substance.

So also shriek, stridulous, &c., are harsh words; and the word obstreperous in Beattie's Minstrel has been objected to as hurting the ear, which it is, of course, intended to do. I suspect thud to be closely connected with the root of the Latin tundo; at any rate, Mr. Wedgwood's Dictionary does give the word, with the following quotation from Gawain Douglas's Virgil:

"Lyk the blak thud of awful thunderis blast." Compare the words din, O. E. dun (to make a loud heavy noise), drone, thunder, &c. I cannot but think that any one, who will read over Mr. Wedgwood's Preface to his Etymological Dictionary, will acquire a respect for some of these ugly words, as explaining much that cannot be explained otherwise. I am astonished to find that so valuable a book seems so little known and so little consulted. It is a common thing for writers to draw attention to the peculiar power of certain combinations of letters to represent certain peculiar sounds, as if such an idea was quite novel, and had never been thoroughly worked out (as in his volumes) with discrimination and success. But Mr. Wedgwood's is by no means the only dictionary that gives it. It will be found in Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary, and in Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary (with five or more quotations). Jamieson compares with it the Icelandic thytr; and it is certainly found in Anglo-Saxon, in the form of thoden, in the sense of a loud din, especially that made by a tempest or whirlwind. The references for its use in Anglo-Saxon are chap. ix. of Somner's edition of Elfric's Grammar, and Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral. If anyone is to be blamed for using the word, the blame ought rather to fall on our good King Ælfred than on a modern novelist.

Cambridge.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

This is by no means a new word, having been in use to my certain knowledge for upwards of forty years. It has also found its way into Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, where it is thus described:

"THUD. A heavy blow, or the sound which it emits. The stroke of a sledge-hammer against the wall of a house is of that kind.-North."

Having heard many thuds in my time, I think the word a very expressive one, and should feel at a loss for any other word to convey the same meaning. I have not been able to meet with any probable derivation. The word thunge is used

when the sound of the blow becomes louder.

T. T. W.

It is a mistake to say that the word thud "has not yet found its way into any dictionary." In Dr. Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language

it is given; first, as a substantive noun; second, as a neuter verb; and, third, as an active verb. There are several definitions mentioned, which may be epitomised thus: that as a substantive, it is "a stroke causing a blunt and hollow sound"; and that consequently, as an active verb, it means "to strike with impetuosity"; while, as a neuter verb, it means to move with velocity." I allow to your correspondent that it is not an elegant word, though "ugly" is rather severe; and, at any rate, it is expressive as indicating sense by

sound.

Edinburgh.

G.

MR. GASPEY is totally wrong in stating that the word thud has not yet found its way into any dictionary. I could give him a list of at least half a dozen in which it appears. For its inventor he must go back as far as the writings of Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld. So far from being an ugly word, it is one of the most expressive in our language, and one which I challenge him to render correctly by any amount of circumlocution. It describes a sound, and its use is well exemplified in an account of the late fire in the Haymarket, where among other noises is enumerated the thud thud of the engines. GEORGE VERE IRVING.

HOUR-GLASSES IN PULPITS.

(3rd S. xii. 516.)

MR. J. MANUEL quotes a passage which declares that the Queen has had a sand-glass fixed to the pulpit in the Chapel Royal of the Savoy, as a hint to the officiating clergyman for the regulation of the length of his sermon. This announcement recalls to my memory a visit I paid to the church of Sacombe, a few miles from the county town of Hertford, February 3, 1864. Before the church was restored, there was an old hour-glass frame fixed to the side of the pulpit, which had come down from the times of the Commonwealth or thereabout. Surely this was an interesting relic of antiquity; but, as another instance of the care with which relics of antiquity are preserved, and replaced by those who restore churches, instead of being fixed to the new oak pulpit, where it ought to have been, as it would have been in nobody's way-and where it would have been, by stewards more faithful to their trust-it was thrust into a closet in the vestry, where I saw it. I made a sketch of the object, which is now before me. I may describe this object as a piece of iron rod, about an inch in diameter near the bottom. Some four inches of the lower end is hammered flat, and is pierced with three holes for screws to fix it. For three

feet up it is octagonal in section and diminishing in size, then a knob, and the last foot or so is twisted. About eight inches below the knob, the stem is clipped by a moveable square link, fixed by a pin through its ends and through the stem. This apparently was the upper fastening. From the top of the rod spring, outwards or horizontally, four branches of iron about as thick as a large quill, to the distance of a finger's length; which then turn straight upwards by a right angle some five inches more, and their ends are riveted or welded to an iron ring. Thus it will be understood, if I have made my description clear, that a sort of open basin or cage is formed, in which the sand-glass could be dropped. I believe that these objects are very rarely to be met with in the present day, and their very rareness ought to claim some respect for this one. have several times intended to draw the attention of the public to this act of neglect through the medium of "N. & Q.," but I now make an effort to do it without further delay. It ought to be replaced. P. HUTCHINSON.

JUNIUS: SIR PHILIP FRANCIS.

(3rd S. xii. 506, 507.)

I

Your revival of the Francisco-Junius question, in connection with the recently-published Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, tempts me to say a few words on the subject. After closely examining the two elaborate volumes which bear the names of Mr. Joseph Parkes and Mr. Herman Merivale, I find that though they contain much that is new and interesting in support of the Franciscan theory, they fail to afford the positive identification which the late Mr. Parkes had for some years past led me and other friends to expect. I cannot help thinking, therefore, that some of his materials must have been overlooked; at any rate I know that he intended to avail himself of the communication I made to the public in my preface to the fifth part of the Bibliographer's Manual, dated January, 1860, and which occasioned a smart and useful controversy in The Athenæum of Feb. 25 and March 3, 10, 17, and 24 of the same year. Mr. Parkes was very much struck with the discovery of such a nest of political papers relating to the Junius period as is therein recorded, especially the tenth letter of Lucius; and he frequently inquired as to the probability of their coming into my possession, seeing how large a sum I had offered for them. Notwithstanding the editor's silence on the subject, my conviction remains unchanged that the secret will be found in those papers, and that the Earl of Holdernesse was one of the principal channels by which Francis obtained such sudden information from the court.

Another item which I think deserved a passing mention in these volumes is, the minute and laborious Analysis of Junius, drawn up by the late Sir Harris Nicolas, and which I parted with to Mr. Parkes after giving a full specimen of it in my edition of Junius, published in 1850. Although the analysis leads to no definite result, it is very useful to inquirers. And I may add, that there are many observations and notes in Mr. Wade's essay prefixed to the second volume of my Junius which might have been usefully quoted, as everything known at the time connecting Francis with Junius is there adduced.

It is a curious fact in the history of the Junius controversy that Mr. Parkes was for many years a decided anti-Franciscan. I first met him in 1825 at Hatton Vicarage, where I was engaged on the papers and books of the late Dr. Parr, and there one day at dinner, in company with Mr. E. H. Barker (who compiled a volume against the Franciscan theory in 1827) and others, we had some animated discussion respecting the authorship of Junius, which happened to arise just then in consequence of a recent publication by Mr. Coventry advocating the claims of Viscount Sackville. Mr. Barker believed in Lloyd, which was Dr. Parr's recorded opinion; I advocated Francis, being strongly impressed with the evidence which had some years previously been adduced by Mr. John Taylor; but Mr. Parkes, while setting up no hero of his own, was distinctly opposed to Francis. In later years, after Mr. Parke's removal from Birmingham to London, we had frequent conversations on the subject, and he for some time occasionally hinted that he had made an important discovery in another direction, which he was working out; but within the last fifteen years he gradually became a convert to the Franciscan theory, and besides obtaining the use of the Francis MSS. for evidence and his memoir of Sir Philip, he accumulated everything he could collect illustrative of his object, including much material, printed and manuscript, with which I had from time to time furnished him.

HENRY G. BонN.

As an old Pauline will you permit me to avail myself of your entertaining columns to point out an inaccuracy in Messrs. Parkes and Merivale's book, which Mr. Merivale may feel desirous to correct in future editions. In p. 5 the writer

says:

"In this narrative of Francis's obligations to the course of instruction in St. Paul's School, it is not irrelevant to add, that he acquired there a singularly fine, legible, and facile handwriting, an accomplishment of a well-educated gentleman, of the highest value to a youth.

ago, the scholars, especially of St. Paul's and Christ's "It was not, therefore, to be wondered, that a century Hospital, were noted for their capital and uniform handwriting."

Now, I was entered on the Foundation of St. Paul's School at the beginning of the present century, Dr. Roberts being the principal master, and I remained seven or eight years. During this period, and long after, there was no writingschool attached to the school.

The hours of instruction were from seven in the morning, winter as well as summer. It commenced with prayers, and ended at eleven also with prayers. In the afternoon we reassembled at one o'clock, and ended at four also with prayers.

Whatever education in writing or arithmetic was afforded, was paid for by our several families. I went from eleven to twelve to Priest Court, Foster Lane, where I had the advantage of the instruction of that rare and beautiful calligraphist Mr. Tomkins, whose urbane and amiable manners endeared him to all who knew him.

41, St. John's Wood Park.

RICHARD BENTLEY.

SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS.

(3rd S. xii. 394, 505.)

1864. I have long cherished the intention of enlarging these facts and data to form a portion of my Collections and Recollections, upon which I have been some time engaged. By the kindness of the representative of the family of Sir Richard Phillips, I possess some of his papers, as well as notes of his long and eventful career. In his retirement, at Brighton, he commenced writing his Autobiography, in which he made considerable progress; but, from circumstances which need not be here explained, this MS. bas been destroyed at least, such is my belief. Although I am not vain enough to expect that what I shall write will meet the expectations of your correspondents, it shall be truthful; and I am not unmindful that, of men's actions in this world— "The good is oft interred with their bones."

I

may perhaps be allowed to mention that, in the enlarged edition of my Curiosities of London just published, frequent reference is made to the career of Sir Richard Phillips: for he was a Londoner, and served as one of its most intelligent sheriffs (1807-1808), and wrote a volume upon the duties of the office. He also formed the Sheriffs' Fund; although, in all that appeared lately in the journals, his name was not once fund, now of several thousands; and, in the leadmentioned as the originator of this benevolent

and publisher would be interesting. I acted as his amanuensis for some few years; and the respect he had for me, coupled with his estimate of my services, led to my becoming "a working author." Most men, when in their teens, and on the threshold of the world, have their attention attracted to the career of some one man whose conversation or pursuits influence their own future course; and although the detractors of Sir Richard Phillips may say that I might have chosen a more methodical model, I do not hesitate to say that for such humble success as I have attained during the last fifty years, I owe more to my connection with Sir Richard Phillips than to any other man. I first met him at the dinner-table of my then master, an intelligent printer, at Dorking, in Surrey; and, although I sat mute, as became an apprentice, I was an attentive listener to the conversation of Sir Richard, who, by the way, was an excellent raconteur, and, moreover, was admirable in the art of dictation. He would walk about his room by the hour, pouring out for my pen many a well-sustained narrative, which required scarcely any correction in proof.

Upon the death of Sir Richard at Brighton, April 2, 1840, I wrote in the Literary World (vol. iii.) several recollections of my master and friend (pp. 57, 86, 102, 117, 136); and these recollections I extended to a chapter in my Walks and Talks about London, published in December,

Recollections, to which I have presumed to refer, As "more last words," I would add, that the will include my intercourse with authors and publishers, and proprietors of public journals; my long services; and incidental details of the production of one hundred and twenty volumes for that very multitudinous master-the public: by regard for "all that's good, and all that's fair." whose good opinion I have ever striven to deserve

JOHN TIMBS.

has acted under the very highest legal advice; and as ANGLO-SCOTUS is necessarily unaware of the evidence, filling several volumes, on which Sir Duncan relies, both in reference to the terms of Sir Henry Gibb's patent and his own propinquity, he cannot be in a position to form an opinion entitled to any weight.

It is of course impossible to give the details of this evidence in your columns, and I can only say that it fully establishes Sir Duncan's right to Sir Henry Gibb's baronetcy, and that the only parties who can doubt this are those who have had no opportunity of forming a proper judgment. ANDREW STEIN,

W. S. and Parliamentary Agent.

[We prefer, for obvious reasons, to close this corre

spondence with this letter, and give MR. STEIN the

benefit of the last word.-ED. " N. & Q."]

WHAT BECOMES OF Parish REGISTERS? (3rd S. xii. 500.) What indeed? I can answer the question. Some are burnt through carelessness, because they are kept at the vicarage instead of in the iron safe in the vestry; some are allowed to rot from damp and mildew, because the vicar of the parish has forgotten the importance of the trust which he undertook when he was inducted; some are destroyed as waste paper or parchment; and some, as E. H. A. points out, are cut up by the curate's wife to make kettle-holders of. I made some strong remarks on these subjects nine years ago (2nd S. vi. 462), to which I solicit a reference; and I solicit a reference to p. 507 et seq., where MR. T. P. LANGMEAD, MR. W. H. HART, and the REV. H. T. ELLACOMBE have some forcible observations and a digest of the law. Now that new and extensive Record Offices are available, and so much is done for the preservation of the archives of the realm, it does seem strange that those important documents, the parish registers, are not taken more under the care of the government. Nine vicars out of every ten, in spite of their self-sufficiency, and nineteen churchwardens out of every twenty, by their ignorance and pig-headedness, are not fit to have the keeping of such books, as all experience has proved over and over again. These facts give strength to my argument when I declare that the old registers ought to be in better hands, and I wish some one connected with the government would take the matter up. P. HUTCHINSON.

Your correspondent asks a very important question. That many of the old registers are disappearing, is unquestionable. I have myself copies of seven registers, the originals of which are not now to be found, nor are there transcripts of them in the bishop's registry. Many old registers are kept at the parsonage house; and on the death of the incumbent are, too frequently I fear, mixed

up with his books and papers, and so lost. Many are lying in a damp and tattered state in the vestry, and seldom referred to.

Is it not a reproach, that all the registers of the Dissenters, the Quakers, the foreign Protestant refugees, &c. &c., have been carefully bound and deposited by the government with the Registrar General at Somerset House, while the valuable parochial registers of the kingdom are left to annual decay and loss. Who will see to this? For many years Echo has answered, "Who?" JOHN S. BUrn.

Henley.

CUDDY (3rd S. vii. 53; viii. 507.)-In connection with this word, I may say that "cuddy-bat," for the slight blow or tap by which one boy challenges another to fight, is known over a great part of Yorkshire. "Cuddy-cloth," too, for the napkin covering a baby's face when taken to christen, is familiar to me. Cuddy" is the word for a bird, if it is only a little one, or small of its kind, and not of the hedge-sparrow particularly, if your correspondent CUTHBERT BEDE will pardon a correction. The smallest finger on the hand is called "cuddy-finger." A mother will say, on taking baby's "suck-thumb" out of its mouth, "Let its little cuddy-thumb alone." I can just remember making one in a party of juveniles bent on trespassing on the grounds of a certain old Quaker, for the purpose of seeing a foal, whose attention we invited by calling out, in a coaxing Cuddy, cuddy, cuddy!" way, Neddy," for an ass, I take to be in general use, since it is as well known in these northern as in the midland and southern counties.

FAMILY OF NAPOLEON (3rd S. xi. 507.)-I saw, some years ago, a statement that the family of Napoleon had come originally into Italy from the Balearic Isles. When I was Envoy in Spain I was anxious to discover on what this supposition rested, as it was said that there were arms, borne by the Buonapartes, on an old palace at Palma. It is well known that there was considerable communication between the Balearic Isles and Italy, especially Pisa, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: witness the earthenware, of Sara

cenic origin, imported into and improved in Italy, and called to this day Majolica. I was, however, never able to find anything confirming the statement to which I allude. HOWDEN.

USE OF THE WORD "PARTY" (3rd S. iii. 427, 460; xii. 365, 424.) -The earliest use of this word in the sense of person with which I am acquainted occurs in the works of Sir Thomas More, about 1520. It occurs six times in the Book of Common Prayer (1559); in the Injunctions of Elizabeth (1559); in the Tempest, iii. 2; in the Primary Charge of the present Archbishop of Canterbury; and, I have little doubt, in many other places where "slang" would be out of the question. J. M. COWPER.

HER (3rd S. xii. 461.)-The inquiry of C. as to the use of her in lieu of the genitive, is likely to revive the vexed question of the origin of the 's in the case of female names. Were Danish as thoroughly studied in England as Anglo-Saxon is, the debate could scarcely have arisen. Nine hundred years ago an inhabitant of the North of England would have written—had he known the art of writing-Knud hans kaard, and Dagmar hennes kors, and when speaking, would have abbreviated the two phrases thus: Knud's kaard and Dagmar's kors, meaning Canute's sword and Dagmar's cross. The genitive 's of modern English is simply an abbreviation of the Danish hans (his) after masculine, and of hennes (her) after feminine names. Though Anglo-Saxon and Danish are two dialects of the same tongue, they differ greatly, and it is much to be regretted that our English philologists have hitherto directed their attention almost exclusively to the former.

The patois still spoken by the common people between the Humber and the foot of the Grampians is full of Danicisms; so much so, that when once driven by a shower into a public house in a village near Leeds, where a party of clothiers were in noisy confab, it required an effort to convince myself that I was not in the midst of a knot of peasants in a krog in South Jutland.

OUTIS.

The title of a work by Sir John Conway, which is noticed in Brydges' Censura Literaria, vi. 280 (first ed.), supplies an instance of this usage of the word her :

"Meditations and Praiers, gathered out of the sacred letters and vertuous writers: disposed in fourme of the Alphabet of the Queene, her most excellent Majestie's name." London: H. Wykes. N. d. 8vo.

In the reprint by V. Sims, 1611, 12mo, in which the compliment is transferred from the deceased queen to a living princess, the Lady Elizabeth, eldest daughter to King James, the form is altered, being "the Lady Elizabeth's name."

Another instance will be found in " N. & Q."

3rd S. xii. p. 23-" A Lady's Wardrobe in 1622." "Note of Lady Elizabeth Morgan, late sister to Sir Nathaniel Rich, her wearing apparell," &c. W. E. BUCKLEY.

C. asks for examples, in old writers, of the use of her in lieu of a genitive feminine. Here is one, from the "History of the Curious-impertinent," in Shelton's Don Quixote, 1675 : "She also demanded of him his advice, touching the excuse they might make to Anselmo concerning her Mistress her wound." A. J. MUNBY.

LONGEVITY OF LAWYERS (3rd S. xii. 483.) — In a paper read before the Statistical Society in 1859 (see their Journal, xxii. 337), Dr. Guy (now F.R.S.) gives the following comparative statement of Average Ages at Death

95

:

If these figures are to be relied upon, the legal profession is less favourable to life than the clerical, and more so than the medical professions. But as the source from which they are drawn is the obituaries of the Annual Register, they are of very slight authority. It will be seen that the number of cases of lawyers and medical men averaged is very small as compared with that of the clergy.

In another calculation, Dr. Guy took only "the more eminent members" of the three learned professions, which reversed the order of longevity: 174 eminent medical men died at an average age of 67; 137 eminent lawyers, at 66; and 902 eminent clergymen, at 663; leading to the inference (which, it does not follow, is a sound one) that high professional distinction is accompanied by some curtailment of life.

I believe that lawyers live at least as long as men of any other profession. Among other causes, I think their annual observance of the long vacation is eminently conducive to long life.

Temple.

JOB J. B. WORKARD.

MATHEW FAMILY (3rd S. xii. 433.) — I do not find any Richard Matthew in the list of generals of the army given in Haydn's Book of Dignities. Edward Matthew appears as created general Jan. 26, 1797. He died in 1805, and consequently was not murdered by Tippoo Saib. Is this the person meant ? P. W. TREPOLPEN.