Mar. 4. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



209 



houses, were not uncommon on the borders of the 

 Tweed. A number of them, apparently con- 

 structed as described, were discovered in a field 

 on the farm of Whitsome Hill, Berwickshire, about 

 forty years ago. They were supposed to have 

 been made for the detention of prisoners taken in 

 the frays during the Border feuds : and afterwards 

 they were employed to conceal spirits, smuggled 

 either across the Border, or from abroad. 



Henry Stephens. 



Tailless Cats (Vol. ix., p. 10.). — The tailless 

 cats are still procurable in the Isle of Man, though 

 many an unfortunate pussey with the tail cut off 

 is palmed off as genuine on the unwary. The 

 real tailless breed are rather longer in the hind 

 legs than the ordinary cat, and grow to a large 

 size. P. P. 



Though not a Manx man by birth, I can assure 

 your correspondent Shirley Hibberd, that there 

 is not only a species of tailless cats in the Isle of 

 Man, but also of tailless barn-door fowls. I be- 

 lieve the latter are also to be found in Malta. 



E. P. Paling. 



Chorley. 



" Cock-and-bull story" (Vol. v., pp. 414. 447.).— 

 Dr. Maitland, in his somewhat sarcastic remarks 

 respecting " cock-and-bull stories," extracted from 

 Mr. Faber's work, has, no doubt, given a true 

 account of the " cock on the church steeple, as 

 being symbolical of a doctor or teacher." Still I 

 cannot see that this at all explains the expression 

 of a " cock-and-bull story." Will Dr. Maitland 

 be so good as to enlighten me on this point ? 



I. R. R. 



Market Crosses (Vol. v., p. 511.). — Does not 

 the marriage at the market cross allude simply to 

 the civil marriages in the time of the Common- 

 wealth, not alluding to any religious edifice at all ? 

 An inspection of many parish registers of that 

 period will, I think, prove this. I. R. R. 



"Largesse" (Vol. v., p. 557.). — The word 

 largesse is not peculiar to Northamptonshire : I 

 well remember it used in Essex at harvest-time, 

 being shouted out at such time through the vil- 

 lage to ask for a gift, as I always understood. 

 A. B. may be referred to 3farmion, Canto i. 

 note 10. I. R. R. 



AwJacard, Awart, Await (Vol. viii., p. 310.). — 

 When fat sheep roll over upon their backs, and 

 cannot get up of themselves, they are said to be 

 lying awkward, in some places await, and in others 

 awart. Is awkward, in this sense, the same word 

 as that treated by H. C. K. ? S. 



Morgan Odoherty (Vol. viii., p. 11.). — In re- 

 ference to the remarks of Mr. J. S. Warden on 

 the Morgan Odoherty of Blackwood's Magazine, 



I had imagined it was very generally known by 

 literary men that that nom de guerre was assumed 

 by the late Captain Hamilton, author of the Annals 

 of the Peninsular Campaigns, and other works; 

 and brother of Sir William Hamilton, Professor of 

 Logic in the University of Edinburgh. I had 

 never heard, until mentioned by Mr. Warden, 

 that Dr. Maginn was ever identified with that 

 name. S. 



Black Rat (Vol. vii., p. 206.). — In reply to the 

 question of Mr. Shirley Hibberd, whether the 

 original rat of this country is still in existence, I 

 may mention, that in the agricultural districts of 

 Forfarshire, the Black Rat (Mus ratlus) was in, 

 existence a few years ago. On pulling down the 

 remains of an old farm-steading in 1823, after the 

 building of a new one, they were there so nume- 

 rous, that a greyhound I had destroyed no fewer 

 than seventy-seven of them in the course of a 

 couple of hours. Having used precautions against 

 their lodgment in the new steading, under the 

 floors, and on the tops of the party walls, they 

 were effectually banished from the farm. 



Henry Stephen?. 



Blue Bells of Scotland (Vol. viii., p. 388.). — 

 Your correspondent 86F. of Philadelphia is in 

 error in supposing that the beautiful song, " Blue 

 Bells of Scotland," has any reference to bells 

 painted blue. That charming melody refers to a 

 very common pretty flower in Scotland, the Cam- 

 panida latifolia of Linnaeus, the flowers of which 

 are drooping and bell-shaped, and of a blue colour. 



Henry Stephens. 



Grammars, Sfc. for Public Scliools (Vol. ix., 

 p. 8., &c). — Pray add to the list a Latin gram- 

 mar, under the title of The Common Accidence 

 Improved, by the Rev. Edward Owen, Rector of 

 Warrington, and for fifty years Master of the 

 Grammar School founded in that town, under the 

 will of Sir Thomas Boteler, on April 27, 1526. I 

 believe it was first published in 1770, but the copy 

 now before me is of an edition printed in 1800; 

 and the Preface contains a promise (I know not 

 whether afterwards fulfilled) of the early publi- 

 cation of the rules, versified on the plan of Busbey 

 and Ruddiman, under the title of Elementa Latina 

 Metrica. J. F. M. 



Warville (Vol. viii., p. 516.). — As regards the 

 letter W, there is a distinction to be made between 

 proper names and other words in the French lan- 

 guage. The exclusion of that letter from the 

 alphabet is sufficient proof that there are no 

 words of French origin that begin with it ; but 

 the proper names in which it figures are common 

 enough in recent times. Of these, the greater 

 number have been imported from the neighbour- 

 ing countries of Germany, Switzerland, and 



