318 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t:2«"i S. X. Oct. 20. '60. 



bridge (1710-35). He was originally, however, 

 an Oxonian, having been first a member of Lin- 

 coln College, and subsequently a Fellow of All 

 Souls. He took the degrees of B.C.L. in 1691 

 and D.C.L. in 1696. His portrait occurs among 

 the seventeen worthies and benefactors of Lincoln 

 College in the Oxford Almanack for 1743. 



E. H. A. 

 Excommunication (2»* S. x. 117.) — 



" Thus, in Scotland at this day, that Man that dares 

 give or sell Meat or Drink to any that the Priest and his 

 Lay-Elders have excommunicated and horn'd, that dar- 

 ing Man shall be serv'd with the same Sauce, and be ex- 

 communicated and horn'd ; and then his own Father and 

 Mother (I know it of my own Knowledge, for many years 

 when I quartered there) dares not give him a bit of Bread, 

 to save his Life: but the horn'd Man has no remedy but 

 to fly out of the Kingdom of Scotland, or starve, or stand 

 on the Stool of Repentance in the open Church, and be- 

 wail his Offences against Holy Kirk." — " Priestcraft," 

 TVorks of Mr. Edmund Hickeringill, late Eector of All 

 Saints in Colchester (vol. iii. p. 38.), London, 17IG, 8vo. 



G.N. 



Pencil Writing (2°* S. x. 57. 255.)— The 

 letter of your valued correspondent Prof. De 

 Morgan, as to the period at which black-lead was 

 introduced, induces me to mention that I have 

 very recently had in my hands a charter of King 

 Hen. VIII., dated 26th Dec. 1544, in which the 

 ornamental letters and flourishes at the head have 

 evidently been drawn out before being finally 

 committed to ink, with something which has the 

 appearance of lead or lead-pencil. The tracing 

 is very distinguishable, and under a magnifying 

 glass it shines as lead or lead-pencil would do. 



W. Beamont. 



Warrington. 



Tavds (2"^ S. x. 227.)— We have the \Qrh'tiave 

 or tave in common use in the Dorset dialect. Mr. 

 Barnes, in his Glossary, gives it thus : — 



"Tiave (Cornish, tarving, struggling; N. C. tave), to 

 exert one's self violently ; to struggle or move one's limbs 

 with great energy. ' The chile did tiave zoo to goo to his 

 mother.' " 



Ravin and tavin is a frequent alliteration, ex- 

 pressive of anxious struggles, either in delirium 

 or otherwise. Would '■'• getioafan (Anglo-Saxon), 

 to dote, rave, fail " (Bosworth) be improbably its 

 derivation ? 



By- the-bye, what is the authority of Bailey as 

 an etymologist ? I have very often been unable 

 to verify his derivations, and have sometimes been 

 led to fancy that he had invented a Teutonic or 

 Gaelic word for the occasion. C. W. Bingham. 



Children's Drama (2"* S. x. 168.) — The 

 authorship of the above, which St. Swithin is 

 anxious to know, I am afraid is a mystery, and 

 trust for the sake of the author's reputation it may 

 remain so. The words, however, are nearly as 

 below. In St. Swithin's version, rhyme — so 



attractive to cliildren — is not adhered to. Loose 

 though that rhyme be, it is still preserved in the 

 following version. I hope your valuable space 

 will be better occupied in future. 



" Gentleman. Madam, to thee I humbly bow and bend. 



iMdy. Sir, I take you not to be my friend. 



Gentleman. Why, Madam, why? Did I ever do j'ou 

 any harm? 



Lady. You saucy coxcomb, get you gone ! 



Gentleman. A coxcomb, madam I I defy that name ; 

 That name deserves a stab, you saucy dame. 



Lady. A stab. Sir, is the least I fear ; 

 Appoint the place, and I'll meet you there. 



Gentleman. Across the watec at the hour of five, 

 ril meet j'ou there as sure as you're alive. 



\_He turns to leave.~\ 



Lady. Stop, stop, Sir, interrupting your discourse 

 Of so much anger, and so little force. 

 Would you not like a lady both fair and young. 

 Who can speak the great Greek and the Italian tongue? 



Gentleman. One tongue, madam, is enough for me, and 

 too much for j'ou ; 

 So I'll take a sword and stab you through. 



[ He does so. 1 

 And rather than I'll be governed by a wife. 

 This sword shall end my wretched life. 



[ Stabs himself. ] ' ' 



M. 



This fragmentary dialogue given by your cor- 

 respondent is a portion of one of those loose un- 

 connected dramatic exhibitions played by the 

 Mummers, the whole of which might probably be 

 collected in those parts of the country where the 

 custom has not become obsolete. As doubtless 

 the tradition of these rude verses has always been 

 oral, the versions will slightly differ. I give one 

 as nearly as my memory serves me, though pro- 

 bably it may lack a line or two : — 



" He. Madam, to thee I humbly bow and bend. 



She. Kind Sir, I take thee not to be mj' friend. 



He. Why, Madam, why? did I ever do you anj'harm? 



She. Yes, j'es, you saucy coxcomb, get you gone. 



He. Coxcomb ! Madam, I defy that very name ; 

 Step to me equally as the same. 



She. Well, Sir, would you not like a wife so charming 

 and so young. 

 One that could talk Greek, Latin, and Italian tongue? 



He. Before I would be governed bj' a wife, 

 I'll take this sword, and end thy wretched life. 



■ \_Ifraws, and slabs her.'] 

 She's gone ! she's gone ! I'll vow it to be true ; 

 And since she's gone, alas ! I must go too." 



[ Stabs himself. ] 



Abracadabra. 



Quotation from Dr. Chalmers (2""* S. x, 

 267.) — The passage inquired for by your cor- 

 respondent occurs in substance, although not 

 quite literally, in chapter 8th of Christian and 

 Economic Polity of a Nation, Collected Works, 

 vol. xiv. p. 314. The subject was a favourite one 

 with Dr. C, and the same thought is brought up 

 in other parts of his writings, e. g, in Use and 

 Abuse of Literary and Ecclesiastical Endowments, 

 Part L Chap. I., Works, xvii. 68. J. H. 



Glasgow. 



