174 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 252. 



" Brandy is Latin for a goose, and tace is Latin 

 for a candle." Grace after dinner being usually 

 said in Latin (" Non nobis Domine," for instance), 

 the words grace and Latin became, in a measure, 

 synonymous. Brandy following the eating of 

 goose, as regularly as grace followed dinner, it was 

 called the Latin or grace after goose. The saying 

 then seems to imply, that mums the word, or that 

 silence ought to ensue, as a matter of course, after 

 the candle has been put out ; just as naturally as 

 brandy is taken as a corrective after goose, or as 

 grace is said when dinner is over. It is not im- 

 possible that it may have been a maxim framed 

 by some scholar, who was desirous to avoid the 

 infliction of a " curtain lecture." Henby T. Riley. 



Puritan Antipathy to Custard (Vol. v., p. 321.). — 

 I think it not improbable that the fact, that cus- 

 tard was a condiment greatly beloved by the 

 monks, may have set the Puritans against it. 

 There can be little doubt that their dish called 

 "almond-milk," or "almond cream," was the same 

 with the custard of more recent times. In the 

 Continuation of the History of Croyland we read 

 of Laurence Chateres, in the year 1413, giving 

 forty pounds for the purchase of almond-milk for 

 the convent on fish days. The regulations for the 

 due and proper supply of this luxury were con- 

 sidered of so much importance, that they fill a 

 whole page of the chronicle (see Bohn's Ingulph 

 and Continuations, p. 361.). Again, in the bill of 

 fare of an abbey, given by Fosbroke, in his British 

 Monachism, we find "crem of alemaundys" men- 

 tioned ; which he explains as a compound of 

 almonds with thick milk, water, salt, and sugar. 

 Of course I have suggested this explanation of 

 this Puritan antipathy, on the supposition that 

 almonds form an essential part of custard. I cer- 

 tainly do not think that a proper custard can be 

 made without them. The monks, most probably, 

 were acquainted with the sobering qualities of 

 almonds, and may perhaps have found them use- 

 ful antidotes against the efiects of the double 

 earitates of wine with which they were treated on 

 feast days. Henry T. Riley. 



Land of Green Ginger (Vol. viii., p. 227.). — 

 The name occurs in the interlude of the Marriage 

 of Witt and Wisdome, written in 1579, thus : 



" Idknis loq. I haue bin at St. Quintin's, 

 Where I was twise kild ; 

 I haue bin at Musselborow, 

 At the Scottish feeld ; 

 I haue bin in the land qfgreene ginger. 

 And many a wheare," &c. 



If this refers to the same place, about whi(;h 

 Mb. Richabdson and others have written in 

 " N. & Q." (as I suppose it does), it disproves 

 the assertion that the street received its peculiar 

 name between the years 1640 and 1735. Though 

 the above quotation gives no clue to the deri- 



vation of the term, it shows its great antiquity, 

 and is so far interesting and curious. Mr. Halli- 

 well, who edited the play for the Shakspeare 

 Society, does not attempt any explanation in his 

 notes. J. R. M., M.A. 



Books chained to Desks in Churches (Vols. viii. 

 & ix. passim). — I have just met with what is pro- 

 bably the latest instance of this custom in the 

 Priory Church of Great Malvern, where there is 

 a copy of Comber's Companion to the Temple 

 chained to a movable desk at the end of the 

 north aisle of the choir. As the inscription in it 

 is curious for so late a date, I give a transcript 

 of it: 



" Reverend Sir, 



"I am ordered by a person whose name I am obliged to 

 conceale, to direct Dr. Comber's worlces to you for y" use 

 of y parishioners of Great Malvern. You are desired to 

 take care that y" churchwardens chain it in a convenient 

 part of the church, where it may be free from raine and 

 all abuse. 



" The donor desires it may never be taken or lent out 

 of J'" church, or used in any private house for ever; and 

 that this his request may not be forgotten, it is thought 

 necessary, either that this letter be transcribed verbatim 

 into the blank page before the title of the booke, or pre- 

 served in the church coffer, for a direction to all succeed- 

 ing ministers and churchwardens. 



"When all things are done according to these directions 

 I pray certify me of it in a line or two. 

 1 am, reverend S'', 



Your very humble serv*, 



Henky Clements. 



Oxford, September 3, 1701." 



These minute directions have served to preserve 

 the book, in its original rough calf binding, in the 

 church for 153 years; but age and damp have now 

 worked their work upon it, and it is fast dropping 

 to pieces. 



It would be interesting to know if there be any 

 later instance than this of 1701 of books being 

 chained in churches. I should be inclined to 

 imagine that in this particular case it is the re- 

 vival of a custom which even then had become 

 obsolete. Nobbis Deck. 



Great Malvern. 



In Frampton Cotterell Church, near Bristol, 

 there is a copy of Bishop Jewell's works chained 

 to a desk in the south aisle. It is sadly mutilated 

 by the tearing out of leaves. This appears to be 

 generally the case with books thus placed in 

 churches. May not the exfoliation be the handi- 

 work of sextons, who in these volumes find, near 

 at hand, a supply of fuel for lighting the church 

 stoves ? J. L. S., Sen. 



Green Eyes (Vol. viii., pp. 407. 592. ; Vol. ix., 

 pp. 112. 432.).— 



" But now I think on it, Sancho, thy description of her 

 beauty was a little absurd in that particular, of comparing 

 her eyes to pearls ; sure such eyes are more like those of 

 a whiting or a sea-bream, than those of a fair lady ; and 



