218 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 201. 



che un tempo mi sconquassavano le tempie, non ne 

 sento piu una. Le vertigini, che un tratto mi favori- 

 vano SI di spesso, se ne sono ite. Sino un reumatismo, 

 che m' aveva afFerrato per un braccio, s' e dileguato, 

 cosi ch' io farei ora alia lotta col piu valente marinaro 

 calabrese che sia. L' appetito mio pizzica del vorace. 

 Che buona' cosa il sugo d' un limone spremato nell' 

 acqua, e indolciato con un po' di zucchero! Fa di pro- 

 varlo, Teodoro. Chi sa che non assesti il capo e lo 

 stomaco auche a te." 



S. G. C. 



Weather Proverbs. — Are these proverbs worth 

 recording ? 



" Rain before seven, fine before eleven." 



•" A mackerel sky and mare's tails, 

 Make lofty ships carry low sails." 



^' If the rain comes before the wind, 

 Lower your topsails and take them in : 

 If the wind comes before the rain, 

 Lower your topsails and hoist them again." 



The expressions in the latter two are maritime, 

 and the rhymes not very choice ; but they hold 

 equally in terrestrial matters, and I have seldom 

 found them wrong. Kubi. 



Dog Latin. — The answer of one of your late cor- 

 respondents (E. M. B., Vol. vii., p. 622.) on the 

 subject of "Latin — Latiner," has revived a Query 

 in your First Volume (p. 230.) as to the origin of 

 this expression which does not appear to have been 

 answered. I do not remember having seen any 

 explanation of the term, but I have arrived at one 

 for myself, and present it to your readers for what 

 it is worth. Nothing, it must be admitted, can be 

 more inconsistent with the usual forms of language 

 than the Latin of medieval periods ; it Is often, in 

 fact, not Latin at all, but merely a Latin form 

 given to simple English or other words, and ad- 

 mitting of the greatest variety. Now of all ani- 

 mals the distinctions of breed are perhaps more 

 numerous in the canine race than any other. The 

 word " mongrel," originally applied to one of these 

 quadruped combinations of variety, has long been 

 used to signify anything in which mixture of class 

 existed, especially of a debasing kind, to which 

 such mixture generally tends. Nothing could be 

 more appropriate than the application of the term 

 to the " infima latinitas " of the Middle Ages ; and 

 from " mongrel " the transition to the name of the 

 genus from that of the degenerate species appears 

 to me to be very easy, though fanciful. J. B — x. 



Thomas Wright of Durham. — In the Philoso- 

 phical Magazine for April, 1848, 1 gave an account 

 of the "Original Theory 'or new Hypothesis of the 

 Universe " of Thomas Wright, whose anticipations 

 of modern speculation on the milky way, the 

 central sun, and some other points, make him one 

 of the most remarkable astronomical thinkers of 

 his day. In the biography in the Gentleman s 



Magazine for 1793, he is described as struggling 

 for a livelihood when a young man, and no account 

 is given of the manner in which he obtained the 

 handsome competence with which he emerges in 

 1756, or thereabouts. A few days after my ac- 

 count was published, I was informed (by Captain 

 James, R.E.) that a large four-foot orrery, con- 

 structed by Wright for the Royal Academy at Ports- 

 mouth, was still in that town ; and that by the title 

 of "J. Harrises Use of the Globes " It appears that he 

 (Wright) kept his shop at the Orrery., near Water 

 Lane, Fleet Street (No. 136.), under the title of 

 instrument-maker to his Majesty. In an edition 

 of Harris (the 8th, 1767), which I lately met 

 with, the above is described as " late the shop of 

 Thomas Wright," &c. By the advertisements which 

 this work contains, Wright must have had an ex- 

 tensive business as a philosophical instrument- 

 maker. The omission In the biography Is a strange 

 one. Possibly some farther information may fall 

 in the way of some of your readers. 



A. De Moegan. 



A Funeral Custom. — At Broadwas, Worcester- 

 shire, in the valley of the Teame, it is the custom 

 at funerals, on reaching " the Church Walk," for 

 the bearers to set down the coffin, and, as they 

 stand around, to bow to it. Cuthbekt Bede, B.A. 



LITTLECOTT 



SIB JOHN POPHAM. 



Every one knows the tradition attached to the 

 manor of Littlecott in Wiltshire, and the alleged 

 means by which Chief Justice Sir John Popham 

 acquired its possession. It is told by Aubrey, 

 Sir Walter Scott, and many others, and Is too no- 

 torious to be here repeated. Let me ask you or 

 your learned correspondents whether there exists 

 any refutation of a charge so seriously detrimental 

 to the character of any judge, and so inconsistent 

 with the reputation which Chief Justice Popham 

 enjoyed among his cotemporaries ? See Lord 

 Ellesmere's notice of him in the case of the Post- 

 natl {Slate Trials, il. 669.), and Sir Edward Coke's 

 flattering picture of him at the end of Sir Drew 

 Drury's case (Reports, vi. 75.). Are there any 

 records showing that a Darell was ever in fact 

 arraigned on a charge of murder, and the name of 

 the judge who presided at the trial ? Is the date 

 known of the death of the last Darell who pos- 

 sessed the estate, or that of Sir John Popham's 

 acquisition of It? The discovery of these might 

 throw great light on the subject, and possibly 

 afford a complete contradiction. 



Sir Francis Bacon, in his argument against Sir 

 John HoUis and othei's for traducing public justice, 

 states that — 



" Popham, a great judge in his time, was complained 

 of by petition to Queen Elizabeth ; it was committed 



