2nd s. X. Dec. 22. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



491 



Minav floteiS. 



Wanted a Bookbinder, who will let you have 

 your books back again in reasonable time. As 

 far as I can make out, the various steps in bind- 

 ing a book, including the drying, &c., occupy only 

 a few days ; but I can find nobody who will let me 

 have them again for months. This is a very serious 

 trial to A Bookworm. 



Eating and Drinking uncovered. — When 

 staying for some time lately in one of the val- 

 leys of the Rhonegebirge in Bavaria, an old and 

 j^ privileged servant (an Irishman) objected to the 

 custom of most of the. Germans breakfasting in 

 the open air under the trees ; partly, I believe, 

 from the absence of what he considered the pro- 

 per accompaniments of that pleasant English meal. 

 But he also remarked, that as it was necessary to 

 wear hats or caps when out of doors, it was un- 

 seemly, if not actually wrong, so to receive the 

 food provided for us by God's mercy, which should 

 be taken with thankfulness and uncovered head. 

 Since then I have recently seen in Ireland an 

 example of this feeling carried out in a most 

 marked manner, and by persons of the middle 

 rank, so that it is not a mere superstition of the 

 peasantry. Has any reader of " N. & Q." ob- 

 served this custom ? Eastern people never take a 

 draught of water in an erect or careless attitude : 

 always with the body reverentially bowed, and 

 grasping the glass firmly in the whole hand. In 

 my old campaigning days also I have observed 

 the soldiers who wear their forage caps almost 

 always uncover when sitting down to eat. 



Cymru. 

 Forth yr Aur, Carnarvon. 



Sir Philip Francis. — There is a copy of The 

 Earl of Straffordes Letters and Dispatches, 2 vols, 

 folio, Ijondon, 1739, in the library of the State 

 Paper Office, with the signature of " P. Francis " 

 on the fly-leaf of the first volume ; and several 

 notes in pencil and ink, apparently written on 

 diflferent occasions. The notes have reference to 

 the contents of the volumes ; some of them are, I 

 think, sufficiently curious in themselves, if they 

 lead to no farther inquiry, to warrant my tran- 

 scribing them for insertion in your valuable pub- 

 lication. The figures refer to the pages of the 

 volume, where a pencil tick marks the passage 

 alluded to. 

 " 20. Did James assist both parties ? 



286. Compare these principles witli his first profession. 

 7. Blessed fruits of the Govm« of Charles the First ! 



143. What an occupation for a gentleman ! 



145. Justice by solicitation in the Star Chamber. 



215. Murder of Wallestein. 

 4. Madmen generally are cowards. 

 9. \ Compare this with his speeches in the Ho. of 

 40. J Commons in 1627-8." 



Sir Philip Francis seems to have " paid Payne 

 H, 11*. 6d" for this copy of Strafforde's Dispatches 



on the 12th June, 1809, according to a minute of 

 that date. It was bought for the library of the 

 State Paper Office at Evans' Auction Rooms on 

 3rd Feb. 1838. Is it probable that these notes 

 were ever made use of in any work written by, or 

 attributed to Sir Philip Francis ? W. N. S. 



Paper and Poison. — Among the various facts 

 recorded in the weekly returns issued by the Re- 

 gistrar-General, there was one lately registered 

 which is so startling, and at the same time so pro- 

 per to be generally known, that it would be well, 

 I think, to give it a place in " N. & Q." : — 



"A child three years old was poisoned bj' arsenical 

 exhalations from the green paper of a breakfast-room. 

 That the use of paper thus prepared in covering the walls 

 of apartments, especially Ijedrooms, is highly dangerous, 

 is a fact which by this time should be' universally 

 known." 



Another mode of sloio poisoning by paper is the 

 smoking of cigarettes. It should be recollected 

 that the paper is smoked as well as the tobacco. 

 Now every one must have observed that of late 

 years burning paper emits fumes which, when in- 

 haled, are instinctively felt to be poisonous. In- 

 deed, the medical men of Paris have lately drawn 

 attention to the prevalence of certain disorders 

 caused by the smoking of paper. Unless, there- 

 fore, paper be used, in the manufacture of which 

 no poison is employed — and of that who can be 

 sure? — the habitual use of cigarettes must be in- 

 jurious. Perhaps it may be said that the tobacco 

 is poisonous also. Well, I have no wish to gainsay 

 it. At all events it is not favourable to the vigour 

 of the mental powers, as has been demonstratively 

 shown by the statistics of the French colleges, in 

 which the habitual smokers are invariably found 

 to occupy the tail end of a class. Mental hebe- 

 tude is rather a dear price to pay for the indul- 

 gence. John Williams. 

 Arno's Court. 



The Surname Turnbull. — The name Turne- 

 bus is, according to some, Latinised from the 

 French name Tournebceuf, which is further said to 

 be a translation of our Turnbull. It seems to me 

 that most surnames compounded of bceuf are de- 

 rived from locality. There are places named 

 Critjuebeuf, Couliboeuf, Quilleboeuf, anciently 

 Quilebeuf, and Elbeuf or Elbceuf, in Latin Elbo- 

 vium (Quilleboeuf being situated near the mouth, 

 and Elbceuf some distance up the Seine, and 

 Criquebeuf on the sea coast). Quilbeuf is also a 

 personal name. Chabeu or Chabeuf (Chabot ?) 

 is said to be derived from a local name in Bresse ; 

 and Belbeuf, Belboeuf, Brebeuf, Cordebeuf, De 

 Marbceuf, Poinbceuf, and Porcabeuf, are also 

 French surnames. But what is the meaning of 

 bceuf, and whence is it corrupted ? Souvestre 

 (Nantes et La Loire) says Paimbceuf, near Nantes, 

 was originally written Penbceuf, and in Bas Bret. 

 Penochen, which would translate " bull's head." 



