150 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 146. 



The OldRoson — an inn sign between St. Albans 

 and Harpenden. What is the meaning? A. C. 



Queries on Popular Phrases. — In The Four 

 Knaves, published by the Percy Society, p. 54. : 

 " Brinj; in a quart of maligo, right true ; 

 And looke, you rogue, that it he pee and hew." 



P. 81.: 



i " The fierce and crewell warre-God at the. sharpeT' 



P. 83. (with reference to the dress of the knaves 

 on the cards), it is said : 



" I think before the Conquest many yeares." 



Is this opinion of the antiquity of playing cards 

 warranted ? 



P. 95. : 

 " Deafe eares, blind eyes, the palsie, goute, and mur." 

 P. 97. : 



" And let spice-conscience fellows talke their fill." 



In Ballads on Great Frost of 1683-4 (Percy 

 Society), p. 15. : 



" He'll print for a sice, 

 ( For tliat is his price)." 

 P. 27. : 

 *'_The rochs (Qy. rooks) at nine-hoJes here do flock 

 together." 



" A game at marbles, I remember when a boy." 

 Can it be illustrated ? 

 P. 32. : 



" Shall we Morcclack make?'' 

 Query, the old spelling of Mortlock f 

 P. 32. : 



" And a tire or more, 

 Of Potguns four." 

 What does this mean ? J. R. R. 



Etijmologij of Llewellyn. — What is the etymo- 

 logy of my name ? Llewkllyn. 



Voydinge Knife. — I find in an inventory of the 

 Earl of Leicester's goods, taken after his decease 

 in the time of Elizabeth : " One Voydinge knife of 

 silver." Can you inform me what a "voydinge 

 knife" Avas used for ? 



I see, in a first edition of Johnson which I have 

 by me, that a voideis was a basket in which broken 

 meat was carried from the table. Skep. 



Newport, Essex. 



Sir John Mason. — Anthony a Wood says of 

 Sir John Mason, of whom I have before put a 

 Query (Vol. v., p. 537.), that he was born at 

 Abingdon, Berks, son of a cowherd by his wife, 

 tlie sister of a monk of that place (see Ath. Ox. by 

 Bliss, ii. f. 54.) 



In MS. Cott. Claud, c. iii. f. . , the arms of the 

 said Sir John Mason are given as here set out : 



" Quarterly 1. or a lion ramp, with two heads azure, 

 guttee de sang. 



2. quarterly gules and azure a lion 



ramp, counterchanged. 



3. argent on a chevron, gules between 



three snakes coiled, sable a crescent 

 . . . for difference. 



4. as the first." 



The second quarter is noted " Langston," the 

 third " Radloy," but both incorrectly. 



The same arms impaling Isley were on his tomb 

 in old St. Paul's (see Dugdale's St. PuuVs, by 

 Ellis, f. 65.). 



Can any of your heraldic readers inform me, 

 who the cowherd of gentle lineage was ? His 

 widow remarried oneWykes. (See Sir John Mason's 

 will.) G. Steinman Steinman. 



Yolunte de Dreux, Widow of Alexander III. 

 King of Scots. — Is it known what became of this 

 French princess, daugliter and heiress of Ro- 

 bert IV. Count of Dreux, married 15th of April, 

 1285, and left a young widow, by her husband's 

 sudden death, within a year afterwards ? A. S. A. 



Wuzzeerabad. 



Mary, Queen of Scots' Daughter, hi/ Farl of 

 Bothivell. — This unfortunate child's existence 

 seems now generally acknowledged (vide Lingard., 

 Lahnnoff, and Castelnan), and slie is said to have 

 been eventually " veiled as a nun in the convent of 

 Our Lady," at Soissons, near Paris. Do records 

 exist to show the period of her profession or death ? 

 Any notices of her history would be most inter- 

 esting and affecting; born in captivity (at Loch- 

 leven Castle, in February 1568), cradled in ad- 

 versity, obscurity, and mystery, and died in exile, 

 and probably neglect. A. S. A. 



Wuzzeerabad. 



Lightning. — Is there such a thing as sheet- 

 lightning ; or is that whicli is so called merely the 

 reflection of linear lightning, so distant that the 

 flash itself is invisible? G. T. H, 



Was Penn ever a Slaveholder ? — Did William 

 Penn ever make use of ]N'egro slaves ? The asser- 

 tion is made in Bancroft's History of America, 

 that it is said that he did. Now, as I never have 

 seen such a thing hinted at in any work relating 

 to William Penn, and as here it is only put in an 

 inexcusably loose manner, I should feel better 

 satisfied if tlie calumny could be entirely refuted ; 

 as such a charge was entirely inconsistent with the 

 whole tenor of his life. Tiios. CaosFiELn. 



Authorship of " Voiage da Monde de Descartes.''* 

 — May I request your aid in determining the 

 authorship of an old French book which I have 



