37« 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 53. 



Viscount Cast/ecomer. — Sir Christopher Wan- 

 derforde, who succeeded poor Strafford as Lord 

 Deputy of Ireland, in April, 1640, was created, 

 between that date and his death, which occurred 

 in December of the same year, Baron Mowbray 

 and Musters, and Viscount Castlecomer. I should 

 be glad to know the date of the patent of his cre- 

 ation, whether Sir Christopher himself ever took 

 up the title, and what became of the title after- 

 wards ? S. A. Y. 



Judge Cradoch, afterwards Newton. — Mb Ella- 

 combe (Vol. ii., p. 249.), in his notice of a monu- 

 ment in Yatton Church to "Judge Newton, alias 

 Cradock," says, " the arms of Cradock are Arg. on 

 a chevron az. three garbs or." Richard Cradock, 

 he adds, "was the first of his family who took the 

 name of Newton." Does Mr. Ellacombe mean 

 that the above arms were those of the Cradock 

 family., or that this Richard Cradock assumed the 

 coat as well as the name of Neioton ? The above 

 was the bearing of the family of Newton, of East 

 Newton, in the North Riding of York. The eldest 

 daughter and coheir of John Newton of East 

 Newton was married to William Thornton, which 

 family thus became possessed of the estate of East 

 Newton, and quartered the coat assigned by Mr. 

 Ellacombe to Cradock. I should be glad to know 

 the occasion on which Richard Cradock assumed 

 the name and arms of Newton, as well as the con- 

 nexion between these Newtoiis and those settled 

 at East Newton. S. A. Y. 



Totness Church. — In Totness Church, the N. 

 angle of the chancel is cut off in the lower part of 

 the building, in order to allow an arched passage 

 from one side of the church to the other outside. 



The upper part of the building is supported by 

 a very strong buttress or pier, leaving the diagonal 

 passage between it and the internal wall. Can any 

 one tell whether this was done merely to afford a 

 gangway for want of room outside ? 



The graveyard has been recently enlarged in 

 that direction, for all the tombstones beyond the 

 line of the chancel appear to be of late date. 

 An old woman informed me, with an air of solemn 

 authenticity, that this arched passage was reserved 

 as a ])lace of deposit for the bodies of persons seized 

 for debt, which lay there till they were redeemed. 



H. G. T. 



Meaning of'''' Harissers.'" — It is customary in the 

 county of Dorset, after carrying a field of corn, to 

 leave behind a sheaf, to intimate to the rest of the 

 parish that the families of those who reaped the 

 field are to have the first lease. After these 

 gleaners have finished, the sheaf is removed, and 

 other parties are admitted, called " harissers." I 

 have been told that the real title is " arishers," 

 from " arista." I should teel obliged if any of 

 your correspondents could inform me whether this 



name is known in any other county, and what is 

 the derivation of the word. Clericus Rusticus. 



Singelhergivs — Drinking to Excess. — Ringel- 

 bergius, in the notes to his treatise De Ratione 

 Studii, speaking of great drinkers, has this passage : 



" Eos qui magiios crateras haustu uno skcare pos- 

 sunt, qui sic crassum illud et porosum corpus vino 

 implent, ut per cutem liumor erumpat (nam turn se 

 satis inquiunt potasise, cum, positis quinque super 

 mensajii digitis, (jiiod ipse aliquando vidi, totidem guttje 

 excidunt) laudant ; hos viros esse et homines dicunt." 



He says that he himself has seen this. Does any 

 reader of the " Notes and Queries " know of ani/ 

 other author who says that he has seen such an 

 exhibition? Or can Rintjelbergius's assertion be 



confirmed from any source ? 

 Stockwell, Oct. 15. 



J. s. w. 



Langue Pandras. ■ 



In the Life of Chaucer pre- 

 fixed to the Aldine edition of his poetical works, 

 there is published, for the first time, " a very in- 

 teresting ballad," " addressed to him by Eustache 

 Desehamps, a contemporary French poet," of which 

 I beg leave to cpiote the first stanza, in order to 

 give me the opportunity of inquiring the meaning 

 of "Za langue Pandras" in the ninth line; 

 " O Socrates, pleins de philosophic, 

 Seneque en moeurs et angles en pratique, 

 Ovides grans en ta poeterie, 

 Bries en p.arier, saiges en rethorique, 

 Aigles tres haulte qui par ta theorique 

 Enlumines le regne d'Eneas, 

 L'isle aux geans, ceulx de Bruth, et qui as 

 Sem6 les fleuis et planto le rosier 

 Aux ignorans de la langue Pandras ; 

 Grant translateur, noble Geoffroy Chaucier." 



]May I ask, further, whether any particulars are 

 known of this contemporary and admirer of 

 Chaucer ? 



I hope I shall not be deemed presumptuous if I 

 add that I should have doubted of the genuineness 

 of the poem quoted from, if Sir Harris Nicolas had 

 not stated that it had been communicated to him 

 by " Thomas Wright, Esq., who received it from 

 M. Paulin Paris," gentlemen in every way qua- 

 lified to decide on this point, and being sanctioned 

 by them, I have no wish to appeal from their 

 judgment. J.M. B. 



The Coptic Language. — I read in The Times of 

 this morning the following : 



" The Coptic is an uncultivated and formal tongue, 

 with monosyllabic roots and riule ivjiexions, totally 

 different from the neighbouring languages of Syria and 

 Arabia, totally opposite to the copious and polished 

 Sanscrit." 



Do you think it worth while to try if some 

 Coptic scholar among your learned correspondents 

 can give us some clearer account of the real posi- 

 tion of that tongue, historically so interesting ? 



