"402 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 130. 



« Here Lyeth y» Body of 



William Vaughan, who 



Dyed y" 16 day of APril, 



1735, aged 72." 



If SO, and the age of Mrs, "Vaughan be correct as 

 stated, she must have been nearly a hundred or so 

 when married. Can any of your correspondents 

 living in the neighbourhood explain how the mis- 

 take arose ? Agmond. 



59. Catherine Street, Liverpool. 



Haherdascher. — Hurrer (Vol. v., p. 137.). — 

 Precision is of great importance in investigating 

 the meaning of our ancient technical terms. 



Haherdascher was, I apprehend, the generic 

 name of dealers in small wares. Hats and caps 

 were formerley called hures, and howves or houfes; 

 and when haberdashers dealt in such articles they 

 were pro tanto hurrers. But as early as the time 

 of Edward I. there were traders called hatters, 

 who were not haberdashers ; and at a later period, 

 when the term hurrer was obsolete, there were 

 " haberdashers of hats." In the reign of Edw. IV. 

 a curious petition was presented to Parliament, 

 which is not unworthy of being put upon your 

 Notes. It sets forth — 



" That whereas huers, bonnets, and cappes, as well 

 single as double, were wont to be truly made, wrought, 

 fulled, and thickked by the might and strength of men, 

 that is to say, with hand and foot ; and they that have 

 so made, wrought, fulled, and thickked such huers, bon- 

 nets, and cappes, have well and honestly afore this gotten 

 their living thereby, and thereupon kept apprentices, 

 servants, and good household. It is so that there is a 

 subtile mean found now of late, by reason of a Fullyng 

 Mille, whereby more cappes may be fulled and thickked 

 in one day than by the might and strength of four 

 score men by hand and foot may be fulled and thickked 

 in the same day: the which huers, bonnets, and cappes, 

 so fulled and thickked by such mill, are bruised, broken, 

 and deceivably wrought, and cannot by the mean of any 

 mill be truly made." 



The petitioners conclude by praying Parliament 

 to impose heavy penalties upon all who use the 

 fulling mill, or who sell huers, hats, or bonnets 

 that have been " fulled or thickked " by means of 

 any such mill. So early did the antagonism be- 

 tween hand-labour and machinery prevail. 



I doubt whether the more ancient name of 

 haberdasher were milainer. There were haber- 

 dashers at York in the time of Edward HI., but 

 no milliners. In 1372 the haberdashers of London 

 were separated from the hurrers, with whom they 

 had been previously associated. I should be glad 

 to have a reference to the use of the term milainer, 

 as applied to traders of any sort prior to the reign 

 of Edward III. 



I should also be obliged to any of your corre- 



spondents who will tell me what was the descrip- 

 tion of trade or business carried on by uphalders in 

 former times. ^• 



Cou-bache (Vol. v., p. 131.). — In Halliwell's 

 Archaic Dictionary the word balk is Interpreted, 

 "a ridge of greensward left by the plous^h in 

 ploughing, or by design, between the different 

 occupancies in a common field." This is exactly 

 the meaning of the word as it is commonly used in 

 Yorkshire at this day ; but in a Yorkshire village 

 with which I am acquainted, we have the very 

 phrase of the Golden Legend, "cou-bache," (pro- 

 nounced shoo-bauk, the prefix s being a not in- 

 frequent corruption), as the name of a wide grassy 

 road between thorn-hedges, upon the verbage of 

 which the milch cows of the villages are pastured. 

 This seems to be just the sort of place described 

 in the legend as the scene of Kenelm's murder. 

 I need not add, that it is not unusual to find pure 

 Anglo-Saxon words retained in the rural dialects 

 of Yorkshire. '^• 



Meaning, of Groom.— M. F. Barriere (Vol. v., 

 p. 347.). — Having some reason to doubt the high 

 editorial authority attributed to M. Barriere by 

 J. R. (Cork), I would request your ingenious cor- 

 respondent to favour us with references to one or 

 two (or more, if not too troublesome) of the ''fre- 

 quent cases" in which the Quarterly Review adopts 

 M. Barriere's statements. 



Tlie filthy espieglei'ie related by that very sus- 

 picious authority St. Simon, of the Duchess of 

 Burgundy, already .sufficient! v incredible, is ren- 

 dered impossible in J. R.'s version of ''administered 

 to herself" St. Simon supposes no such legerde- 

 main. 1 f 1 



The Groom of the Stole is the first lord of the 

 King's bed-chamber ; under a Queen the equiva- 

 lent office and title is Mistress of the Robes. C. 



Grinning like a Cheshire Cat (Vol. ii., pp. 377. 

 412.). — In one of your early Numbers I have 

 seen some Queries respecting the phrase " Grm- 

 ning like a Cheshire Cat." I remember to have 

 heard many years ago, that it owes its origm to 

 the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of that 

 county to represent a lion rampant, which was the 

 crest of an influential family, on tlie sign-boards of 

 many of the inns. The resemblance of these lions 

 to cats caused them to be generally called by the 

 more io-noble name. A similar case is to be found 

 in the^village of Charlton, between Pewsey and 

 Devizes, wfltshire. A public-house by the road- 

 side is commonly known by the name of The Cat 

 at Charlton. The sign of the house was originally 

 a lion or tiger, or some such animal, the crest of 

 the family of, I believe. Sir Edward Poore. H. 



Mallet's Death and Burial (Vol. v., p. 319.). -- 

 I am now able to answer a Query which I lately 

 sent to you. David Mallet died in George Street, 



