2"<> S. V. 126., May 29. '58.] 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



A4^ 



are driven mad in summer, not from excess of 

 temperature, but from want of water, the rivers 

 and springs being frozen over. On remark- 

 ing, when in Italy, that it seemed odd the wolves 

 should be driven from their haunts in the Apen- 

 nines in winter, when the wild birds, rabbits, &c. on 

 which they usually feed remain in their old nests 

 and burrows, and the sheep and goats are care- 

 fully shut up in walled enclosures, I was told the 

 wolves come down in large droves from the moun- 

 tains, not for food, but to drink at the streams in 

 the valleys ; those above being quite frozen up. 

 There are hundreds of wild dogs in Rome without 

 homes or masters, who sleep anywhere in the 

 streets, but you never hear of a mad dog in that 

 city ; but there are fountains in every public 

 street, besides numbers in the private courtyards, 

 so that water is abundantly accessible. The dogs 

 used to come every evening at dusk into the 

 Piazza del Popolo in droves of twenty or thirty at 

 time, to drink before going to sleep. A. A. 



Southwell MSS. (2"^ S. ii. 310.) — Several vo- 

 lumes of these valuable MSS. were (and may yet 

 be) in the possession of Mr. George Smith, the 

 eminent bookseller of Dublin. F. E,. S. 



Bib. Aul. Regis. 



Dublin. 



Great Douglas Cause (2"^ S. iv. 69. 110. 158. 

 209. 285.) — 



" In the Library of Lincoln's Inn there is a collection 

 of all the publications relating to the celebrated Douglas 

 Cause, including all the speeches and arguments in the 

 case, and the various pamphlets written on the occasion." 

 — Spilsbury's Lincoln's Inn, 1850, p. 218. 



L. F. B. may there readily find all the infor- 

 mation he seeks. G. Offob. 



Surnames in " Son ; " Purcell ; Blen ; O' and 

 Mac. (2"-* S. v. 316.334. 358.) — Andrew Wright, 

 in his Court-Hand Restored^ edit. 1810, tells us 

 that in old deeds, charters, and records, the name 

 Purcell is written de PorceUis, vel Purcellis. May 

 I venture to refer Mr. Lower to the list of an- 

 cient surnames contained in this very useful 

 manual, as also to Ferguson's Northmen in Cum- 

 berland and Westmorland (Longman & Co., 1856), 

 and to Sullivan's Cumberland and Westmorland 

 (Whittaker & Co., 1857), for suggestive remarks 

 upon the subjects of his additional queries, above 

 referred to ? Wm. Matthews. 



Cowgill. 



Button's Epitaph (2''*S. v. 107. 159.)— Amongst 

 a collection of epitaphs, I have the following as 

 occurring in a churchyard near Salisbury : — 

 " Oh Richard Button, Esq. 



" Oh ! Sun, Moon, Stars, and j^e celpstial Poles 1 

 Are graves then dwindled into Button-holes ? " 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Newel (2"'' S. v. 380. 421.) —According to 

 Parker's Glossary of Terms in Architecture, newel, 

 noel, or nowel, is the column round which the steps 

 of a circular staii'case wind, and it is derived from 

 the French noyau d'escalier. 



The old French had nou, from nodus, meaning 

 knot or button. From nou was derived nouel, 

 noiel, noyal, and ultimately noyau, in the same 

 sense of knot, button, attachment of any kind. 

 Further derivatives were noueller or nouler, to 

 button, to tie ; noilleux, nouilleux, noiele, nouail- 

 leux, full of knots, nodosus ; and nouer, to tie, 

 which is still in use (see Roquefort in the words 

 cited). 



According to Cotgrave's French Dictionary, 

 noyau is " the stone of a plum, cherry, date, olive, 

 &c. ; also (but less properly) the kernel enclosed 

 therein ; also the miel or spindle of a winding stair." 



The Dictionnaire de Z'Acat/emze defines noyati as 

 " cette substance dure et ligneuse qui est enfer- 

 mee au milieu de certains fruits, comme la prune, 

 Tabricot, la peche, etc., et qui contient une 

 amande ;" and it cites the proverb, " II faut casser 

 le noyau pour en avoir i'amande." It explains 

 the phrase noyau d'escalier to be " la partie d'un 

 escalier a vis qui est au centre, et sur laquelle 

 porte I'extremite des marches." 



Nodus and nodellus occur in Ducange with the 

 sense of button or clasp. Noyau stands to nodel- 

 lus in the same relation in which boyau (originally 

 boel) stands to bvdellus and botellus. 



The word noyau has not, as is commonly sup- 

 posed, any connexion with nucleus. It derived its 

 signification of the stone of a fruit, from its resem- 

 blance to a round button, and it does not properly 

 denote the kernel. Neither is it (as Diez has 

 suggested) a modification of nucaliSy a supposed 

 adjectival form of nux. L. 



Lilliputian Aztecs (2°'* S. v. 234. 346. 382.) — 

 See an article, entitled " Contributions to the 

 Natural History of Man," in the Illustrated Lon- 

 don Magazine, vol. i. p. 148. (for 1853). 



R. W. Hackwood. 



The Masterson Family (2"" S. v. 395.) —If S. 

 R. had given his name and address, I would have 

 gladly transcribed for him, at length, from Orme- 

 rod's History of Cheshire, such portions of the 

 Masterson (or Maisterson) pedigree as would have 

 to a great extent satisfied his wants. As it is, I 

 will here simply state that the family referred to 

 had no connexion with Lancashire, but were set- 

 tled at Nantwich, in Cheshire, at least as early as 

 the thirteenth century. They bore for arms, 

 " ermine, a chevron azure, between 3 garbs or ; " 

 which arms were confirmed to the family at the 

 visitation of 1663. Thomas, son of Richard Mais- 

 terson, was slain at the battle of Flodden Field ; 

 his son and heir, Thomas, then only eighteen years 

 of age, being taken prisoner in the same encounter. 



