ua 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°* S. VII. JlAY 28. 'iO. 



Wright, three syllables. Although I have been 

 often in the neighbourhood, I have never been 

 able to spare time to walk up there, but I have 

 seen the stones from a distance. I may say that 

 I am no scholar of the British language, but 

 simply know the meaning of some few "Welsh 

 names of places. As, however, A. J. D. has sup- 

 plied me with a suggestion by mentioning the 

 remains of earthworks enclosing the " King's 

 Stone," I will venture to give a derivation. We 

 have a name of a place of three syllables. We 

 have three things before us, — a banky hill side, 

 " Rhiw ; " we have an enclosure" Llan," contain- 

 ing the King's stone, " Righ " or " Reg." Pro- 

 bably a Welsh etymologist will trample my guess 

 in the dust ; but here we have Rhiw Llan Reg, 

 =: the hill on bank of the King's inclosure. 

 Knowing the situation so well, I prefer " Rhiw " 

 to " Rhos " for the first syllable, as more appli- 

 cable. In the immediate neighbourhood the local 

 surname *' Baughan" is always pronounced "Bof- 

 fin." Cestriensis. 



Rev. H. de Luzancij (2"'* S. vii. 377.)— A letter 

 from de Luzancy to Samuel Pepys, dated 18 Jan. 

 168^, accompanying an account of the election at 

 Harwich, is printed from Bodl. MS. Rawlinson 

 A. 179. in the Correspondence attached to Pepys' 

 Diary, quarto edition, vol. ii. pp. 103 — 5. A 

 letter to Sir A. Deane, in French, dated 9 Aug. 

 1688, on the subject of the same anticipated elec- 

 tion, is also contained in the same MS. ; and in 

 vol. 185. of the same collection, there is a curious 

 document which throws great doubt upon the 

 sincerity of M. de Luzancy's conversion from the 

 church of Rome, and the purity of his motives. 

 It is an entire recantation of Protestantism, and 

 petition to be received again into the Roman 

 church, written in French and addressed to a 

 rev. pore, by whom the writer desires that bis 

 present confession may be made as public as was 

 his former abjuration. It is endorsed by Pepys 

 with the date of Oct. 1675. Tlie reason for its 

 suppressal does not appear; but one may well 

 imagine from hence that there may have been 

 only too much ground for the charges of dissi- 

 mulation, &c. alleged against Luzancy by Du 

 Maresc. W. D. Macray. 



Saillir a Pes (P' S. xii. 88.) is neither to jump 

 for joy, nor to issue out on foot. I beg leave to 

 refer your two very learned commentators of that 

 expression to the Roman or Latin etymology, 

 saliens, quod salit, anything " arising," " emer- 

 ging," taking at once an " erect" position. The 

 Irish king, being overcome with satisfaction at the 

 news he receives, arises (saillir) abruptly from 

 his seat or throne, and finds himself on Jiis feet. 

 Literally you may translate et de joie sailli d pes 

 by, " and witli joy he sprung to his feet." 



The English or Anglo-Saxon word springing 



is exactly saillir, though to spring is more vivid 

 than saillir, as all expressions sprung from the 

 wild Saxon source naturally are. Our modern 

 French language, more elaborate and polite, has 

 completely lost the power of rendering either 

 saillir a pes (the old Norman idiom), or the 

 more energetic Anglo-Saxon one (springing on ta 

 ones feet). The grammatical file and social 

 polish have emaciated and enervated to an high 

 degree the archaic strength of our idiom. Here 

 you see expressed, in Norman French, with great 

 rapidity and vigour, the peculiar movement of a 

 man who, being seated, arises on a sudden, and is 

 at once on his feet. He does not jump for joy, a 

 very incongruous, indecorous kind of ballet, even 

 for an Irish king. He does not step forth from 

 his palace, as he very well knows he can issue 

 as he pleases his orders from the very place where 

 he is. Our Norman-French word saillir is now 

 become obsolete, though very useful, as you see. 

 Thanks to your English conservatism, you have 

 preserved, and carefully keep even now, the An- 

 glo-Saxon expression, yMOTpHJo- on or to one's feet; 

 the only one which is adequate to the image the 

 poet had in his mind and wished to f aire saillir. 



Philarkte Chasles, Mazarinajus. 

 Palais de I'Institut, 29 Avril. 



The Maudelayne Grace (2"'» S. vii. 342.) — 

 Ackerman gives the common tradition respecting 

 the origin of the Latin hymn sung on the top of 

 Magdalen Tower, Oxford, on May morning. I 

 have endeavoured to investigate this matter, and 

 have come to the conclusion that the hymn was 

 composed by Dr. Thomas Smith, a very learned 

 Fellow of Magdalen College, soon after the Re- 

 storation ; and that it was not sung on the top of 

 Magdalen Tower till about the middle of the last 

 century. I believe that this was the opinion of 

 the late venerable President of Magdalen, Dr. 

 Routh. Magdalenensis. 



Small Bells (2"'^ S. vii. 394.) —The little bells 

 on the outside of church spires, referred to by 

 your correspondent G. W. M., are common ia 

 Suffolk and Essex, and are used for the clock to 

 strike upon. Small as they are, it is astonishing 

 how far the sound of them reaches. Placed at 

 some distance from the ground, and with nothing 

 to impede their vibrations, . they are heard at 

 quite as great a distance as the large bells in 

 the towers. About their date I know nothing. 



W. J. D. 



Ashen, Essex. 



The Cup of Love (2"'^ S. vii. 278.)— Nothing is 

 more common In wills of the seventeenth century, 

 than bequests of tankards, silver cups, and other 

 plate ; but I have never met with them under the 

 designation of " Cup of Love," or any similar 

 name. P. P. 



