256 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 176. 



Mr. Singer (Vol. vi., p. 584.) by directing 

 attention to the circumstance of cm& being a young 

 fox, has proved, at least to me, that case is the 

 proper word, — a proof, among many, of the 

 hazard of tampering with the text when not pal- 

 pably wrong. 



Cub is the young fox, and fox, vixen, cub are 

 like dog, bitch, whelp, — ram, ewe, lamb, &c. The 

 word is peculiar to the English language, nothing 

 at all resembling it being to be found in the Anglo- 

 Saxon, or any of the kindred dialects. Holland, 

 in his Plutarch (quoted by Richardson), when 

 telling the story of the Spartan boy, says " a little 

 cub, or young fox ; " and then uses only cub. It 

 was by analogy that the word was used of the 

 young of bears, lions, and whales : and if Shak- 

 speare in one place (Merchant of Venice, Act II. 

 Sc. 1.) says ^^ cubs of the she-bear," he elsewhere 

 {Titus Andronicus, Act IV. Sc. 1.) has "bear- 

 whelps." I further very much doubt if cub was 

 used of boys in our poet's time. The earliest em- 

 ployment of it that I have seen is in Congreve, who 

 uses " unlicked cubs," evidently alluding to young 

 bears : and that is the sense in which cub is still 

 used, — a sense that would not in any case apply 

 to Viola. Thos. Kbightubt. 



IMPRECATOET EPITAPHS. 



There is a class of epitaphs, or, we should rather 

 say, there are certain instances of monumental 

 indecorum which have not as yet been noticed by 

 the many contributors on these subjects to your 

 pages. I refer to those inscriptions embodying 

 threats, or expressing resentful feelings against the 

 murderers, or supposed murderers, of the deceased 

 individual. Of such epitaphs we have fortunately 

 but few examples in Great Britain ; but in Norway, 

 among the Runic monuments of an early and rude 

 age, they are by no means uncommon. 



Near the door of the church of Knaresdale, in 

 Northumberland, is the following on a tombstone : 



" In Memory of Robert Baxter, of Farhouse, 

 who died Oct. 4, 1796, aged 56. 

 " All you that please these lines to read, 

 It will cause a tender heart to bleed. 

 I murdered was upon the fell, 

 And by the man I knew full well ; 

 By bread and butter, which he'd laid, 

 I, being harmless, was betray'd. 

 I hope he will rewarded be 

 That laid the poison there for me." 



Robert Baxter is still remembered by persons 

 yet living, and the general belief in the country is, 

 that he was poisoned by a neighbour with whom 

 he had had a violent quarrel. Baxter was well 

 known to be a man of voracious appetite ; and it 

 seems that, one morning on going out to the fell 

 (or bill), he found a piece of bread and butter 



wrapped in white paper. This he incautiously 

 devoured, and died a few hours after in great 

 agony. The suspected individual was, it is said, 

 alive in 1813. 



We know not how much of the old Norse blood 

 ran in the veins of Robert Baxter's friend, who 

 composed this epitaph; but this summer, among a 

 people of avowedly Scandinavian descent, I copied 

 the following from a large and handsome tomb in 

 the burying-ground of the famous Cross Kirk, in 

 Northmavine parish, in Shetland : 



« M. S. 



Donald Robertson, 



Born 1st of January, 1785 ; died 4th of June, 1848, 



aged 63 years. 

 He was a peaceable quiet man, and to all appearance 

 a sincere Christian. His death was very inuch re- 

 gretted, which was caused by the stupidity of Laurence 

 Tulloch, of Clotherten, who sold him nitre instead of 

 Epsom salts, by which he was killed in the space of 

 three hours after taking a dose of it." 



Among the Norwegian and Swedish Runic in- 

 scriptions figured by Gosannson and Sjoborg, we 

 meet with two or three breathing a still more re- 

 vengeful spirit, but one eminently in accordance 

 with the rude character of the age to which they 

 belong (a.d. 900 ad 1300). 



An epitaph on a stone figured by Sjoborg runs 

 as follows : 



" Rodvisl and Rodalf they caused this stone to be 

 raised after their three sons, and after [to] Rodfos. 

 Him the Blackmen slew in foreign lands. God help 

 the soul of Rodfos : God destroy them that killed him." 



Another stone figured by Gosannson has en- 

 graved on it the same revengeful aspiration. 



We all remember the Shakspearian inscription,. 

 " Cursed be he that moves my bones ; " but if Finn 

 Magnussen's interpretation be correct, there is an. 

 epitaph in Runic characters at Greniadarstad 

 church, in Iceland, which concludes thus : 



" If you willingly remove this monument, may you 

 sink into the ground." 



It would be curious to collect examples of these 

 menaces on tombstones, and I hope that other con- 

 tributors will help to rescue any that exist in this 

 or in other countries from oblivion. 



Edward Charlton, M.D» 



Newcastle-upon- Tyne. 



DERIVATION OF "lAd" AND "LASS." 



The derivation of the word lad has not yet been 

 given, so far as I am aware ; and the word lass is 

 in the same predicament. Lad is undoubtedly of 

 old usage in England, and in its archaic sense it 

 has reference, not to age, as now, but to service or 

 dependence ; being applied, not to signify a youth 

 or a boy, but a servant or inferior. 



