530 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 187. 



«ountry towards the close of the last century ; for the 

 papers of that time inform us, that on June 23, 1775, 

 a regatta, a novel entertainment, and the first of the 

 kind, was exhihited in the river Thames, in imitation 

 of some of those splendid shows exhibited at Venice on 

 their grand festivals. The whole river, from London 

 Bridge to the Ship Tavern, Millbank,was covered with 

 boats. About 1200 flags were flying before four o'clock 

 in the afternoon, and vessels were moored in the river 

 for the sale of liquors and other refreshments. Before 

 six o'clock it was a perfect fair on both sides the water, 

 and bad liquor, with short measure, was plentifully re- 

 tailed. Plans of the regatta were sold from a shilling 

 to a penny each, and songs on the occasion sung, in 

 which " regatta " was the rhyme for " Ranelagh," and 

 ■" royal family " echoed to "liberty."] 



Coket and Cler-mantyn. — Piers Plowman says 

 tliat when new corn began to be sold — 



*' Waulde no beggar eat bread that in it beanes were, 

 But of coket and chr-mantyn, or else of cleane wheate." 



What are coket and cler-mantyn ? Also, what are 

 coronation flowers, and sops in wine? Ceridwen. 



[Both coket and cler-mantyn mean a kind of fine 

 bread. Coronation is the name given by some of our 

 old writers to a species of flower, the modern appella- 

 tion of which is not clear. Sops-in-wine were a species 

 of flowers among the smaller kind of single gilliflowers 

 or pinks. Both these flowers are noticed by Spenser, 

 in his Shepherd's Calendar for April, as follows : 

 " Bring coronations and sops-in-wine 

 Worn of paramours."] 



HcpItCS. 



(VoLvi., pp.53. 112.) 



It will be remembered that when Mr, Webster, 

 one of the greatest of American statesmen, was on 

 Lis death-bed, in October last, he requested his 

 son to read to him that far-famed " Elegy " of 

 Gray: 



" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." 



The editor of the Boston Journal, after referring 

 to this circumstance, which he says has caused an 

 unexampled demand for the works of Gray in the 

 United States, goes on to give the result of his 

 researches In many old English works, respecting 

 the origin and meaning of the word curfew, which 

 I trust win Interest not only your correspondents 

 ■who have written on the subject, but also many of 

 your readers. I glean from the clever article now 

 before me the following brief notices, which I have 

 not yet met with in " N. &i Q." 



In King Alfred's time the curfew was rung at 

 eight o'clock, and called the "cover fire bell," be- 

 cause the inhabitants, on hearing Its peals, were 

 obliged to cover their fires, and go to bed. Thom- 

 son evidently refers, in the following lines, to this 



tyrannical law, which was abolished in England 

 about the year 1100: 



" The shiv'ring wretches at the curfew sound, 

 Dejected sunk into their sordid beds. 

 And through the mournful gloom of ancient time, 

 Mused sad, or dreamt of better." 



On the people finding that they could put out 

 their fires and go to bed when they pleased, it 

 would appear, from being recorded in many places, 

 that the time of ringing the curfew bell was first 

 changed from eight to nine o'clock, then from nine 

 to ten, and afterwards to the early hours of the 

 morning. Thus we find in Romeo and Juliet : 



" The curfew bell hath rung: 

 'Tis three o'clock." 



In Shakspeare's works frequent mention is made 

 of the curfew. In the Tempest he gives the fol- 

 lowing : 



" You whose pastime 

 Is to make midnight mushrooms — that rejoice 

 To hear the solemn curfew." 



In Measure for Pleasure : 



"Duke. Who call'd here of late? 

 Provost. None since the curfew rung." 



In King Lear : 



" This is the foul fiend Flibertiglbbet ; 

 He begins at curfew, and walks to the first cock." 



This old English custom of ringing the curfew 

 bell was carried by the Puritan fathers to New- 

 England ; and where is the Bostonian of middle 

 age who does not well recollect the ringing of the 

 church bell at nine o'clock, which was the willing 

 signal for labourers to retire to bed, and for shop- 

 men to close their shops ? 



Before closing this Note, may I be allowed to 

 inform Mb. Sansom, that Chaj-lestown Is in Massa- 

 chusetts, and only separated from Boston by Charles 

 River, which runs between the two cities. The 

 place to which he refers is Charleston, and in South 

 Carolina. W. W. 



Malta. 



THE ' SALT-PETER-MAN. 



(Vol. vii., pp. 377. 433. 460.) 



The statute against monopolies (21 Jac. I. c. 3.) 

 contains a clause (sec. 10.) that its provisions 

 should not extend to any commission grant or 

 letters patent theretofore made, or thereafter to 

 be made, of, for, or concerning the digging, making, 

 or compounding of saltpetre or gunpowder, which 

 were to be of the like force and efiect, and no other, 

 as if that act had never been made. 



In the famous " Remonstrance of the State of 

 the Kingdom" agreed upon by the House of 

 Commons In November, 1641, there is special 

 allusion to the vexation and oppression of the sub- 



