Dec. 25. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



611 



ad naturas rationes divertunt, existimare, Campanarum 

 sono tempescatum, ventorum, grandinumque depelli in- 

 juriam, quod tinnitus ille ieris aerein maxime diver- 

 beret, scindat, et confringat ; quod apertum sit eo, quod 

 usu venit apibus, cum facto examine, avolare coeperint ; 

 quandoquidem non magno aeris tinnitu subsidere co- 

 guntur, acre nimirum discisso, distractoque, et volatum 

 aegre recipiente. Quanquam existimabit fortasse aliquis, 

 id apibus, moto acre, usuvenire, quod tinnitu allicinntur ; 

 quod, an verum sit, aliis dijudicandum relinquo." 



To this I beg to add one Query, in the hope 

 that it may catch the eye of some modern phi- 

 losopher wiser than those referred to by Magius, 

 and elicit from him the favour of a reply. Philo- 

 sophically, Is there anything in it after all ? 



H. T. Ellacombe. 



Clyst St. George. 



BUFUS S STIRRUP. 



(Vol.vi., p. 485.) 



That the Normans, as early as the battle of 

 Hastings, used stirrups of metal, appears to me to 

 be shown by the Bayeux tapestry. I have not 

 seen the tapestry itself, but I have before me a 

 series of plates in a work entitled Anglo-Norman 

 Antiquities considered in a Tour through Parts of 

 Normandy, by Dr. Ducarel : London, 1767. The 

 Doctor says : 



" The following plates were published by the learned 

 Father Bernard de Montfaucon, in his work entitled 



Les Monumens de la Monarchic frangaise : 



he favoured me, at my request, with a separate set of 

 them." 



In most of these plates, the horses having riders, 

 the stirrups, If such there be, are of course repre- 

 sented in profile ; and it Is therefore not easy to 

 decide whether a metal object or a mere loop of 

 leather be intended : In two Instances, however, 

 I think there can be no mistake. In the first, two 

 led horses are seen ; from the saddle of one of 

 which depends a triangular stirrup, fastened to 

 its leather. Over this group Is inscribed : 



" VBI NVNTU WILLIELMI DVCIS VENERVNT AD WIDONEM." 



In the other example we have a Norman, with 

 his horse sinking under him : the rider's feet touch 

 the ground, and are free from the stirrups, one of 

 which Is seen In front, and Is also triangular. 

 Over this figure are the words : 



" HIC . FRANCI . PVGNAKT . ET . CECIDERVNT . QVI . 

 ERANT . CVM . HAROLDO ." 



I see, on looking into Beckmann's Hist, of In- 

 ventions, art. Stirrups, that he is still more posi- 

 tive. Speaking of these very plates, he says, " the 

 saddles of all the horses appear to have stirrups." 

 He also gives the following quotation in support of 

 the antiquity of the invention : " Isidore, in the 



seventh century, says, ' Scansuce, ferrum per quod 

 equus scanditur.' " W. J. Bernhard Smith. 



Temple. 



N. B. — Tour correspondent G. T. H. has headed 

 his article " Rufus's Spur," and it Is also so printed 

 in the contents. 



QUERIES ON POPULAR PHRASES. 



(Vol. vi., p. 150.) 



As the Queries of your reader J. R. K. relate 

 to two little works put forth some few years 

 since under my editorship, I feel it my duty to 

 answer them. 



As regards the first : 



" Bring in a quart of maligo, right true, 

 And looke you rogue, that it be pee and kew." 



the meaning of these mysterious letters P and Q 

 has been fully discussed In the pages of " N. & Q." 



The second Query may possibly be a misprint 

 In the original work : It admits of no explanation, 

 as far as I am aware. 



The third Query, which refers to the antiquity 

 of playing cards. Is not easily answered. I can 

 only refer J. R. R. to Mr. Singer's Researches 

 into the History of Playing Cards ; and to Mr. 

 Chatto's more recent volume on the same subject. 



The third Query, 

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



is easily explained. Murr signifies a violent cold. 

 Woodall, in his Surgery (p. 223.), speaking of 

 sulphur, says : 



" The flowres serve 'gainst pestilence, 'gainst asthma 

 and the murr." 



Iligins, in his Nomenclature (p. 428.), adds : 



" A rheurae or humour falling down into the nose ; 

 stopping the nostrells, hurting the voice, and causing a 

 cough, with a singing in the eares ; the pose, or mur." 



From the Ballads on the Great Frost of 1683-4, 

 your correspondent queries the following lines : 



" He'll print for a sice, 

 (For that is his price)." 



Sice, i. e. size, small scraps or farthings' worth 

 of bread or drink, which scholars In Cambridge 

 have at the buttery, noted with the letter S. 

 Hence the term sizer, or servitor, or attendant. 

 See Glossographia, by T. B., 1674, p. 593. 



The next Query Is upon the game of nine-holes^ 

 of which an Illustration is asked : 



Nine-holes, according to Nares, was " a rural 

 game, played by making nine holes In the ground, 

 In the angles and sides of a square, and placing 

 stones and other things upon them according to 

 certain rules." It was sometimes played with 

 marbles. It is frequently mentioned by our old 

 dramatists. For a particular description of the 



