434 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 292. 



'■'■Handicap" &,'c. (Vol. xi,, p. 384). — Your cor-, 

 respondent (whom I take to be the talented con- 

 tributor to one of our weekly papers) may find 

 the etymology of this word in a book to which he 

 has easy access, Racing Calendar, No. 4. of the 

 " Rules concerning Horseracing." It is at page 

 xiii. of the present year's issue ; but for the last 

 few years has been couched in terms which lose 

 sight of the original notion. At present it stands, 

 *' A, B, and C to put down an equal sum of mo- 

 ney ;" but it originally ran " A, B, and C to put 

 an equal sum each into a hat." The Calendar for 

 1841, which I happen to have in my hand, con- 

 tains these words. I presume no farther explana- 

 tion is necessary on this head. It may be re- 

 marked that the practice of owners of horses 

 resorting to other people to name the terms of 

 matches, &c., appears to have taken its rise at a 

 comparatively modern date. No mention of it 

 will be found in the earlier Calendars. I have not 

 had leisure to see how soon it appears, but cer- 

 tainly not before 1784. 



The other word, " heat," I have not been able 

 to discover in this sense before Dryden. The 

 metaphor appears to me obvious. An exertion 

 like that of a race, causing heat, and requiring the 

 animal to cool down before again running, gradu- 

 ally usurped the name of the effect. The prose 

 instance quoted in Johnson's Dictionary from 

 Dryden, as an example of the meaning, " One 

 violent action uniatermitted," affords a good illus- 

 tration of this. C. G. M. 

 Garrick Club. 



" Heat " is used by Dryden, in its racing signi- 

 fication, thus : 



" Feigned Zeal, you saw, set out with speedier pace, 

 But the last heat Plain Dealing won the race." 



He also uses the word for " one violent action 

 unintermitted " (so Johnson defines his meaning) 

 in the following passage : 



" The continual agitation of the spirits must needs be 

 a weakening of any constitution, and many causes for re- 

 freshment are required between the heats." 



Aliquis. 



Statfold (Vol. xi., p. 363.). — The well-known 

 bonhomie of your correspondent will, I am sure, 

 lead him to rejoice at the information that the 

 " successors " of S. W. at Statfold are still Wol- 

 ferstans ; and that although the elms have not 

 succeeded in shading the place as its then pro- 

 prietor hoped, the olive branches of the present 

 popular owner are so many, that no fear of 

 changing names can exist. Three of the names, 

 intended I presume by S°, E", and F", are still 

 prominent among the family. C. G. M. 



Pamphlet by the Rev. Dr. Davy (Vol. xi., 

 pp. 294. 394.). — This pamphlet was embodied by 

 the Rev. H. J. Todd in the concludiuir notes to 



his work. E. D.'s inability to discover therein 

 "any part of Dr. Davy's observations" has pro- 

 bably arisen from the Rev. H. J. Todd having 

 quoted the pamphlet as the work of " the learned 

 Master of Caius College, Cambridge," without 

 mentioning his name. I referred to Dr. Davy's 

 pamphlet, and also gave a summary of its argu- 

 ments, in a note to an article entitled " Is the 

 nightingale's song merry or melancholy ? " pub- 

 lished by me in Sharpens Magazine for May, 1853. 

 E. D. wishes me to " inform your readers " in 

 what manner Dr. Davy's pamphlet " is embodied 

 in a work so widely different " as the Rev. H. J. 

 Todd's Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of 

 Gower and Chaucer. The link of connexion be- 

 tween the two publications is very evident ; the 

 arguments in the pamphlet are based in a great 

 measure upon Chaucer's application of the word 

 " merry " to the song of the nightingale, and on 

 the ancient usage of the word by Chaucer and his 

 cotemporaries. Cuthbert Bede, B.A. 



Posies from Wedding-rings (Vol. xi., p. 277.). 

 — In addition to the posies collected and furnished 

 by E. D., I send a few from wedding-rings still 

 existing in museums or private hands. The 

 sources from which I have gathered them are 

 pointed out. 



1. " A betrothal ring, with hands conjoined, and the 

 posy, ' Gift and giver, your servants ever.' " — Proceed, 

 of Archceological Institute, Dec. 1, 1848, p. 55. 



2. " Non mechaberis." — Ibid. 



3. " Betrothal ring of fourteenth century, inscribed, 

 ' Tuut mon coer.' " — Ibid. 



4. "Betrothal ring of fourteenth century, inscribed, 

 * Amor vincit omnia.' " — Ibid. 



5. " A massive gold spousal ring, called a ' gipsey ring,' 

 with the posy, ' Mulier viro subjecta esto.' " — Ibid. 



6. "A massive gold spousal nng, with 'As God decreed 

 so we agreed.' " — Ibid. 



7. " A betrothal ring, with conjoined hands, and ' Jesus 

 Nazarenus.' " — lb., p. 56. 



8. " A ring with ' Sans departir ' outside, and ' A nul 

 autre ' inside." — Archceological Journal, vol. vi. p. 160. 



9. " In * on * is * al." — lb., vol. xi, p. 16. 



10. "On . is . al."— JWd. 



11. "Tut . dis . en . un."— 76., p. 62. 



12. " In God I trust."— /6., p. 73. 



13. " Tout mon cuer avez." — lb., p. 187. 



14. " Lei ami avet." — Lincoln Volume of Archceological 

 Institute, p. xlvi. 



Ceykep. 



Publication of Admissions to Lincoln's Inn, the 

 Temples, and Grays Inn (Vol. viii., p. 540.). — I 

 have waited with some anxiety to see a reply to 

 this Query, and I shall be well pleased if some of 

 your influential readers could be induced to urge 

 such a publication on the benchers of the inns of 

 court. It would be a valuable addition to genea- 

 logical literature (if I may be allowed the ex- 

 pression). As an amateur genealogist I made a 

 search some years since In the books of the Middle 

 Temple, for one name, and having paid the fee 



