Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/391

 9" s. ix. MAY n, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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which were distributed at a suitable time with other charitable gifts of a like character. The parochial trustees now get the 2l. 10s. on this bond yearly, the charity being included in what is known as their "Consolidated Account." Among his benefactions was one of 20s.,

"to be distributed to the prisoners in the Gate- house, and 20.S. to the prisoners in the Bridewell, Tothill Fields, to buy them twelve pieces of Beefe to be spent on Twelve Sundays."

In 1674, in the schedule to the deeds, under date 8 March, by which the Grammar School was established, it was provided that the Governors of the School

" should obtain a licence from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster for building six almshouses on the Common in Tothill Fields for six poor old men, or six men and their wives, and six houses for poor old widows."

No one under sixty years of age was to be admitted, nor any who had not been at least for twenty years honest housekeepers in the parish of St. Margaret. At the establish- ment " the six poor men and six poor women were to receive 8s. per month apiece, if man and wife then 12s." Thirteen chaldron of coal were to be laid in : gowns were to be supplied, " not to exceed 10s. 6d. per yard " ; and 101. was set aside to be spent at " two collations for the governors and their wives." These almshouses were built by the trustees in the year 1708, and occupied the same site as do the present United Almshouses, on the north side of Rochester Row, opposite the well-known church of St. Stephen, the gift to Westminster of the Baroness Burdett- Coutts. The original tablet, replaced on the new almshouses, bears the inscription, still legible,

M r Emery Hill

late of the Parish of

S* Margaret, Westminster,

founded these Almshouses

Anno Domini 1708

Christian Reader

In hopes of thy assistance.

By his will he not only stated his wish for "shady rows," but desired that the aims- houses should have a courtyard, " and that without the courtyard may be planted with good elme, and not with lime trees, for elmes is a better greene and more lastingly."

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. 71, Turner Buildings, Millbank, S. W. (To be continued.}

"FRIEZE." What is the etymology of the architectural term "frieze"? The word is generally defined as that part of the enta- olature of an order which comes between the

architrave and cornice, and is usually en- riched with figures or other ornaments. The usual etymological account given in the dic- tionaries is that the word is related in some way to the synonymous Italian fregio, which also means " border, fringe, ornament," and th&t fregio is the phonetic equivalent of the Latin JPhrygium (sc. opus), "a Phrygian work " (cp. PhrygioB vestes, " embroidered garments"). So''H.E.D.,' Skeat's 'Diet.' (ed. 1901), and Hatzfeld's ' French Diet.' (s.v. 'Frise'). This account is not satisfactory, for it seems to involve serious phonetic difficulties. A French frise related to an Italian fregio which is identical with a Latin phrygium ? Such an etymology would imply that a Latin -igium could become -~ise in French. No doubt Latin -si- before a vowel becomes regularly -gi- in Italian e.g., Latin Parisii, Perusia, Blasius,cerevisia, become in Italian Parigi, Perugia, tiiagio, cervigia. But the converse is not the case. No instance can be found of a Latin -gia- becoming -se in French. The equivalent of Italian fregio (from a Latin phrygium) in French would have been */ra, later *froi; the g would have been vocalized ; cp. Fr. essai, the repre- sentative of Latin exagium, and O.Fr. navei (Eng. navy), Lat. navigium. There is another difficulty in admitting relationship between fregio and frise, and that is the quantity of the accented vowel : fregio supposes a Latin type *friseum, frise a Latin type frlsea. It may be noted also that the two words differ in gender.

I would suggest that the Latin original of the Italian fregio may be found in the Med. Lat. fresium, "fimbria" (Ducange). Frisium (Ducange) is doubtless another spelling of the same word (with i for e). The French frise (Eng. frieze), if connected with this Med. Lat. frisium (fresium), shows an unexplained lengthening of the root vowel. I think if any one will examine the meanings of French frise in Hatzfeld he will come to the conclusion that the radical idea of frise (our frieze) is "a border, band," and not "something embroidered," as suggested in 'H.E.D.' In Spanish and Portuguese we find the form /mo, agreeing with the French form in all but gender. To the Spanish word is doubtless due the Arabic 'ifrlz, frieze, cornice, registered by Steingass, p. 62, a word without Semitic etymology.

COMESTOR OXONIENSIS.

SIR BENJAMIN RUDYERD, 1572-1658.- It is said of him in his life in the * D.N.B.,' xhx. 385, that

"on 18 April he was admitted to the Inner Temple, an on 24 October, 1600, was called to