454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[SnJ S. VII. June 4. '59, 



speaketh unto you. Therfore as you wolde have God 

 heare you speakynge to him : and youre request granted : 

 so mst you here hym speakynge unto you and obeye hys 

 precepts: pray w* a steydfast fay the and reade v/^^ a. 

 pure mynde and then shall you profyte to the glory of 

 god the comoditye of his churche and to youre owne 

 ternall comforte in hym. Amen. 



" in prisone the thyrde daye 



of Apriell by 3'oure poore 



brother Careles : who wysheth 



you constancye in Christe Jesu 



and to praye for me contynually." 

 (On other side of the leaf). 



" Jesus Emanuell. 

 " Brother Saunders god geve j'ou grace 

 wyth stydfast faj'th in Christys name 

 his gospell still for to embrace 

 and lyve accordynge to the same 

 to dye therfore thyncke y' no shame 

 but hope in God w* fay thefiill truste 

 and he shall geve you prayse and fame 

 when you shall ryse furthe of the duste. 

 " fFor w'' moste swete and joyfuU daye 

 to god w'h faythe do prayers make 

 and thynke on me I do you praj'e 

 the whyche dyd wryte thys for youre sake 

 And nowe to God I you be take 

 who kepe youre boddye and soule from sclanders 

 y» Satan new aga3'nste you rake 

 farewell my fay thefull brother Saunders. 

 " Contynewe constant 

 in Christe quode Careles." 



I should be glad to know more of the worthy 

 Masters Careless and Saunders named above. 



R. C. W. 



OLD PEINT. 



I have found, pasted on a board, which now 

 forms the back of a framed drawing, an old print; 

 and shall be glad if any correspondent of "N". 

 & Q." can inform me of its subject or history. 

 Its size is 6 inches high by 8| wide, and repre- 

 sents in the front centre a tall woman, of large, 

 harsh, and repulsive features, having her arms 

 folded before her (the left hand holding a closed 

 book), and the elbows seeming to rest on the 

 wide hoop-like projections of her dress above 

 the hips. Her cap sits close to the head, with a 

 deep flounce, coming down to the eyebrows in 

 front. The forearms are naked, and a shawl or 

 kerchief covers the shoulders, being fastened in 

 front, and the ends hanging down behind the 

 crossed arms. The apron covers almost all the 

 lower dress, and hangs in large straight folds, and 

 the feet are clothed in slippers. The height of 

 this figure is five inches, reaching nearly to the 

 top and bottom. 



On the spectator's left hand is a group of per- 

 sons represented at some distance behind the 

 female figure. In this group is a dead body on a 

 table, on which one of the persons is operating, 

 and another sitting in a chair seems lecturing. 

 All the other persons express great interest and 



surprise, and one of them seems pointing to a 

 group on the spectator's right hand. This last 

 group comprises a person cutting up something, 

 of which a person holds up a part, apparently to- 

 wards the other group, and other parts are lying 

 about. In this last group there are women and chil- 

 dren, and all appear to.be in great excitement. All 

 the margin of the print being cut away, I have no 

 clue to the subject, engraver, or date of the print ; 

 but it has been suggested that it is the figure of 

 some murderess, and that the groups represent 

 some incidents which may lend information. It 

 was fixed in its present position before 1785, as 

 that is the date of an inscription on some paper 

 which had been pasted over it, and I have re- 

 moved. P. H. F. 



Nearly eight years ago, a South Australian 

 correspondent asked the derivation of this word, 

 as meaning a statute fair for the hiring of ser- 

 vants. (Cf. P* S. IV. 190.) The Query received 

 no reply, and no farther note has been made on 

 the subject; I therefore repeat the former Query, 

 what is the derivation of the word " Mop ? " 



The subject has been brought more forcibly be- 

 fore me, not only by the late " Mops " or " May 

 Hirings" in the neighbourhood from whence I 

 write this note (the borders of Salop and Staf- 

 fordshire), but also by my meeting with a handbill 

 of a Worcestershire statute fair of a century and 

 a quarter ago, in which the modern word figures 

 as " a Mapp." In Hone's Table Book (iii. 171. 

 203.) there is an account of the custom, though 

 no mention is made of the older terra " Mapp," 

 nor is any light thrown upon the derivation of the 

 word. Dr. Plot's referring the origin of the 

 custom to Matthew xx. 3. is more ingenious than 

 plausible. 



These " Mops " are one of the veriest curses of 

 those places in which they are unfortunately heUl. 

 Though the last " May Hiring " fell on a Sunday, 

 and the " Mop" was consequently postponed till 

 the following day, yet the majority of farm ser- 

 vants in this neighbourhood claimed their privi- 

 lege of a day's holiday, and the farther holiday 

 on the day of the " Mop." Better would it he 

 for the morality of the country if the holiday 

 terminated with the daylight ; but it too often 

 includes the night as well ; and when young 

 country girls, after a day's excitement, finery, 

 and sight seeing, and with their past year's wages 

 in their pockets, pass the evening in a public house 

 drinking and dancing with a pack of young men, 

 who are only too ready to abuse any confidence re- 

 posed in them, the sequel may be as easily guessed 

 at as it will be bitterly lamented. 



CUTHBBBT BeDE. 



