Jan. 8. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



37 



is, that they found the word nearer home, in some 

 circumstance which had less to do with literary 

 refinement than with the refining of sugar. _ 



There is an expression in French which is iden- 

 tical in spelling with this word, namely, "molasse" 

 (softish — so to speak) ; and which describes the 

 liquidity of molasses, as distinguished from the 

 granulous substance of which they are the residue. 

 As our first sugar establishment was formed in 

 1643, in an island (St. Christopher) one half of 

 which was then occupied by the French, it is pos- 

 sible that we may have adopted the word from 

 them ; and this conjecture is supported by the 

 following passage in Pere Labat (vol. iii. p. 93.), 

 where he uses the word " molasse " in the sense of 

 soft, to describe a species of sugar that had not 

 received, or had lost, the proper degree of con- 

 sistency. 



" Je vis leur sucre qui me parut tres beau et bien 

 grene, surtout lorsqu'il est nouvellement fait ; mais on 

 m'assura qu'il devenait cendreux ou molasse, et qu'il se 

 decuisait quand il etait garde quelques jours." 



Henky H. Bbeekt. 



St. Lucia. 



^ A Sounding Name. — At the church of Elmley 



Castle, Worcestershire, is a record of one John 



Chapman, whose name, it is alleged, " sounds in 



(or throughout) the world," but for my own part 



I have never been privileged to hear either the 



original blast or the echo. Perhaps some of the 



readers of " N. & Q." can inform me who and 



what was the owner of this high-sounding name. 



Was ho related to Geo. Chapman, the translator 



of Homer ? The inscription is as follows : 



" Memorije defunctorum Sacrum 



KOI TV<p<j}via, 



Siste gradum, Viator, ac leges. In spe beatte Resur- 



rectionis hie requiescunt exuviae Johannis Chapmanni 



et Isabellse uxoris, filias Gulielmi Allen de Wightford, 



in Comitat. War. ab antiquo Proavorum stemmate de- 



duxerunt genus. Variis miseriarum agitatl procellis 



ab strenue succumbentis in arrescenti juventutis aestate, 



pie ac peccatorum pcenitentia expirabant animas. 



Maij 10 Die Anno Domini 1677. 



Sistite Pierides Chapmannum plangere, cujus 



Spiritus in coelis, nomen in orbe sonat." 



J. NOAKE. 



Worcester. 



caucn'?^. 



BOMAN SErCLCHKAL INSCRIPTIONS. 



In the year 1847 I brought from the Columbaria, 

 near the tomb of Scipio Africanus at Rome, a small 

 collection of sepulchral fictile vessels, statuettes, 

 &c., in terra cotta. Among these was a small 

 figure, resembling the Athenian Hermae, consist- 

 ing of a square pillar, surmounted by the bust of 

 a female with a peculiar head-dress and close 



curled coiffure. The pillar bears the following 

 inscription: 



"T2T 

 PAN 



2 

 ANI 

 KHT 

 O." 



— a translation of which would oblige me much. 



Another, in the form of a small votive altar, 

 bears the heads of the " Dii Majores " and their 

 attributes, the thunderbolt, two-pronged spear, 

 and trident, and the inscription — 



"DIIS PROPI 

 M HERENNII 



VIVNTIS " (i.e. vivantis). 



Of the meaning of this I am by no means cer- 

 tain ; and I have searched Montfaucon in vain, to 

 discover anything similar. 



A third was a figure of the Egyptian Osiris, 

 exactly resembling in every point (save the mate- 

 rial) the little mummy-shaped figures in bluish- 

 green porcelain, which are found in such numbers 

 in the catacombs of Ghizeh and Abousir. As the 

 Columbaria were probably the places of sepulture 

 of the freedmen, these various traces of national 

 worship would seem to indicate that they were 

 still allowed to retain the deities peculiar to the 

 countries from which they came, though their 

 master might be of a diflferent faith. 



E. S. Tatlok. 



Ormesby, St. Marg., Norfolk. 



CHAPEIi PLASTER. 



In North Wilts, between Corsham and Bradford, 

 and close to the meeting of five or six roads, there 

 is a well-known public-house, contiguous to which 

 is an ancient wayside chapel bearing this peculiar 

 name. Some account of the place, with two views 

 of the chapel, is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, 

 February, 1835, page 143. The meaning of the 

 word plaster has always been a puzzle to local 

 antiquaries, and no satisfactory derivation of it has 

 yet been given. The first and natural notion is, 

 that some allusion is made to the material with 

 which it may have been coated. But this is im- 

 probable, the building being of good freestone, not 

 requiring any such external addition. Some have 

 interpreted it to be the chapel of the plas-trew, or 

 " woody place." But this again is very unlikely ; 

 as the place is not only as far as possible from 

 being woody now, but can hardly ever have been 

 otherwise than what it is. The rock comes close 

 to the surface, and the general situation is on a 

 bleak exposed hill, as unfavourable as can be for 

 the growth of trees. Leland, indeed, as he rode 

 by, took it for a hermitage, and does also say that 

 the country beyond it " begins to be woody." But 



