Sept. 23. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



241 



B. Not amiss; the forced meat was good 

 (=farce(l, froin/«mo, to stuff"), so was the goose- 

 berry /tio(^(=foule, ivom. fouler, to crush) ; and we 

 had a vegetable called Labrador Kali, not unlike 

 sparrow-grass (=aspariigus). 



A. Then, next day, on to Blenheim, I suppose? 



jB. Yes ; there we saw the house, park, gardens, 

 and Partition gallery (=Titian). That evening 

 our misfortunes began. 



A, What happened ? 



B. In going down a steep hill the horse fell ; 

 one of the sharps {=shafts) was broken, and I 

 was thrown out. 



A. Very ill-conmnient inAQQd (:= inconvenient) ; 

 case of doctor's bill, eh ? 



B. Not exactly that; I felt some spavins 

 (=:spasms) in my chest after my fall, but I hap- 

 pened to know the surgeon at Bicton, and he set 

 me to rights gracious (=:gratis). 



A. You mean Cooper— I know him too; a 

 brother of his is a middy on board the Mehouse 

 (=OE()lus), and another is the parson at Fudley- 

 cum-Pipes. 



B. I do not know that brother ; he is not very 

 wise, is he ? 



A. Not very ; hardly knows a hawk from a 

 hand-saw (^heron-shaw) ; but for all that he is 

 a good fellow. I wish he had the benefit (=:bene- 

 fice). He has a notion of music, and the singing 

 in his church is very good of its kind, for a coun- 

 try place — only rather tedious; generally four 

 verses and the glory part (=gloria patri). But 

 how long were you in the doctor's hands ? 



B. Not long ; we got back to CJommon Garden 

 (=Convent Garden) the next day but one. 



In this dialogue no colloquial mistake Is intro- 

 duced which I have not myself heard, or believed 

 on testimony. One of the examples perhaps 

 requires explanation. Thepainted sign of the Stag 

 surrounded (by hounds) became in time the written 

 sign of the Heart and Compass. The same mis- 

 take occurs in the following colloquy in France : — 



Traveller. — I say, cocher, allez au Blanc Coeur. 

 Driver. — Oui, monsieur, mais c'est le Grand 

 Cerf, peut-etre, que vous cherchez. 



If the traveller says, as he sometimes does, 

 Cochon, the mistake is more amusing, and also 

 more plain. 



Names of places often undergo that change 

 which has been illustrated in this paper. The 

 following examples are given by a writer in the 

 Quarterly Review for March, 1854, in support of 

 his observation, that alterations are conmionly 

 made " in barbarous countries for the sake of 

 giving some apparent meaning to a word whose 

 original signification is forgotten." Beth-lehem 

 (the house of bread) is now Beit-lahm, the house 

 of flesh ; Beer-sheba (the well of the seven) is 

 now Ber-es-Seba, the well of the lion. In Italy 



the Ustica cabans of Horace Is now Valle Rustica, 

 a curious coincidence at leasts if not an inten- 

 tional change. 



I have purposely omitted one example often 

 quoted. It is commonly said that the name of 

 Shotover Hill, near Oxford, is a corruption of 

 Chateau-vert. But another account of that name 

 is given in the following lines by George Wither, 

 published about 1613 : 



" Yet old Sir Harr)' Bath was not forgot, 

 In the remembrance of whose wondrous shot 

 The forest by (believe it they that will) 

 Ketains the surname of Shotover still." 



Perhaps some of your correspondents will com- 

 municate to you some information about this 

 " wondrous shot," and answer the Query, What is 

 the probable explanation of the word Shotover? 



J. O. B. 

 Loughborough. 



Queen Elizabeth and Sir Philip Sidney. — 

 Among the objects of interest exhibited at the 

 Museum of the Wilts Archaeological Society at 

 Salisbury last week, was a lock of hair of Queen 

 Elizabeth's, which was found some time since at 

 Wilton House, between the leaves of a copy of 

 The Arcadia. 



The hair is'Hght brown, approaching to auburn, 

 certainly not red, although with a reddish tinge. 

 Its authenticity Is set forth in a paper in an early 

 hand, which states, — 



" This Lock of Queen Elizabeth's own Hair was pre- 

 sented to Sir Philip Sidney by Her Majesty*s owne faire 

 hands, on which He made these verses, and gave them to 

 the Queen, on his bended knee. Anno Domini 1573." 



And pinned to this Is another paper, on which, 

 written in a different hand, said to be Sidney's 

 own, we have the verses, — 



*' Her inward worth all outward show transcends, 

 Envy her merits with Regret commends ; 

 Like" sparkling Gems her Virtues draw the Sightj 

 And in her Conduct she is alwaies Bright. 

 When She imparts her thoughts her words have force. 

 And Sense and Wisdom flow in sweet discourse." 



Anon. 



Miracle by Saint ViUebrard: HoUand once « 

 favourite Seat of the Druids. — It was formerly 

 believed by devout persons that a tempest in- 

 Holland in the year 860, which stopped the mouth 

 of the Rhine, near Catvic, was brought upon the 

 people through the agency of Saint Villebrord, 

 bishop of Utrecht. This pious ecclesiastic being 

 unable to convert the people from the worship of 

 false gods to whom they had consecrated their 

 forests, obtained by his prayers the submersion of 

 all the trees, so that they might not serve as objects 

 of nocturnal idolatries. There is reason to believe 



