116 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



C2«»d S. VIII. Aug. 6. '69. 



Sandwich, a.d. 1301, in Boys's Collections.') Cf. 

 in Cotgrave " A weigh of cheese " (that is, a cer- 

 tain conventional quantity, 256 pounds). More- 

 over, this weigh, or poys, had its corresponding 

 term in med.-Latin. Any thing made up into a 

 package, bundle, or lot, of a certain fixed amount, 

 was in med.-Latin called a pondus. " Pondus. 

 lies quagvis in fasces collata . . . . ' Tria pondera 

 de mostayla' " (Du Cange). So that ponde and 

 pot/s mean the same thing. Such seems to be 

 the affinity of "har/jo^s" and '^ fjssheponde." 



As to " fyssheponde," then, there can be little 

 difficulty. Fyssheponde was a certain conven- 

 tional amount or " weigh " of fish made up into 

 a lot, say a bundle of saltfish, each such lot paying 

 " temp. Hen. III.," as your correspondent inti- 

 mates, a stated " custom " " at Billingsgate." — 

 " H&rpoys," (" poys " answering to weigh or 

 pondus) was, I would submit, a certain amount 

 or weigh of herrings, subject to a similar pay- 

 ment. 



Herring was in those days harang. " Harang 

 ffresch," " harang soor or salce " {Costumal of 

 Sandwich, p. 556). Look sharply at " harpoys," 

 and you will perhaps detect in it a contracted 

 form, two words run into one, harang-poys, har- 

 poys, harpoys. 



All the three articles which your correspondent 

 specifies* paid " toll '"' or " custom." Each was in 

 transitu; and each was made up in the usual 

 form in which it- paid duty. The harpoys and 

 the fyssheponde were herrings and fish (probably 

 codfish) imported from abroad, and therefore 

 liable at " Billingsgate " to a certain " custom," 

 so much upon each pondus, poys, or weigh. The 

 homespun " cadewoldes " were woollen in bales, 

 of a stated quantity, each bale subject to a stated 

 toll, when " brought over London Bridge." 



Thomas Boys. 



Osmunda Regalis (P' S. ii. 199.) — Having oc- 

 casion a few days since to look at the description 

 of " Osmunda regalis " in Moore's Poprdar History 

 of British Ferns, I there found at p. 141. an an- 

 swer to the Query proposed by J. M. B., and 

 which I cannot find has been at present answered. 

 The legend is to the following effect : — 



"Legend of Osmund the "Waterman. — At Loch 

 Tyne dwelt the waterman old Osmund. Fairest among 

 maidens was the daughter of Osmund the waterman. 

 Her light brown hair and glowing cheek told of her 

 Saxon origin, and her light steps bounded over the green 

 turf like a young fawn in his native glades. Often, in 

 the stillness of a sunyner's even, did the mother and her 

 fair-haired child sit beside the lake to watch the dripping 

 and the plashing of the father's oars, as he skimmed 

 right merrily towards them on the deep blue waters. 

 Sounds, as of hasty steps, were heard one Aay, and pre- 

 sently a company of fugitives told with breathless haste 

 that the cruel Danes were making towards the ferry. Os- 



mund heard them with fear. Suddenly the shouts of furi- 

 ous men came remotelj' on the ear. The fugitives rushed 

 on, and Osmund stood for a moment, when, snatching up 

 his oars, he rowed his trembling wife and fair child to 

 a small island, covered with the great Osmund Roj'al, 

 and, assisting them to land, enjoined them to lie down 

 beneath the tall ferns. Scarcely had the ferryman 

 returned to his cottage, when a company of Danes 

 rushed in ; but they hurt him not, for they knew he could 

 do them service. During the day and night did Osmund 

 row backwards and forwards across the river, ferrying 

 troops of those fierce men ; and when the last company 

 was put on shore, you might have seen Osmund kneeling 

 beside the river's bank, and returning heartfelt thanks to 

 Heaven for the preservation of his wife and child. Often 

 in after years did Osmund speak of that day's peril ; and 

 his fair child, grown up to womanhood, called the tall 

 fern by her father's name." 



T. W. WONFOR. 

 Brighton. 



Shelley and Barhamwick (2°'^ S. viii. 71.) — 

 May not this refer to Barnham parish (the village 

 is six miles from Chichester, and four from Bog- 

 nor), "where the family of Shelley of Michel- 

 grove at an early period possessed considerable 

 property" (Horsfield, i. 414.). There was a 

 family named Barham in Wadhurst parish. "Of 

 the ancient family of Barham, who for upwards of 

 two centuries resided here, Mr. Michael (after- 

 wards Mr. Sergeant) Barham gained the most no- 

 toriety " (Horsfield). Percy Bysshe Shelley, the 

 poet, was born at Field Place in the parish of 

 Warnham. It is more than probable, however, 

 that the Shelley family were originally from 

 another county. There is the parish of Shelley 

 (scene-leag) in Ongar hundred, Essex ; the parish 

 of Shelley {Shelli, Shelleighe) in Samford hundred, 

 Suffolk ; and the township of Shelley in the parish 

 of Kirk-Burton, co. York : cf. Dallaway. 



R. S. Chabnock. 



Herbert Knowles (2°* S. viii. 28. 55.)— J. F. W. 

 is not quite correct in his reply to the inquiry of 

 H. E. Wilkinson respecting Herbert Knowles. 

 He left some poems of considerable merit; but 

 which his friends, acting, I believe, on the advice 

 of Southey, declined to publish. Some extracts, 

 however, appeared in the Literary Gazette not 

 long after his death, and will be found in the 

 volume for 1817, 1818, or 1819, if your corre- 

 spondent wishes to see them. 



I have before me, as I write, one of the original 

 copies of the " Lines written in Richmond Church- 

 yard," as well as manuscript copies of two short 

 poems, which I think are not the same as those 

 published in the Literary Gazette. 



Is J. F. W. certain about the year of Knowles's 

 death ? I was a schoolfellow of his, and should 

 have thought that he died a year later than is 

 stated. C. H. 



Leeds. 



P.S. In the obituary of The Times of the 9th 

 May, 1859, appears a notice of the death, on the 



