328 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''d S. NO 69., ApRtt 25. '67. 



JamiesorCs " Etymological Dictionary." — Having 

 had occasion to consult Jamieson's Etymological 

 Dictionary of the Scottish Language, one of the 

 most valuable works of reference extant, I find 

 the conjunct substantive *' bell-penny" explained, 

 as money laid up for paying the expence of one's 

 funeral, from the ancient use of the passing-bell. 

 This word is still used in Aberbrotheck. The 

 derivation of the word can hardly be questioned ; 

 but the expression being in common use is I think 

 very much to be doubted : of one thing I am cer- 

 tain, that, contrary to what is mentioned, the word 

 is not common in AhevbTotheck — for such is the 

 spelling, and not Ahevbrothick, of this venerable 

 borough. In the same Dictionary I find the word 

 haxter or bahster made to signify a "baker." 

 Now I have been under the impression all along 

 of baxter meaning a " weaver ; " and am borne out 

 so far by certain words in an old rhyme still 

 extant in this county, which says : 



" The Baxter ga'ed up to see the mune, 

 Wi' a' his treddles on his back, 

 His sowaney mug abune." 



A porter is also termed a baxter, perhaps from 

 carrying objects on his back. In addition, I find 

 in the Dictionary from which I quote, the substan- 

 tive tayne made to signify an opprobrious term. 

 I never met with this before, but opine that it 

 must be derived from Cain, the brother and mur- 

 derer of Abel. K. 



Arbroath. 



Italian City mentioned by Themistocles. — 



" Sir Walter Raleigh, lib. iii. [chap. vi. sect. 5.], History 

 of the World. 'Herewithal he [Themistocles] mentions 

 a town in Italy belonging of old to the state of Italy, of 

 which town he said an oracle had foretold that the 

 Athenians in process of time should build it anew ; and 

 here, quoth he, will we plant ourselves, leaving unto you 

 a sorrowful remembrance of my words.' 



" What city this was of Italy which he meaneth in his 

 speech." — Extracts from Common Place Books in Sir T. 

 Browne^s Works, vol. iv. p. 420. 



EOSSE. 



The " God-speed^'' — Being in conversation 

 with an intelligent Staffordshire machinist, who 

 was relating to me some passages in his personal 

 history, he said of one event, that it happened 



while he lived at ■, "just at the time of my 



God-speed." He afterwards told me that this 

 word was in common use, and meant " the leaving 

 one's house, in order to remove to a new home." 

 This expressive word " God-speed " was, however, 

 quite new to me ; and as I do not [find it men- 

 tioned in " N. & Q., I here make a Note of it. 



CUTHBERT BeDE. 



Five Generations Living. — 



" An Antwerp paper contains the following paragraph : 

 * This morning Madame Scholte was safely delivered of a 

 son. Considerable interest was excited by this event, as 

 the newborn child has a mother, a grandmother, a great- 



grandmother, and a great-great-grandmother, making five 

 generations, all living at the same time.'" — Moitiing 

 Herald, Feb. 27, 1857. 



R. W. Hackwood. 

 Baining Cats and Dogs. — During a heavy, but 

 genial, shower towards the end of this last March, 

 an old stone-breaker said to me, " This is the 

 rain. Sir, to make the cats and dogs grow ! " 

 pointing, as he spoke, to the hedge-side willows, 

 which were covered with the bursting catkins, 

 which are called by some people " cats and dogs," 

 and which were used on Palm Sunday to repre- 

 sent the branches of palm. Does this throw any 

 light on the singular saying which heads this 

 note ? CuTHBERT Bede. 



^utvitS, 



THOMAS C^SAR. 



Can any of your numerous readers inform me 

 who was the Thomas Caesar referred to in pp. 10. 

 47. 106. 119. of vol. iii. of the State Trials, as 

 having been taken up at Whitehall and impri- 

 soned in the Marshalsea by the " special man- 

 date" of King James I., and what was his offence? 

 His caption is there stated to have taken place 

 on July 18, 8 Jac, and the hearing on his habeas 

 corpus in Michaelmas Term of the same year, 

 1610. 



As this latter date tallied with the removal of 

 Sir Thomas Csesar from the office of Cursitor 

 Baron of the Exchequer, ■ to which he was ap- 

 pointed in the preceding May, and had been 

 knighted in the following month, I naturally 

 thought, as the name was so uncommon, that the 

 baron in the intervening period had committed 

 some crime which necessitated his dismissal. 



On referring, however, by the kindness of Mr. 

 Hunter, to the record itself, it turns out that, 

 though the hearing on the habeas corpus is cor- 

 rectly cited as of Michaelmas, 1610, the arrest 

 occurred on July 18, 7 Jac. 1609 ; so that it could 

 not be the Cursitor Baron, unless we can indulge 

 such an improbable supposition as that he received 

 his appointment and was knighted while still a 

 prisoner. The cause of the imprisonment does 

 not appear in the record. 



Sir Thomas was the brother of Sir Julius Caesar, 

 then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and afterwards 

 Master of the Bolls ; and the only other Thomases 

 of that family were a son of Sir Julius, aged about 

 eight, and a son of Sir Thomas, aged about six- 

 teen, neither of whom is likely to have incurred 

 the king's displeasure. 



Was there any other family then existing of that 

 name ? Edward Foss. 



