2"dS. XNov. 10. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



375 



extraordinary ; they seemed to burst forth into 

 leaf in a few days to the surprise of ^very one. 

 Notwithstanding the previous lateness of the sea- 

 son, the oak was in full rich foliage on the 29th 

 May, which is not ordinarily the case here. 



With a view to account for the cause which 

 may have given rise to this apparent diversity of 

 opinion, I have for many years noticed the ash 

 growing in different situations ; that is, high and 

 low, moist and dry, to ascertain whether there 

 was any perceptible difference in coming into leaf, 

 but have not been able to discover any. It seems 

 to me altogether beside the question to ask on 

 what physiological principle is this " proverb " to 

 be explained, the fact of which I contend has not 

 been proved. 



F. C. H. admits that the oak and ash in his 

 neighbourhood " generally come into leaf so nearly 

 together as to afford little scope for prophecy." I 

 can assure him that in the North of England the 

 periods are very distinct. 



I trust this question will draw forth remarks 

 from others of your correspondents who have an- 

 nually attended to the subject. H. J. M. 



Holmfirth. 



Paradise of the Soul (2°* S. x. 248. 29§.) — 

 An edition of this book, in the Irish language and 

 character, was prepared by the Rev. Anthony 

 Gernon, an Irish Franciscan friar of the College of 

 St. Anthony of Louvain, and printed in 32mo.', 

 with curious woodcuts, in 1645, at the above 

 place. It is entitled Parthas an Anma, i. e. Pa- 

 radise of the Soul ; and a copy, notwithstanding 

 its extreme rarity, may be seen with the Rev. E. 

 D. Cleaver,- of St. Barnabas College, Pimlico, 

 London. Father Gernon was living in 1667. 



Claeach. 



The Latin Prayer-Book In which the leaves 

 were inserted is a small book about five inches 

 long, and is nearly square ; it is advertised to be 

 sold at the " West Door of Paules by William [? 

 as I quote from memory] Tilotson." The leaves 

 are evidently, by the printing and woodcuts (of 

 which one or two occur as initial letters) of about 

 the same date as the book itself, which is certainly 

 in the original binding, leather over beech boards, 

 which are worm-eaten. The book from which the 

 leaves were taken was in English. Tau, 



Buff (2"« S. ix. 5 ; x. 218. 310.) — That buff, 

 in the sense of leather, is derived from buffalo is 

 pretty clearly shown by the quotation from Jamie- 

 son given by L. ; but more direct proof is ob- 

 tained by comparison with other languages, for 

 in French buffle is still used to express both buff 

 and buffalo, and in German buff is called Bilffel- 

 leder (buffalo leather). Buflalo of course comes 

 from ^oifiaXos (Lat. bubalus). L. is no doubt 

 right in deriving buff in the sense of hloto from 



the Old French buffe, which was unquestionably 

 used in this meaning, but buffet would rather come 

 from the Old French buffeter than from bvff. As 

 to the connexion between buffe and the modern 

 French verbs bouffer and bouffir, it is, perhaps, 

 somewhat questionable : at any rate I think a 

 nearer connexion can be found for It In the German 

 Puff (Dutch pof, Dan. Puf, Swed. Puff), which 

 still means a blow, or rather a thump, a cuff, a 

 bang; and puffen (Dutch po^en, T>iin.puffe, Swed. 

 puffa), to thump, &c. These words seem one 

 and all to be onomatopoietic, as we find the inter- 

 jections, Germ, puff! Dutch pof! Dan. puf! 

 Swed. puff! = Eng. pop ! bang ! and the French 

 pouf! (Comp. also j9o?(^er de rire.) Here at least 

 the connexion between the French and the Ger- 

 man, Dutch, &c.. Is evident. F. C. 



Celebrated Writer (2"^ S. ix. 144.) — Is it 

 not Spence who relates of Pope that he had 

 always a pencil and paper by his bed-side, that, if 

 any idea occurred to him in the night, he might 

 Instantly record It ? Or Is it Johnson, who tells It 

 on the authority of Pope's nurse ? C. H. 



Rev. George Whitefield (2"^ S. v. 156. 340. 

 386.) — In reply to Mr. Bingham, the two last 

 sermons quoted appear different in their Introduc- 

 tory lines in the Glasgow edition from those in 

 Baynes, 1825, and It may be inferred that Mr. 

 Whitefield In his pulpit orations used the same 

 text on other occasions, changing his modes of 

 exposition from It. The sermons preached in the 

 High Churchyard of Glasgow i-eferred to, are, 

 I think, likely never to have found their way into 

 any collection of his works. G. N. 



Yepsond (2"<> S. x. 210. 276.) — Qu. A.-S. 

 spannan, gespannan, p. gespem, to span, to mea- 

 sure {span, palmus) ? Yaspin is a " handful," and 

 yasping, a " grasping." R. S. Charnock. 



Wit (2"* S. x. 210. 276.) —While questioning 

 the late Dr. Archer's wit, S. H. M. hazards a criti- 

 cism and states a fact — in both I differ from your 

 correspondent. He tells us that "the hair was 

 universally worn down upon the shoulders, at the 

 beginning of tiie present century : by men it was 



f)ut in a queue, in the case of youths it was aU 

 owed to hang naturally." 



Born at the end of the last century, I was a strip- 

 ling at the beginning of the present one, but never 

 did I wear my hair down upon the shoulders, nor 

 did I ever see any stripling have It so. The first 

 French revolution, which cut off heads In France, 

 snipped away pigtails In England as a fashion, 

 though the red-tapism of Whitehall kept them 

 still dangling on the necks of the household troops, 

 horse and foot, up to the year '10 or so. Many a 

 young guardsman, however, have I seen In his 

 fan-tailed coat, cocked hat, long white tights, and 

 tasseled Hessian boots, walking along Pall Mall 



