Nov. 18. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



•401 



" To take the notches out of the scythes," i.e. to give money 

 to mowers in the harvest-fields, when out shooting: 

 called largesse in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. 



Wag on, move on. 



Windle, to waste or pine away. 



Some of the words which your correspondent 

 Video mentions (Vol. x., p. 178.) are common in 

 Hampshire, as abide (otherwise called ahear)^ ax, 

 hetlermost, horm for barm, and chembly for chim- 

 ney. F. M. MiDDLETON. 



Medstead, Hants. 



PEDAGOGIC INGENUITT. 



The name of schoolmaster is suggestive of se- 

 verity. This must have arisen from the prevailing 

 characteristic of the profession. True, the Ve- 

 nusian bard alludes to a class of teachers who 

 must have been extraordinai'y favourites with 

 grandmammas : 



" Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi 

 Doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima." 



Still the majority of masters would seem to have 

 preferred severity to sweets. Horace himself 

 designates his old schoolmaster "plagosum or- 

 bilium." Juvenal knew what it was to hold out 

 his hand, — 



" Et nos ergo maaum ferula subdaximus." 

 Martial speaks of — 



" Ferulae tristes, sceptra paedagogonim." 

 So that we may conclude, with the Roman 

 teachers ferulce were more in vogue than crus- 

 tula. The " argumentum d posteriori " was a 

 greater favourite than the " argumentum dpriori." 

 The same may be said of the schoolmasters of 

 Great Britain down to the nineteenth century. 

 It would be interesting to record in the pages of 

 " N. & Q." the various modes of punishment in- 

 vented by the instructors of youth. The Emperor 

 Tiberius oifered a reward for the invention or 

 contrivance of any new pleasure. Supposing a 

 schoolmaster's association advertised for a new 

 method o^ punishing a refractory pupil, we should 

 at once forward the following, as almost passing 

 man's imagination. It was practised by the late 

 Mr. Bennett, who about sixty years ago kept a 

 school m Bridge Street, St. Ives, Hunts. By the 

 master's order the delinquent was seized and held 

 fast by two or more of his schoolfellows. His 

 legs were then tied together at the ankles with a 

 strong cord. The cord was run over a hook in 

 the ceiling, and the poor culprit suspended in air. 

 A tub was now placed under the head of the 

 screaming and struggling victim, and the master 

 approached, butcher-like, sharpening a knife with 

 the steel at his side. Of course something would 

 occur to account for the Dominie not proceeding 

 to extremities, such as a solemn promise on the 



part of the sufferer to behave better In future, 

 the intercession of friends, &c. ; but the general 

 impression was, that unless there was reason for 

 sparing, the extreme penalty would be enforced ! 



My informant is still alive, and trembles to 

 this day at the thought of Bennett's mock 

 butchery. R. Price. 



St. Ives. 



LONGEVITT IN THE NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE. 



Last year you published (Vol. viii., p. 488.) 

 some extracts made by me from the registers of 

 two townships in Cleveland. I now send the re- 

 sult of an examination of the registers of another 

 North Riding parish, Gllling in Richmondshire, 

 which shows a very great length of life, and, in 

 persons above ninety years of age, a larger pro- 

 portion even than in the Cleveland parishes. 



From the commencement of the new registers 

 at Gllling in 1813, down to the 14th October, 

 1853, there were buried 701 persons. Of this 

 number a very large proportion, 93, were infants 

 under the age of twelve months. Of the remain- 

 der, 608, no less than 207, or rather above one- 

 third, attained the age of 70 and upwards. Three 

 were 100 or upwards, viz. Joseph Currey — " Old 

 Joseph Currey" — died in 1839, aet. 103; Jane 

 Norton died in 1827, also aged 103 ; and Ralph 

 Elliott (a pauper) in 1817, set. 100. There died 

 between 90 and 100 the number of twenty-one; 

 of these one was 96, another 95, another 94, two 

 were 92, six were 91, and ten were 90. Between 

 80 and 90 there died eighty-seven, of whom thirty- 

 one were above 85. Between 70 and 80 there 

 died ninety-six, of whom thirty-five were above 

 75 years of age. The majority of these 207 aged 

 persons were born in the parish. 



I still hope that some of the correspondents of 

 " N. & Q.," among whom are many clergymen (the 

 Vicar of Gllling is one), will follow up this sub- 

 ject in your columns. Wm. Durrant Coopee. 



:^tirt0r )J30t0^. 



Thames Water. — I see, in a recent Number of 

 the Quarterly Review, that all connexion betwixt 

 London porter and Thames water is denied. The 

 brewers have their own private wells, and do not 

 draw their supplies from the polluted river. This 

 reminds me of an incident which took place in 

 the summer. A gentleman went down the river 

 to inspect the " Dreadnought " hospital ship. 

 After going over the wards he was talking with 

 his guide on deck, and, being thirsty, he asked 

 him for a glass of water. A sparkling tumbler of 

 crystal liquid was given him, which he eagerly 



