Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/337

 IX. APRIL 26, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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who the author is, but it runs on the lines that new friends are silver, but old friends are gold. PERCY MEREDITH.

LONDON LIBRARIES IN THE ELIZABETHAN ERA. Commentators on Shakespeare explain many allusions and facts by references now to one and again to many recondite authors, to more, indeed, than can be now found in the British Museum. How far could such works have been within the possible reach of the dramatist? This question, I trust, will induce *N. & Q.,' or some of its argus-eyed readers, to tell us whether any libraries existed in London three centuries ago. Were any such libraries accessible to the public or to players? How readily could they have been consulted in private or noble houses? 'H.E.D.' finds no earlier use of many words than in Shakespeare. Where did he get them ? There are well-nigh forty such words compounded with the prefix en-, as "en wheel." These I hold to be Shakespearian creations. But there are a dozen more which 'H.E.D.' has detected in earlier writers. As those writers can hardly have been known to our dramatist, may not the making of those additional instances be also set down to his credit ? If we suppose him conversant with all the writers who are set down as using his words before him, we make him one of the greatest of book- worms. A further question which I beg in Elizabethan London ? and how far were such collections accessible to our dramatist ? Answers will be helpful in determining his place as coiner of English words, as well as otherwise. JAMES D. BUTLER.
 * N. & Q. ; to answer is, What libraries existed

Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.

BARKER CHIFNEY. In the years 1801, 1803, and 1804 patents were granted for covering roofs with slate, and for a washing com- pound, to Barker Chifney, who is described as "of the city of London, gentleman." Who was he? I thought that he might be related to the celebrated jockey of the same name, but there is no mention of Barker Chifney in the notice of his distinguished namesake Samuel in the ' Dictionary of National Bio- graphy.' R. B. P.

RENE = A SMALL WATERCOURSE. I am told that this word (I am not sure as to the spelling) is current in Gloucestershire. Halli- well, in his dictionary, gives rin in the same sense, and rindel, a rivulet. From the Inter- me'diaire, 10 Dec., 1901, col. 874, it is clear that ru and rin also mean a watercourse in the old language of France. Whence was

the word derived ? The writer in the Inter- mddiaire to whose words I am referring also speaks of the use of rime=hoa,rf rost in notre vieille langue." T. R. E. N. T.

"DuKE." Can any reader give me an explanation of the meaning of the title " due " or * * duke " or " dux " ? Does it mean chief or leader ? Any information as to its origin and its application will oblige.

GEORGE. [Consult 'H.E.D.,'s.v.]

SWAYLECLIFFE. What is the probable origin of the name of this parish, situated to the east of Whitstable, in Kent 1 In a charter of King Eadred (946-55) the name is Swale- wanclife (Birch's 'Anglo-Saxon Charters,' iii. 25) ; and at the Domesday Survey, Soan- clive. The "cliff" and "clive" terminations are both used at a later time. This cannot be from a cliff, as it is situated on low ground, and at the present day there is no high cliff, neither is the place on the Swayle estuary, but on the open sea-coast. The coast-line is being washed away, so that, perhaps, a thou- sand years ago there may have been some high cliff. But Cliffe, near Rochester, is also in a marshy tract. ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent.

INSCRIPTION ON SEAL A friend of mine has a seal on which are engraved the words " Ofa taitoogoo." Can any one translate this inscription or tell what language it is?

E. MONTEITH MACPHAIL.

Madras.

" BUFF WEEK." In mining districts in the north of England, where wages are paid fortnightly, the alternate weeks are called " pay week " and " buff week " respectively. I do not find this expression in the ' H.E.D.,' nor any use of the word " buff" which seems to account for it. In the South Wales coal districts the expressions "pay week" and " blank week " are used. H. A. HARBEN.

BRISTOW FAMILY. Could any one give me any information regarding a Henry Bristow living at Yarmouth at the latter part of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, and tell me whether he was con- nected with the Bristows of Ayot St. Law- rence? G. H. W.

" LUPO-MANNARO." A correspondent of the Antiquary of February writes :

"In Italy, however, the same expression, lupo-mannaro, is applied to unfortunate persons who are periodically afflicted with a form of mad- ness apparently peculiar to that country...... The

attack of madness comes on when the moon is full.