ee 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



i2nd s. N» 30., July 26. '6^. 



Parish Registers. — The necessity of having all 

 the parish registers transcribed and jirinted is 

 univei'sally admitted, and several communications 

 have been made to you on the subject ; but lat- 

 terly the matter appears to have dropped. Many 

 clergymen would doubtless assist all in their 

 power, but I think it would be an undertaking 

 too gigantic for private enterprise ; and from its 

 national importance, should be done at government 

 expense. 



If some of your readers were to bring the mat- 

 ter before Parliament, there is no doubt it would 

 be sanctioned at once. The affair must not again 

 be allowed to sleep ; as from the state of many of 

 the registers, every week is of importance. 



I will not presume to sketch any plan for car- 

 rying this into effect, as many of your correspon- 

 dents are far better versed in such matters than I 

 am. I only wish to urge the immediate necessity 

 of having it done in some way. W. 



Bombay. 



" The Pale" North Malvern. — Near to Cowley 

 Park, on the road to Leigh Sinton, there is 

 a picturesque gabled house, bearing the date 

 "mdcxxxi." This house is called "The Pale," 

 and is so marked in the Ordnance Map ; but I do 

 not find any mention of it in the county or local 

 histories. Future writers, however, may be in- 

 duced to notice it, and may possibly be led into 

 error in explaining its etymology. I have acci- 

 dentally been put into possession of the correct 

 origin of the word, and I will therefore here make 

 a Note of it. The house was built in 1631 by one 

 who had acquired a large fortune as a baker. He 

 was not ashamed of the trade, by the profits of 

 which he had become a " prosperous gentleman," 

 and he therefore resolved to call his newly-built 

 residence by a name that should remind him and 

 others of his former occupation. The name he 

 selected was " The Pale," which is the title given 

 to the long wooden shovel on which the bread Is 

 placed in order to be pushed into the oven. 



CUTHBEBT BeDE, B.A. 



Curious Epigram. — Referring to Wm. M. 

 W.'s inquiry after the author of the epigram, 

 " Blessed be the Sabbath" (" N. & Q,.," P' S. vi. 

 507.), I beg to send you the following quotation 

 from a singular book. Small's Roman Antiquities, 

 Edinburgh, 1823, App. p. 5., verbatim, in the 

 author's slovenly style : 



" Another curious anecdote is told of Ci'omwell when 

 lying about Perth, when one of the principal contractors 

 for his army, of the name of Monday or Mundy, by his 

 affairs becoming embarrassed, had committed the rash 

 act of suicide by hanging himself. Cromwell, it seems, 

 had offered a premium to any one that would make the 

 most appropriate lines of poetry on the occasion, however 

 short or sententious. Many elaborate poetical essays, it 

 is said, were given in by the various competitors on the 

 subject; but, amongst others, u tailor, who lived at Kin- 



fauns, is said to have started as a competitor; but unfor- 

 tunately, his wife, when she understood that he was one, 

 and learned also that he was about to set out for the 

 trial, thought it so ridiculous in him to appear, that she 

 locked up his clothes, and would not allow him a clean 

 shirt to appear decent in. However, it seems the tailor 

 had either found means to procure a clean shirt, or had 

 gone wanting one, and delivered in his essay with the 

 rest, consisting only of four simple lines, but which is said 

 to have carried oft" the prize. 



" ' Bless'd be the Sunday, 

 Cursed be worldly "pelf ; 

 Tuesday now begins the week, 

 Tor Monday has hang'd himself.' 



This shows that Oliver, with all his apparent morosity, 

 had not been insensible to humour." 



D.M. 

 Arbroath. 



" Pence a piece" for a penny a piece. — Query, 

 as to the antiquity and locality of this mode of 

 expression. Has any notice of it appeared in 

 " N. & Q." ? As a market-phrase it was formerly 

 employed in Herefordshire, but seems falling into 

 disuse. An anecdote may serve to illustrate its 

 application. 



In the parish of Llangarron, near Ross, in the 

 above county, some years ago, a farmer's wife re- 

 sided whose name was Wood. She had, upon one 

 occasion, a flock of six geese and a gander, the 

 former in very good order. One morning the 

 geese were observed to be missing ; and the soli* 

 tary gander made his appearance, with a label 

 tied round his neck containing a sixpence, and the 

 following lines : — 



" Mrs. Wood, your geese are good, 

 And we, your neighbours j'onder, 

 Have bought these geese at pence a piece, 

 And sent it by the gander." 



The word yonder, pronounced, as it commonly 

 is in the country, yander, produces the legitimate 

 rhyme. W. (1.) 



©ucrferf. 



LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. 



I purpose, in the ensuing autumn (Nov. 1.) 

 to commence the publication, in eight monthly 

 volumes, of a new and revised edition of the 

 Letters of Horace Walpole, of which Mr. Peter 

 Cunningham has accepted the editorship — a 

 guarantee that the edition will be carefully edited. 

 I am the proprietor of all the published letters of 

 Walpole, and shall be able to give additional value 

 to this new edition from my own unpublished col- 

 lection, as well as the contributions of friends. 

 But, being extremely desirous to render the edi- 

 tion as complete as possible, I venture to hope for 

 the aid of those who may possess unpublished let- 

 ters or papers of Walpole : for the use of which 

 contributions, due acknowledgment will be made. 

 The work will be published in 8vo., with very 



