98 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. N" 83., Aua. 1. 'o7. 



firmed. It seems that "lah-cop" (the redemp- 

 tion of privileges forfeited by outlawry), " lagh- 

 kop" and "laeghkop" (the duty on an inherit- 

 ance), and " lofcop " (a levy on grain), all have 

 a common origin and a kindred meaning. The 

 general idea is that of levying a payment, toll, or 

 duty, with a particular reference to grain in the 

 case considered, 2"** S. iv. 26. Thomas Boys. 



Branding of Criminals (2""* S. iv. 69.) — In olden 

 times, every one who could read was accounted 

 very learned, and was called a clerk or clericus, 

 and though he had not the habitum et tonsuram. 

 clericalem, was allowed the benefit of clerkship. 

 In later times, however, when learning, by means 

 of printing and other causes, came to be more 

 general, reading was no longer a — 



" Competent proof of clerkship, or being in holy orders : 

 it was found that as many laymen as divines were ad- 

 mitted to the privilegium clericals; and therefore, by Stat. 

 4 Hen. 7. c. 13., a distinction was once more drawn be- 

 tween mere lay scholars, and clerks that were really in 

 orders. And, though it was thought reasonable still to 

 mitigate the severitj' of the law with regard to the former, 

 yet they were not put upon the same footing with actual 

 clergy ; being subjected to a slight degree of punishment, 

 and not allowed to claim the clerical privilege more than 

 once. Accordingly the Stat, directs that no person, once 

 admitted to the benefit of clergy, shall be admitted 

 thereto a second time, unless he produces his orders ; and 

 in order to distinguish their persons, all laymen who are 

 allowed this privilege shall be burnt with a hot iron in the 

 brawn of the left thumb. This distinction between learned 

 lavmen and real clerks in orders was abolished for a 

 time by Stats. 28 Hen. 8. c. 1., and 32 Hen. 8. cap. 3., but 

 it is held to have been virtually restored bj- Stat. 1 Edw. 

 6. c. 12., which statute also enacts that lords of Parlia- 

 ment and peers of the realm, having place and voice in 

 parliament, may have the benefit of their peerage, equiva- 

 lent to that of clergy, for the first offence (although thej' 

 cannot read, and without being burnt in the hand), for 

 all offences then clergyable to commoners : and also for 

 the crimes of house-breaking, highway-robbery, horse- 

 Stealing, and robbing of churches." 



By Stat. 21 Jac. 1. c. 6., women convicted of 

 simple larcenies under the value of 10.?. were to 

 be " burned in the hand, whipped, put in the 

 stocks, or imprisoned for any time not exceeding a 

 year." " The punishment of burning in the hand 

 was changed by stat. 10 & 11 W. 3. c. 23. into 

 burning in the left cheek near the nose." This 

 was again repealed in Anne's reign, and burning 

 in the hand for thefts, &c., restored, and it was 

 continued certainly up to 19 Geo. 3., possibly 

 later, but I have not means of satisfactorily ascer- 

 taining. I trust the above will partly answer 

 A. B. E.'s Query. Henri. 



Northwick Motto (2"'> S. ii. 189. 239. 336.) — 

 None of your correspondents, I perceive, have 

 yet suggested the true solution of this apparently 

 abstruse motto, which has reference, solely, to the 

 number of lions in the Northwick shield of arms, 

 as the following quotation from one of the earlier 

 editions of Debrett will show, — a work so easily 



accessible that I am much astonished so grave an 

 authority as Burke should have overlooked it : 



" The family of y« Ronalts (as their names are gene- 

 rally spelt) possessed large estates in Picardj' and Nor- 

 mandy, and were related to the Dukes of Normandy; 

 before the Conquest they bore the same arms as the three 

 first kings of that race. Henry II., in right of his wife, 

 enjoyed Targe possessions in France ; among the rest, the 

 Duchies of Aquitaine and Poitou, and added a. third lion, 

 as the arms of those provinces, to the arms of England, 

 on which account the family of Ronalt assumed the 

 present motto, — ' Par ternis suppar : ' ' The two are equal 

 in antiquity to the three.'' " 



In allusion to their royal descent the supporters 

 granted to Lord Northwick (two angels) are 

 " habited, seuree of fleurs-de-lis., and midlets, gold." 

 In a recent number of Chambers's Journal ap- 

 peared a humorous article on " Peerage Mottoes," 

 which, with some few misapprehensions, con- 

 tained some amusing expositions of aristocratic 

 philosophy. Henry W. S. Taylor. 



Peacocks and Adders (2"^ S. iii. p. 488.) — Mr. 

 Riley did well to doubt the story. Peacocks are 

 kept in Westmoreland for ornament, and for the 

 table, and, moreover, destroy adders as their cus- 

 tom is in Westmoreland, as in other places. They 

 are, however, reputed to destroy young game and 

 poultry (I never knew an instance of it) : they 

 certainly eat one's fruit greedily, and sometimes 

 take a fancy to nip the heads off flowers. More- 

 over they require a good deal of food in winter, 

 and trample a meadow or a cornfield, so as to do 

 mischief. Where there is range enough, and the 

 hens are not disturbed, they soon multiply. Some 

 people like to leap to a conclusion, and perhaps a 

 townsman, surprised to see a score or half a score 

 of peafowl about a country house, and being told 

 they killed snakes, might infer they were kept ex- 

 pressly for the purpose. It is curious that the 

 habits of so common a bird should be so little 

 known. I have been gravely told they could not 

 fly, because their tails were so heavy. But the 

 drollest and least pardonable misstatement about 

 peacocks, is to be found in Couch's Illustrations of 

 Instinct (Van Voorst, p. 75.), whei-e we are told 

 that — 



" If surprised b)' a foe, the peacock erects his gorgeous 

 feathers, and the enemy beholds a creature . . . whose 

 bulk he estimates by the circumference of the glittering 

 circle, his attention at the same time being distracted by 

 a hundred alarming eyes . . . accompanied by a hiss 

 from the serpent- like head in the centre," &c. 



I cannot occupy your space by giving this non- 

 sense at full length ; but from an author, publish- 

 ing at Van Voorst's, it is not what one expected. 

 The peacock closes his tail at once the moment 

 he is alarmed, and flies off with a scream, instead 

 of stopping to hiss. He will not spread his tail at 

 all if under fear ; and when he does spread it, it 

 is either out of rivalry with the males, or to at- 

 tract the females. ' P. P. 



