254 



NOTES AND QUEBIES. 



[2n* S. No 91., Setpt. 26. >57. 



our captain (who was only a river sailor) for bis 

 timidity, as, according to their tradition, " no one 

 had ever been known to be drowned going to that 

 holy place" which, if true, is certainly not a little 

 remarkable. 



In after life I frequently met with Henry Bell, 

 the sharp features of whose countenance, and 

 quick glance of whose eye, left an impression on 

 the memory not soon to be effaced. G. N. 



It may not be out of place, or uninterestin<^ to 

 some of your readers, to record the earliest efforts 

 of steam navigation at this rising port, where now 

 are stationed some of the finest steamers afloat, — 

 the magnificent fleets of the Peninsular and Ori- 

 ental, and lloyal Mail Companies, and those of 

 the late General Screw Company, now the Eu- 

 ropean and American and Australian line of 

 steamers, — many of which rendered such good 

 service as transports during the late Russian war. 

 The steamei's of the Southampton and Isle of 

 Wight Company were the first established here, 

 prior to the formation of our docks or railway. 

 But tradition reports that previous to this event, 

 a steamer known as the "Thames," afterwards 

 employed in the Isle of Wight service, came up 

 the Solent, and ofi" Swanage was chased by pilots, 

 who put out to her relief, imagining her to be a 

 ship on fire. In June, 1820, the " Prince Co- 

 burg " commenced plying between here and 

 Cowes, followed in a year or two by the " Thames " 

 before mentioned. The first Channel leland 

 Steamers (the mail service of which is performed 

 here) were the " Ariadne " and the " Lord Beres- 

 ford " (the former from this pla?e, the latter from 

 Portsmouth), which commenced running about 

 1825. The question, " Who built the first navi- 

 gable steamer ? " is an interesting one, and de- 

 serves inquiry. In Stevenson's Civil Engineering 

 of North America, I find the following ; 



" Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the 

 actual invention of the steam boat, there is no doubt that 

 steam navigation was first fully and successfully intro- 

 duced into real use in the U. S. of America, and that 

 Fulton, a native of N. America, launched a steam vessel 

 at New York in 1807 ; while the first successful experi- 

 ment in Europe was made on the Clyde in the year 

 1812 C?), before which period steam had been during four 

 years generally used as a propelling power in the vessels 

 navigating the Hudson." — P. 116. 



In Tredgold's Steam Engine, edited by Wool- 

 house, ed. 1838, there is given a sketch of this 

 first steamer, and some interesting particulars as 

 to her formation. She is there described as the 

 " Comet," " the first steamboat in Europe con- 

 structed by Mr. Henry Bell of Glasgow for the 

 Clyde river, in 1811." I append a part of her 

 owner's first circular : 



" Steam passage Boat, the Comet, between Glasgow, Green- 

 ock, and Helensburgh, for Passengers only. 

 "The Subscriber having at much expense fitted up a 



handsome Vessel to ply upon the river Clyde, between 

 Glasgow and Greenock, to sail by the poiuer of wind, air, 

 and steam, he intends the Vessel shall leave the Broomie- 

 law on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, about mid- 

 da^', or at such hour thereafter as may answer from the 

 state of tide," &c. 



What improvements have since taken place in 

 the construction of steam vessels, and the appli- 

 cation of the screw propeller to vessels of the 

 greatest magnitude ! What strides has science 

 made within the past half century in this one de- 

 partment alone ! I trust that other of your cor- 

 respondents may be induced, with your permission, 

 to follow up this subject with reference to other 

 ports. A fund of information may thus be ga- 

 thered not easily accessible from ordinary sources, 

 which will, I think, amply repay the labour ex- 

 pended in the research. Henrt W. S. Tatloe. 

 Southampton. 



ST AW, STAWED. 



(2"^ S. iii. 383. 470-1.; iv. 116. 138.) 



These words, as thus pronounced, are, I believe, 

 quite unknown in the West Riding Dales ; nei- 

 ther, as far as I can discover, do they occur in the 

 Craven, Westmorland, or Cumberland dialects. 

 In Lancashire, according to the veritable au- 

 thority of old Tim Bobbin, to staw is " to be resty 



— will not go;" but this is not exactly the ex- 

 pression whose meaning is discussed by your cor- 

 respondents. That expression is synonymous with 

 our to stow ; and, to be stowed is to be muddled, 



— at one's wit's end with variety or difficulty of 

 work, to be surfeited or overdone in any way. 

 "Awe's in a stew" is the Cumbrian form, and 

 signifies "I am perplexed which way to turn 

 amidst all this confusion." 



Then there is another cognate expression, com- 

 mon in the North, and alike in meaning with one 

 of the senses of the Cumbrian stew, namely stour 

 or stoor, which is applied to any -tumult, stir, or 

 commotion, but whose literal signification is c?z<s<,- 

 or rather, as Jamieson remarks, dust in motion, 

 whence our vulgarism "kicking up a dust," for 

 creating a disturbance. 



Now, although our stow or stowed are evidently 

 identical in acceptation with your correspondents' 

 staw and stawed, I cannot persuade myself that the 

 latter, wherever in use, or any of the above terms, 

 have the slightest connection with stall and stalled. 

 These latter are expressions not commonly em- 

 ployed in those parts, at least, of the North, to 

 which I have referred, — our legitimate designation 

 of the more polite stall, whether for horses, cows, 

 or other cattle, being boose (Icel. bu, domus, habi- 

 taculum; Dan. bo, by; A.-S. by, bye; Su. baas; 

 Norw. bu, bue, pecus, boves; Scot, and Welsh, hue; 

 Gr. fiovs ; Lat. bos, hibulcus). When, however, 

 with an affectation of being " varra foine," we call 



