NOTES AND QUERIES: 



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LITERAllY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



" "WTien found, malEe a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 72.] 



Satukway, March 15. 1851. 



C Price, Threepence. 

 I Stamped Edition, 4<'- 



Page 

 •i'H 

 203 

 203 



204 

 205 



- 205 



CONTENTS. 

 Notes : — 



Illustrations of rhaucer - - - - - 



Ined tpd Poetry, No. II , by K. R. H. Mackenzie 

 On a Passage in iMarmion - - - ^ - 



Glouce.*tersl'.ire Provincialisms, by .\lbert Way - - 



The Cnapel of Loretto ..... 



Folk Lore: — " Nettle in Dock out" — Soul sep:!ratps 

 from the Body— Lady's Trees — Norfolk Tolk Lore 

 Khyiiaes ...... 



Minor Notes : — Note for the Topographers of Ancient 

 London, atid for ihe Mnnasticon — Gray and Burns — 

 Trj'.ditional Xntice of Richard HI. — Oliver Cromwell 



— Snail-eatmg ...... 206 



QPEiiiES : — 



Bidilinfrs in Wales .-•--- 

 Minor Queries: — Lord of Helton — Beatrix de Brad.. 

 n"v — " L**tters on the British Museum*' — 'Ballad 

 ICiiiting : The "(Outlandish Knight " — Latin Rpi. 

 gram on th? Duchess of Kbili — Engraved Portrait — 

 Bla-kstone's Commentaries and Table of Pi"cc*^dence 

 — .TheTwoDrs. .-\bercroniby — Witte van Haemslede 



— J.Bruckner: Dutch <!)hurch in Norwich 

 M NOR QiERiEs AvsvvERED : — riie Hereditary Earl 



Maisbai — The Beggar's Petition — " 'I'iring-irons 

 never to be untied '*--... 



Replies : — 



The Meaning of Eisell, by H. K. S. Causton 

 Replies to Minor Q leries : — William Ciiilcott — Fossil 

 Elk of Ireland — Canes Lesns — "By Hook or by 

 Crook " — Suem — Sir George Downing — Miching 

 Malii'ho — Cor Linguae — L'nder the Rose — *■ Impa. 

 tient to speak, and not see" —Bishop Fiampton — Old 

 Tract on the Eucharist — Was Hugh Peters ever on 

 the St.i,ge? ...... 



MlSCRLUNFOUS : — 



Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. - 

 Books and Odd Volumes wanted ... 

 Notic.s to Correspondents ... 



Advertisements - - . . . 



mtc^. 



ILLCSTKATIOXS OF CHAUCEB. 



(Vol. iii., pp. 131. 133.) 



I am glad to ])ero<;ive that some of the corre- 

 spontleiits of' " Notes and Queries" are turning 

 th'jir atteiilion to the elucidation c)l' Chaucer. The 

 text of'our fatijer-jxtet, having remained as it were 

 in fallow .siiiee the time of" Tyi'wiiilt, now |)re.sents 

 a rich (leltl lor industry ; and, in oU'eiiiig free 

 port anil entry to all comments and suggestions, 

 lo he there sifteil ami garni;red up, the page.s of 

 " NoTKa A.NU liuEUiEs" luay soon become a de- 



207 



2C8 



209 



210 



212 



214 

 215 

 215 

 215 



pository from which amjjle materials may be ob- 

 tained for a new edition of Chaucer, now become 

 an acknowledged desideratum. 



One excellent illustration has lately been added, 

 at paire 133., in a note without signature upon 

 " Nettle in, dock out." It' coiifirined*^ it will i'ur- 

 ni.sli not only a most satisfactory explanation of 

 tiiat hitherto incom]irehensible phrase, but also a 

 curious example of the faithful preservation of an 

 exact form of words througli centuries of oral 

 tradition. 



And if the note which precedes it, at page 131., 

 upon a passage in Palamon and Arcite, is less 

 valuable, it is because it is deficient in one of the 

 most essential conditions which such communica- 

 tions ought to possess — that of originality. No 

 suggestion ought to be offered which had been 

 previously published in connexion with the same 

 subject : at least in any very oboious place of re- 

 ference, such as notes or glossaries already ap- 

 pended to well-known editions of the text. 



Now the precise explanation of the planetary 

 distribution of the twenty-four hours of the day, 

 given by €. in the first portion of his conmiunica- 

 ti<in, was anticipated seventy or eighty years ago 

 by Tyrwhitt iu his note upon the same passage of 

 Palamon and Arcite. And with respect to €.'s 

 second ex])lanation of the meaning of " lioure 

 inctpial," that expression also has been com- 

 mented upon by Tyrwhitt, who attributes it to the 

 welbknown expansive duration of ancient hours, 

 the length of which was regulated by that of the 

 natural day at the several seasons of the year: 

 hence an inequality always existed, except at the 

 equi)ioxes, between hours before, and liours af- 

 ter, sunrise. This is undoubtedly the true expla- 

 nation, since Chaucer was, at the time, referring 

 to hours before and after sunrise upon the same 

 day. On the contrary, e.'s ecliptic houi'.s, if tliey 

 ever existed at all (he has cited no authority), 

 would be obviously incompatil)le with the planet- 

 ary ilis])i)sition of tlie hours first referred to. 



I shall nuw, in my turn, sug'^est explanations 

 of the two new diHicullies in Chaucer's text, to 



•[Of which there can \iq no doiht. Sec further 

 p. 205. of our present Niniibi!r. — Kd.] 



Vol. III.— No. 72. 



