10 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 31. 



the Church and their high calling which might 

 have placed them higher. 



Can any of your readers tell where any autho- 

 7'itii or reason is given by writers u])on precedence 

 why the precedence is given to them over the 

 temporal barons ? E. 



Guineas. — What is the earliest instance of the 

 use of the word guinea as a name tor a coin ? 

 Tlie common story is, that the piece of twenty-one 

 shillings was so called in the reign of Charles II. 

 from being made of gold from Guinea. What 

 coin is meant in the following receipt? — 



" Sacheiit tous que Mons. Gualhard de Dureffourt 



ad recue .... quator/e gnianois dour et dys 



soudz de lamon[oyi.'] currant a Burtieux." 



The date is 12. Nov. 1387. The document is 

 quoted in Madox's Baronia Anglica, p. 159. note d. 



A. J. H. 



Parish Registers Tax — In the Parish Register 

 of Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, are the follow- 

 ing entries against several dates in the Baptisms 

 and Burials : — 



1784. Septr. 5th (Burials), " P'' Tax to y' Day." 



Novr. L'8th (Baptisms), " p"" Tax." 



1785. Octr. 14th (Baptisms), "p*" Tax to this Day." 



1786. Septr. 12th (Cliristenings), " p'' tax to this 



Day." 



1786. Septr. 1st (Burials) " p"! tax to this Day." 



1787. July 3Ist (Baptisms), " 1"> Tax to this Day." 



Septr. 27th (Burials) " F'^ Tax to this Day." 



I should be glad to be informed what tax is 



here referred to. These arc all the entries of the 

 kind. Arun. 



Charade. — Can any of your readers help me to 

 a solution of the following poetical charade, which 

 I believe appeared in the Times newspaper a few 

 years back with this heading to it : — 



" The following piece of mysticism has been sent to 

 us as original, with a request for a solution. The 

 autliorship is among the secrets of literature : it is said 

 to have been by Fox, Sheridan Gregory, PsaUnenazar, 

 Lord Byron, and the Wandering Jew. We leave the 

 question to our erudite readers." 

 " I sit on a rock 



While I'm raising the wind, 



But the storm once abated, 



I'm gentle and kind ; 



1 see kings at my feet, 



Who wait but my nod, 



To kniel in the dust 



Which luy footste))s have trod. 



Though seen by the world, 



I'm known but to few : 



The Gentiles detest me, 



I'm pork to the Jew. 



I never have past 



But one night in the dark, 



And that was with Noah, 



Alone, in the ark. 



My weight is three pounds, 

 My length is a mile. 

 And when I'm discovered, 

 You'll say, with a smile, 

 My first and my last 

 Are the wish of our isle." 



I should be obliged if any body could give me 

 a key to this. Qu^stob. 



UOWKEY OB HOEKET. 



Howhey or Horkey (Vol. i. p. 263.) is evi- 

 dently, as your East Anglian correspondent and 

 J. M. B. have pointed out, a corrupt pronuu- 

 ciation of the original Itockexj ; Hock being a 

 heap of sheaves of corn, and hence the hock-cart, 

 or cart loaded with sheaves. 



Herrick, who often affords pleasing illustrations 

 of old rural customs and superstitions, has a short 

 poem, addressed to Lord Westmoreland, entitled 

 " The Hock-cart, or Harvest Home," in which he 

 says : — ■ 



" The harvest swains and v.-enches bound, 

 For joy to see the liock-cart-crown'd." 



DieHoche was, in the language of Lower Saxonj', 

 a heap of sheaves. Hocken was the act of piling 

 up these sheaves ; and in that valuable repertory 

 of old and provincial German words, the W'Orter- 

 huch of J. L. Friscli, it is shown to belong to the 

 family of words which signify a heaj) or hilly pro- 

 tuherance. 



We should have been prepared to find the word 

 in East Anglia ; but from llerrlck's use of it, and 

 others, it must have formerly been prevalent in 

 the AVest of England also. It has nothing to do 

 with Hock-tide, which is the Hoch-zeit of the Ger- 

 mans, and is merely significant of a feast or high- 

 daij ; of which a very satisfactory account will 

 be found in Mr. Hampson's " Glossary " annexed 

 to his Mcdii .^vi Kalendarium. An interesting 

 account of the Hoch-zeit oi t\\& Gernians of Lower 

 Saxony occurs where we should little expect it, 

 in the Sprichwiirter of Master Egenolf, printed at 

 Francfort in 1548, 4to.; and may perhaps serve 

 to illustrate some of our obsolete rural customs : — 



" We Germans keep carnival (all the time between 

 Epiphany and Ash-W^ednesday) St. Bernard's and St. 

 Martir/s days, Whitsuntide and Easter, as times, above 

 all other periods of the year, when we should eat, drink, 

 and be merry. St. Burcliard's day, on account of the 

 fermentation of the new must. St. Martin's, probably 

 oi\ account of the fermentation of the new wine: then 

 we roast fat geese, and all the world enjoy themselves. 

 At Easter we bake pancakes (Jladeu) ; at Whitsuntide 

 we make bowers of green boughs, and keep the feast of 

 the tabernacle in Saxony and Thuringia ; aiul we drink 

 Whitsun-beer for eight days. In Saxony, we also 

 keep the feast of .St. Pantlialion with drin'icing and 

 eatins; sausacces and roast legs of mutton stuffed with 



