2«'^ S. N053., Jan. 3. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



" nice" primarily means " soft," whence, continues 

 Mr. Smart, who with his usual good sense adopts 

 their interpretation, " delicate, tender, dainty," &c. 

 It is atrreed by our etymologists that " nesh and 

 nice " are the same word differently written. 

 "Nesh," I have in my younger days frequently 

 heard used in the Midland counties — as Junius 

 explains it — tener frigoris. In Richardson's 

 Supplement are two (to modern ears) rather cu- 

 rious usages of this word from Wiclif : " God hath 

 niuad neische myn hert (raollivit), " "A nessh 

 answere (mollis) breketh wrathe." The explan- 

 ation and etymology (from Skinner) correspond. 

 • Yet something may be said in favour of nice, as 

 used in some of the cardinal's instances. Things 

 that are nice are also pleasing, agreeable ; a nice 

 day, a nice man, or a pleasant day, a pleasant man. 

 We have many very loose expressions, as a good 

 dinner, a good whipping ; which latter good thing 

 was about, the other day, not very nicely, to be 

 bestowed on the wrong member of the family. 



The cardinal makes some strong and just re- 

 marks on the force of our word" murther," and of 

 the more powerful import of cliild-miirther tlian 

 infanticide, and of self-rnurther than suicide ; and 

 he might have taxed his ingenuity to account 

 for the absence from the language of our ancestors 

 of such words as would correspond to the Latin- 

 isms, parricide, matricide, fratricide ; complex 

 terms, which, as Locke would strangely contend, 

 gave to the Romans so many more complex ideas 

 than the circumlocutions — killing of a father, 

 killing of a mother, &c., could denote. Q. 



Bloomsbury. 



The Oldest Proverb. — It appears from 1 Sam. 

 xxiv. 13., that the oldest proverb on record is, 

 " Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked ; " since 

 David declared it to be " the proverb of the an- 

 cients." Consequently it must be older than any 

 proverb of his son Solomon. Abhba. 



Oliver Cromwell s Coach : Destruction of the 

 Great Seal in 1660. — I have before me a frag- 

 ment of the proceedings of the House of Commons 

 for Monday, May 28, 1660, from which I make 

 the following curious extracts : * 



" The House being informed, that a rich Coach, here- 

 tofore bought by Oliver Cromwell, and paid for at the 

 public Charge, is seized by the Seijeant-at-Arms attend- 

 ing this House, but detained by a Coachmaker, upon 

 Pretence of an Attachment for a Debt ; 



" Ordered, That it be referred to the Members of this 

 House, who are of the Council of State, to examine the 

 Matter ; aud whether there be any such real Debt ; and 

 to give such Order for the securing the same, for his 

 Majest3''s Service, as upon Examination, they shall find 

 just and meet." 



" Resolved, That the Great Seal, in the Custody of Sir 



[* These extracts are printed in The Journals of the 

 Souse of Commons, vol. viii. p. 47. — Ed.] 



Thomas Widdrington, and the rest of the late Commis- 

 sioners of the Great Seal, be brought into this House this 

 Forenoon, before the Rising of the House, by the said 

 late Commissioners, or those Two of them that are Mem- 

 bers of this House, to be here defaced. 



" The Smith, according to the Order of this House, 

 came to the Bar of this House; and there, sitting the 

 House, broke the Great Seal in several Pieces: And the 

 same, so broken, was delivered to the late Commissioners, 

 as their Fees," 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 



Birmingham. 



Simon's " Account of Irish Coins'' — Three ma- 

 nuscript volumes of Minutes of the Physico-His- 

 torical Society of Dublin are deposited in the 

 library of the College of Physicians, Dublin, and 

 contain the following particulars relative to 

 Simon's well-known work on Irish coins : 



" Monday, December 7, 1747. Mr. Simon produced an 

 Essarj on Irish Coins, which is referred to the perusal of 

 Dr. Corbet [Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin], and Mr. 

 Harris [Editor of Sir James Ware's fForks.']." 



" Mondaj', January 4, 1747-8. Mr. Harris reported, 

 that on the perusal of Mr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins 

 by himself and the Rev. Dr. Corbet, it appeared to them 

 worthy of publication. 



" Ordered, that Jlr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins be 

 published by, and with the approbation of, this Society." 



" Monday, October 3, 1748. Ordered, that the sum of 

 six poundeli eight shillings, be paid to Mr. James Simon,- 

 for eight copper-plates, for his Essay on Irish Coins." 



The charge of sixteen shillings for each plate is 

 by no means high. Abhba, 



<kmvit&. 



PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS BY HOLBEIN AT GREY- 

 STOKE CASTLE. 



Amongst the valuable productions of art in the 

 possession of Henry Howard, Esq., at Greystoke 

 Castle, a small highly finished portrait of Erasmus 

 has been preserved, which has been mentioned in 

 certain published accounts of Greystoke, as has 

 also an inscription on the back of the portrait. 

 This inscription, however, which may be regarded 

 as nearly contemporary with the painting, has not 

 been perfectly decyphered. The correct reading 

 appears to be as follows : 



" Haunze Holbeine me fecit 

 Johanne Novye me dedit 

 Edwardus Banyster me possidit." 



Who were the persons thus commemorated, 

 through whose hands this interesting picture is 

 thus recorded to have passed ? Albert Way. 



BALLAD UPON RICHARD III. 



Again about an old ballad. My inquiry 

 through " N. & Q," was so successful last time I 



