athense Oxonienses' the house is spoken of as the "Mouth," near Aldersgate Street, and a meeting - place- though perhaps the "Silent Woman" would have been a more appropriate rendezvous of the Quakers. There was another " Mouth " in Bishopsgate Street Without, and in both cases their proximity to two of the most im- portant of the City gates suggests the ques- tion whether the sign was not exhibited by way of indicating to travellers the most im- portant hostelry near the gate or mouth of the City. Or, considering how customary it has always been for the servants of the great to set up, on retirement from service, in the hotel or tavern kind of business, the sign might have been adopted to indicate eating as well as drinking entertainment by a retired Yeoman of the Mouth. Mrs. Centlivre's hus- band, for instance, was Yeoman of the Mouth to Queen Anne. Again, it would have been a peculiarly appropriate sign for a place of public assembly, such as many taverns were in the early newspaper days, when not more than one in a hundred could read when vivd voce news and gossip were eagerly sought from fresh arrivals from the country, or con- trariwise by country folk from citizens. "Every coffee-house," says Addison, "has some particular statesman belonging to it who is the mouth of the street where he lives." There is said to be a sign of the " Merry Mouth " at Fifield, Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire. I put forward the above suggestions in hope that they are not too fantastic to lead to something more definite. There is, of course, conjecture and conjec- ture ; but as experiment is the golden key of knowledge, so conjecture, I take it, is often the handmaid of fact.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Edited by Dr. J. A. H. Murray. Vol. V. Jew- Kairine. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) THE present part of the great dictionary brings within measurable reach the completion of the fifth volume, the appearance of which may be expected during the present year. Contrasting as it does with the slowness of progress at first observed, the rate of speed and the punctuality of appearance now maintained is of happiest promise, and the possession of the entire work is no longer, for moat of us, beyond the range of possibility. The most interesting page in a deeply interesting number is that dealing with the letter K, concerning which