July 19. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



39 



able. Every donor will have the goodness to 

 state for which library his gift is intended. So 

 many have duplicates, or copies of books, which 

 they no longer use or need, that many will doubt- 

 less be able to assist in this pleasant book-gathering 

 for our Scandinavian cousins. 



George Stephens, 

 Professor of English Literature in the 

 University of Copenhagen. 



Mill Farm, Barnes, Surrey, July, 1851. • 



[We have good reason to know the great interest 

 which our Scandinavian brethren take in the literature 

 of this country, and hope this appeal of Mr. Stephens 

 will be liberally responded to. Any donations for the 

 libraries in question, which, we believe, are both public 

 libraries, may be left for him at the office of " Notes 

 ANT) Queries."] 



iHiiiar Ouciie^. 



1. Painted Prints of Overton. — In Vol. ill., pp. 

 324, 325., under the title "The Bellman and his 

 History," are quoted some lines from Gay's Trivia, 

 book ii. p. 482. The last line is — 



" The colour'd prints of Overton appear." 



Who was Overton, and what were his prints 

 that Gay in these lines makes the companions of 

 the bellman's song ? F. L. H. 



2. Fourth Fare. — In the accounts of the church- 

 wardens of St. Edmund's, Sarum, temp. Edw. IV., 

 this item often occurs, for which a payment was 

 made. Does it not mean the dying knell, from 

 the German " to depart." II. T. E. 



Clyst St. George, June 3. 1851. 



3. John Wood, Architect. — Can any of your 

 readers inform me if any likeness is in existence 

 of the author of An Essay towards a Description of 

 Bath ? or if any of his descendants are still living? 

 He built the Bristol E.xchange ; and Bath is in- 

 debted to 'uim for many of its most noble edifices. 

 He was a magistrate for the county of Somerset, 

 and died in 1754. Gamma. 



4. Derivation of " Span." — Can you or your 

 readers give rae a derivation of the word " spon," 

 in its application to street names ? There is " Spon 

 End," and also " Spon Street," in Coventry, " Spon 

 Lane" at West Bromwich, and " Spon Terrace" 

 at Birmingham. Can you supply any other in- 

 stances ? 



Mr. Halliwell merely says, " Spon, a shaving of 

 wood ;" and it is used in this sense in Scott's Sir 

 Tristrem, p. 119. : 



" Bi water he sent adoun 

 Light linden spon." 



Clarence Street, Islington. 



C. H. B. 



5. Dell, in what County ? — I shall feel obliged if 

 any of your correspondents can tell me where- 

 abouts this place is, and in what county ? 



J. N. C. 



6. Bummaree or Bumaree. — There is a large 

 class of salesmen in Billingsgate Market not re- 

 cognised as such by the trade, but styled Bu- 

 marees, who get a living by purchasing large 

 parcels of fish of the factor or common salesman, 

 and selling it out in smaller quantities to the fish- 

 mongers and other retailing buyers. This whole- 

 sale retailing of fish is also called bummareeing it, 

 hence the name of these (self-styled) salesmen. 



I have not been able to find any clue to the 

 meaning of this word thus used in any authority 

 that I possess, though the word has been recog- 

 nised in statutes and bye-laws of the markets for 

 upwards of one himdred years. 



As I feel very interested in this matter, may I 

 be allowed to call the attention of some of your 

 very learned correspondents to this matter, and 

 ask for the probable etymology and exact ortho- 

 graphy of the word. 



I have been informed that the only other use of 

 the word known is with the confectioners, who use 

 Bummaree pans. 



The prefix " bum " is used to express the lowest 

 of the kind in bum-bailiff, and also further addi- 

 tionally in connexion with selling in " bum-boat." 

 I cannot think that " bona venalia," goods set to 

 sale, among the Romans, give any clue to Bum- 

 maree. This, and other derivations equally un- 

 satisfactory, have been submitted by those who 

 have hitherto directed their attention to this 

 subject. Blowen. 



7. Thread the Needle. — What is the game so 

 called? and what its origin ? 



In it these words occur : 



" How far hence to Hebron ? 

 Threescore miles and ten ! 

 Can I be there to-niglit? 

 Yes ! and back again ! " 

 I have somewhere seen the name of Thread-the- 

 Needle-Gate. Where is, or was, it ? and whence 

 was the London street so named ? R. S. H. 



Morwenstow. 



8. Proof of a Sword.— Is the following statement 

 correct and true (I mean, as to the trial of the 

 sword blade, not the anecdote) ? 



" A troop of iiorse are riding along under the com- 

 mand of < Duke William' of Cumberland, in the '45. 

 A little old Highlander joins the march ; a strong 

 lusty soldier laughs at, and insults him. He is allowed 

 to demand satisfaction, and fight it out at once : he 

 craves the loan of a sword ; one is handed to him. But 

 Donald had seen too many snows to trust his life to the 

 l)lade of untried metal : he minutely examined the 

 handle, the edge, the point, and the spring, and finally 

 turning aside to a pool of water, and applying the flat 



