NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 

 roR 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



' "Vmieii found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 51.] 



Saturday, October 19. 1850. 



t Price, with Supplement, 6d- 

 I Stamped Edition 'J A. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



Notes : — 



Roberd the Robber, by R. J. King - - - 321 



On a Passage in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and on 

 Conjectural Emendation ... - 322 



Minor Notes; — Ciiaucer's Damascene— I^ong Friday — 

 Hip, hip, Hurrah ! — Under the Rose — Albanian Lite- 

 rature -■-.,,- 322 



Queries : — 



Bibliographicaf Queries ...... 323 



Fairfax's Tasso - - . - - - 325 



IVIinor Queries ; — Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dubitan- 

 tium — First Earl of Roscotnrnon— St Cuthhert — Va- 

 vasour of Haslewood — Bells in Churches — Alteration 

 of Titlepages — Weights for W^eighina Coins — Shu- 

 namitis Pocma — Lachrymatories — Egg-cups used by 

 the Romans — Sir Oliver Chamberlaine — Meleteticks 

 — Luther's Hymns — "Pair of Twises '* — Counter- 

 marks on Roman Coin - ... - 325 



Replies : — 



Gaudcntio di Lucca ..... 327 



Engelmann's Bihliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum, by 



Professor De Morgan _ - - - _ 328 



Shakspeare's Use of the Word '* Delighted," by Samuel 



Hickson ....... 329 



Collar of Fsses, hv John Gough Nichols ... 329 



Sirloin, by T. T. 'Wilkinson, &c. - - - . 331 



Riots of London, by E. B. Price, &e. ... 332 



Meaning of '* Gradely " - - - . . 33^ 



Pascal and his Editor Bossut. by Gustave Masson . 335 



Kotigs-skngg-sio, by E. Charlton, &c. - - - 335 



Gold in California - - - - - - 336 



The Disputed Passage from the Tempest, by Samuel 



Hickson. &c. - - - - - - 337 



" London Bridge is broken down," by Dr. E. F. Rim- 



bault - . .. - - - .338 



Aral)ic Numerals ---.-- 339 

 Cax ton's Printing-office, hy J. Cropp - - .310 



Cold Harbour ...... 340 



St. Uncnmber, by W. J. Thorns - . . .342 



Haiidfasting .---... 342 



Gray's Elegy — Droning — Dodslcy's Poems - - 343 



Replies to Minor Queries : — Ziindnadel Guns — Thomp. 

 Bon of Ksholt — Minar's Books of Antiquities — Smoke 

 Money — Holland F.and — Caconac. Caconacquerie — 

 Discourse of National Excellencies of England — Saf. 

 fron Bags — ^IVIilton's Penseroso — Achilles and the 

 Tortoise— Stcpony Ale— North Side of Churchyards 

 — Welsh Mon<'y — Wormwood — Puzzling Fpita'ph — 

 Uml)rella — Pope and Bishop Burgess — Book of 

 Homilies — Roman f'atholic Theology — IModum Pro- 

 miRsir)nis — Bacon Family — Execution of Charles L, 

 and Earl of Stair — Watermarks on Writing-paper — 

 St. John Nepomuc — Satirical Medals — Passa^f' in 

 Gray — Cupid Crying — Anecdote of a Peal of BelU, 

 &c. ...-,... , 343 



MrSCELLANEOUS: — 



Notes on Books. Sales, Catalogues, Sec. . 

 Books and Odd VolumoH Wanted 

 Notices t(j Correspondents • 



Advertisements ... 



. 3.50 



- 351 



. 351 



. 3.SI 



KOBERD THE BOBBER. 



In the ViiioH of Piers Ploughman are two re- 

 markable passages in which mention is made of 

 " Ivoberd the robber," and of " Koberdes knaves." 



" Roberd the robbere, 

 On Reddite loked, 

 And for tbcr was noght wherof 

 He wepte swithe score." 



Wright's ed., vol. i. p. 105. 



" In glotonye, God woot, 

 Go thei to bedde, 

 And risen with ribaudie, 

 Tho Roberdes knaves." 



Vol. 



1. p. 3. 



In a note on the second passage, Mr. Wright 

 quotes a statute of Edw. III., in which certain 

 malefactors are classed together " qui sont ap- 

 pellez Rolie7-desinen, Wastoiirs, et Dragelatche : " 

 and on the first he quotes two curious instances in 

 which the name is applied in a similar manner, — 

 one from a Latin song of the reign of Henry III. : 



" Competenter per Robert, robbiir designatur ; 

 Robertus excoriat, extorqiiet, et minatiir. 

 Vir qu'icunque rahidus consors est Roberto," 



It seems not impossible that we have in these 

 passages a trace of some forgotten mythical per- 

 sonage. " Whitaker," says Mr. Wright, " supposes, 

 without any reason, the ' Roberde's knaves ' to be 

 ' Robin Hood's men.' " (Vol. ii. p. 506.) It is 

 singular enough, however, that as early as the time 

 of Henry IH, we find the term ' consors Roberto' 

 applied generally, as designating any common thief 

 or robber ; and without asserting that there is any 

 direct allu.'iion to " Robin Hood's men " in the ex- 

 pression " Roberdes knaves," one is tempted to 

 ask whence the hero of Sherwood got his own 

 name ? 



Grimm (Deutsche Mythol., p. 472.) has suggested 

 that Robin Hood may be connected with an etjually 

 famous namesake, Robin Goodfellow ; and that he 

 may have been so called from the hood or hoodi- 

 kin, which is a well-known characteristic of the 

 miscliievous elves. I believe, however, it is now 

 generally admitted that "Robin Hood" is a cor- 



VoL, II.— No. 51. 



