2nd a N<» 61., Feb. 28. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



117 



Robespierre, dated Lyons, Jan. 7, 1792, detailing the ad- 

 vantages, promptitude, and absence of pain in the punish- 

 ment of death effected by the guillotine, which he had 

 just invented. In one of these letters he requests him to 

 ask Danton to send in a favourable report to the Legis- 

 lative Assembly, and to speak himself in favour of the 

 invention. The second letter is one of thanks to Robes- 

 pierre, for having supported his application to the As- 

 sembly. It bears the date of March 27, 1792, exactly one 

 ■week having elapsed since the guillotine had been 

 adopted as an instrument of death, and thanks voted to the 

 inventor. 



" The general opinion that Dr. Guillotin was one of the 

 first victims of the terrible instrument is an error, as he 

 died a natural death on May 26, 1814, at the age of 

 seventy-six. 



" The two letters in question, and the copper case, were 



immediately purchased from the dealer for fifteen francs." 



William Winthrop. 



Malta. 



Gigantic Apricot Tree (2"'^ S. iii. 125.) — Will 

 K. H. be so kind as to state what is the soil, and 

 also the subsoil, of the garden in which this tree 

 grows ; and the sort, Breda or Moor Park, and if 

 he can, the age of it. A. Holt White. 



" Comme Vesprit vient aux Jilles " (2""* S. iii. 

 110.) — Your correspondent, Henry T. Eilet, 

 will find the story " Comment I'esprit vient aux 

 filles " among the Contes par M. de la Fontaine : 

 like most of that writer's stories, it is not an over 

 decent one. F. B. 



" God save the King" (2"^ S. iii. 137.) — Me. 

 Wm. Chappell discredits my statement that John 

 Bull made this melody, upon the grounds that the 

 MS. of Bull has been tampered with and changed ; 

 that the tune of Bull is in A minor ; and that the 

 sharps to form the major have been interpolated ; 

 and that, in fact, the tune is not in the volume. 

 I request the readers of "N. & Q." to suspend 

 their judgment in this matter for a week or so, 

 until a few lines from me admit or contradict this 

 statement. H. J. Gauntlett. 



Powys Place, 



" Bame " and " Ramscomb" (2"'' S. iii. 111.) — 

 Surely the Rame, or Ram, must have been an 

 engine of war, as Aries; and 2 Mace. xii. 15., 

 •' without any rams, or engines of war." As to 

 comb^ it is a hollow or depth ; and joined with 

 Ram, as Ramscomb, may be the hollow in which 

 the engine was deposited. In Dryden's Virgil we 

 have, — 



" abides within the gate. 



To fortify the combs, to build the wall, 

 To prop the ruin, lest the fabric fall." 



The word comb, in honey-coinb, has the same 

 meaning. Etymologus. 



Vauxhall (2"'^ S. iii. 120.) — In your " Notices 

 to Correspondents," I perceive you ascribe the 

 name Vauxhall to a corruption of Fulke's Hall, 



and refer to a very competent authority, Cun- 

 ningham, whose Hand-book of London I am not 

 at present able to consult for his arguments in 

 support of this conjecture. Taking Lysons for 

 my guide (Environs of London, vol. i. part i. 

 p. 234.), I had always inferred the name to be 

 borrowed from a family named Vaux, who, in 

 1615, owned the Spring Gardens, Vauxhall. A 

 daughter of this family of Vaux was the wife of 

 Dr. Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln. 



John Booker. 



Brittox, a Street in Devizes (2°^ S. ii. 431.) — 

 This is probably a corruption of Prideaux, the 

 provincial pronunciation of which is Priddux ; in- 

 deed to pronounce it otherwise in Devonshire and 

 the neighbouring counties would, by most people, 

 be considered somewhat affected. The word may 

 have come thus : Prideaux, Pridux, Priddux, Brid- 

 dux, Brittux, Brittox. K. S. Chaenock. 



Gray's Inn. 



Emblems Portrayed (2°'* S. iii. 150.) — A. S. 

 will find much interesting matter in the following 

 work : 



" L'Art des Emblfemes, oil s'enseigne la morale par 

 figures de la fable, de I'histoire, et de la nature." Paris, 

 8vo. 1684. 



The work is by Menestrier, and illustrated with 

 woodcuts. It was first published in 8vo. at 

 Lyons, in 1662. G. 



Pannier {or Panyer) Alley (2"'* S. ii. 518.) — 

 Since sending my former article on the identity 

 of Naked Boy Court with the above, I have been 

 reminded that " Panyer Alley " is mentioned by 

 Stow ; the reference to which is given in an in- 

 teresting article on " London Signs and Badges " 

 in the Illustrated London News of Dec. 13. The 

 description of " the Boy in Panyer Alley " is thus 

 given : 



"A baker's boy seated on his panyer or breadbasket, 

 from panis, bread, indicates the old market of the Strat- 

 ford bakers, held in St. Martin's le Grand as early as the 

 fourteenth century. A sign of the panyer, whether of the 

 baker himself or his basket, appears to have existed in 

 Stow's time," &c. &c. 



There is also given with the above a sketch and 

 description of the boy at Pie Corner, Smithfield, 

 commemorative of the great fire of London, and 

 formerly "bearing an inscription ascribing the 

 calamity to the sin of gluttony. This stigma is 

 however now obliterated, and the ux'chin only 

 remains." Can this be traced to have any con- 

 nexion with Naked Boy and other Courts of like 

 designation, as suggested by Mr. Colkman ? Can 

 any correspondent of " N. & Q." give the origin 

 of the stone carving in Panyer Alley, and the 

 cause of its being appropriated to its present use? 

 as the reference in Stow * proves the existence of 



♦ Survey of London, p. 128., Thoms's ed., 1842. 



