NEW YEAR'S EVE FOLK-LORE.-The mention of melted tin, 6th S. viii. 181, reminds me of a German governess I had, who used to do the same thing with melted wax. But in the patterns it formed she used to see the incidents of a future career portrayed-knights and castles, mountainous countries to be travelled through; for boys she could see battles, &c. This recalls another mode of divination she had, which was to look very hard in broad sunlight at the inscription on a tombstone, and out of the dazzling letters which appear on shutting the eyes to construct auguries, which appeared to be a sort of revelation, but were, of course, helped out by the fancy. She was a thick volume of folk-lore; but unfortunately my parents did not allow me to take advantage of it. An octavo CUTCLIFFE ON TROUT-FISHING. book of 212 pages has been recently published by Sampson Low & Co., London, 1883, entitled "The Art of Trout-fishing in Rapid Streams. Comprising a complete System of Fishing North Devon Streams, and their like. With detailed Instructions, &c. By H. C. Cutcliffe, F.R.C.S." In a preface, without date, to this volume, the author states that he has been induced to publish it for reasons which he gives, and he adds, "I commenced this work many years ago, and used to write a few sheets at a time," whilst prosecuting studies in London. Afterwards he went to India, but found no time there to complete the work, which he has now determined to offer to his friends. He proceeds to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of the late Dr. Thorne, of South Molton, and to recommend the services as guide of a man, now, he thinks, a letter-carrier residing at High Bray. The book is evidently the work of a practical fisherman, and is written with remarkable earnestness and desire to impart information. But the curious thing is, that a 12mo. book of 206 pages, bearing an almost identical title, by an author of the same name, but without the F.R.C.S., was published at South Molton by W. Tucker in 1863. This book has become scarce (see Westwood and Satchell's Bibliotheca Piscatoria, p. 72, and an article headed "An Angler and his Books" in the Pall Mall Gazette for July 31 last). If the author of 1883 be the same as the writer of 1863, how is it that no notice of the prior publication occurs in the preface of 1883? and are the references to Dr. Thorne and to the fisherman's guide to be referred to the earlier date or to the later? J. B. D. "IN MEDIO SPATIO MEDIOCRIA FIRMA LOCANTUR."-I find this quotation used by Popham (Lord Chief Justice of England) in sentencing Sir Walter Raleigh to death. Thus: "It is best for man not to seek to climb too high, lest he fall; nor yet to creep too low, lest he be trodden on. It was the Posie of the wisest and greatest counsellor of our time in England, 'In medio,'" &c. Who was this counsellor; and is the phrase intended " In medio tutissimus ibis"? devil per Popham further says, "Let not any suade you to think there is no Eternity in Heaven; for if you think thus you shall find Eternity in Hell-Fire." I am unaware that Canon Farrar has observed this in Eternal Hope. J. C. ["In medio tutissimus ibis" is assigned to Ovid in Bohn's Dictionary of Latin Quotations.] To USH.-In A Ballad Book; or, Popular and Romantic Ballads and Songs Current in Annandale and other Parts of Scotland, collected by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, 1824, this verb is used in the following stanza :— "I'll gar our gudeman trow To beir my tail up frae the dirt The Vain Gudewife, st. iii. p. 20, reprint, 1883. Ush is here used in the sense of usher. Can any other instance of this usage be given? F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. DEGRADATION OF DRUNKENNESS.-A few Sundays ago, being in the neighbourhood, I attended the parish church of Kindford, in Sussex, a short distance from Billingshurst. Walking through the village I saw a tablet of stone let into the outer side of the wall of the vicarage garden, containing the following inscription, intended to be read and considered by passers-by : "6 'Degradation of Drunkenness. "There is no Sin which doth more deface Gods Image than Drunkenness. Its disguiseth a person and doth even unman him. Drunkenness makes him have the Throat of a fish, the belly of a swine, and the head of an of Maxwell's Fortunes of Hector O'Halloran, pubass. Drunkenness is the shame of nature, the extin-lished by Bentley in 1842. I think that the story guisher of reason, the shipwreck of chastity, and the murderer of conscience. Drunkenness is hurtful to the first appeared in the pages of Bentley's Miscellany. Body. The cup kills more than the cannon. It causes I have the volume, new edition," published by deafness, catarrhs, apoplexies. It fills the eyes with T. Tegg, 1845, illustrated "with twenty-seven fire, the legs with water, and turns the body into a hos- illustrations by J. Leech." From these must be pital." deducted the five by "Dick Kitcat," in which Dicky" Doyle's etching-needle is unmistakable. Did R. Doyle ever sign any other drawings with this pseudonym? CUTHBERT BEDE To the above lines is no signature, and all I could" ascertain about the matter was that the stone on which they appear was placed where it now is by the late rector of the parish. From the quaintness and general character of the lines, I am led to suppose that they are a quotation from some writer of the last century. Will you kindly allow me to ask you, or the readers of "N. & Q.," if the authorship can be traced? J. W. Ó. THE DRESS OF A JOCKEY.-When did jockeys begin to wear top-boots? In the pictures of Eclipse, about 1770, his jockey wears low shoes, like those now called Oxonians. In 1792 the Sporting Magazine was commenced, and all its engravings represent jockeys as booted and spurred. This question was asked by a friend, of whom I have long lost sight, Mr. John Wilkins, nearly twenty years ago, in Once a Week; but, as it elicited no reply, I venture to repeat it in "N. & Q." E. WALFORD, M.A. Hyde Park Mansions, N.W. SIR ROBERT SIBBALD.-Are the exact date of the death and the place of the burial of this eminent naturalist and antiquary known? Allibone, in his Dictionary, says "about 1712," and in giving a list of his writings omits his History of Orkney and Zetland, published in 1711. Unless my memory is at fault, there is a memoir of him, with a portrait, prefixed to one of the volumes of the Naturalists Library, edited by Sir William Jardine. His epitaph is, I think, also appended. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. ORTHOPEDIC.-Can any of your numerous readers tell me the correct spelling of this word? Sages appear to differ thereon-orthopedic, orthopodic, and orthopedic having each had its advocates at a recent discussion. As I suggested at the time, the correct spelling depends on its derivation, and I put the following queries: (1) Is the word derived from ὀρθὸς πους οι ὀρθὸς Taidevèiv? (2) Or is the word a hybrid-half Latin and half Greek-opos pes? The genuine etymology of this word would greatly oblige. EDWARD R. VYVYAN. "DICK KITCAT."-In the various notices that have come under my observation relative to the recent death of Richard Doyle, the artist, I have not seen any mention of his ever having adopted the pseudonym of "Dick Kitcat." This name is given as that of the artist of the first five etchings ELECAMPANE, AN OLD ENGLISH SWEETMEAT.I shall be obliged if any reader of "N. & Q." can throw light upon this word, its origin and meaning. When I was a small boy, nearly fifty years ago, the term elecampane had in Dorsetshire a sort of generic signification, and included all sorts of lollypops; but it had further a specific application to certain sticks of toffy, which (as we children were told) were the spurious and very imperfect imitation of some comfit or candied preserve of a by-gone time, whose delights only lingered in tradition, and the making of which was a lost art. Elecampane is the English name of Inula helenium, one of the Compositæ, a rare British plant, something like a small sunflower. Was the sweetmeat made from this, as the still common angelica is made from the stems of Angelica archangelica, another uncommon member of our flora? Perhaps some housewife of a distant generation may have left a record and a receipt which will explain a word that has now passed I have recently seen an beyond knowledge. advertisement of "elecampane, the favourite old English sweetmeat," put forward by a manufacturer of confectionery. I have seen and tasted this. Though the name has survived, it is clear that the delicacy has not. S. JAMES A. SALTER. readers obtain access to the entail made by Lord Macleod in 1786? It is recorded in the Register of Entails on June 27, and in the books of the Court of Session on July 21, 1786. There is an apparent inaccuracy in W. Fraser's great book, where he gives an abstract of this entail. It is quite possible that the text of the deed may contain the desired information. The full text would, I am sure, be worthy of a place in your pages, as a specimen of such precautionary measures carried to their full limit. A. T. M. CHETWYND.-Can any contributor to "N. & Q." afford the following information? Who was the grandfather of a Miss Chetwynd, the daughter of the Hon. Chetwynd who, about the year 1770 or 1775, eloped with Humphrey Thomas, and was disinherited; likewise, what was her Christian name? THORNBOROUGH. WILLELMUS FILIUS STUR.-According to the Domesday Survey of Hampshire, twenty-two manors in the Isle of Wight, besides other lands in that county, were held by the above as tenant in chief. Mudie's Hampshire, vol. iii. p. 144 "The Norman barons or nobles, to whom lands had been granted by the Conqueror-chiefly those which had belonged to Saxons, and probably Saxons who had sided with Harold-were three: William Fitz-Stur, who had twenty-two manors, William Fitz-Azor, who had twenty-four, and Gozaline Fitz-Azor, who had twenty-five manors." The name Stur also occurs in Domesday as holding land in Lincolnshire before or in the time of Edward the Confessor. Can any one give information about the above or his descendants; also whether the surname is Norman or AngloSaxon? In Harl. MS. 6126, Brit. Mus., Inquisitiones post mortem in Com. Devon, anno 28 Henry III., is the name "le Stur," "de Honeton" as holding land in chief. The Heralds' Visitation of Devon in 1620 gives five descents of the family of Sture, or Steer, of Huish. Can any one fill up the two gaps, of about two hundred years each, between the times of the three statements, and so complete their possible connexion ? 63, Jesus Lane, Cambridge. W. H. H. S. BURNING OLD SHOES.-A woman residing at Hamble, Hants, who was lately taken ill very suddenly, said to a person who called to inquire after her, "Ah! I be ill all over; and no wonder; it as good as serves me right, for I burnt a pair of old shoes yesterday." Is this a general superstition? I never met with it before. W. D. PARISH. Selmeston. Can COLERIDGE THE POET AT CLEVEDON. When did he go, and how long did he reside there? any reader supply details respecting the above? Are there any references in his published works or letters bearing on the matter? W. M. THE PATER NOSTER OF ST. JULIAN.-In The Decameron, Boccaccio makes Philostratus say, "It happens to those who have not said the Pater Noster of St. Julian, that they often get a bad night's rest, though they lie on a good bed." Where is the Pater Noster of St. Julian to be found? Again, the monks of Sta. Maria Novella are represented as presenting one who gave conSt. Alexis......and the hymn of the Lady Matilda, siderable alms to the brethren, with "the song of and more such sort of ware." Where are this song and this hymn to be found? MAGICUS. The HOODS.-Is it correct to hold that the only hoods lawful in the Church of England (in England) are those of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and such as are worn under a faculty from the Archbishop of Canterbury? My reasons for this theory are: (1) The canons of 1604 recognize only the universities of the realm. Scotch and Irish universities, as founded before either Scotland or Ireland became part of the realm (i.e., before 1707 and 1800, respectively), are manifestly excluded. (2) The language of the canons is hardly prospective. Therefore, London, Durham, Lampeter, &c., are excluded. (3) Those out of the realm (e. g., Melbourne, Calcutta, &c.) are, of course, excluded. B. J. K. THE LUTHER FAMILY.-In 1748, according to Burke's History of the Landed Gentry, in the pedigree of "Fane of Wormsley," Henry Fane, Esq., is recorded to have married as his third wife Charlotte, daughter and coheir of Richard Luther, of Myles's (sic), in Essex, and to have had by her a son and heir John Fane, Esq., of Wormsley, Oxfordshire. Myles's or Myless, the old residence of the Luther family, situated in the parish of Kelvedon Hatch, near Chipping Ongar, in Essex, was taken down little sedgy river Roding, which used to abound circa 1843. It was not far from the banks of the with pike and perch, and flows onward past Stanford Rivers, the home of the Taylors, and Navestock, the sepulchre of the Waldegraves, whose old hall was pulled down in 1811. "It is a dull place," wrote Horace Walpole when on a visit to Navestock in 1759, "though it does not want prospect backwards. The garden is small, consisting of two French allées of old limes, that are comfortable, two groves that are not so, and a green canal." In the chancel of the little church at Kelvedon Hatch may yet be seen memorials of the family of Luther. Is anything known of their origin, or whether they were in any way descended from or connected with the great German reformer; and is this name found in England at the present time? JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. JEREMY TAYLOR'S "HOLY LIVING AND DYING." -A friend of mine possesses an edition of this work published by James Duncan, Paternoster Row, in 1837. In this book there are, where the text admits, foot-notes in Italian, to which notice is called by an asterisk or obelisk, such as "Lavora, come se tu avessi a compar ogni hora: Adora, come se tu avessi a morir allora "; "Chi diquina ed altro ben non fà Sparaqua il pan, ed al Inferno va"; and others equally fitting to the subjects treated of in the body of the work. The Italian is old and difficult in some respects, as "hora," "Sparaqua," &c. Is this edition of Taylor known? The owner has asked many persons, both in Italy and in England, at various times, but has never been able to ascertain if the comments contained in the notes are original or whether they may not be a translation from some Book of Hours. Neither Catholic nor Protestant was able to throw any light on them. side which faces the adjoining public grounds. Pemberton's Parlour was not originally a semicircular alcove, as it is at the present day, but formed part of a tower, formerly called Goblin's or Dill's Tower. It became very ruinous, and half of it was taken down, the remaining half being arched over and benched round with stone (see Hemingway's Chester, vol. i. p. 355). The place is further interesting on account of a story told about Mrs. Jordan, the actress, who took shelter in it from a shower of rain whilst she was "starring met Mr. Colin Robinson, a well-known Chester it" in Chester in 1789. Whilst in the parlour she Methodist, with whom she held a rather remarkable colloquy. The anecdote is too long to transcribe for the pages of "N. & Q.," but it will be found in Boaden's Life of Mrs. Jordan, though I am unable to give the exact reference. Frodsham, Cheshire. ROBERT HOLLAND. "John Pemberton, ropemaker, a member of an old Chester family, about the year 1700, established a ropewalk within the walls, between King Street and the Water Tower. It is said to have been his custom to sit under this old alcove, watching his men and boys at work in the pretty grove below. Hence arose its name of Pemberton's Parlour." "John Pemberton, ropemaker, was Mayor of Chester in 1730; and a tablet bearing his name will be found attached to the Water Tower, as viewed from the Public Grounds adjoining." It was once called the "Goblin Tower "; but what weird story is connected with it I have been unable to ascertain. It is presumed that originally it was an octagonal tower with a passage through in the walls from east to west. The inscription and coats of arms had been for a long time in a very crumbling condition, but a few years ago the local authorities renewed the whole face of it, inscription and all. T. CANN HUGHES. Chester. The same question was asked some six years since in the "Cheshire Sheaf," an antiquarian column were written about the year 1706, and are It appears from the manuscript notes, which which appears fortnightly, under very able editor-quoted by Mr. Hemingway in his History of the ship, in the Chester Courant, and from the replies to that question I extract the following information. John Pemberton was a ropemaker, a member of an old Chester family; and about the year 1700 he established a rope-walk within the walls of the city, between King Street and the Water Tower. It is said to have been his custom to sit under this old alcove, watching his men and boys at work in the rope-walk below. Hence arose its name of Pemberton's Parlour. This same John Pemberton was Mayor of Chester in 1730, and a tablet bearing his name appears on the Water Tower, on the City of Chester (1831), that this was not the original name. The extract was as follows: berton's Parlour, which, being ruinous, was of late half "A small tower, formerly Goblin's or Dill's, since Pemof it taken down; the other half, being a semi-circle, still remains, and arched over and benched round with stone, makes a very pleasant station."-Vol. i. p. 354. These improvements were made in 1701, and the name of Pemberton's Parlour was, therefore, probably given to it after that date. G. F. R. B. BISOM'S INN (6th S. ix. 8).—It is more than probable that the Burgesses of Walsall in 1627 lodged at the well-known tavern in St. Lawrence could be put together out of the whole Highland Lane, Cheapside, the name of which has variously brigade. Consult also Brown's History of the been given as Blossom's, Bosom's, and Besom's. Highlands and Highland Clans, 4 vols., Edinburgh, The origin of the name is still very doubtful, some 1851. R. P. H. holding that it was derived from the first owner or host, others that it originated in the sign, the gridiron surrounded with flowers, the emblem of St. Lawrence the Martyr. The inn was well known as one of the best in the City in 1522, when twenty beds and accommodation for sixty horses was provided there for some of the emperor's suite. In 1616 Ben Jonson mentioned it in his Masque of Christmas, thus:— "But now comes in Tom of Bosomes Inne, Which you may know, by the very shew, For there you may see, what his Ensignes bee, It is clear that this refers to the story of Tom, the EDWARD SOLLY. This is most probably Bosom's Inn, vide Dr. Brewer's Phrase and Fable, which says, "Bosom's Inn, a public-house sign in St. Lawrence's Lane, London; a corruption of 'Blossom's Inn,' as it is now called, in allusion to the hawthorn blossoms surrounding the effigy of St. Lawrence on the sign." JOHN R. WODHAMS. SCOTTISH REGIMENTS (6th S. viii. 496).-About five years ago a book was published giving the history of all the Scottish regiments, and with coloured plates of the different tartans, but I do not recollect the name of the author; the book was in 2 vols. imp. 8vo., so far as I recollect. B. F. SCARLETT. I advise Mr. HAMILTON to consult Col. Stewart's Sketches of the Character, Manners, &c., of the Highlanders, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1822, now a scarce book, but to be found in the Advocates' Library. The reply to his question is too long for the pages of "N. & Q." But thirty-three battalions of Regulars and fifty of Militia and Fencibles were raised (principally in the Highlands) in Scotland during the period between 1745 and 1804. Now not one regiment of true Highlanders IMPROPRIATIONS (6th S. viii. 495).-In answer to your correspondent J. P. H., I think I am right in saying that there were few impropriations in the sixteenth century; for the consent of pope, bishop, and king was necessary before the monks could appropriate great tithes, and the monks were not very popular for more than a generation before the dissolution. Nor has there, I believe, been an impropriation in England since the Reformation, till the Oxford Commissioners secularized a part of the tithes of Purleigh, in Essex, in aid of an endowment for the (possible) lay provost of Oriel College some four years ago. I am not aware that there is any fuller account of the impropriation of tithes in the fifteenth century and its abuse than is contained in my Loci e Libro Veritatum, i. e, extracts from Gascoigne's manuscript dictionary, 1403-1458, published by the University in 1881. JAMES E. THOROLD ROGERS. Oxford. "VITA DI OLIVIERO CROMVELLE" (6th S. ix. 10). -Gregorio Leti, of Milan, 1630-1701, was a very voluminous writer, it may almost be said manufacturer, of history, for he was chiefly remarkable for two things, his inaccuracy and his love of the marvellous. When the Dauphiness asked him whether all that he had written in his Life of Sixtus V. was true, he replied that a well imagined story is better than the bare truth in an ugly dress. The History of Cromwell, which was published in 1692, was translated into French in 1694, and again reprinted with corrections at Amsterdam in 1703. L. du Fresnoy, Methode pour Studier l'Histoire, iv. 306, says of it that it is better than the life of Cromwell by Raguenet." As a work it is of little or no authority, but it is bought and valued on account of the illustrations; the portraits are curious, and the plates of medals of some value. Noble, in his Memoirs of Cromwell, 1787, i. 298, speaks of Leti's book as “a romance with some few facts interspersed throughi. 19, does not even mention Leti; he evidently inout." Carlyle, in Oliver Cromwell's Letters, 1845, cluded him in the general term of those who had buried Cromwell in "foul Lethean quagmires of foreign stupidities." EDWARD SOLLY. QUAINT PHRASES EMPLOYED BY MARSTON (6th S. ix. 7). — Fumatho.-MR. F. A. MARSHALL should look in his Spanish dictionary under H, f having been used anciently where h now is. Thus in Don Quixote we find always fasta for hasta until. I have not Marston's play by me, and cannot, therefore, say whether the following interpretation would suit |