418 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 47., Nov. 22. '56. 



*' Radechenistres," and " Rodknigbtes." Under 

 the last head he explains the office thus : 



" Vassalli sen clientes erant equestres, qui equitantem 

 dominum suum, vel uxorem ejus, ex more inter eos pacto 

 subsequuti sunt ; et quasi satellitio suo cingebant," &c. 



The whole of Spelman's notices would be too long 

 for insertion. Louisa Julia Norman. 



Horse-Racing on the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire 

 (2"'' S. ii. 352.) — The first mention I find of 

 races on these hills is in the London Gazette of 

 Monday, May 7, 1677, wherein it is stated that a 

 plate would be run for at Cerney Downs, within 

 two miles of Cirencester; and about five years 

 after^ viz. Thursday, April 27, 1682, the London 

 Gazette announces that a plate (a 40Z. plate) 

 would be run for on Cirencester Downs on 

 May 24th, being Holy Thursday Eve, — the riders 

 to be gentlemen weighing fourteen stone. 



Respecting races at Tetbury, I cannot satisfy 

 the Query of your correspondent ; but I find by 

 the Public Advertiser of Aug. 20, 1755, that at the 

 meeting there, on the 7th of that month, the 501. 

 plate was won by Lord Chedworth's bay horse, 

 Foxhunter. I believe these races wei'e discon- 

 tinued about the close of the last century, and 

 were superseded by the celebrated races at Kings- 

 cote Park, the seat of the late Robert Kingscote, 

 Esq. Bibury races, on the same hills, where 

 there were only gentlemen-riders, and which were 

 most fashionably attended, also helped with 

 Kingscote to render Tetbury races unnecessary. 



X 



Writers bribed to Silence (2"'^ S. i. 471.; ii. 

 18.) — Among these writers, if report says true, 

 we may include Dr. Wolcott, alias " Peter Pin- 

 dar," who had a pension given him, it is said, on 

 condition that he should write no more in abuse 

 of the king, George III. Henry T. Riley. 



Meaning of Lecherstone (2"^ S. ii. 290.) — Mr. 

 Warwick does not seem to be aware that In the 

 (Sco^o-Celtic dialect the word bdine, or vden, means 

 white, as in Donald baine. Fair Donald, King Dun- 

 can's younger son (b and v are used indiscrimin- 

 ately), and moine-vden means the white moss, a 

 place in AthoU forest, where, under the peat, is a 

 pure white sand. I therefore conceive that a 

 " tautological etymology " is out of the question, 

 and that Llech-vaen means the white stone or 

 slab, and that, in contradistinction to red stones, 

 of which there are many, such as that large one at 

 Rudston, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, from 

 which stone the place evidently takes its name. 

 It is not called Llech, as it is an upright long, and 

 not a flat stone. Clach is the ordinary word in 

 the Scoto-Celtic for a stone in general — carrig or 

 craig for a rock. Llech means, as is stated, " a 

 flat stone or tablet," — also a slab and a slate. 

 How much of the etymology of leckerstones may 



be due to the flat stone, and how much to the 

 corpse laid upon it, it seems difficult to determine. 



J. S. s. 



Notes on Regiments (2""^ S. ii. 35, &c.) —The 

 uniform of the 50th Regiment was red faced with 

 black and silver lace, which sombre colours or 

 bad assortment gave the regiment at all times an 

 uncleanly appearance, whence it had been deno- 

 minated the Dirty Half Hundred ; but ever after 

 the glorious charge led on by Col. Walker at 

 Vimiero, in its place stands the Gallant 50th. — 

 See Landman's Recollections, ch. xiii. 



The 29th Regiment was the last in the Penin- 

 sular army to retain the queue. — lb. ch. v. 



When the Duke of York was appointed Com- 

 mander-in-chief, one of his first orders was, that 

 all officers should join their respective regiments 

 within six months after beiftg gazetted. This 

 measure put an end to the purchase of commis- 

 sions for children as a good investment of money. 

 — lb. c. iii. 



The " Cumberland Cap " was worn so lately as 

 1785, when Mr. A. Stephen saw it in use at Ayls- 

 ham. — Gent. Mag., Dec. 1845. 



I give references for my present notes ; the 

 former memoranda which I communicated were 

 gathered in conversation from military friends. I 

 state this, as I was acquainted long since with the 

 works to which " Miles " and other correspon- 

 dents refer me, for what they consider better in- 

 formation. Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



Colonel Cleland (2"'^ S. ii. 351.) — Mr. Rilev, 

 by the heading of his notice of the Memoirs of a 

 Woman of Pleasure, would seem to intimate that 

 it was written by Colonel Cleland. Tlie real 

 writer of this infamous publication — still, I am 

 sorry to say, exhibited in the windows of Holy- 

 well Street — was John Cleland, a son of the 

 friend and correspondent of Pope. A short notice 

 of Cleland's Works may be seen in John Nichols's 

 Anecdotes of Bowijer, 4to., 1782, p. 366. 



Edward F. Rimbaui>t. 



Some of your correspondents seem interested in 

 the history of John Cleland. An accidental coin- 

 cidence, in an article printed almost parallel to 

 Mr. Riley's remarks (p. 351.), reminds me that 

 in Sir W. Hamilton's review of " Thomson's life 

 of Dr. W. Cullen," (to be found in the volume of 

 Sir W. Hamilton's reprinted works on Philosophy, 

 ^-c.) there is some notice of a relationship between 

 the Doctor and Mr. Cleland, the " Will. Honey- 

 comb" of the Spectator ; and also of a Capt. Cle- 

 land, another relation. I do not know whether 

 this Avill be of any value to Mu. Riley ; but at 

 all events, I thought it might be worth while in- 

 troducing it to his notice, on the chance. " Cle- 

 land," I suppose, is a corruption of "Cleveland." 



K. E. P. 



