JDLY 17. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



' An heart with penitence made new and cleane, 

 P'ill'd with faith, hope, and loue, must be my strane. 

 ]VJy God y' didst not slight 

 The widowes mite, 

 Accept of this 

 Poore sacrifice, 

 Though I nere give but what before was Thine, 

 A treasure taken out of Thine owne mine." 



Edwabd Peacock, Jon. 

 Bottesford Moors. 



Curious Mistranslation. — In Dickens' Household 

 Words, in No. 113. (May 22), there is an article 

 entitled " The Eights of French Women," in 

 which, at p. 221., a Frenchman is made to say, 

 that, in consequence of a promenade in the coun- 

 try, he and his child " shall sleep like two wooden 

 shoes." Now this raised a Query in my mind, 

 for I had never before heard "wooden shoes" 

 taxed with any drowsy qualities, although un- 

 doubtedly heavy; and I could not call to mind 

 any authority for the ascription. Upon turning 

 to a French dictionary, I find that the word 

 sabot, which means a wooden shoe, means also a 

 top : my Query was therefore turned into a Note ; 

 that Note being, that the writer of the article had 

 wrongfully used the former meaning instead of 

 the latter; and that the Frenchman had really 

 said, he and his child should " sleep like two tops." 

 Is this Note worth your notice ? P. T. 



Stoke Newington. 



Street Crossing. — A writer in The Builder has 

 cleverly suggested that bridges might be erected in 

 the crowded thoroughfares of London for the con- 

 venience of foot passengers, who lose so much valu- 

 able time in crossing. As the stairs would occupy 

 a considerable space, and occasion much fatigue, I 

 beg to propose an amendment: Might not the 

 ascending pedestrians be raised up by the descend- 

 ing ? The bridge would then resemble the letter 

 H, and occupy but little room. Three or four at 

 a time, stepping into an iron framework, would be 

 gently elevated, walk across, and perform by their 

 weight the same friendly office for others rising on 

 the opposite side. Surely no obstacles can arise 

 which might not be surmounted by ingenuity. If 

 a temporary bridge were erected in one of the 

 parks the experiment might be tried at little cost, 

 and, at any rate, some amusement would be 

 afibrded. C. T. 



Travelling Expenses at the Close of the Seven- 

 teenth Century. — I beg to send, for the information 

 of your correspondent A. A. (Vol. iii., p. 143.), 

 the following transcript of a MS. entry on a fly- 

 leaf at the end of a Jewish calendar for the year 



5458 now in my possession. The book is a thin 

 12mo., printed " at the Theater, Oxford," a.d. 

 " 1698," with which year the Jewish date corre- 

 sponds, and it contains the Christian and Jewish 

 calendars in parallel pages. It appears from the 

 autograph of " Wm. Stukeley, M.D., 1736," which 

 is written on the inside of the cover of the book, 

 that it once belonged to that antiquary. The 

 handwriting of the entries resembles that of 

 Thomas Hearne. 



"A. D. 1698. £ ». d. 



Post-chaise from Oxford to London - 7 6 



Post-boy 1 



Expences at the Red Lion : Dinner, 



Wine, one bottle of old Port, and fruit 19 



Waiter 1 



Expences at Half Moon Tavern : Sal- 

 mon, lobster sauce, a bottle of Port - 1 6 

 Bed and Chamberlain - - - 3j 

 Post-chaise to Oxford, and Dinner-^ 

 Shoulder and leg of House Lamb, and 

 two bottles of Wine, with asparagrass Oil 2 



Play House Exps. 



1 2 4| 

 9 



£l 



H 



" N. B. — It was decided by a great Majority of 

 Civilians that the Cause was clear from the evidence of 

 Mrs. Barlow." 



R. M. W. 



" The Bore" in the Severn. — In the following 

 passages found in the second text of Lazamon's 

 Brut, which Sir F. Madden considers to have been 

 written about fifty years after the earlier text, the 

 probable date of which he fixes at the commence- 

 ment of the thirteenth century, occur the three 

 forms of " beares," " beres," " bieres" denoting 

 waves, viz. 



" passi over bieres. 

 (to) pass over waves." — Lazam., ed. Madden, Lond, 

 1846, vol. i. p. 57. 



" )>e beares me hire bi-nome. 

 the waves took her from me." — Vol. iii. p. 121. 



'< wandri mid > . . beres. 

 floating with the waves." — Vol. iii. p. 144. 



Sir F. Madden observes, in his Glossarial Re- 

 marks, La^awi., vol. iii. p. 451. v. 1341.: 



" This word has not been met with in A.-S. It is ne 

 doubt the same with the Isl. bdra : Old Germ, bare ; 

 Dutch haar, wave or billow. Perhaps the bar of a 

 harbour is hence derived." 



May we not also trace to this source the term 

 bore, popularly used to express the tidal wave of 

 the Severn ? R. M. W. 



