96 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd g. VII. Jan. 29. '59. 



Palatine, and was designed as a substitution for 

 the office of Arch- Cupbearer (Ertz-Truchsess), 

 whicli passed to the Elector of Bavaria. 



The Arch- Treasurer had no concern in the or- 

 dinary administration of the imperial treasury. 

 His duty was limited to coronations and other 

 high days, when he bore before the Emperor the 

 golden crown, and was also commissioned to throw 

 money, as well as gold and silver medals, to the 

 assembled multitude. He had for a deputy or 

 substitute the Hereditary Treasurer (Erb-Schatz- 

 meister), appointed 1653. This latter office was 

 vested in the illustrious house of Zinzendorf. 



The Elector Palatine first officiated as Arch- 

 Treasurer at Regensperg, 1653, at the inaugura- 

 tion of Ferdinand IV., the occasion on which his 

 deputy was appointed. At the coronation of Leo- 

 pold, 1658, he officiated again at Frankfort. On this 

 latter occasion he rode forward only ten or twelve 

 paces among the people ; when, having made a 

 beginning by scattering a few pieces, chiefly gold, 

 he withdrew, and left the two Counts von Zinzen- 

 dorf to finish. Thomas Boys. 



Gipsies (2"'^ S. vi. 270.) — A very full list of 

 writings concerning the gipsies and their history 

 is given by Mr. J. Dirks, in his Prize-Essay re- 

 garding that race, and particularly from pp. 5 — 7. 

 The title reads as follows : — 



" Historical Researches respecting the Sojourn of the 

 Heathens or Egyptians in the Northern Netherlands, By 

 Mr. J. Dirks, J.U.D., Member of tlie Second Chamber of 

 the States-General and of Societies residing at Bonn, 

 Berlin, Copenhagen, Leeuwarden, Leyden and Utrecht. 

 Edited by the Provincial Utrecht Society of Arts and 

 Sciences. Utrecht, C. van der Post, Tr. ' 1850. 1 Vol. 

 in 8vo., pp. viii. and 160." * 



I will give the list of contents : — 



" Introduction, p. 1. 



" Part I. Something concerning the so-called 

 Heathens or Egyptians in general, p. 4. 



" 1. Literature respecting the Heathens, p. 5. — 2. First 

 Arrival and Dispersion of the Heathens in Europe, p. 8. — 

 3. Denominations, p. 10.— 4. Bodily condition, p. 11. — 5. 

 Way of Life, p. 13.— 6. Dress, p. 14.— 7. Household, p. 15. 



— 8. Business, p. 16 9. Marriage and Education, p. 20. 



— 10. Maladies, Death, and Burial, p. 21. — 11. Govern- 

 ment, p. 22.-12. Religion, p. 23.— 13. Character, p. 24. 

 — 14. Descent, p. 26. — 15. Language, p. 31. — 16. Pro- 

 ceedings against the Heathens outside our Fatherland. 



" Part II. Materials for the History of the 

 Heathens in the Northern Netherlands, p. 39. 



" Guelderland, p. 39 ; Overyssel, p. 55 ; Drenthe, p. 

 74; Groningen and Oramelanden, p. 87; Friesland, p. 

 93 ; Utrecht, p. 110 ; Holland and West-Friesland, p. 118 ; 

 Zealand, p. 128 ; North Brabant and the Generality's 

 Lands, p. 132. 



" Part III. General View of the Sojourn of 

 the Heathens in the Northern Netherlands. — 

 Traces of their Abode in those Regions." 



I wish the time may come — and may it soon 



* Geschiedhundige Onderzoekingen rangrande het Verhlijf 

 der Heidens of Egyptiers in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, 



come — that the English students will learn 

 Dutch as a necessary accomplishment for the 

 pursuit of their inquiries. And Dutch is a good 

 language, for it speaks of a Fatherland ! 



J. H. VAN Lennep. 

 Zeyst. 



Pocket-hand-kerchief (2"^ S. vi. 481.)— With- 

 out fixing the time when this word came into use, 

 or determining the impossibility of employing a 

 less complex and contradictory one, I will jot 

 down a few ideas in part answer to H. N.'s Query. 

 Commencing with kerchief, or as it is called by 

 Chaucer, in the "Wyf of Bathes Tale," cover- 

 chief — 



" That werith on a coverchief or a calle," 



it simply meant a square of cloth, linen, or silk for 

 the head. In Shakspeare's time its use must have 

 been extended, for he makes Falstaff " put on a 

 hat, a muffler, and a kerchief" which, if not con- 

 clusive enough of its altered use, we have in 

 Julius Ccesar, Act II. Sc. 1 ., — 



" what a time have you chose out, brave Cains, 

 To wear a kerchief? 'would you were not sick ! " 



in which passage it is equivalent to the Latin 

 " focale," used by orators or sick people to keep 

 the neck warm. 



Having thus slipped from the head to the neck, 

 it applied to any square of material, and there- 

 fore, when carried in the hand for the purpose of 

 wiping the face, &c., it became handkerchief. In 

 proof of this, without looking farther, Shakspeare 

 uses it some twenty-six times or more in Othello. 

 The best example of its use occurs in Act III. 

 Sc. 3., — 



lago. " I know not that ; but such a handkerchief 

 (I am sure it was your wife's), did I to-day 

 See Cassio wipe his beard with." 



The next step was when, being carried in the 

 pocket, it assumed its full form, " pocket-hand- 

 kerchief," a word not recognised by many lexico- 

 graphers. 



Thus far for the development of the word. Now 

 in answer to borrowing the "article" from the 

 French, I should say not ; for, besides the words 

 " hand-linen " and " hand-cloth," I find in An- 

 tony's oration over Csesar's body, "napkins" in 

 this sense — 



" They would go ... . 

 And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ; " 



and the handkerchief in Othello is thrice called 

 " napkin " — 



" I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin." 

 In " the sickness and death of Edward the Con- 

 fessor " from the Bayeux Tapestry, a lady is 

 wiping her tears with an unmistakeable " hand- 

 cleath." Seeing that "cravat " and " neck-tie " or 

 "tie" have taken the place of "neck-kerchief" 

 (another of the family), there is no reason why a 



