of Silver Place, co. Meath, 2,000.; to Richard Cooper, of Rathescar, 1,000; to a Miss Ester Wade, of Clonabury, 1,000; to Sir John Parnell, of Rathhague, in Queen's co., Bart, 1,000.; to William Hamilton, Fellow of College, 1,0007.; to Mrs. Townley Hall, co. Louth, widow, all his plate, furniture, and movables; a great number of smaller bequests to various persons." He appoints Sir John Parnell his residuary legatee, and Jasper Debraisey and Jackson Golding his A. B. C. executors. EPSOM PROSE.-What is the meaning of this phrase? I find it in Dryden's MacFlecknoe : "But let no alien Sedley interpose Hyde Park Mansions, N.W. "IL NE FAUT PAS PARLER DE CORDE, DANS LA MAISON D'UN PENDU."-Can any of your readers suggest the equivalent in English to this French proverbial saying? F. C. DATE OF BISHOP BARLOW'S CONSECRATION. Canon Venables, in the article "Episcopacy" in the Encyc. Brit., ninth edition, says that Bishop Barlow, of Chichester, who presided at the consecration of Archbishop Parker, was consecrated by Archbishop Cranmer on June 11, 1536. What is his authority for giving this as the exact date? HUBERT BOWER. edit., III. i. 144). The only instance I can find of the word ployden is in Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, under the word Plowden," in the following extract from Fletcher's poems : "There Ployden in his laced ruff starch'd on edg Peeps like an adder through a quickset hedg, And brings his stale demur to stop the course Of her proceedings with her yoak of horse; Then fals to handling of the case, and so Shows her the posture of her overthrow." Plowden was an eminent lawyer in Queen Mary's time. His name is handed down to us in the proverb, "The case is altered,' quoth Plowden." I cannot see how "Ployden" for Plowden would make any sense in this passage. I thought at one time that it might have been a misprint for hoyden, which, as is well known, was applied to men as well as women; but, again, What does stile mean? The only meaning of the word which would make any sense is the last of four different meanings of the word given by Halliwell, viz., "The upright post in a wainscot to which the panels are fixed." F. A. MARSHALL. MISS ANNE BANNERMAN.-This accomplished poetical writer, who no doubt was a native of Scotland, though she is not mentioned by Anderson and Irving in their works on Scottish biography, published at Edinburgh in 1800 a small volume of Poems, which was followed in 1802 by Tales of Superstition and Chivalry. In December, 1803, she lost her mother, and about the same time her only brother died in Jamaica. She was thus left without relatives, and almost in a state of destitution. Dr. Robert Anderson, writing to Bishop Percy on Sept. 15, 1804, says : "I have sometimes thought that a small portion of the public bounty might be very properly bestowed on this elegantly accomplished woman. I mentioned her case to Prof. Richardson, the confidential friend and adviser of the Duke of Montrose, a Cabinet minister, who readily undertook to co-operate in any application that might be made to Government. The duke is now at Buchanan House, and other channels are open; but no step has yet been taken in the business. Perhaps, an edition of her Poems by subscription might be brought forward at this time with success." The latter suggestion was acted upon, and about 250 subscribers of a guinea were obtained for the new edition of the Poems, including the Tales of Superstition and Chivalry, which was published at Edinburgh in 1807, 4to., with a dedication to Lady Charlotte Rawdon. Shortly afterwards Miss Bannerman went to Exeter as governess to Lady Frances Beresford's daughter. Perhaps, some of your correspondents may be able to supply particulars respecting Miss Bannerman's subsequent history. THOMPSON COOPER, F.S.A. COL. RAMPLE, 1647.-"There is mention in Rushworth of one Lieut.-Col. Rample being condemned to be shot to death for killing a man at his quarters at Mr. Saville's house in Mexborough. have visited London in 1598, was impressed by This was in 1647" (Hunter's Deanery of Doncaster, its magnificence. The following is his description: art. "Mexborough "). Can any of your readers give "Nonesuch, a Royal Retreat, in a Place formerly the full entry in Rushworth? Can they inform called Coddington, a very healthful Situation, chosen me (1) who this Rample was, and what regiment by King Henry VIII. for his Pleasure and Retirement, and built by him with an Excess of Magnificence and he commanded; (2) Is there any indication of a Elegance, even to Ostentation; one would imagine every military occupation of the district at this time; or thing that Architecture can perform to have been em(as is more probable) was Rample in occupation of ployed in this one Work; there are every where so many the hall (or rather the rectory) in consequence of Statues that seem to breathe, so many Miracles of conthe determined "malignancy" of Mr. Saville, who summate Art, so many Casts that rival even the Perfection of Roman Antiquity, that it may well claim and was one of the body-guard of Charles I.? justify its Name of Nonesuch, being without an equal; W. SYKES, M.R.C.S. or, as the Poet sung :Mexborough, near Rotherham, Yorks. MILITARY FLAGS.-Will any correspondent inform me of a work on military flags (European) of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? G. C. H. MORRIS DANCERS.-Will any Cambridge correspondent kindly give, through "N. & Q.," particulars of morris dancing as observed on Plough Monday? I wish to compare the present observance with that of 1850. FLO. RIVERS. SACRED OPERAS.-Your old correspondent R. INGLIS, in a query (6th S. viii. 494) mentions two "sacred operas," Esther and Samuel, as having been produced in America within the last few years. Will some of your Transatlantic correspondents kindly inform me how these "operas were performed, i.e., upon the stage with scenery, dresses, and personation, as in ordinary operas, or by the concert-room orchestra in the manner in which oratorios, or sacred dramas, are usually given in England? W. H. HUSK. HAIR-POWDER. When did hair-powder come into general use in France; and by whom was the fashion set? The Regent Orleans died in 1723, and all his portraits represent him in a full-bottom periwig. Yet Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writing in 1718, speaks of ladies "loaded with powder." Louis XV., as a boy, is represented in powder. The fashion could not have been set by him, for at the time of the Regent's death he was no older than thirteen, and at the date mentioned by Lady Mary was only eight years of age. LEWIS WINGFIELD. Replies. NONSUCH PALACE, (6th S. viii. 448.) This once celebrated edifice was situated near Epsom, in Surrey; and, if sparsely noticed by the Voyagers of the period, possibly came seldom under their observation on account of its distance from the metropolis. Still, I think that it had a fair share of notice. Paul Hentzner, who is said to 'This, which no Equal has in Art or Fame, of Deer, delicious Gardens, Groves ornamented with trellis Work, Cabinets of Verdure, and Walks so embrowned with Trees, that it seems to be a Place pitched upon by Pleasure herself, to dwell in along with Health. "In the Pleasure and Artificial Gardens are many Columns and Pyramids of Marble, two Fountains that spout Water one round the other like a Pyramid, upon which are perched small Birds that stream Water out of their Bills: In the Grove of Diana is a very agreeable Fountain, with Ac'aon turned into a Stag, as he was sprinkled by the Goddess and her Nymphs, with Inscriptions. "There is besides another Pyramid of Marble full of concealed Pipes, which spirt upon all who come within their Reach." In 1615, the celebrated Grotius was dispatched to this country for the purpose of smoothing over certain difficulties which had arisen from our claim to exclude the Dutch from the whale fisheries of Greenland. He commemorated his visit by four epigrams, "In Prætoria quædam Regia Angliæ," viz.: (1) "Nonswich "; (2) "Hamptincovit "; (3) "Windsoor"; (4) "Richemont." It is, however, with the first of these alone that I am now concerned : 66 'Quia vero arces regia lustrandæ sunt, placuit hoc judicium et discrimen inter Anglicanas et Gallicanas proponere. Gallicis arcibus Anglica, si interiorem faciem spectas, nullo modo comparandæ sunt. Nam etsi NONCIUTZ in Angliâ, imo et quæ primaria est HAMPTONCOVRT, exterius singularem majestatem præ se ferat, et gentis magnificum luxum præclare arguat; etiamsi etiam pulcherrimâ serie interius ordinata omnia: tamen, si aulaa ostro decora (quâ in parte Gallia nihil plane ad Angliam) et auro et gemmis distincta tollas, reperies intus et post vela sumptuosissima ejuscemodi cameras, intra quas civem primariæ dignationis hospitio nolis accipere: plerumque ligna ibi non satis polita, telas aranearum, muros non satis integros, et quod in nostrâ patriâ argu Another traveller describes "Ritschmontes," "Hamptoncourt," and "Vindesorus," but failed, somehow, to gain access to Nonsuch, which he yet commemorates as the loveliest of all: "Nonschitz, omnium arcium regiarum amænissimam mihi non aditum ; quam viridaria contigua nimiopere commendant" (Iodoci Sinceri, Itinerarium Galliæ, &c., Geneva, 1627, 8vo. p. 310). Camden's Britannia is, of course, in most public libraries; but still, to habitantes in sicco who are beyond reach of one, a mere reference would be tantalizing. The following is the description of Nonsuch from Bishop Gibson's edition : "More inward (than Richmond), at about four miles distance from the Thames, None-such, a retiring-seat of our King, eclipsed all the neighbouring buildings. It was erected by that magnificent prince, King Henry VIII., in a very wholsome air (being called, be fore, Cuddington); and was designed by him for a place of pleasure and diversion. It was so magnificent, and withal so beautiful, as to arrive at the highest pitch of ostentation; and one would think that the whole art of architecture had been crowded into this single work. So many images to the life were upon all sides of it, so many wonders of workmanship, as might even vie with the remains of Roman antiquity; so that it might justly lay claim to the name, and was very able to support it; Nonesuch being in Latin Nulla ejusmodi, or, as Leland expresses it in verse, Hane, quia non habeant similem, laudare Britanni Beyond the rest the English this extol, And None-such do by eminency call. The house was surrounded with parks full of deer, delicate orchards and gardens, groves adorned with arbours, little garden-beds, and walks shaded with trees; so that pleasure and health might seem to have made choice of the place, wherein to live together. But Queen Mary exchanged it with Henry Fitz-Alan, earl of Arundel, for other lands; and he, after he had enlarged it with a well-furnished library and some new works, left it, at his death, to the baron Lumley, a person whose whole course of life was truly answerable to his high character. (But now there is nothing left of this noble and curious structure, scarce one stone remaining upon another; which havoc is owing to the late civil ware.)”—Britannia, ed. 1772, folio, London, vol. i. p. 239. The date of the first edition of Camden's great work was 1586. Paul Hentzner is said to have visited England in 1598, but his Itinerary-at least, that part of it which relates to Englandfrom which extracts had been already published by Dr. Birch, was first printed by Horace Walpole in 1757. It was subsequently reprinted in Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces of Various Subjects by Several Authors (London, 1765, 2 vols. 8vo.). I dare say I put a very jejune question when I ask how the singular coincidence of expression between the English antiquary and the German traveller is accounted for. I have not access to the first edition of Camden (1586), so do not know the precise wording of the original description; but in Bishop Gibson's earlier one of 1695, which is before me, I find the passage which I have transcribed almost verbatim. How does it stand in the first edition of the Britannia? Is the Itinerarium Hentzneri an authentic production? Did Hentzner copy from Camden, or Bishop Gibson from Hentzner? Is it likely that this latter was the case when, as Horace Walpole tells us, there were but four or five copies of the MS. tour in England? Where are these now? Besides the palace of this appellation, there was the famous Nonsuch House, the most remarkable of the structures which stood upon old London Bridge. It is supposed to have been of the Elizabethan age, and to have been placed on its site at the latter part of the sixteenth century. It was brought from Holland-was constructed entirely of wood-and was united by wooden pegs, not a single nail being used in the entire structure. See Thompson's Chronicles of London Bridge, p. 344; and Brayley's Londiniana, vol. ii. p. 262. Birmingham. WILLIAM BATEs, B.A. "This palace has been much celebrated both by English and foreign writers," says Lysons, in The Environs of London, 1792, vol. i. p. 151. He quotes Camden, who quotes Leland : "Hanc quia non habent [sic] similem laudare Britanni Sæpe solent, nullique parem cognomine dicunt." "Unrivalled in design the Britons tell The wondrous praises of this nonpareil." Hentzner's Travels:— Or, as translated in Horace Walpole's version of "This, which no equal has in art or fame, Briton's deservedly do Nonesuch name.' He refers to Sydney, State Papers, ii. 118; tɔ Sebastian Braun's work, entitled Civitates Orbis Terrarum, which has an engraving by Hoefnagle with this inscription, "Palatium Regium in Angliæ Regno appellatum Nonciutz; Hoc est Nusquam Simile"; and under it "Effigiavit Georgius Hoefnaglius, anno 1582"; to Gough's Topography, ii. 275; to Strype's Annals of the Reformation, i. 194; to the Burleigh Papers, ii. 795; and to Lodge's Shrewsbury Papers, ii. and iii. Lysons's own account extends from p. 151 to W. E. BUCKLEY. 158. Need MR. WALPOLE'S attention be drawn to Camden's description? "Built with so much splendour and elegance that it stands a monument of Art, and you would think the whole science of Architecture exhausted on this building." And to John Evelyn's remarks ? "I supped in Nonesuch House......and took an exact view of the plaster statues and bass-relievos inserted betwixt the timbers and puncheons of the outside walls of the Court, which must needs have been the work of some celebrated Italian. I much admired how they had lasted so well and entire since the time of Henry VIII., exposed as they are to the Air." Or to what Pepys says of Nonsuch ?— "Walked up and down the house and park; and a fine place it hath hitherto been, and a fine prospect about the house. A great walk of an elme and a Walnutt set one after another in order. And all the house on the outside filled with figures of stories, and good painting of Rubens' or Holben's doing. And one great thing is, that most of the house is covered, I mean the post, and quarters in the Walls, covered with lead, and gilded." Freegrove Road, N. HENRY G. HOPE. See the references to contemporary allusions to the palace in Thorne's Environs of London, ii. G. F. R. B. 446-8. was precisely my contention. If de was a contraction of ded, ded must have preceded it. How, then, can it be maintained that de was the original inflection? The object of my communication was to show that the inflections of all the weak verbs in the Teutonic languages sprang from one origin, and were in their inception identical, the changes having been corruptions, principally for the sake of euphony. Language has not been a manufacture, but a growth, and by carefully reading "between the lines" we may watch that growth in its successive stages. The verbs in all Teutonic, probably in all Aryan, dialects have had three modes of forming their preterites. Probably the oldest was by reduplication, now nearly obsolete. The next was by vowel change, limited to the primary verbs, principally intransitive. I endeavoured to show in my last communication the process by which the preterites were formed in the weak verbs by the absorption of an auxiliary, ded or dad in the Low Ger. =tet in the High Ger., being respectively the preterites of the strong verbs don and tuon. We see the process of formation in the Gothic language very clearly, e. g., where the intransitive verb sinthan, to go, Dis-out of its strong preterite sand forms a secondary verb, sandjan, to send, the preterite of which is sandidad, softened into sandida. In Anglo-Saxon the shortening process proceeded further, converting it into sende, subsequently corrupted into sent. "NOTES ON PHRASE AND INFLECTION" (6th S. vii. 501; viii. 101, 129, 232, 497; ix. 32).—I am glad that my notices on this subject have called forth replies from adepts in philological science. cussion conducted in a proper spirit can only tend to elicit truth. I confess to a little surprise on reading the remarks of PROF. SKEAT. He has been my "guide, philosopher, and friend" in my humble linguistic researches, and I have always looked short for ded, the professor proceeds, "The word After telling us that the suffix de in sende is upon him as filling a very advanced position as a sended never existed"! Let us see what other leader on the subject he so well understands. He adepts in linguistic science aver. Gabelenz (Gram. says my communication on the formation of the der Gothischen Sprache, p. 96), says "Das Präteripreterites of verbs contains several inaccuracies-tum ist durch Zusammensetzung des Wortstamms that I have not followed that historical method mit dem Präteritum des starken Verbum didan, which I justly advocate, &c. I must be under a dad, dedun, entstanden. Nur im Ind. Sing, welcher strange hallucination, for I thought I was strictly eigentlich -dad, -dast, -dad, lauten sollte, ist der following out the injunctions of my guide in carry- Endconsonant weggefallen." Bopp (Comparative ing the inquiry as far back as history and analogy Gram., Eng. edit., ii. 843), on the formation of will enable us to do. It is said that some people tenses, says, referring to certain forms in Sanskrit : are, or have been, "Hibernicis Hiberniores," and I think I can show that on the present occasion I am more Skeatish than PROF. SKEAT himself. "Indignor, quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus," is applicable now as in the days of Horace. He says, "The formation of weak verbs has been, in all details, correctly explained in the introduction to Morris's Specimens of Early English." With deference, this is precisely what Mr. Morris does not do. He gives the forms in Anglo Saxon, but offers not the slightest explanation or clue to their origin or development. But further, "It will thus appear that the original suffix in the verb send was de, not -ed." This became sende, and finally, for euphony's sake, sent. A few lines lower down we read, "The suffix -de was short for ded (dyde), as has been rightly said." This "Hereby the way is in a manner prepared for the German idioms, which without exception paraphrase their preterite by an auxiliary verb signifying' to do." I have asserted this, as regards the Gothic, in my system of conjugation (pp. 151, &c.), where I have shown...... the singular of the subjunctive. Since then Grimm, an auxiliary verb in the plurals of the past tense and in with whom I fully coincide, has extended the existence of the auxiliary verb also to the singular as soki-da, and therefore to the other dialects; for if in sokida the verb to do is contained, it is self-evident that it exists also in our suchte." So far Bopp and Grimm. Further reference may be found in Grimm's Deutsche Gram. (i. 839), where he shows that the d in Gothic and A.-S. derived from don is equivalent to the High Ger. t, derived from tuon (thun). If, therefore, High Ger. lieb-te was originally, as maintained, lieb-tet, "it is self-evident" that love-de was originally love-ded, and sende, send-ded. PROF. SKEAT has always impressed on his disciples the necessity of carrying etymological inquiries as far back as written language will enable us to do, and beyond that to rely upon comparison and analogy, but he now seems to hesitate in a manner which reminds one of Fear in Collins's ode: "Who back recoil'd, he knew not why, E'en at the sound himself had made.” But the professor proceeds: "Another inaccuracy is the fancy that the suffix -te is High German. It has, in English, nothing to do with High German," &c. I never asserted that it had. My objection to clipt, and slipt, and skipt is that they break down the distinction between the two great families of the Teutonic race, and introduce confusion and disorder into what was plain and simple. If I write skipped and PROF. SKEAT writes skipt we both pronounce the word alike, but I have the advantage of preserving the normal rule and the purity of our Saxon speech. It would seem that Mr. Morris's introduction to his Specimens is to be the end of all controversy. I demur to this, as I do to another assertion, that when a word is found in "a certain book known as the first folio of Shakespeare" inquiry must go no further. I have no quarrel with any mode of spelling so that it is generally understood and adopted, but to call slipt and skipt "pure and correct formations" is more than my "muddle-headedness" can stomach. DR. CHANCE refers to my remarks on the German preposition zu before the infinitive. No doubt all he says is true, but it is not relevant. A former correspondent asserted that in German no word was ever allowed to intrude between the preposition and the infinitive. I merely gave a few phrases to show that this is not always the case. MR. TERRY asks for my authority in asserting that at a comparatively early period the A.-S. eode, the irregular preterite of gan, was dropped and went put in its place. If he will turn to passages in the Gospels where the word went is found, and compare them with the A.-S. version, he will see the transition, e.g., Mark ii. 12: "The ic secge Arís, nim thin bed, and gú to thinum huse. And he sona aras, and beforan heom eallum, code." By the time of Wicliffe code had disappeared and went had taken its place. The passage in Wicliffe's version stands thus: "And anone he roos up, and the bed taken up he wente bifore alle men." I do not understand what is meant by went being a past indefinite form. It is the present tense of wendan, applied as an irregular preterite of gán in place of another irrregular preterite, code, which had become obsolete. J. A. PICTON. Sandyknowe, Wavertree. QUAINT PHRASES EMPLOYED BY J. MARSTON (6th S. ix. 7, 51).-1. Pith of parkets.—Parrot, parrat, &c., are the abbreviated forms of parrakeet, and no 3. To wear the yellow.-The explanation would, 5. Flaggon bracelets. Not having met the phrase elsewhere, the conjecture may be allowed that they were bracelets that had the upper surface bulging from the under, and rounded, flagon fashion, making them look like "jewels" of great weight and value. 6. Nocturnal may, I think, be explained by the following, from St. Augustine, Sermo de Temp. Barbar., c. 4: "An non sacrificavit, qui imagines idolorum per noctem ludentes, quod Nocturnum vocant, libentissime spectavit?" Du Cange, who gives this quotation, would explain the word as "Magica Gentilium illusio, quæ nocte fiebat." And in the absence of any mention even of it, so far as I am aware, in Adams's, Lempriere's, or Smith's dictionaries, I take it that Marston used it to express something more farcical than "commedy." I have not met with any other example of the word in Elizabethan English. 7. Lapy-beard. Possibly formed from the |