2»'i S. VII. Mar. 6, '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



205 



assigned, either by statute, fixed rule, or ancient 

 usage. J. J- H. 



The Hundredth Regiment (2"'^ S. vii. 67.) — 

 Your correspondent Hargrave Jennings may 

 banish from his mind all apprehension as to any 

 mischief likely to ensue from the creation of a 

 hundredth regiment, as it is not the first time 

 that a regiment so numbered has existed in the 

 British army. In 1805 a 100th regiment of foot 

 was raised, and it continued till the pacification 

 of Europe after the downfall of Napoleon al- 

 lowed its reduction. In latter years it bore the 

 designation of H. R. H. the Prince Regent's 

 County of Dublin ; so the new 100th has very ap- 

 propriately received the name of the Heir Appa- 

 rent, who bears the title of Earl of Dublin. In 

 1814, there were 104 infantry regiments. R. R. 



Sir Hans Sloane and the Montgomerys of Down, 

 Ireland {2"^ S. vii. 147.) — Your correspondent 

 E. H. D. D. will, I rather think, upon a reference 

 to that interesting little volume entitled The 

 Montgome7'y Manvscripts, published at Belfast in 

 1830, find much information relative to the Plan- 

 tations or colonisation of the co. Down, with the 

 names of various of the parties there. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Comparative View of Man, ^c. — The author of 

 this curious little work was John Gregory, M. D., 

 author of various books, including the well-known 

 and very much admired one, A Fathers Legacy 

 to his Daughters. His works yjere collected and 

 published with a Memoir, in 1 788, 4 vols, small 

 8vo. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Spinny or Spinney (2°* S. vii. 149.) — This word 

 has been long used in Lincolnshire, particularly 

 in the neighbourhood of Boston, to denote a 

 small plantation of young trees. So far back as 

 1343, in the Inquisitions in the Court of Chancery, 

 17 Edward III. No. 60., we find, in an inquisition 

 relative to the property of William de Ros of 

 Hamlake, then lately deceased, in the parish of 

 Freiston, enumerated, among other things, " a 

 certain spinney worth nothing, because it was 

 cut down before the death of the Lord." I do 

 not find " Spinney " in Blount, Cowell, or Skinner. 

 Halliwell (vol. ii. p. 784.) has, " Spinney, a 

 thicket ; a small plantation is sometimes so called." 

 He refers to Domesday Book for its use in this 

 sense, and adds that in Buckinghamshire the term 

 is applied to a brook. In Kelham's Domesday 

 Book Illustrated, p. 338., I find " Spineti VI ac ; " 

 which Kelham translates " Six Acres of thorny 

 ground. Pishet Thompson. 



" Spinny or Spiny. A small wood. See Spinet." 

 — Todd's Johnson. 



" Spinet. QSpinetum, Lat.) A small wood ; a 



place where briars and bushes grow. In this 

 sense spiney is still used in some of our midland 

 counties." lb. 



Ital. spineto ; Fr. epinaie ; old Fr. espinal, es- 

 pinaye, espinoye (m. and/.) Thomas Bots. 



Spinet (Lat. spinetum) ought to be limited to 

 such plantations as consist of, or at least have an 

 underwood of, thorn bushes. Joseph Rix. 



Office of Chamberlain of Gijfen, ^c. (2""* S. vii. 

 89.) — I can to some extent answer my own 

 Query. I lately found the castle of Giffen, in 

 Ayrshire, near Beith, a ruin on the top of a hill, 

 which, twenty years ago, was in the more perfect 

 form of a tower fifty fieet high. I find that the 

 castle and estate of Giffen was long a possession 

 of the family of the Earls of Eglinton, and was 

 usually given as a provision for the Master of 

 Eglinton, or eldest son, or for some other of the 

 junior members of the family. Towards the end 

 of the seventeenth century, it was given to Francis 

 Montgomerie, second son of the seventh earl, and 

 I believe that the family still retain some right or 

 interest in respect of the castle. I learn nothing 

 of a present chamberlain, but the office in Scot- 

 land seems to be that of the locum tenens, or re- 

 presentative on the spot, of an owner of a place 

 and estate of importance. I had understood that 

 in the instance in question, Robert Dobbie, who 

 seems to have been about contemporary with 

 Francis Montgomerie, held his office as an heredi- 

 tary one, and that, on its ceasing, compensation 

 was paid for it. I still seek for more information, 

 and the above may possibly interest others be- 

 sides myself, and be a guide to anyone who may 

 take the trouble to attend to my inquiry. 



^ ^ ^M.A.J. 



MONTHLY rEtJILLETON ON FRENCH BOOKS. 



" Ethnog^nie Gauloise, ou M^moires critiques sur I'Ori- 

 gine et la Parent^ des Cimm^riens, des Cimbres, des 

 Ombres, des Beiges, des Ligures, et des anciens Celtes, 

 par Roget, baron de Belloguet. Introduction, 1™ partie, 

 80. Paris, Benjamin Duprat." 



M. le baron de Belloguet, already known by several 

 important publications on the history of French anti- 

 quities, has now attempted to elucidate what is perhaps 

 the most obscure part of that history, viz. the period im- 

 mediately coming before the Roman conquest. He has 

 undertaken to publish a series of memoirs on the origin 

 and affinity of the Cimmerians, the Cimbri, the Umbri, 

 the Belgae, the Liguri, and the ancient Celts, and he now 

 gives us the first part of his introduction, in the shape of 

 a complete Celtic or Gaulois glossary, the compilation of 

 which must have entailed an incredible amount of labour. 

 The large proportion in which the Celtic element- has 

 contributed to form our own language is so remarkable, 

 that a notice of M. de Belloguet's introduction will, we 

 doubt not, prove of great interest to our readers, more 



