338 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2nd s. No 43., Oct. 25, '56. 



this attitude advanced towards the dog, making all 

 the noise he could with his feet ; but the moment 

 he began to march thus beating time, the dog 

 turned away and ran off in a perfect fright. 



F. C. H. 



K. Byfield (2"^ S. ii. 211.) — Nicholas Bifield's 

 son, Adonirum, republished the whole of his 

 father's treatises in a 12mo. vol. of 767 pages 

 in 1628. The fifth treatise ends at p. 639., and in 

 the following page he makes an apology why 

 The Principles or Patterne of Wholesome Words 

 is not produced. On the very next page he gives 

 the title of the missing treatise at full length, as 

 the third edition. On the back of this title he oddly 

 enough prints the following : " This is the Title 

 of the Treatise mentioned in the advertizement : 

 The Treatise itself ought to follow in this place." 

 The next page (being the 643rd) commences with 

 the last treatise : " The Cure of the Feare of Death." 



The omission of the treatise in question from 

 this edition may account for Adonirum Byfield 

 bringing out The Principles, or The Patterne of 

 Wholesome Wo7'ds (as named in the editor's note) 

 in a fifth edition, in 1634. 



Your correspondent Karl, may wish to know 

 something of Nicholas Byfield, or Bifield. He 

 was born in Warwickshire, and educated at Exeter 

 College, Oxford. He preached at Chester for 

 seven years, from whence he removed to Isle- 

 worth, in Middlesex, where he remained until his 

 death in 1622. He was a Calvinist, and a very 

 voluminous writer. In Neal's History of the 

 Puritans, it is stated that they (the Puritans) lost 

 an eminent practical writer and preacher about 

 1622, meaning Nicholas Byfield. His son, Ado- 

 nirum, was one of the heroes in Butler's Hudihras. 

 Gebvas K. Holmes. 



Count Vilain Quatorze (2"'> S. i. 232.) —Upon 

 a deputation of Bi-uxellois waiting upon Louis 

 XIV. (shortly after the bombardment by Marshal 

 Luxembourg, I think,) he granted M. Vilain, who 

 was at the head of the deputation, the privilege of 

 thenceforth calling himself " Quatorze," in com- 

 pliment to the monarch. The story is, that on 

 learning his name, the king made an aside to his 

 attendants : " Oui, et tres vilain" (" Yes, and very 

 ugly,") making a pun upon the name as reflecting 

 upon the looks of the owner. This is how I have 

 heard the story told at Brussels ; but some of 

 your correspondents who have it fresher in their 

 memories may be able to tell it better. 



Henky T. Riley. 



St. Peter's Tribe (1" S. x. 207. ; 2°'i S. ii. 299.) — 

 There can be no reasonable doubt that St. Peter 

 was of the tribe of Napthali, since he lived at 

 Bethsaida, situated within the territory of that 

 tribe ; and one of an occupation so humble would 

 lot be likely to have removed thither from any 

 otW tribe. F. C. H. 



" Pence a piece " (2"'^ S. ii. 66. 118. 299.) — As 

 an expression somewhat analogous to this, I may 

 mention that it was the custom of an eminent 

 Scotch professor, who flourished towards the close 

 of the eighteenth century, to use the term, " a 

 penny money." Thus, " What did you give the 

 poor beggar ? " "A penny money." Vox. 



Fairies (2"'> S. i. 393.; ii. 119.) — The belief in 

 fairies still? exists among some parts of the rural 

 population of this county (Somerset). Being in 

 the neighbourhood of Blagdon, not long since, 

 a poor woman said to me, pointing to a hill, 

 "that's the hill. Sir, where the fairies come to 

 dance." " Indeed," said I, " and have you ever 



seen them dancing there ?," "No, but and 



have seen them there lots of times, and I can 



show you the fairy rings." Vox. 



Sources d'Eaux at Swia (2"'' S. ii. 218.) — 

 Mr. Chabnock having inquired of me whether 

 the extraordinary " sources d'eaux " at Buda, 

 described by La Martinlere, as quoted by Wagen- 

 seil, are still in existence, I note his Query with- 

 out being able to afford him any information, 

 except that I neither saw, nor heard of, them. 

 There can, however, I think, be but little doubt, 

 presuming the learned professor has given the 

 passage correctly in his Synops. Geo., that the 

 author of the JDictionnaire Geographique was in 

 error, for although fish are often found in water 

 of a considerable degree of temperature, they 

 cannot ll'^e in " eau bouillante." Fish are some- 

 times thrown up by the boiling springs of Iceland, 

 but they are always dead. John A. Boasb. 



Alvertoa Vean, Penzance. 



Medlars introduced into England (2"'^ S. ii. 173.) 

 — This fruit is mentioned by Chaucer (Prologue 

 to Reves Tale) under a name more descriptive 

 than decent. He alludes, moreover, to its being 

 eaten in a state of decay : — 



" That ilke fruit is ever longer the wers, 

 Till it be roten in mullok or in sire. 

 We olde men, I drede, so fareu we 

 Till we be roten can we not be ripe." 



As Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 

 gives the same name for tbis fruit, it was evi- 

 dently known in Anglo-Saxon times. I have 

 heard it so called by old men in Norfolk. Tlie 

 Reve is described by Chaucer as a Norfolk 

 man: 



" Of Norfolk was this reve, of which stell, 

 Beside a toun men clepen Baldeswell." 



And more than one instance of Norfolk dialect 

 may be found in his language. E. G. K. 



Twenty-four Shares (P' S. xii. 427. ; 2""! S. i. 

 159.) — Under Spanish mining law in Old Spain, 

 Mexico, and South America, mines are divided Into 

 twenty-four parts. Kappa. 



