336 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VII. April 23. '69. 



the stage. This may perhaps have appeared to 

 most a very ordinary divergence, for theatrical 

 convenience, from the i-outine of real ^ life ; for 

 whereas we see in many places these relics of the 

 past fixed in market places, churchyards, and the 

 like, the idea of moveable stocks is not very 

 likely to arise in the mind. I have, however, 

 seen a pair or set of stocks that was built to run 

 on four wheels. True it is that they are now set 

 up outside the town walls, and the wheels taken 

 off, to repose in some quiet nook till they rot, but 

 the axles and axle-trees remain visible. This 

 pair or set of stocks belongs to the town of Tenby, 

 in Pembrokeshire, and though quite of modern 

 construction (the policeman, an old Waterloo 

 man, told me he remembered their being made), 

 were I believe constructed on the model of their 

 immediate predecessors. They are also notice- 

 able as having holes for the hands as well as the 

 feet. This relic of an ancient custom suggests 

 that it might have been not an uncommon thing 

 to have moveable stocks, that offenders might be 

 paraded through the whole town or district. 



Tee Bee. 



Shakspeares " Parish Top''' — In Twelfth Night, 

 Act I. Sc. 3., Sir Toby exclaims : — 



" He's a coward and a coj'stril that will not drink to 

 my niece, 'till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top." 



I quote the passage as descriptive of a public 

 game now quite extinct, and should be much 

 pleased to hear of any specimen of such a top in 

 existence, still more to obtain one. Steevens's 

 note on the saying is : 



" A large top was formerly kept in every village, to be 

 whipped in frostj- weather, that the peasants may be kept 

 warm by exercise and out of mischief, while they could 

 not Avork." 



I do not see it alluded to in Strutt. 



Can any of your readers, who may possess 

 Hearne's Antiqtuirian Discourses with the print of 

 Islip chapel as the frontispiece, inform me what is 

 meiint by the peculiar movement of the fingers in 

 the group of people there assembled. It is not the 

 Italian moro, though something like it, and quite 

 puzzles me. Fkancis Trench, 



Islip Rectory. 



"Aroint thee, witch!" — In that strange and 

 powerful version of Goethe's Walpurgis Night, by 

 Shelley, the chorus of witches says : — 

 " A witch to be strong must anoint, anoint — 

 Then every trough will be boat enough ; 

 With a rag for a sail we can sweep through the sky, 

 Who flies not to-night, when means he to fly ? " 



Evidently alluding to the popular superstition, 

 that witches must anoint themselves before they 

 can fly. 



" Some on a ram, and some on a prong, 

 On poles, and on broomsticks, we flutter along." 



Is it possible that the true reading of the dis- 

 puted passage in Macbeth is, after all, "Aroint 

 thee, witch!" — That is to say, "Rub yourself 

 with your diabolical ointment and leave me, and 

 go to your horrible Sabbath." Abi! in malam 

 crucem. " Avaunt " may be a likely word to use, 

 but " Avaunt thee " seems bad grammar. A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



Bust of Shahspeare (2°"^ S.vii. 123.) — S. Wmson 

 will find that the casts I spoke of (2°'^ S. vi. 255.) 

 are full-size casts of the Stratford bust, with 

 hands, cushions, &c. I happened to hear that 

 Signer Michele had been employed to take a cast 

 for a Stratford gentleman, and was very glad to 

 get a copy at a very moderate price. Este. 



Shahspeare in Italy (2""^ S. vii. 124.) — This in- 

 teresting note of A. A. is fully confirmed by Mr. 

 C. Armitage Brown, in his admirable but very 

 scarce volume on the Autobiographical Poems of 

 Shahspeare. Mr. Brown, an old resident in Italy, 

 notes some very curious details, and contends that 

 Shakspeare visited Italy about 1597. He shows 

 how the local errors of the Two Gentlemen of 

 Verona, &c. are entirely avoided, and much mi- 

 nute correctness shown in Taming of the Shrew, 

 Merchant of Venice, Othello, &c. The proofs are 

 of course too copious to be quoted here, but A. A. 

 will be glad to read this genial and admirable 

 volume if he can possibly obtain it. 



At the end of the volume I find an announce- 

 ment of Shakspeare's Poems by Mr. Brown. Were 

 they ever published ? Este. 



Shahspeare. — Those interested in investiga- 

 tions respecting the Shakspeare family are referred 

 to the following fines levied, in which persons of 

 that name are parties : — 



" By fine levied in Hillary Term, 16 Eliz., Thos. Shakes- 

 pere conveyed tenements in Norton, &c., in Warwick- 

 shire. 



" By fine levied Michael. 17 & 18 Eliz. Edm^. Hall and 

 others conveyed tenements in Shalford, &c., in Warwick- 

 shire, to John Shakespere. 



" By fine levied Hillar}', 1655 Shakspere con- 

 veyed tenements in Inckbarrow in Worcestershire." 



The above note was communicated to me by an 

 archffiological friend who was lately engaged in 

 making researches in various public oflices in 

 London. R. C. 



Cork. 



Dowle. — Tempest, Act III. Sc. 3. — ' 



"As diminish 

 One dowle that's in my plume." 



Most annotators say dowle, a feather, and refer to 

 Bailey's Dictiona?-?/. It is true such is the mean- 

 inw given there, but unfortunately it is based on 

 this very passage, as Bailey tells us. Is it not the 



