2nd S. VII. June 4. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



467 



P. 18 far more characteristic of the whims and 

 oddities of Hood, and is here subjoined : — 

 " When Sally's arms her dog imprison, 



How oft I've wish'd my lot was his'n; 



How frequent would I "twist and turn 



To be caress'd by hands like her'n." 



Many of the articles in the Comic Annual for 

 1832 were successful parodies on the poetry of 

 Haynes Bayly's ballads, and of the verses written 

 by a butler, " John Jones," who was patronised 

 in 1831 by the late Robert Southey, Poet Lau- 

 reate, at whose expense I believe that John 

 Jones's verses were published. The " Thoughts 

 on a Broken Plate" are very humorous and clever. 

 Of poor Hood it may be truly stated 

 " Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit." 



G. L. S. 



Abbreviated Names of English. Counties and 

 Towns (2"** S. vii.404.) — It is a matter of daring 

 to offer an opinion on any subject of English 

 archaeology which shall be antagonistic to that of 

 so respectable and so respected an authority as Mr. 

 John Gough Nichols ; nevertheless I am reluc- 

 tantly compelled to do so : Oxon and Salop are 

 self-evident abbreviations, like cab', 'van, and 'bus. 

 Bed s. Berk s, show plainly to the meanest un- 

 derstanding that BedfordsAfre, Berkshire are in- 

 tended ; but I cannot comprehend what Mr. 

 Nichols means when he says that 

 "The Latin names of some towns are analogous: as 

 Sar?<7ft for Salisbury, and Barum for Barnstaple ; where 

 the urn seems to be nothing more than an unscholarly 

 misreading by half-informed lawyers of the contracted 

 form representing Sarisburia in the former case, and of 

 some word not less prolix in the latter, but which I am not 

 prepared to give in extenso." 



SarisburicB no doubt is the Anglo-Latin of Sa- 

 lisbury, but although I have had good experience 

 of the ancient forms of contraction, I cannot con- 

 ceive the very smallest idea of any such form 

 which would mislead a "half- informed lawyer" to 

 believe that he saw in it " Sarzi^/i," and I assert 

 that Mr. Nichols will be at a loss to show an in- 

 stance of such a form ; in short, that he cannot. 

 Barwm I never saw or heard of as a contraction 

 for any rendering in any language of Barnstaple, 

 but I would not pit my experience against that 

 of Mr. Nichols. He is, however, unable to give 

 the word of wiiich he says Barum is a contraction, 

 and therefore I do not think that he is in a con- 

 dition to say that Barum is " an unscholarly mis- 

 reading " by anybody of anything. If he is he may 

 yet throw a light which his recent communication 

 has not thrown on the subject. In the mean- 

 time I would ask him, where is the analogy, and 

 whence is the u>n ? With the most perfect respect 

 to Mr. Nichols, respect which he is so justly en- 

 titled to, I presume to say that if archaeology is 

 to be thus treated of by arclia;ologists of repute, 

 the roj; /^(^jh/j will justifiably term it a h — uni. 



KIRKTO\v^ Skenk, Aberdonensis. 



Family of Fisher (2"'^ S. vii. 394.) — I cannot 

 of course give your correspondent Sigma Theta 

 any information concerning the pedigree or arms 

 of the Roxburghshire family of this house he is 

 interested in, though I hope he may obtain it. 

 There are numerous families of the name, though 

 very few of them can, I believe, show either an 

 old and long pedigree capable of actual proof or 

 coat-armour registered in the Heralds' College. 



The oldest family of this name that I am 

 acquainted with, and in which I am deeply 

 interested, possessed, between 1500 and 1600, 

 considerable estates at Mickleton and elsewhere 

 in Gloucestershire. The parish church there has 

 very many of their monuments. One of these, in 

 the chancel, is that of Edward Fisher, Esquire, 

 who married a daughter of Richard Thornhill, of 

 Bromley in the county of Kent. He is in the Latin 

 epitaph quaintly stated as " Ex prgenobili et anti- 

 quissima stirpe Fisherorum de Fislierwick super 

 Trentam in comitatu Staifordias oriundum." This 

 may possibly enlighten your correspondent as to 

 the earlier history of this branch, at all events 

 before they came into Gloucestershire, of which I 

 confess, to my shame, I am quite ignorant. Nor 

 do I know anything of the " Fisherwick " spoken 

 of. Over the inscription is a large escutcheon, 

 with twelve quarterings : 1st gules, three demy 

 lions or a chief of the second for Fisher. Others 

 of the same family still carry the same arms ; 

 motto, " Vigilet qui vincet." Others a chevron 

 vaire between three lioncels rampant. There is 

 another family not related to the above (who have, 

 however, long been dispossessed of Mickleton, and 

 whose last direct representative, Sir Edward 

 Fisher, lies buried there ; date 29th Dec. 1654), 

 whose arms are three kingfishers passant, and 

 crest of a kingfisher. Ours are as mentioned 

 above. C. H. F. 



Where does the Day begin f (2"^ S. vii. 1 16.) — 

 The question proposed by E. King refers to the 

 longitude at which the vernal equinox begins. It 

 is well known {seeNaut. Aim.) that this longitude 

 is different for different years. It is unnecessary, 

 however, to discuss the communications of Mb. 

 King, as he deprecates criticism. 



I am convinced that if Mr. King reconsider 

 the original Query, viz. " what persons in point of 

 absolute time are the first to commence any par- 

 ticular day, as Sunday the 5th June," he will 

 allow that the illustrations recorded in "N. & Q." 

 for I5th January are substantially correct. This 

 query was necessarily brought under the notice 

 of Magellan's seamen when he conducted his fleet 

 to the E. I. Islands by sailing westward, and 

 doubling the southern promontory of S. America. 

 They seem not to have taken into account the re- 

 sults that must spring from the continuous and 

 successive commencing of the day from longitude 

 to longitude for the space of twenty-four hours. 



