2'"» S. VIII. July 2. '59.'^ 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



women beneath their waists were pent-housed out far 

 beyond their bodies; so that posterity will wonder to 

 what purpose those bucklers of paste-board were em- 

 ployed These by degrees grew so vast, that their 



wearers could not enter (except going side- long) at any 

 ordinary door ; which gave the occasion to this proverb. 

 But these verdingales have been disused these forty years ; 

 whether because women were convinced in their con- 

 sciences of the vanity of this, or allured in their fancies 

 with the novelty of other fashions, I will not {^termine." 



Fbancis Trench. 

 Islip. 



Bartholomew Thomas Duhigg. — Mr. Duhigg, 

 Librarian to the Honourable Society of King's 

 Inns, Dublin, devoted no small portion of bis 

 time to legal study and publication ; as proved by 

 his Letter to the Right Hon. Charles Abbot, on the 

 Arrangement of Irish Records, Sfc. (8vo. Dublin, 

 1801); his King' s Inns Remembrances (8vo. Dublin, 

 1805); and his more comprehensive work, en- 

 titled History of the King's Inns, or, an Account 

 of the Legal Body in Ireland, from its Connexion 

 with England (8vo., Dublin, 1806). 



Mr. Rohn, in his edition of Lowndes's Manual, 

 informs us that the History of the King's Inns is 

 "in three Parts, two Parts published;" but this 

 is an inaccuracy. I have Part III., as well as the 

 other two, at this moment before me. 



The pamphlet, entitled King's Inns Remem- 

 brances; is " an Account of Irish Judges on the 

 Revival of the King's Inns Society in 1607 ;" and 

 in a note appended to Part III. of his History, the 

 author states that " he is anxiously determined to 

 complete King's Inns Remembrances, or an ac- 

 count of eminent legal men fi'om the earliest sera 

 in Irish annals, and also an History of the late 

 Union." Did Mr. Duhigg carry his intentions 

 into effect ? When did he die ? And has any 

 biographical sketch appeared in print ? Abhba. 



King James's Army List. — Mr. D'AIton (at p. 

 728.) says that Colonel Rochfort was tried in 

 1651 for being a Royalist. Mason, in his History 

 of St. Patrick's, Dublin, gives the details of the 

 court martial ; from which it would appear that 

 he was tried 9th March, 1651, for the murder of 

 his major — a very different offence. He was 

 found guilty, and sentenced to death ; but the 

 sentence was not executed for upwards of a year. 

 Mr. D'AIton has also fallen into mistakes about the 

 creation of sundry baronetcies, which he says were 

 granted before in reality the order was in exist- 

 ence. Y. S. M. 



" Memoirs of General Joseph Holt." — In p. xxii. 

 of the Preface to the Memoirs of Joseph Holt, it 

 is stated that " the manuscript of these volumes 

 [2 vols. 8vo. London, 1838] was procured by Sir 

 William Betham from Joseph Harrison Holt, the 

 son of the writer, not long after his father's 

 death." And in the Catalogue of the late Mr. 

 Thos. Crofton Croker's library, which was sold by 



Messrs. Puttick & Simpson in 1834, there ap- 

 pears, amongst other MSS., the following item: — 



« 592. Memoirs of Holt, General of the Irish Rebels, 

 edited from his original MSS. by T. Crofton Croker, the 

 MS. in Mr. Croker's hand." • 



I have this MS. in my possession ; and it is 

 curious, containing much more than what has 

 been printed, and showing the many alterations 

 made by the editor. Where is the original MS. 

 at present ? I may add what is not mentioned 

 by Mr. Croker, that Holt and his wife lie buried 

 in the old churchyard of Monkstown, near Dub- 

 lin ; and that there is a headstone to their me- 

 mory, " erected by their eldest son, Joshua Holt 

 of Sydney." Abhba. 



Provincial Words : "Pishty," " Cess-here." — In 

 parts of Gloucestershire a young dog is called a 

 pishty, and is invited to come by the words ^'pishty, 

 pishty." In like manner a dog is invited to come 

 to his food thus, "Cess-here, cess-here." Is either 

 of these words used elsewhere ? and whence are 

 they derived or corrupted ? P. P. Q. 



^ntvitg. 



ABIGAIL HILL. 



It will be admitted by everyone who has given 

 much attention to the four last years of Q. Anne's 

 reign, — when, more than at any other period of 

 English history, since the Revolution of 1688, the 

 succession to the throne trembled in the balance, — 

 that the ruling spirit of that eventful period was 

 Abigail, Lady Masham. The comparative obscu- 

 rity into which her name has since fallen may be, 

 in a great measure, attributable to that unobtru- 

 siveness, — not the least singular point in her very 

 remarkable character, — which led her to content 

 herself with the reality of power, and avoid its 

 parade. Hence, while Sir Walter Scott styles 

 her truly " the patroness of Tories," less discern- 

 ing writers have spoken of her as a creature or 

 tool in the hands of that party : a supposition, 

 one would think, sufficiently refuted by the plain 

 facts, that, after rescuing her royal mistress from 

 the intolerable yoke of the Marlboroughs, Abigail 

 Hill removed Lord Treasurer Gndolphin to make 

 room for her cousin Harley ; and, again, removed 

 Harley with as little ceremony when it appeared 

 that he hesitated to go the required lengths to- 

 wards the restoration of the Queen's brother. 



There can be no reasonable doubt that the 

 character of Lady Masham (naturally in her 

 own time the butt of political squibs and ribaldry 

 from the opposite party) is not in the present day 

 fairly appreciated. Miss Strickland, however, 

 writes : — 



" Lady Masham wrote in a better style than Secretary 

 Harley or any of the courtiers of the era ; as any one 



