June 21. 1851.J 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



509 



county of Devon, who sprang from Hampton Gay 

 in the county of Oxford, but became seised of the 

 manor of Goldworthj, about the year 1420, by 

 marriage with tlie daughter and heir of Curtis of 

 Gohlworthy, a branch of the ancient family of 

 Curtis of Lostwithiel, in the county of Cornwall. ^ 

 The latest representative of this family of Gay, 

 of whom I have met with any notice, is Mr. Law- 

 rence Gay, who, according to Lyson, was living 

 in the year 1822 at South Molton, in the county 

 of Devon. Lyson also says that " John Gay, the 

 poet, was of tJjis family." Llewellyn. 



Lady Mary Cavendish (Vol. iii., p. 477.) — I 

 know nothing of any Lady Marys having mar- 

 ried Mr. Maudsley, or Mosley of the Guards; but it 

 is certain that she could not have been, strictly speak- 

 ing, of the same family as Sir Henry Cavendish of 

 Ireland, whose wite was created Lady Waterpark, 

 with remainder to her issue by Sir Henry, who 

 was descended from a vutural son of the Devon- 

 shire family, and even, I believe, before it was 

 ennobled; so that it cannot be said that any Lady 

 Mary Cavendish was of the same family as Sir 

 Henry. C. 



Hand giving the Blessing (Vol. iii , p. 477.). — 

 In blessing the people, the clergy of the Church of 

 Kome raise the thumb and two forefingers, and 

 close the others, to represent the three persons of 

 the Trinity ; and they give this some divine origin ; 

 but it is really an adoption of a pagan symbol in 

 use long before the introduction of Clu'istianity, 

 not only by the Romans, but the Egyptians also. 

 In Akerman's Archaeological Index, p. 116., is an 

 engraving of a silver plate of Roman workmanship, 

 in which the figures representing Minerva and 

 Juno have their hands elevated with the thumb 

 and finger so disposed, and the figure of Vesta has 

 the left hand in the same positi(jn. I wish some 

 of your correspondents who are familiar with the 

 classics and Egyptian antiquities, would further 

 illustrate the origin of this curious and ancient 

 custom, which hitherto has been regarded as oi'i- 

 ginating with the Church of Rome only. W. W. 



The Oldenburg Horn (Vol. ii., pp. 417. 516.) 

 — There is a good engraving of this Horn, and 

 the tradition about it is related, in p. 204. of the 

 curious Dissertatio de udinirundis mundi Catu- 

 ractis of Johannes Herbinius, Amstelodami, 1678, 

 of which book there is a copy in the library of the 

 Geographical Society. W. C. Tkevelyan. 



Atlicuicum, June 16. 1851. 



Covey (Vol. iii., p. 477.). — How could such a 

 question be asked 'i Covey is couvee, French for 

 a brood, a hatching, from couoer, to hatch eg"s. 



C. 



Davy Jones s Locker (Vol. iii., p. 478.). — 

 During many years of seafaring life, I have fre- 



quently considered the origin of this phrase, and 

 have now arrived at the conclusion, that it is de- 

 rived from the scriptural account of the prophet 

 Jonah. Tlie word locker, on board of ship, gene- 

 rally means the place where any particular thing 

 is retained or kept, as " the bread locker," " shot 

 locker," " chain locker," &c. In the sublime ode 

 in the second chapter of the Book of Jonah, we 

 find that the prophet, praying for deliverance, 

 describes his situation in the foUowini' words : 



" In the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed 

 me about : — the depth closed me round about : — the 

 earth with her bars was about me." 



The sea, then, might not be misappropriately 

 termed by a rude mariner, Jonah's locker; that is, 

 the place where Jonah was kept or confined. 

 Jonah's locker, in time, might be readily cor- 

 rupted to Jones's locker ; and Davy, as a very 

 common Welsh accompaniment of the equally 

 Welsh name, Jones, added ; the true derivation of 

 the phrase having been forgotten. 



W. PiNKERTON. 



Umbrella (Vol. iii., p. 482.). — The use of this 

 word may be traced to an earlier period than has 

 yet been shown by any of your correspondents ? 



In Florio's Wo7'lde of IVordes, 1598, we have 

 it thus : — 



" Omhrella, a fan, a canopie, also a testern or cloth 

 of state for a prince, also a kmd of round fan or 

 shadowing that tiiey use to ride with in summer in 

 Italy, a little shade." 



A. 



Nan, a Ship (Vol. iii., p. 477.).— A. N. is in- 

 formed that imw is a Celtic name for a ship (the 

 w is sometimes sounded like oo) ; though the word 

 is obsolete, authority for its application may be 

 founil in Davies' Mythology, ^-c. of the Druids. 

 In the appendix to this work there is a poem 

 (No. 6.) by Taliesin, containing the following 

 example : — 



"Yinsawdd yn llyn, heb nato." 

 " Sinking in the lake, without a ship." 

 The Britons consequently had a name for a ship, 

 independent of Roman influence. Can A. N. 

 produce any evidence that the Britons in pre- 

 Roman times did not possess any vessels superior 

 to the cwryglf Is it probable that the wailike 

 aid whicii the Britons constantly rendered the 

 Gauls, was conveyed across the channel in mere 

 "osier baskets?" Had tiie "water-dwellers" 

 (Dwr-trig-wys) of Dorsetshire (Durotriges) at- 

 tained no iiigher grade in navigation than that 

 simple mode of water conveyance ? 



I am almost inclined to exclaim, " Mi dynaf y 

 torch a thi" ("I will pull the torque with thee") in 

 respect to the position claimed for the Latin longa; 

 but passing this, I will advance the opinion that 

 the Celtic iiaw is the root of the Latin vaois. 



GOMEE. 



