Dec. 29. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



521 



said about that of a bootless errand ? "), it might 

 be only fair to ask him if he conceives bootless, as 

 there used, has any reference to boots, those useful 

 appendages to legs ? although the latter are not 

 quite useless without them. 



Seriously, I am obliged to your correspondent 

 for reminding me of bootless, which, though of 

 different origin, is synonymous with sleeveless, as 

 they both signify useless, profitless. 



Shakspeare uses the word at least twenty times 

 in this sense, and in Loves Labours Lost we have 

 bootless rhymes in the same sense with Bishop 

 Hall's sleeveless rhymes. 



In conclusion, I would recommend your cor- 

 respondent to consult that inestimably valuable 

 book, Dr. Richardson's Dictionary, where he may 

 satisfy his doubts on this occasion, as well as^ all 

 others which may arise of a like kind. It is a 

 book which no Englishman who loves his noble 

 native tongue should be without, and it will be 

 beneficial to countless millions in ages yet to 

 come. S. W. Singer. 



South Lambeth. 



" Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crequy " (Vol. 

 xii., p. 471.). — In reply to the Query of X. O. B., 

 as to the genuineness of this work, I send you the 

 following extract from the Biographie Universelle : 



" Elle fut I'une des femmes les plus spirituelles du 8« 

 sifecle. C'est sans doute pour ce motif que des specula- 

 teurs ont public sous son nom le volumineux pastiche 

 qui a pour titre : Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crequi, 

 1834-35, 7 vols, in -8° : mais la fraude a etc promptcment 

 reconnue, et la m^moire de cette dame veng^e dans un 

 ^crit intitule: L' Ombre de la Marquise de Crequi, etc., 

 1835, in-8o, suivi d'une notice historique par M. Percheron, 

 executeur testamentaire de cette dame, et qui affirme, sur 

 I'honneur, que tous les extraits de livres, lettres, et 

 petites retiexions qu'elle a laisses, ont et^ par lui, et 

 suivant les ordres portes au testament de Madame de 

 Crequi, entiferement brules, sans avoir etd communiques 

 h, personne. Un grand nombre d'anachronismes, de 

 ndologismes et d'invraisemblances avait d'ailleurs de- 

 trompe le public sur cette mystification, lorsque M. 

 Percheron acheva de convaincre les plus incredules." 



Dublin. 



Curious Marriage Custom (Vol. xii., p. 366.). 

 — The old English canon law for legitimatizing 

 bastards, and the usage once followed here of 

 putting such children under the pall, or care- 

 cloth, along with their father and mother when 

 they were afterwards married, may be seen in 

 Dr. Rock's Church of our Fathers, t. iv. p. 173., 

 in his description of the Bridal Mass, according 

 to the use of Sarum. There Cl. Hopper will 

 find that he is right in thinking that his other- 

 wise very interesting MS. should read " capable," 

 not " incapable " of inheriting. Old England. 



Single-Speech Hamilton (Vol. xii., p. 413.). — 

 The memoir referred to tells us that Wra. Gerard 

 No. 322.] 



Hamilton was the son of William Hamilton by 

 Hellen Hay. Query, Did not the father subse- 

 quently marry a Williams or a Cromwell of Chi- 

 chester, and reside in that neighbourhood ? H. 



Hogarth's *^ Morning" (Vol. xii., p. 181.). — 

 Mr. Wm. Bates, among the errors of painters, 

 states, that "when Hogarth, in his plate of 

 ' Morning,' represents an old lady proceeding to 

 her matutinal devotions, he indicates the earliness 

 of the hour by making the hands of the clock 

 point to seven minutes past five ; an hour at 

 Avhich, on a winter morning, it would be impos- 

 sible to discern either clock or lady." I do not 

 know to what plate of " Morning" Mr. Bates 

 refers ; but Ireland, in his Hogarth Illustrated, 

 vol. i. p. 140. (edit. 1791), after praising the gene- 

 ral accuracy of this picture, says : 



" The hand of the dial pointing to a few minutes before 7, 

 the marks of the little shoes and pattens in the snow, and 

 the various productions of the season in the market, are 

 additional proofs of the minute accuracy with which this 

 artist inspected and represented objects, which painters 

 in general have overlooked." 



N. L. T. 



Burial of Poor Romans (Vol. xii., p. 449). — 

 I see a question raised by E. C. H. as to the dis- 

 posal of the bodies of poor Romans. At Naples 

 there is a place called the Campo Santo, which 

 contains 365 deep pits ; into one of which the 

 bodies of all the poor, who may die on that par- 

 ticular day, are thrown every day of the year. 

 The pit used that day is then closed up, quick- 

 lime having been thrown upon the bodies, till the 

 corresponding day of the next year. Can this be 

 a custom derived from the practice of antiquity ? 

 If so, it may furnish an answer to your corre- 

 spondent's Query. W. S. D. 

 Oxford and Cambridge Club. 



Printers'" Marls (Vol. x., p. 445.). — The note 

 of interrogation, according to Bilderdijk {over het 

 letter schr if t), is an abbreviation of the Latin word 

 questio, and consists of the first letter, Q, with the 

 last, o, written under it, which o, afterwards filled 

 up, became a point ; thus first ^, then ? The note 

 of admiration is the Latin lo (an interjection of 

 joy), written in the same way ; first „, then ! The 

 mark § results from writing in two strokes the 

 Greek letter tt, the initial of the word irapaypapos. 

 The old paragraph mark, % he considers to be 

 the Roman P, but, distinctionis causa, turned and 

 made black where the letter is white, and white 

 where the letter is black. The *, f, &c. seem to 

 be arbitrary marks. — From the Navorscher. 



J.S. 



Stops, Sfc. <Vol. xii., p. 201.). — B. H. C. states 

 that he finds the comma, colon, and period in all 

 the volumes which he has examined, from the 

 Rule of St. Benedict (Paris, 1491) to the Works 



