Mar. 20. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



211' 



Solidus- Gallicus, Sfc. — Will any of your cor- 

 respondents kindly construe for me the following 

 sentences ? 



" Valebat siclus sanctuarii tetradrachma Attlcum : 

 quod Biidoeus estimat 14 solidis Gallicis, aut circiter : 

 nam didrachraa septim faclt solidos, sicuti drachma sim- 

 plex duos, et sesquialterum, minus denario turonico." 



What was the value of "solidus Gallicus," or 

 French sol, or sous ; for this I presume to be its 

 meaning in 1573, the date of the passage ? And 

 ■what was the value of the " denier Tournois," if 

 that be the meaning of " denarium Turonicum ? " 



References are useless, for I have no access to 

 libraries. C. W. B. 



[A numismatic friend, to whom we referred this 

 Query, writes, " If it were not for the context, ' nam 

 didrachma septim facit solidos,' I should suppose the 

 14 to be a misprint for 4. Where could this passage 

 be taken from ? The shekel was worth a tetradrachm. 

 The French ' sol ' was the twentieth part of a pound. 

 The ' denier Tournois ' was a penny. The whole 

 passage, after the first line (which is plain enough), is 

 to me unintelligible."] 



Sept. — What is the etymology, and what the 

 correct use, of this Anglo-Irish word ? A. N. 



[Dr. Ogilvie, in his Imperial Dictionary, has sug- 

 gested the following derivation: " Qy. sap'ta, in the 

 Li. prosapia ; or Heb. shabet, a clan, race, or family, 

 proceeding from a common progenitor."] 



Essay towards Catholic Communion (Vol. v., 

 p. 198.). — An Essay to procure Catholic Com- 

 munion on Catholic Principles, alluded to by J. Y., 

 has just been republished by Darling, Gt. Queen 

 Street. It is taken from Deacon's Complete Col- 

 lection of Devotions, 1734, and the editors attribute 

 its authorship to Dr. Brett, on the authority of 

 Peter Hall's Fragmenta Liturgica, vol. i. p. 42. 



If J. Y. has not seen the reprint, perhaps this 

 note may assist him in his inquiry. R. J. S. 



[The above is not the same work as the one referred 

 to in J. Y. 's Query, which makes a 12mo. volume of 

 292 pages (edit. 1781 ) ; whereas the reprint published 

 by Darling is a tract of 16 pages. There is also a 

 slight difference in the title-pages of each.] 



Bigot. — What is the derivation oi bigot? 



C. M. I. 



[Richardson suggests the following: — " The French 

 at this day apply the word higot to one superstitiously 

 religious; not certainly from the oath be-got, as Menage 

 thinks, but rather from the A.-S. bigan, colere; and 

 hence also begine, a religious woman. ( Wachter in v. 

 £ein- Gott. )" 



Cotgrave says, " Bigot, an old Norman word (sig- 

 nifying as much as • de par Dieu' or our « for God's 

 sake') made good French, and signifying an hypocrite, 

 or one that seemeth much more holy than he is : also, 

 a scrupulous, or superstitious fellow." 



Speight says, " Begin, bigot, superstitious, hypo- 

 crite." Upon which Thynne remarks, «' whiche sence 



I knowe y' maye somewhat beare, because y' sauorethe 

 of the dispositione of those Begins or Beguines, for that 

 ys the true wry tinge."] 



McfilifiS. 



AGE OF TREES ; TILFOBD OAK. 



(Vol.iv., p.401., &C.) 



I hope your correspondent L., in his search for 

 ancient trees, will not overlook the Great Oak at 

 Tilford near Farnham, which is worth a visit for 

 its size and beauty, if not for its antiquity. Mr. 

 Brayley, in his History of SwTey, vol. v. p. 288.^ 

 thus speaks of it : — 



" In the Charter granted by Henry de Blols about 

 the year 1250, to the monks of Waverley, he gives 

 them leave to inclose their lands wherever they please, 

 within these bounds, ' which extend,' says the record, 

 ' from the Oak of Tilford, which is called the Kynghoe 

 [a quercu de Tyleford qua; vocatur Kynghoe], by the 

 king's highway towards Farnham, &c.' . . . The Tilford 

 Oak is still standing, and is known by its ancient 

 appellation of the King's Oak : a name which it could 

 not have obtained unless it had been of considerable 

 age and growth at the time of the bishop's grant ; and 

 it may therefore be reasonably supposed to be 800 or 

 900 years old. It is a noble tree, and still flourishing 

 apparently without decay." 



I very much doubt the Identity of the present 

 tree with the " King's Oak" of Henry de Blois. 

 First, Because the present bounds of Waverley do 

 not run within 300 yards of the tree ; and the 

 bounds are hardly likely to have been materially 

 changed, inasmuch as the abbey lands are freehold 

 and tithe-free, whereas the surrounding lands are 

 copyhold and titheable. Secondly, because the 

 tree itself appears still to be growing and vigorous. 

 Cobbett describes it in his Rural Rides, p. 15., 1822, 

 with, his usual accuracy of observation : 



" Our direct road was right over the heath, through 

 Tilford, to Farnham : but we veered a little to the left 

 after we came to Tilford, at which place, on the green, 

 we stopped to look at an oak tree, which, when I was a 

 little boy, was but a very little tree, comparatively, and 

 which is now, taken altogether, by far the finest tree 

 that I ever saw in my life. The stem or shaft is short, 

 that is to say, it is short before you come to the first 

 limbs ; but it is full thirty feet round at about eight or 

 ten feet from the ground. Out of the stem there come 

 not less than fi,fteen or sixteen limbs, many of which 

 are from five to six feet round, and each of which 

 would in fact be considered a decent stick of timber. 

 I am not judge enough of timber to say anything 

 about the quantity in the whole tree ; but my son 

 stepped the ground, and, as nearly as we could judge, 

 the diameter of the extent of the branches was upwards 

 of ninety feet, which would make a circumference of 

 about 300 feet. The tree is in full growth at the 

 moment. There is a little hole in one of the limbs, 

 but \^ith that exception, not the smallest sign of decay 



