286 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»<i S. X Oct. 13. '60, 



Minax Hatti, 



Servants' Wages in the last Century. — I 



find the following account of the wages given by a 



Lancashire baronet, a man of considerable standing 



and importance in his day, about the year 1770: 



Butler - - - - 10 



Coachman - - - - 11 



Footman - - - - 6 



Brewer, carter, &c. - - - 8 10 



Gardener - - - - 12 



Housekeeper - - - 12 



Cook - - - - 5 



Housemaid - - - -4100 



Kitchen maid - - - 3 10 



The party giving the information adds, " Sir 

 Roger gives most of his clothes to his butler, and 

 a small share to the footman." P. P. 



Dog-collar Inscription. — As some men were 

 lately digging a piece of ground which had been a 

 meadow, in Newbury, they discovered a human 

 skeleton lying in an oblique direction, the skull 

 being about twelve inches from the surface. At 

 a small distance from it they found a dog-collar of 

 brass, on which was inscribed in legible charac- 

 ters the following words : — 



" I am a poore harmless bitch, 

 I wander I know not whither. 



My master lives in H , 



I pray direct me thether. 



" Tjios. Mead, 1699." 

 The spelling is exactly given as on the collar. 

 After the letter H or P (which of them is uncer- 

 tain), there is an erasure apparently done by de- 

 sign. (Newspaper Cutting, 1801.) K. P. D. E. 



Aged Bride and Bridegroom. — In the Dublin 

 Gazette, 8th February, 1731, the following parti- 

 culars are given : — 



"Yesterday morning the Rev. Mr. Taylor, Curate of St. 

 Peter's [Dublin], married in that church James Thomp- 

 son of Kevan's-street, shoemaker, and Agnes Roberts, 

 of the same street ; both their ages added together 

 make above a hundred, three-score, and sixteen years. 

 The bridegroom averred, and convinced by several good 

 circumstances the minister, that he was ninety odd years 

 of age, and the bride that she was above eightj'-six j-ears 

 old : they said they were both married before ; and the 

 bride appealed to the whole street for the truth of her 

 age, it being well known to them all that she had been a 

 great-grandmother some years. The concourse on the 

 occasion was so great, that the church and churchj'ard 

 could not contain the people; some pews were broke 

 down, and a great number of persons hurt ; the new-mar- 

 ried couple were obliged to be locked up in the vestry 

 until 3 a clock in the afternoon, when the mob dispersed." 



Abhba? 



Mountain Ash, Etymology of Names of. — The 

 following are provincial synonyms of the " moun- 

 tain-ash, or rowan tree " (Pyrus aucuparia) : — 



" Quicken tree, quick beam, witchen or wig- 

 gen" (or as it is written, "wicken,") tree. There 

 is a striking similarity between these names. Now 

 *' wick" is used in some part* of England for 



" quick " (after the not uncommon convertibility 

 of c with w and v ; cf. Dac-us, Dav-us ; foc-us, 

 fov-eo ; nix, nivis ; lacus, lav-o, &c.) Are then 

 (1.) " quicken, quick, witchen, wiggen, or wicken," 

 forms of the same word ? and (2.) does the name 

 " witchen," &c., refer to the " supposed anti-witch- 

 craft properties of the tree"? (2.) If it is cor- 

 rect must, I suppose, explain (1.); for as to 

 " quick," the rowan-tree is a " slow-growing one, 

 never attaining any very valuable size " ; but I 

 shall feel highly obliged to any of your correspon- 

 i dents who would favour with any Information on 

 the etymology of these names. J. A. Staverton. 



Unintentional Puns. — Under this title per- 

 mit me to open a column in " N. & Q." for the 

 reception of jeux de mots which the writers perpe- 

 trated unconsciously. I have at present only a 

 few to contribute : — 



" Elizabeth's sylvan dress, &c., was therefore well 

 suited at once to her height and to the dignity of her 

 mien, which her conscious rank and lovg habits of authority 

 had rendered in some degree too masculine to be seen to 

 the best advantage in ordinary female weeds." — Kenil- 

 worth, iii. chap. 9. 



" A death-6ed is a frightful tester." 



British Workman, No. OG. 

 "I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal. 

 That it may seem their guilt." — Macbeth. 

 "While underneath the eaves 

 The brooding swallows cling, 

 As if to show me their sunny backs. 

 And twit me with the spring." 



" The Song of the Shirt." 



To which, perhaps, might be added the first six 

 lines of Coleridge's " Sonnet to Schiller." I am not 

 sure that another passage in Shakspeare ought not 

 to be included in my list : — 



" Till that her garments, heavy with their drink," Sfc. 



Hamlet, 



The fact of there being such cases in our litera- 

 ture is a proof of the capability of the English 

 language for works of wit and humour. 



Clammild. 



Athenseum Club. 



ilh\XtxitS, 



Ruggle's "Ignoramus." — Has this excellent 

 comedy ever been acted by the scholars of West- 

 minster since the representation of It in 1747, 

 when H. Boyle, afterwards Earl of Corke and 

 Orrery, took the part of Ignoramus ? Q. 



George Aungier. — I have In my possession a 

 small manuscript, purporting to be the diary or 

 memorandum-book of daily expences of George 

 Aungier, brother of Gerald Lord Aungier. It 

 commences April 9, 1633, and is continued to 

 July 30, 1635. Many of the entries «re very In- 

 teresting, and at the end of the book there is a 

 good deal of miscellaneous information relating to. 



