4d6 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»'i S. NO 61., Dec. 20. '56. 



wandering Arabs cherish him. He is at home 

 with the lively Persians, and beyond the Red Sea, 

 and the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, 

 Karaguse, or Black-Snout, is found slightly tra- 

 vestied in Hindustan, Siam and Pegu, Ava and 

 Cochin-China, China Proper, and Japan. The 

 Tartars behind the great wall of China are not 

 unacquainted with him, nor are the Kamtchatkans ; 

 and Herculaneum and Pompeii have given up 

 Punch after being buried sixteen centuries. 



The most approved derivation of Punch is from 

 his chicken nose, Pullicinus signifying a little 

 chicken. Judy is exclusively English. The ge- 

 nuine Punch, as in the ancient Greek drama, only 

 admits of two other agonistae, the Bisceglian and 

 the stuttering lawyer. Mr. MacFarlane concludes 

 his entertaining description by saying (p. 134.) : 



" How it fares with the little theatre of San Carlino, 

 and the in-door Punch, I know not ; but I have received 

 the mournful intelligence that the out-of-door Punch, and 

 the Burattini in general, have been suffering a worse than 

 heathen persecution at the hands of the present king 

 (1846) and government; that povero Policinello is ba- 

 nisheii from his home and country, and that in conse- 

 quence of these and similar improvements, all life and 

 brio are vanishing from the streets of Naples." 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



I cannot help thinking our Punch is an abbre^ 

 viation of the Neapolitan Polichinello. During a 

 long residence at Naples in 1843, I naturally fre- 

 quented the theatres, and was much diverted 

 by this personage, who answers to our English 

 clown. One feature particularly struck me, his 

 perpetual restlessness. If his master makes him 

 sit down, he cannot keep his legs and arms a 

 moment quiet, but is annoying everybody who 

 comes within their reach. The more, therefore, the 

 Polichinello agitates himself the better the actor 

 is considered. In some magazine which fell into 

 my hands at Naples, the word is derived from 

 ■Ko\b Kivev — to move much, which seemed to me at 

 least plausible, considering the founders of Nea- 

 polis were a Greek colony, and their descendants 

 retain still very many features of their original 

 country, F. W. 



I am inclined to ascribe the origin of Punch 

 and Judy to some mystery play, fgr the following 

 reasons : 



1. The name of Punch in Italy is Poncinello; 

 a very easy corruption of Pontiello, or Pontianello. 

 Judy is certainly very likq Giudei (the Jews), or 

 Giuda (Judas). 



2. There are certainly two places in Europe 

 where traditions respecting Pontius Pilate still 

 survive — Avignon, where some say that he died ; 

 and Mount Pilatus, near Lucerne. The story at 

 the latter place is, that he threw himself into a 



lake on the top of the mountain. It would appeaf 

 from this that traditions respecting him were afloat 

 during the middle ages, and nothing is more 

 likely than their embodiment in a mystery play. 



Perhaps some of your correspondents may know 

 of other places where such traditions are to be 

 found. I have long supposed Punch and Judy to 

 be the relic of a mystery play, although I had 

 never seen it proposed until I met with Mr. God- 

 win's Query. J. V. 



These persons are probably 'of Italian origin, 

 and mean Polichinello and Judas. Theobald, in 

 one of his notes to Shakspeare, says : 



" There was hardly an old play till the period of the 

 Reformation which had not in it a devil and a droll cha- 

 racter, who was to play upon and work the devil." 



Perhaps Judas was often introduced as a fit 

 representative, and so In our street exhibitions we 

 generally see both characters introduced (Judas 

 corrupted into Judy), and Punch victorious over 

 both, M. A. 



Mcpliej* ta Minor ^utviti. 



Biblical Epitomex (2"'> S. 11. 386.) — I have two 

 metrical abstracts of the Bible. 



1. at the end of a Vulgate, Paris, 1523. " Per 

 Magistrum Franciscum Golthi, ordinis Minorum." 

 It begins, — 



*' Ante fit lux producitur 

 Dividens aquas congregat," &c. 



The New Testament begins, •— 

 " A quibus venit dominus 

 Mattheus patres exhibet," &c. 



2. is In Greek, and Is Intituled — 



"EN- MIKPO MErA, fjTOi (rvvo>j/i^ Ke^aKaiwSr)? tou 'Iitto- 

 piKOV T^s leaivrji Ka\ jraAatas Sia^Kijs Sta ixerpiav jrotKiXuv Kal 

 StaAsiCTWv TQu T^n'eivov ixeydKov fleoAoyov ttj? ayias toO Xpi'tr- 

 TOU /xeyaAy)s cKxArjcrias Kal riav cnravTaxov Si.Sa(ryaK(av i^apxov 

 Kai iepoKYipxJKOs lAAPIONOS KYrAAAKYIPIOY.^" 



It begins,— 



" HfVTa^i^Xov yivitriv Maxrijs <rvveypa\f/aTO wpiirotj 

 Kder/aoi'T' apxeyoixavre SvdScKa (jvv Trarpiapx^'^-" 



This Is manuscript. I do not know whether 

 published. Who was this Hilarion of Cyprus ? * 



J. C. J. 



TotUll Pedigree (2"'' S. ii. 372.) — Having, like 

 A., experienced some difficulty in respect to the 

 descent of Tothlll of Shardeloes, I send the in- 

 formation I possess, in hope that some of your cor- 

 respondents will be enabled to throw light upon 

 the subject. 



William Tothlll was born In Devonshire, as 

 appears by his monument in Amersham Church ; 

 he was one of the Six Clerks In Chancery, and pur- 

 chased Shardeloes, co. Bucks, in the time of Eliza- 

 beth, from the Cheynes. He married Katherine, 



[* See Alban Butler's Lims, Oct. 21.] 



