July 3. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



M 



It adjoins the eastern jamb of the archway, and 

 Isas a stone canopy above it. I am not aware of 

 there being any other example in this neighbour- 

 iood. Leicestriensis. 



A perfect holy water basin or stoup exists at 

 the church of Ixworth, St. Mar j, on the exterior 

 of the chancel entrance, south side of the church ; 

 also one on the exterior of the church at Paken- 

 Lara, at the porch entrance, on the north side of 

 the church : both in Suffolk. These observations 

 "were made in my visits to those churches in Aug. 

 1849, and 1 believe the stoups are still to be found 

 there. C. G. 



There is an exterior holy water stoup at Win- 

 chester Cathedral ; I think on the south wall. 



Tecede. 



Flanagan on the Round Towers of Ireland (Vol. 

 T., p. 584.). — That this announcement may not 

 hazard the standing of those who have laboured 

 to expound the mystery which the Cambrian 

 tishop of King John's day could not, I can testify 

 that, having been allured by the title set forth in 

 E. H.'s late communication, I examined the little 

 pamphlet, and cannot think its author could for a 

 moment be considered other than a literary wag, 

 a caricaturist of antiquities, as Father Print has 

 been of poetry. I yet remember that the compo- 

 sition was at the time attributed to a prelate of 

 very high rank on the Irish bench of bishops. 

 ** Stat nominis umbra." J. D. 



Giving the Sack (Vol. v., p. 585.). — A querist 

 in a late Number seems to have confounded two 

 expressions of essentially different import, viz. the 

 German "EInem einen Korb geben,' to give one 

 the basket, and the widely-spread expression of 

 *' giving one the sack." Of these the former is 

 ■used when speaking of a lady refusing an offer of 

 marriage ; and, in a secondary sense, any one re- 

 ceiving a refusal in general is said to " get the 

 basket." Nothing but guesses, and very unsatis- 

 factory ones, have been given as to the origin of 

 this expression. They may be seen in Adelung, 

 under the word Korb. The import of the other 

 expression may be accounted for in a more satis- 

 factory manner. To tell a person in English to 

 *' pack up his orts," is to send him about his busi- 

 ness, — to desire him to clear away even his orts 

 or crumbs, and to leave no traces of himself 

 behind. In French the word quilles, or ninepins 

 (probably used as a type of the property least worth 

 carrying away a person could have) takes the 

 place of our orts ; and " trousser leurs quilles " is 

 explained by Cotgrave, " to pack up or prepare 

 for their departure." Hence, " donner son sac et 

 ses quilles " to a workman, or person in our em- 

 ploy, is to pack him off; to hand him his traps; 

 and thus to give him the clearest intimation of our 

 desire of his immediate departure. The import is 



a little obscured in the English versi6n of " givia^ 

 one the sack." H. Wedg-wood. 



42. Chester Terrace, Regent's Park. 



The country beggars in Ireland and Scotland 

 formerly received the alms of the charitable in 

 meal, potatoes, and other farming produce, which 

 they carried off in sacks and bags, suspended round 

 their bodies. In the North of Ireland, in my 

 youthful days, the phrase was well understood to 

 imply that a person, when he had got the sack (was 

 discharged from his situation), had no other re- 

 source than to become a mendicant, and carry a 

 bag, the well-known emblem of his profession. 



" The world may wag ^ 



Since I've got the bag. 

 For thousands have had it before me : " 



was the chorus, and all I recollect, of a very com- 

 mon Irish beggars' song, about thirty years ago. 

 The expression, however, is much older, and is 

 plainly alluded to, with the same signification, in 

 the following extract from the violent satire on 

 Cardinal Wolsey, which is, I believe, erroneously 

 attributed to Dr. Bull : 



" The cloubbe signifieth playne his tiranny. 

 Covered over with a Cardinal's hatt, 

 Wherein shall be fulfilled the prophecy, 

 Aryse up Jacke, and put on thy salatt, 

 l^or the tyme is come of hagge and walatt^' 



W. PlNKEBTOH, 

 Ham. 



The Bells of Limerick Cathedral (Vol. i., p. 382. ; 

 Vol. ii., p. 348.). — It would tend, no doubt, much 

 to the illustration of one of the most beautiful 

 traditions of Ireland, if any one would contribute 

 a note of the tone, workmanship, or decoration of 

 these celebrated bells. Mr. N. P. Willis, before 

 narrating the legend printed in " N. & Q.," merely 

 observes (^Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, vol. i. 

 p. 106.) that his guide to the belfry called on him 

 " to admire the size of the bells." If neither in- 

 scriptions nor peculiarities of decoration or con- 

 struction is observable, probably the accounts of 

 the bursar of the cathedral, or some of the other 

 records of the chapter, might afford evidence of 

 the substantial truth of the tradition, and of the 

 period when its incidents occurred. 



J. R. Walbkam, 



Fall Croft, Ripon. 



Mexican, Sfc. Grammar (Vol. v., p. 585.). — In 

 reply to the Query of W. B. D. respecting gram- 

 mars of the South American languages compiled 

 by the Spanish missionaries, I would inform him 

 that such an one was drawn up and printed by 

 the Jesuits in their missions in Paraguay of the 

 Guarani language, which is, I believe, the most 

 diffused of the South American native tongues, 

 and forms the basis of very many of the other 

 numerous dialects of that continent., .l/Vhfa ir^ 



