520 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



C2n<» S. X. Dec. 29. '^, 



and that, unless he gave it out, some people would 

 go Into the fields too soon. He, therefore, com- 

 plied. G. W. M. 



Brede Lepb (2°'' S. X. 428.) — Your correspon- 

 dent asks for the derivation of this name for a 

 street, or an ancient building. ' Perhaps the fol- 

 lowing may be of service to him. In Chambers's 

 Cyclopaedia, 1786, I find : — 



" Bredewite, in ancient law writers, an amercement 

 arising from some default in the assize of bread." 



And in the same work : — 



" Lepa, in our old writers, a measure which contained 

 the third part of two bushels. Whence we derive a seed 

 leap." 



Brede lepe may, therefore, by a synecdoche, 

 stand for a measuring place for bread. 



Frederick Wonham. 

 Bognor. 



Seven Children in One Year (2''^ S. x. 471.) 

 — I cannot confirm the statement of the Dublin 

 Gazette, quoted by Abhba ; but I do not see any 

 reason for doubting its truth. . In the Natural 

 History of Oxfordshire (Oxford, 1677), is an 

 amusing case of this kind, which I give as there 

 related (p. 194.) : — 



" That women may bring forth three at a birth, appears 

 evidently by the example of the Horatii and Curiatii; to 

 whom may be added, though of unequal rank, the three 

 children of a Taykr here in Oxford, which he had all at 

 a birth. But to go above that number, says Pliny *, is 

 reputed and commonly spoken of as monstrous, and to 

 portend some mishap : for confirmation whereof, he in- 

 stances \h. a Commoner's wife of Ostia, who was delivered 

 at one birth of two boys and two girls ; but this, says he, 

 ■was a most prodigious token, and portended no doubt the 



famine that ensued soon after Witness the four 



children brought all at a time by Elenor, the wife of 

 Henry Deven of Watlington, An. 1675. Since which, time 

 we have yet lived (thanks be to God) in as great health, 

 peace, and plenty, under our good and gracious King, as 

 ever People did," &c. 



Are there any superstitions of this kind existing 

 now ? 



Many very curious stories may be seen In the 

 book from which I quote, but I do not think they 

 are suitable for the pages of "N. & Q." 



G. W. M. 



Shakspeare Music (2"* S. x. 342.) — Mr. 

 AiiFRED RoFFE will find an earlier setting than 

 Weldon's of " Take, oh take those lips away," as 

 a song in the several editions of Select Musicall 

 Ayres and Dialogues published in 1652, 1653, and 

 1659. The composer was Dr. John Wilson, then 

 Professor of Music in the University of Oxford, 

 who is believed to be identical with the ". Jack 

 Wilson," whose name appears in the folio Shak- 

 speare of 1623 (in Much Ado about Nothing), 

 instead of that of Balthazar, the character he 

 represented. Dr. Wilson was born about 1594 



* Nat, Hist., lib. vii. cap. 3. 



and, if we accept Malone's conjecture that Mea- 

 sure for Measure was written before 1607, may 

 possibly have been the original representative of 

 the Boy by whom the song, " Take, oh take those 

 lips away" is sung to the " dejected Mariana." 

 Neither is it altogether beyond the bounds of 

 probability that his music was that originally 

 " married to " the " immortal verse " of Shak- 

 speare. W. H. Husk. 



Marshall Family (2"'' S. iv. 512.) — A. will 

 find pedigrees of this family in Harl. MSS., 1082., 

 fol. 74\; 1400, p. 91., &c. ; 1394, p. 85.; 1420, 

 65.; 1484, p. 48.; 1415, 98.; 1484, p. 12. (arms 

 as at p. 48.); 1995, 126 ^; 1487, pp. 291''-2. ; 

 2118, p. 12P. ; 1555, fol. 146"., and in several 

 others. Some information may be obtained from 

 Thoroton's Notts, and there are some pedigrees in 

 the Visitation of Yorkshire, lately published by 

 the Surtees Society. If A. could furnish farther 

 Information, he would much oblige, G. W. M. 



Sheep and Mutton (2"* S. x.411.) — Mutton 

 Is derived by Menage and others from Ger. 

 Mutzen, to cut ; but the old form, Multones, which 

 constantly occurs, seems to point to mutilo or mu' 

 leto as the etymon. The word is equivalent to 

 the vervex of classical Latin, and the wether of 

 the English grazier. The following extract, trans- 

 lated from an (unpublished) inventory of goods 

 and chattels belonging to an alien priory in 1337, 

 shows the relative value of the animals In ques- 

 tion five centuries ago : — 



" There were in store 13 cows, each worth half a mark ; 

 30 pigs, each worth 2M. ; 140 muttons, each worth lOd. ; 

 and 100 sheep, each worth 8d." 



J. Eastwood. 



In the passage S. M. quotes from the Earl of 

 Salisbury's will, viz., " a thousand sheep, three 

 hundred muttons^'' sheep is probably used either of 

 ewes ( = French brebis), or of ewes and rams 

 (real sheep) ; whilst by muttons is doubtless 

 meant castrated sheep, wethers. Mouton in 

 French, though very commonly used of sheep in 

 general, strictly speaking only means wether : sec 

 Bescherelle s. v. Curiously enough the Italian 

 montone (whence mouton) means ram, not wether ; 

 and the German Widder (whence our wether) also 

 ram. F. C. 



Burial in an Upright Posture (2"'* S. ix. 

 passim.) — I think several instances of this are 

 recorded in Blomefield's Norfolk. Clement Spel- 

 man of Narburgh, Recorder of Nottingham, who 

 died in 1679, is immured upright, enclosed In a 

 pillar In Narburgh chancel, so that the Inscrip- 

 tion on the pillar is directly against his face. So 

 says my note-book. E. S. Taylor. 



The custom of Mahomedans and Christians in 

 Europe and Asia Minor is to bury In a horizontal 

 position. During my residence xn Turkey I in- 



