374 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 129. 



repetition of bis sighs, ceased and were at an end ; so 

 that in the time of Edward III. a person com- 

 plaining of a troublesome cough, headache, &c., 

 might call it a reheting cough, &c. 



II. Moke, 



^See the said Three Treatises, pages tyy^\xii, and Notes, 



pages ccxx. ccxxiii — iv. ) 



Wyckliflfe using the possessive " their moke" not 

 the mere " a," as we would say, I would not give 

 *' a pin," " a button," &c., together with the evi- 

 dence of the Irish muc, and the obsolete German 

 Mocke, which has been defined " Sus foeminea, 

 quas ob foetus alitur," hardly leaves a doubt that 

 he means that animal, which may be ti*aced also in 

 the words muck, mucky, &c. The reader may 

 judge for himself by the following passage : — 



" Crist gave his life for hise brether, and so rewled 

 hise shepe; thei wolen not gyue her moke to help 

 here nedy brethern, but leten here shep perishen, 

 and taken of hem." 



In allusion to their not feeding their flock, but 

 suffering their sheep to perish, he prefers to men- 

 tion an eatable object. N. L. BjBNMOHEi, A.M. 

 2. Trinity College, Dublin. 



[Mr. Benmohel is wrong in supposing the word 

 Beghard to signify bekehrt, conversus, and to be a name 

 given to the Fratres Conversi of monasteries, who, by 

 the way, were not '• secular begging monks," nor neces- 

 sarily monks at all. Any person, by a donation to a 

 convent, could be enrolled amongst its fratres or sorores, 

 entitled to the prayers of the monks, and to a share of 

 their superabundant merits ; and, being clothed at his 

 death in the habit of the order, was afrater conversus. 

 Another class of conversi were lay monks (not neces- 

 sarily begging monks), who attended on the other monks, 

 and performed certain lay duties in monasteries. 3Ir,. 

 Benmohkl will see some account of them in Dr. Todd's 

 Introduction to the Book of Obits and Martyrol. of 

 Christ's Church Cathedral, Dublin, p. xxvii. 



The Beghards, on the other hand, were not, properly 

 speaking, monks at all, inasmuch as they were not 

 under any monastic vow. They professed poverty, 

 and lived on alms generally ; but in other respects 

 their mode of life was various, and their orthodoxy 

 and morality very doubtful. They are generally de- 

 nounced by the ecclesiastical authorities ; and, except in 

 some few places and under certain regulations, were 

 never recognised by the Church. The best account of 

 them will be found in Mosheim's posthumous and un- 

 finished treatise, De Beghardis et Beguinis. The name 

 is evidently, as Mosheim shows, a compound of beg 

 (from the old Saxon beggen, mendicare) and hard, or 

 hart, a servant, famulus, servus : the same word which 

 we still use in the composition of sucli words as shep- 

 herd, cow-herd, swine-herd. So that Beghard is not 

 otherwise different from our word beggar, than in so far 

 as it was formerly applied to a religious sect. 



Mr. Benmohel's explanation of Rehetoiir is very in- 

 genious, and may very possibly be true. His inter- 

 pretation of Muck is not so satisfactory.] 



PLAGUE STONES. 



(Vol. v., p. 226.) 



At the bottom of a street leading from Bury 

 St. Edmunds to the Newmarket road, stands an 

 octagonal stone of Petworth marble with a hole in 

 it, which Is said to have been filled with water or 

 vinegar in the time of the small-pox in 1677, for 

 people to dip their money in on leaving the market. 

 What truth may attach to the traditionary use 

 of the stone I know not ; but the stone is the base 

 of a cross called St. Peter's Cross, and the hole is 

 the socket for the shaft. Buriensis. 



Are the stones mentioned by your correspondent 

 J. J. S. as plague stones anything more than the 

 "holy stones" common at the meeting of old cross 

 roads in Lancashire, and perhaps other counties ? 

 The square hole in them is surely nothing more 

 than the socket in which the way-side cross was 

 formerly placed. Perhaps, however, he is speak- 

 ing of a different and less common kind of stone, 

 in which case, if a list is made. It must be by some 

 competent person, able to distinguish the one from 

 the other. P. P. 



In compliance with the suggestion of J. J. S., 

 I may note that what I suppose (since reading 

 his communication in " N. & Q.") to be a " plague 

 stone" is to be seen close to Grresford in Den- 

 bighshire. I met with It last summer, and could 

 not then imagine what it could be. It is a large 

 hexagonal (I think) stone, with a round cavity on 

 the top, which certainly was full of water when I 

 passed it. This cavity is pretty deep, and the stone 

 must be nearly three feet high, by from two to 

 three across. I regret I made no measurements 

 of it. It is situated about a quarter of a mile 

 from the town on the road to Wrexham, under 

 a wide-spreading tree, on an open space where 

 three roads meet. Should this be seen by any 

 Gresfordite, perhaps he would send you a more 

 accurate description of this stone, with any legend 

 that may be attached to it. G. J. K. G. 



KHYMES ON PLACES. 



(Vol. v., p. 293.) 

 Notwithstanding his name, which appears to 

 indicate northern origin, your correspondent W. 

 Fkaser may possibly be unacquainted with Robert 

 Chambers's amusing work, entitled Pojow/ar Rhymes 

 of Scotland, which contains numerous verses on 

 both places and families, besides other curious 

 matter. E- 1^. 



The following doggrel I have heard in Surrey : 

 " Sutton for good mutton, 

 Cheam for juicy beef, 

 Croydon for a pretty girl. 

 And Mitcham for a thief." 



A. A. D. 



