virginica, L.-Kent (Higham). Given the name about Lee, because they say it blossoms all the Trinity. Rev. C. H. Fielding: no doubt suggested by the three petals of the flower." F. O. BIRKBECK TERRY. this heading. But I should like to make a few remarks. No one has yet told us what the O.N. völlr really is; so it is worth while to say that it is merely the Norse equivalent of E. wold, as exSEDILIA (8th S. ix. 507).—A similar question plained in my Dictionary' under that title. respecting the existence of sedilia in foreign O.N. ö often makes English e"; for a reader might I entirely dissent from the statement that "the churches appears in 'N. & Q.,' 1" S. xii. 344, to which there are instances given in reply at pp. 392,"originates." The words eld, elbow, and ern are suppose that is here equivalent to 479, with which may be compared a communica- all pure English, and exist independently of the tion in vol. iii. p. 142. It is apparently the case O.N.ö. We might as well say that the O.N. Ö that their occurrence is more rare in foreign than in English churches, but that they are not entirely "makes" the German e in Ellen-bogen. absent from the latter. ED. MARSHALL. GRIMSBY CASTLE, BERKSHIRE (8th S. ix. 207). -For Grimsby read Grimsbury; the so-called "castle" is a very important earthwork, of comparatively late construction, standing in Hampstead. Norris parish, near the remains of a Roman villa. The district was marshy, and there are indications of a Celtic crannog or pile dwelling adjoining. Grim is supposed to be a form of Odin, thus indicating the presence of the Scandinavian element. There is a Grimsditch, near East Ilsley, between the two ridgeways, called variously Icknield Street and Ickleton Street, also in Berkshire; and we find a Grimsdyke in Oxfordshire, which severed Icknield Street between Mongewell and Nuffield. Grimsbury also names two hamlets near Banbury. All this indicates hard fighting; but we know nothing certain of the combatants beyond what is reported of King Alfred at Ashdown, A.D. 871, also in Berkshire. But, greatest of all English Grims is the so-called Grim's dyke, a survival of Antonine's Roman Wall in the Anglian lowlands of Scotland. A. HALL. WEIGHING THE EARTH (8th S. ix. 224, 314, 393, 470; x. 37).-If the astronomer Baily dwelt in 37, Tavistock Place, I gather that this (which was pulled down this year) must be the house wherein the earth was weighed. My notion that Britton the antiquary's house was the one, arose from some mention by him, when I saw him therein in 1844. The site of his house will some day form a handsome and useful street from Crescent Place to Tavistock Square. But only the south side thereof is yet built, and it forms now a front garden to the three houses called Russell, Bedford, and Tavistock houses. It is curious that both this and 37, Tavistock Place (lately called The Grove) have been demolished, and each of them was detached in its own garden, which can be said of no other in the thousands within a radius of three or four miles, except the three mansions in Regent's Park. E. L. G. THE SUFFIX"WELL" in PLACE-NAMES (8th S. ix. 345, 451; x. 17).-I can neither understand nor subscribe to some of the statements made under " makes In fact, there is a very good reason why the ON. ö is totally independent of E. e. It is simply this; the O.N. ö is the u-umlaut of a; the E. e is the i-umlaut of a. Hence they are quite different sounds, and can only be confounded by such as do not rightly appreciate what umlaut signifies. The To the question, "Is not Somerset itself a Norse word?" I at once reply, Certainly not. English Somerset has nothing to do with Norse, but is merely the modern form of A.-S. Sumorsætan (plural), with long œ. This word does not mean summer abode,' ," but " summer-settlers." The A.-S. equivalent of O.N. sumarsetr happens WALTER W. Skeat. to be sumerselde. N. & Q.' (4th S. ix. 442; 5th S. i. 69, 154; ix. Your correspondent will find, on referring to 426), that a circulating library was in existence at Dunfermline in 1711, Edinburgh 1725, and London 1740. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. See the account of Samuel Fancourt in the 'Dict. Nat. Biog.,' and consult 'N. & Q.,' 7th S. vii. 247, 374; xii. 66. W. C. B. Apropos of C.'s query, though it is not an answer to it, I should like to state that I possess a set of the original issue of Dr. Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets,' London, 1781, which is in very good con- Johnson's Lives of ye Poets, Vol. 1. 3 weeks. Nov 6 to ......Mrs Brett......... 26 to ..P. Parkes...... 14 to Jan 1782.. .Miss Whitehouse...... 4 to 25 to W Brett.......... 15 Feb to John Wright........ Wm Turton............... 7 March to Jo Jesson............... April 17 to TRANSLATION (8th 8. ix. 484).—I trust, for the sake of Longfellow's Latinity, that the epitaph quoted does not contain "tetegit," but tetigit. May I be permitted to give a rendering as terse as the words seem to demand? A maid-of-all-works F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. THE BROOM Dance (8th S. x. 26).—It is surprising that MR. THORPE should have lived thirty years in Devonshire without hearing of this dance, which is one of the best known and most commonly practised in the West. The present writer remembers seeing it at a farmhouse ashen faggot burning on a Christmas Eve over fifty years ago, and toThe same names recur in the same order in each day it may be seen in the kitchen of almost any of the other three volumes, Mrs. Brett receiving public-house. I could produce twenty men who her copies of vols. ii., iii., and iv. from I. Humphrys can and would dance it for a small consideration on 16 Feb., 6 June, and 24 June, 1782, the others-particularly if liquid. Like the "monkey's receiving the books in due course. It would add hornpipe." it is not seen except in "kitchen comconsiderably to the interest and value of the set of pany." Your correspondent fairly describes the volumes could the town in which they were first action, and a good deal of dexterity and agility is needed to throw the legs alternately over the stick while keeping the head of the broom on the ground. Here, in Somerset, it is called "The bursh stick-dance," or "To dance the bursh "the brush being the housemaid's long-handled broom. [Many replies have been received.] "CHILD"=A GIRL, AND NOT A BOY (8th S. ix. 326; x. 13).—In Wright's 'Provincial Glossary' "child" is given as an equivalent of "girl." Here it is marked as a Devonshire word. It will be remembered that Shakspeare, in the Winter's Tale,' III. iii., uses the word similarly, where he makes the old shepherd say, "A boy or a child, I wonder?" C. P. HALE. Perhaps Mrs. Lily Grove can give some information as to the history and antiquity of the dance; but I have a notion that the Keel Row,' though a nautical air, is scarcely Semitic, nor of high antiquity. The music at the first of the two performances I have witnessed was on that very expressive instrument an iron teatray, while the dancer sang and hummed a lively accompaniment ; but I only remember one line, not quite suitable for your pages. Generally the words were of no meaning-not the same, though similar in character to those I give below, which were written down for me by the very first old man I spoke to on the subject: The Brush-steck Dance. The Luptey Tumpey, Tuther lettle Tune, I find the air now used here is generally the Keel Row' when fiddle or accordion are forthcoming; a teatray is not quite suitable for it. By the way, that tune is known by the name of "The monkey cocks his tail." I cannot account for the absence of the women; it must surely have been accidental, or the performance too common to rouse their interest. No doubt there are many survivals of the kind referred to by MR. THORPE, more or less gross, but except, perhaps, in the cant phrase "jumping of Orkney is not descended from Patrick Stewart, over the broom" for an irregular cohabitation, there the family name being originally Hamilton, now seems little evidence of antiquity in this particular Hamilton-Fitzmaurice. The title was granted to dance. The name Bal is, I submit, scarcely Phoenician, but is most certainly the Devonshire rendering of our West Country ball, a knoll. The name "Cloutsham-Ball" is a familiar instance, and is a household word at this time of the year among those who attend the opening meet of the Devon and Somerset staghounds, called the “Dunkery Derby.” Your correspondent can hardly be serious in connecting Easter-brook, Maddicott, Balhatchet, Amory, and Symons with Babylonia, though I have been confidently informed that our modern sheriff is Arabic shereef. Coincidence of sound is often curious, as well as curiously misleading. F. T. ELWORTHY. Manor House, Dundrum, co. Down. SAXON WHEEL CROSS (8th S. ix. 447).-This is probably a consecration cross. It is of the form which Mr. J. H. Middleton, in vol. xlviii. of the Archæologia, p. 458, mentions as follows: "" The forms of the crosses are numerous, but the commonest of all is type A." There is an example in plate xxxiii. fig. 1, from Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, with various similar ones in pl. xxxiii., Σχχίν. ED. MARSHALL. SIR GEORGE NARES (8th S. x. 7).-See the • Dictionary of National Biography,' vol. xl. 91, 92. W. C. B. "ONLY" (8th S. viii. 84, 273; ix. 213, 332).— At the last reference MR. THOMAS BAYNE states that the use of this word as a preposition is not uncommon. What author so uses the word? I shall be glad to have a quotation or quotations for such usages. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. PATE STUART, EARL OF ORKNEY (8th S. x. 8).-I think MORO DE MORO must be in error respecting the above-named earl. Patrick Stewart, second Earl of Orkney (beheaded 1614), was the son of Robert Stewart, Abbot of Holyrood, Earl of Orkney, natural son of King James V. The family (in the male line) became extinct on the death of Robert Stewart, grandson of Sir James of Tullas, brother of Earl Patrick. For pedigree see 'Peerage of Scotland' by Douglas, and the 'Extinct Peerages' by Burke. The present Earl Lord George Hamilton, fifth son of William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, 3 Jan., 1696. Neither are the Stewarts of Appin, who claim descent through Dougal, a natural son of John Stewart, Lord of Lorn, a descendant of Sir John Stewart, of Bonkyl, second son of Alexander, High Steward of Scotland circa 1255-83. The Stewarts of Appin were located on the east side of Loch Linnhe, in Argyleshire. "The Stewarts of Appin,' by John H. J. Stewart (1880), would probably give some information respecting any of the clan who (as the query states) served under King James at the battle of the Boyne. JOHN RADCLIFFE. Rex Is it not Robert Stuart, Earl of Orkney, that MORO DE MORO refers to? He was a natural son of King James V. His son Patrick (Pate?), Earl of Orkney, was executed for a mistake in Latin grammar. Robert Stuart, proud of his birth, but no scholar, had styled himself "Dominus Robertus Stuartus filius Jacobi Quinti Scotorum," an error which helped to bring his son to the scaffold. His fate was not altogether undeserved, however. Few, even among the Stuarts, surpassed him in crime. There is a short account of this gentleman in my small book on Orkney, Past and Present,' now nearly out of print. I shall be happy to give MORO DE MORO a copy if he will favour me with his address and would care to see it. The principal authority on all matters connected with the Orkney Islands is Torfæus, in whose work, 'Historia Rerum Orcadensium,' he might find further information about this character if necessary. The Stuarts were probably a Norman family, being descended in the direct male line from Alan, one of the companions of William the Conqueror. J. FOSTER PALMER. the thing here, "that" signifies the thing there, and "yon" the thing at a still greater distance. But those who have been tutored and governessed into so-called correctness of diction know that 'yon " is vulgar, and avoid it accordingly. When and wherefore did it fall into discredit in cultivated society? G. W. "Feared” and “a'fearded "are common enough words in Devonshire, and may be heard every day in the villages here, a very long way from Scotland. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. This use of the word is not novel; my small ; edition of Dr. Johnson's 'Dictionary' gives the following as the second meaning of the verb fear, "to fright, to make afraid," and quotes as an authority Dr. John Donne, the poetical Dean of St. Paul's. E. WALFORD. Ventnor. "Feard," ," "feared"=afraid, frightened, is no doubt a Scottish colloquialiem, but it is, I think, common throughout the greater part of England. It occurs in my Manley and Corringham Glossary,' with the following example: "Silly bairn, he's feard to go thrif th' check yard i' th' daayleet." I hear the word very frequently- —so often, indeed, that it makes no impression on my memory. EDWARD PEACOCK. Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. Cf. All were full feared that there were fun Lawrence Minot's War Poems,' 1352. Quarterly of six: 1 and 6, Sable, a lion rampant arg.; 2, Sable, two spear-heads (?) arg.; 3, Argent, a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis sable; 4, Argent, three chevrons gules; 5, Argent, a lion rampant sable. The date of the picture is 1560, or the third year of Elizabeth's reign. It was not my intention to do more than single munication as a beautiful example of the good taste out the skull portrait mentioned in my last commanifested by Lotto, the Italian, in dealing with this unpleasant accessory. A hundred years later than his time it was utilized by certain Dutch and Flemish masters as an emblem not merely of death, but as a token of the medical profession. In this manner it occurs in a portrait of a water-doctor by Gerard Dow, in the possession of Heywood Lonsdale, Esq., and perhaps similarly in the halflength portrait (sixteenth century) of a man in cap and vest of black velvet, with a mulberrycoloured gown, in the National Gallery, whose right hand rests upon a skull, while in his left he holds pansies. If I do not err, Gerard Dow has placed a skull in the foreground of his own por trait in the Pitti collection. Another German portrait (sixteenth century), half-length, of a man, emblem of death.* in the National Gallery, likewise exhibits this His left hand rests upon a skull. Van Dyck has employed it peculiarly in two distinct portraits of Rachel de Rouvigny, Countess of Southampton, belonging respectively to Lords Cowper and Spencer. In both instances the subject rests her right foot upon a skull, the meaning being evident. An Italian example may be recalled as having been exhibited in the New I quote from Prof. Henry Morley's 'Shorter Gallery a year ago, being a half-length portrait of English Poems' ("Lib. of Eng. Lit."). A. O. W. JOHN EVERARD (8th S. x. 9).-See the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' vol. xviii. 84, 85. W. C. B. SKULL IN PORTRAIT (8th S. ix. 109, 357, 412). -I regret my inability to add directly to the elucidation of the truly remarkable picture in the Dulwich collection referred to by MRS. LEGAWEEKES. In view, however, of the two Leominster woolpacks in it and certain of the quarterings in the shield on the lady's side of the picture, which are stated to be those of Lloyd and Williams, I should be tempted to infer the probability of the initials W. I. and I. I. representing the name of Jones. Some real light, however, may well be thrown upon this view of the work by commending the gentleman's arms to students of heraldry. They are these: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Gules, a fess gules engrailed between three boars' heads couped or; 2 and 3, three lions rampant argent; over all a crescent of difference. The gentleman carries, stuck in his unworn gloves, an iris; the lady wears one in her bosom. The arms of the latter are a clean-shaven young man, by B. Licinio, in front of whom, though untouched by him, lies a skull. It is manifest from the foregoing that the skull, skeleton, or even entire corpse, was made use of by painters as an accessory or property in one or other of three secular capacities-namely, as an emblem of the danger of death incurred or overcome by the person portrayed; secondly (perhaps in the Dulwich picture), as a gloomy reminder of the precarious nature of even sanctified ties ("The word of God hathe knit us twayne, and death shall us divide again"); lastly, it was used as the symbol of a profession. The seventeenth century yields by far the greater number of instances of the three practices. ST. CLAIR BADDELEY. GRAY OR GREY (8th S. x. 49).—MR. ATTWELL does not notice that for several centuries it has been the custom of the English feudal families of this name to write it Grey, while the Scottish wrote it invariably Gray. It was different as late as the fourteenth century. Sir Thomas Gray, of I recollect in the Munich and Dresden galleries two or three examples of entire skeletons peeping through green curtains in portraits. Hetoun, in Northumberland, though the founder of the noble families of Grey in that county, always wrote his name with a, and so did his son Sir Thomas, author of that fascinating and too little known work the 'Scalacronica,' written in the language they both spoke, viz., Norman French. The elder Gray was taken prisoner at Bannockburn, and the younger wrote the Scalacronica' when a prisoner of war in Edinburgh Castle about 1355. In their case it seems not to have been a territorial name, as they never prefixed the characteristic de, but a colour name, equivalent to the Welsh Lloyd. HERBERT MAXWELL. tion's sake. The pronunciation of Rhuddlan is, The subject to which the query of C. refers has a former nun of the Broughton estate for killing Surely by this time the Caistor gad-whip must be quite an old friend. See 'N. & Q.,' 5 S. i. 506, and the references there; Mr. Andrews's books, &c. Longford, Coventry. NORMAN ROLL AT DIVES (8th S. ix. 467).1. Raoul de Mortemer or Ralph de Mortimer, son of Roger de Mortimer, of St. Martin, Normandy, from whom are descended the Barons Mortimer of Wigmore and Earls of March, &c. 2. Renaud and Turstin de Sainte Hélène, sons of Rou, probably take the name from some parish or lordship. 3. Robert de Rhuddlan, son of Umfrid, an AngloDane, by Adeliza, sister of Hugh de Grantmesnil of the family of Giroie. Knighted by Edward the Confessor; visits his relations in Normandy and returns to England after the battle of Senlac. He was attached to the service of Hugh, Earl of Chester, and commanded the troops on the Welsh able period until 1846, when the land was sold. border. His principal residence was Rhuddlan C. is referred to Andrews's 'Bygone Lincolnshire' Castle, and from that place he takes his name (see and Andrews's 'Curiosities of the Church' for Ordericus Vitalis). 4. Richard de Saint Clair-information on this subject. the Sinclairs of Rosslyn, Earls of Orkney and Caithness, claim descent from this family, who resided at St. Clair, near St. Lo, in the Cotentin, Normandy. JOHN RADCLIFFE. I am sure J. B. S. will forgive me for pointing out that his statement that a roll or list of the companions of the Conqueror was erected" in the church of Dives is likely to cause misapprehension. The list of names is inside the church of Notre Dame in Dives, and carved in bold letters in the stone wall above the west door. It may be as well to add that Dives is within a mile of Cabourg, a sea-bathing place about an hour's railway ride from Trouville. THORNFIELD. What connexion is there between Rhuddlan Castle and the third Edward? I ask for informa W. C. B. This manorial custom continued for a consider J. P. B. [Many replies, some of them very long, are acknow ledged.] THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER IN ROMAN the Psalms is not confined to religious houses, as OFFICES (8th S. ix. 469; x. 17, 60).-The use of MR. EDWARD H. MARSHALL seems to think. If (Burns & Oates) he will find a good many churches, he will look through the Catholic Directory ' served by seculars, where vespers, or compline, or the Divine Office cannot be chanted, but that is both, are sung. No doubt, in a great many places, simply on account of our poverty and paucity of clergy and choirs. Nor can we pretend to vie with the Church of England cathedrals as regards the power and sweetness with which the Psalms are sung. But we lack endowments with which to |