Feb. 5. 1853.] 



NOTES xiND QUERIES. 



143 



Straw Bail (Vol. vii., p. 85.). — Part of this 

 Query may be answered by the following extract : 



" For the bribery and perjury so painfully frequent 

 in Attic testimony, the editor contents himself with 

 quoting from an article in the Quarterly Review 

 (vol. xxxiii. p. 344.), in which the Greek courts of 

 justice are treated of. — ' We have all heard of a race of 

 men who used, in former days, to ply about our own 

 courts of law, and who, from their manner of making 

 known their occupation, were recognised by the name 

 of Straw-shoes. An advocate, or lawyer, who wanted a 

 convenient witness, knew by these signs where to find 

 one, and the colloquy between the parties was brief 

 ' Don't you remember?' said the advocate — (the party 

 looked at the fee and gave no sign ; but the fee in- 

 creased, and the powers of memory increased with it). 

 * To be sure I do.' ' Then come into the court and 

 swear it.' And Straw-shoes went into the court and 

 swore it. Athens abounded in Straw-shoes." 



See Mitchell's Wasps of Aristophanes, note on 

 line 945. C. Fokbbs. 



Temple. 



Doctor Young (Vol. vii., p. 14.). — J. H. will find 

 an account of Mrs. Hallows, the lady meant as 

 Young's housekeeper, in Boswell's Johnson, p. 351., 

 ed. 1848; and I can add to Anderson's note, that 

 in the Duchess of Portland's correspondence with 

 Young, of which I have seen the originals, Mrs. 

 Hallows is always mentioned by her Grace with 

 civility and kindness. C. 



Scarfs worn by Clergymen (Vol. vii., p. 108.). 

 — Your correspondent will find the subject of his 

 Query fully discussed in the Quarterly Review for 

 June, 1851 (vol. Ixxxix. p. 222.), the result being 

 that the use of the scarf, except by chaplains of 

 peers, dignitaries, &c., is a wholly unauthorised 

 usurpation of very recent date. C. 



Gibber s Lives of the Poets (Vol. v., p. 161. ; 

 Vol. vii., p. 113.). — Mr. W. L. Nichols has 

 transmitted to " N. & Q." what he calls a " curious 

 letter which appears to have escaped the notice of 

 Me. Croker, though it corroborates his state- 

 ment," relative to Dr. Johnson's mistake as to the 

 authorship of those Lives. Mr. Nichols is in- 

 formed that he will find this "curious letter" in 

 extenso in Mr. Croker's last edition of Boswell, 

 p. 504., with the date of 1846; the letter itself 

 having been published in 1843. It is again re- 

 ferred to in p. 818. as decisive of the question. 



C. 



^'■Letters on Prejudice" (Vol. vii., p. 40.). — I have 

 always understood from private and family sources, 

 that Letters on Prejudice, inquired after by 

 W. W. T., were written by a Miss Mary Kenny, 

 an Irishwoman of great worth and ability. If I 

 am right in this assertion, her brother, who was 

 some time a fellow of the Irish University, and, if 



not lately dead, rector of one of the London 

 churches, should be able to confirm it. A. B. R. 

 Belmont. 



Statue of St. Peter (Vol.vi., p. 604. ; Vol.vii.^ 

 p. 96.). — On what authority does Ceyrep rest the 

 confident statement, that this statue was undoubt- 

 edly cast for a St. Peter " in the time of St. Leo 

 the Great?" I have always understood tliat it 

 was an ancient statue which had been found in 

 the Tiber ; but here is a distinct assertion as to 

 the period of its origin, for which some good 

 authority would be very acceptable. B. H. C. 



Lord Goring (Vol.ii., pp. 22. 65.). — I see him 

 mentioned (in the Herstelde Leeuw, fol. 1 22.) as 

 having been present at the baptism of William IIL 

 in 1651. He escorted Madam van Dhona, by 

 whom the young prince was carried to church. — 

 From the Navorscher. W. D. V. 



Revolutionary Calendar (Vol. vi., pp. 199. 305.). 

 — The lines to which C. refers may be seen in 

 Brady's Clavis Calendaria, vol. i. p. 38. He gives 

 them as the lines of an English wit, thus : 



" Autumn, wheezy, sneejy, freezy, 

 Winter, slippy, drippy, nippy ; 

 Spring showery, flowery, bowery ; 

 Summer hoppy, croppy, poppy." 



Thomas Lawrence. 

 A shby-de-la- Zouch. 



Scanderhags' Sword (Vol. vii., p. 35.). — This 

 alludes to a proverb given by Fuller, " Scan- 

 derbags' sword must have Scanderbags' arm." 



Zeus. 



Rhymes upon Places (Vol. vii., p. 24.). — Lin- 

 colnshire : 



" Gosberton church is very high, 

 Surfleet church is all awry ; 

 Pinchbeck church is in a hole. 

 And Spalding church is big with foal." 



Zeus. 



Nicknames (Vol.vi., p. 198.). — If your corre- 

 spondent will look at Mr. Bellenden Ker's Ar- 

 cheeology of Poptdar Phrases, vol. i. p. 184., he 

 will find an attempt to show the origin of nick- 

 name ; but, whether we agree or not with Mr. Ker, 

 the whole paragraph is worth reading for its com- 

 parative philology : it may, perhaps, bear out that 

 the "nic" in "pic-nic" is also allied. 



Thomas Lawrence. 



Ashby- de- la- Zouch. 



Nugget (Vol. vi., pp. 171. 281.). — E.N. W. 

 inquires the meaning of the word nugget; and 

 W. S. replies that in Persian nuqud signifies 

 " ready money." This may have satisfied E. N. W,., 

 but it reminds me of Jonathan Oldbuck and 



