2nd S. N* 82., JOLY 25. '57,] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



65 



CHUBCHWABDENS ACCOUNTS. 



The Churchwardens' Account Book of my little 

 parish commences a.d. 1690, and a recent exa- 

 mination of its contents assures me that there is 

 little to be gleaned from them of general interest 

 even to an antiquary. The single subject which 

 seems to me worthy of a note relates to the de- 

 struction of vermin. In the accounts of the first 

 year, 1690, we find the following item: 



" 4 Polcatt's heads - - Is. 4d." 



This appears to have been the invariable price 

 till 1788, when we find one charged Qd. Fox's 

 heads were always valued at Is. each ; as also 

 those of martens, cats, and badgers (the latter 

 animal being probably entered as a grey in 1744). 

 Stoats' heads also, which only appear once, seem 

 to have been valued at 4c?. 



In 1763, the following notice occurs : 



" At our usual Meeting at Easter we y" Parismors has 

 agreed to pay : 



Sixpence per Duzen for Rata. 

 For Foxes one Shiling. 

 For a Eager one Shilling. 

 For Marton one Shilling. 

 For Polcatt four pence. 

 For Sparows three halpence per duzeu.'* 

 The consequences of this declaration of war, in 

 which rats and sparrows were first pronounced to 

 be public enemies, fell very unequally upon them. 

 It apparently produced only two dozen spar- 

 rows in all : but payments were made, in the 

 course of the year, for no less than some 115 

 dozen of rats ! After this period the sum total of 

 payments for rats and " other varmints " sank to 

 a general average of only some 30s. per annum ; 

 and the only animal afterwards particularised is 

 an occasional polecat. 



In 1699 payment was made for no less than 

 seventeen foxes. In another year for fifteen ; in 

 others for eleven. The badger and marten were 

 of much less common occurrence. 



In seventy-two years, i. e. from 1690 to 1762, 

 we find that a destruction took place of — 

 180 polecats, 

 179 foxes, 

 13 badgers, 

 19 martens, and 

 4 stoats ; 



besides a few undistinguished victims. 



Another payment also may be worth mention- 

 ing, which begins in 1760 and continues for some 

 years : 



"Pd James Stickland for kiping [keeping] 



the Dogs out of Church - - - 5s. M. 



C. W. BlSQHAM. 



Bingham's Melcombe, Dorchester. 



" May 12. 1624 (22 Jas, I.). The Parish petition the 

 Prince of Wales (postea Chas. I.) to assist in providing a 

 Bell. 



"Oct. 11. 1630 (6 Chas. I.). Five bells were to be 

 hung up ; — Sir Robert Douglas promising he would get 

 one Bell of the King, and the Vestry would contribute 

 one also. 



"Oct. 9. 1687 (13 Chas. I.) Simon Hughes is to be 

 paid 4d. every Lord's- day, for the quieting of the Chil- 

 dren in Divine Service, and the whipping out of the Dogs. 

 The said id. to be paid by the Churchwardens. 



Richmond, Surrey. 



Richmond Parish Itegister. — Extracts from "A 

 Booke containing the Actes and Proceedings of 

 y* Vestry of Richmond." 



WESf-COtrHTBT "cob. 



In that very interesting and well-conducted 

 work, Chambers s Journal, a question is raised. 

 (No. 183., July 4, 1857,) which demands the 

 prompt attention of all earnest etymologists. It 

 appears that in certain villages of Devonshire, it 

 is the custom to build the walls of cottages with a 

 mixture of loamy earth and straw beaten up to- 

 gether, and that this mixture goes by the pro- 

 vincial name of " cob." 



The writer remarks : — 



" The etymology of cob has Jong puzzled the lexicogra- 

 phers. Nor do the Devonshire philologists throw any 

 important light on the derivation. Chappie has struck 

 out the most ingenious theory." 



The meaning of "cob" and "cob-walls" has 

 been repeatedly discussed in "N. &Q." (1" S. 

 viii. 279., &c.) ; but the subject is thus reopened. 



The theory of Chappie (see his Review, 1785, 

 p. 50.) is, that cob is " possibly from the British 

 chawp (Ictus), k Gr. Koirrhs, eontwius, because the 

 earth and straw ought to be well beaten, trod, or 

 pounded together." 



This etymology well accords with the meaning 

 of our English verb, to cob, already cited in " N. 

 & Q.," i. e. to bruise or beat. It also corresponds 

 to that of the old French verb, cobbir (said to be 

 borrowed from the nautical English), to bruise, 

 bump, or break into pieces. 



But here is another derivation. 



The practice of building walls of earth or loam is 

 eastern, and has passed into western Europe from 

 the East. I have witnessed the process in the 

 Spanish Peninsula, where, in building the earthen 

 walls of a cottage, the custom is to form first a 

 sort of matrix for the prepared earth with pa- 

 rallel boards set on edge, with a vacant space be- 

 tween them. In this matrix the earth is placed, 

 well beaten down, and left to settle. When the 

 earth has become hard and dry, the boards on 

 each side of it are raised, fresh earth is added, and 

 in this manner the wall is gradually built. 



Thus, in the process of building, the earth, by 

 means of the boards, is held together, supported, 

 and shored up. That is, in old Spanish, the earth 

 is "acobado" (a-co&-ado), propped and sustained 



