Aug. 6. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



127 



with sheers, ov spars, erected upon it, for the pur- 

 pose of masting and unmasting ships, and was led 

 to attribute the use of it, by Sir W. Scott and 

 other writers, for a vessel totally dismasted, to 

 their ignorance of the technical terms. But of 

 late it has been used in the latter sense by a 

 writer in the United Service Magazine professing 

 to be a nautical man. I still suspect that this use 

 of the word is wrong, and should be glad to hear 

 on the subject from any of your naval readers. 



I believe that the word " buckle " is still used 

 in the dockyards, and among seamen, to signify to 

 " bend" (see " N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 375.),"though 

 rarely. J. S. Warden. 



The Lapwing or Peewitt ( Vanellus cristatus). — 

 Can any of your correspondents, learned in natural 

 history, throw any light upon the meaning in the 

 following line relative to this bird ? — 



" The blackbird far its hues shall know, 

 As lapwing knows the vine." 



In the first line the allusion is to the berries of the 

 hawthorn ; but what the lapwing has to do with 

 the vine, I am at a loss to know. Having forgotten 

 whence I copied the above lines, perhaps some one 

 will favor me with the author's name. 



J. B. Whitborne. 



" Could we with ink," 8)X. — Could you, or any 

 of your numerous and able correspondents, in- 

 form me who is the bond fide author of the follow- 

 ing lines ? — 



" Could we with ink the ocean fill, 



And were the heavens of parchment made, 

 Were every stalk on earth a quill, 



And every man a scribe by trade; 

 To write the Icve of God above, 



Would drain the ocean dry ; 

 Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 

 Though stretch'd from sky to sky." 



Naphtali. 



Launching Querxj. — With reference to the acci- 

 dent to II. M.S. Caesar at Pembroke, I would ask, 

 la there any other instance of a ship, on being 

 launched, stopping on the ways, and refusing to 

 move in spite of all eflforts to start her ? A. B. 



Manliness. — Query, What is the meaning of 

 the word as used in " N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 94., 

 col. 2. 1. 12. Anonymous. 



.Alitor ^mxitA lut't^ '^niiatxi. 



Plies or Pews. — Which is the correct way of 

 spelling this word ? What is its derivation ? Why 

 has the form pue been lately so much adopted ? 



Omega. 



[The abuses connected with the introduction of pues 

 into churches have led to an investigation of their liis- 

 tory, as well as to the etymology of the word. Hence 



the modern adoption of its original and more correct 

 orthography, that oi pve ; the Dutch puye, puyd, and 

 the English pue, being derived from the Latin podium. 

 In Vol. iii., p. 56., we quoted the following as the earliest 

 notice of the word from the Vision of Piers Plouman: 



" Among wyves and wodewes ieh am ywoned sute 

 Yparroked in pues. The person hit knoweth." 



Again, in Richard III., Act IV. Sc. 4. : "And makes 

 hei pue-fellow with others moan." — In Decker's JVest- 

 ward Hoe: " Being one day in church, she made mone 

 to her /jMe-/e//ott' . " — And in the Northern Hoe of the 

 same author : " He would make him a pue-fellow with 

 lords." — See a paper on The History of Pews, read be- 

 fore the Cambridge Camden Society, Nov, 22, 1841.] 



'■'■ Jerningham" and ^'^ Doveton." — Who was the 

 author of Jerningham and Doveton, two admirable 

 works of fiction published some twelve or fifteen 

 years ago ? They are equal to anything written 

 by Bulwer Lytton or by James. J. Mt.. 



[The author of these works was Mr. Anstruther.J 



BATTLE OF VILLERS EN COUCHE. 



(Vol. viii., p. 8.) 



I possess a singular work, consisting of a series 

 of Poetical Sketches of the campaigns of 1793 and 

 1794, written, as the title-page asserts, by an 

 " oflicer of the Guards ;" who appears to have been^ 

 from what he subsequently states, on the personal 

 staff" of His Royal Highness the late Duke of York» 

 This work, I have been given to understand, was- 

 suppressed shortly after its publication ; the ludi- 

 crous light thrown by its pages on the conduct of 

 many of the chief parties engaged in the transac- 

 tions it records, being no doubt unpalatable to 

 those high in authority. From the notes, which 

 are valuable as appearing to emanate from an eye- 

 witness, and sometimes an actor in the scenes he 

 describes, I send the following extracts for the 

 information of your correspondent ; premising 

 that the letter to which they are appended is dated 

 from the " Camp at Inchin, April 26, 1794." 



" As the enemy were known to have assembled in 

 great force at the Camp de Cassar, near Cambray, 

 Prince Cobourg requested the Duke of York would 

 make a reconnaissance in that direction : accordingly, 

 on the evening of the 2Srd, Major-General Mansel's 

 brigade of heavy cavalry was ordered about a league 

 in front of their camp, where they lay that night at 

 a farm-house, forming part of a detachment under 

 General Otto. Early the next morning, an attack was 

 made on the French drawn up in front of the village 

 of Villers en Couchee (between Le Cateau and Bou- 

 chain) by the 15th regiment of Light Dragoons, and 

 two squadrons of Austrian Hussars : they charged 

 the enemy with such velocity and force, that, darting 

 through their cavalry, they dispersed a line of infantry 

 formed in their rear, forcing them also to retreat pre- 



