232 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 201. 



kraan, all mean, in their different languages, crane 

 the bird, and crane the machine. J. PL L. 



Sumhug — Ambages (Vol. viii., p. G4.)- — May 

 I be permitted to inform your correspondent that 

 Mr. May was certainly correct when using the 

 word " ambages " as an English word in his trans- 

 lation of Lucan. 



In Howell's Dictionary, published in London in 

 May 1660, I find it thus recorded: 



" Ambages, or circumstances." 



" Full of ambages." 



w.w. 



Malta. 



" Going to Old Weston" (Vol. iii., p. 449.).— In 

 turning over the pages of the third volume of "N. 

 & Q." recently, I stumbled on Arun's notice of 

 the above proverb. It immediately struck me 

 that I had heard it used myself a few days before, 

 without being conscious at the time of the singu- 

 larity of the expression. I was asking an old man, 

 who had been absent from home, where he had 

 been to ? His reply was, " To Old Weston, Sir. 

 You know I must go there before I die." Know- 

 ing that he had relatives living there, I did not, 

 at the time, notice anything extraordinary in the 

 answer; but, since reading Arun's note, I have 

 made some inquires, and find the saying is a com- 

 mon one on this (the Northamptonshire) side 

 of Old Weston, as well as in Huntingdonshire. 

 I have been unable to obtain any explanation of 

 it, but think the one suggested by your corre- 

 spondent must be right. One of my informants 

 (an old woman upwards of seventy) told me she 

 had often heard it used, and wondered what could 

 be its meaning, when she was a child. W. W. 



B Rectory, Northamptonshire. 



Reynolds's Nephew (Vol. viii., p. 102.). — I think 

 I can certify A. Z. that two distinct branches of 

 the Palmer family, the Deans, and another claim- 

 ing like kindred to Sir Joshua Reynolds, still 

 exist ; from which I conclude that Sir Joshua had 

 at least two nephews of that name. I regret that 

 I cannot inform your correspondent as to the 

 authorship of the piece about which he inquires ; 

 but, in the event of A. Z. not receiving a satisfac- 

 tory answer to his Query through the medium of 

 your publication, if he will furnish me with any 

 farther particulars he may possess on the subject, 

 I shall be happy to try what I can do towards 

 possessing him with the desired information. 



J. Sansom. 



Oxford. 



The Laird of Brodie (Vol. viii., p. 103.). — 

 I. H. B. mistakes, I think, the meaning of the 

 lines. The idea is not that the Laird was less 

 than a gentleman, but that he was a gentleman of 

 mark 5 at least, I have never heard any other in- 



terpretation put upon it in Scotland, where the 

 ballad of " We'll gang nae mair a-roving," is a 

 great favourite. King James is the subject of the 

 ballad. That merry monarch made many lively 

 escapades, and on this occasion he personated a 

 beggarman. The damsel, to whom he successfully 

 paid his addresses, saw through the disguise at 

 first ; but from the king's good acting, when he 

 pretended to be afraid that the dogs would " rive 

 his meal pokes," she began to think she had been 

 mistaken. Then she expressed her disgust by 

 saying, that she had thought her lover could not 

 be anything less than the Laird of Brodie, the 

 highest untitled gentleman probably in the neigh- 

 bourhood : implying that she suspected he might 

 be peer or prince. W. C. 



Midciber (Vol. viii., p. 102.). — It may not be a 

 sufficient answer to Mb. Ward's Query, but I 

 wish to state that there was no " Mayor of Bromig- 

 ham" until after the passing of the Reform Bill. 

 I think that it may be inferred from the extract 

 given below, that the mayor was no more a reality 

 than the shield which he is said to have wrought: 



" His shield was wrought, if we may credit Fame, 

 By Mulciber, the Mayor of Bromigham. 

 A foliage of dissembl'd senna leaves 

 Grav'd round its brim, the wond'ring sight deceives. 

 Embost upon its field, a battle stood, 

 Of leeches spouting hemorrhoidal blood. 

 Tlie artist too expresst the solemn state, 

 Of grave physicians at a consult met; 

 About each symptom how they disagree ! 

 But how unanimous in case of fee ! 

 And whilst one ass-ass-in another plies 

 With starch'd civilities — the patient dyes." 



N. AV. S. 



Voiding Knife (Vol. vi., pp. 150. 280.). — The 

 following quotation from Leland will throw more 

 light on the ancient custom of voyding : 



" In the mean time the server geueth a voyder to 

 the carver, and he doth voyde into it the trenchers that 

 lyeth under the knyues point, and so cleanseth the 

 tables cleane." — Collectanea, vol. vi. p. 11., "The In- 

 tronization of Nevill." 



Q. 



Bloomsbury. 



Sir John Vanbrugh (Vol. viii., pp. 65. 160.). — 

 Previous to sending you my Query about the 

 birthplace of Sir John Vanbrugh, I had carefully 

 gone through the Registers of the Holy Trinity 

 parish, Chester, and had discovered the baptisms 

 or burials of seven sons and six daughters of 

 Mr. Giles Vanbrugh duly registered therein. Sir 

 John's name is not included in the list ; therefore, 

 if he was born in Chester, his baptism must have 

 been registered at one of the many other parish 

 churches of this city. The registers of St. Peter's 

 Church, a neighbouring parish, have also been 



