190 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2"4 §, No 10., Man, 8 °56. 
employed in “marbling” calf book-covers, and 
the effects produced upon the leather by the acid 
stains placed there years ago, causing a corrosion 
of the leather in places, spots and streaks upon 
the surface that may be scraped into powder by 
the finger-nail. Iam a great admirer of marbled 
ealf and all natural stains upon book~-bindings, 
except where they destroy the surface of the 
leather. ‘Tree marbled” and “French dab” 
patterns, effected by iron black and Tartan brown, 
not deeply stained are durable; those produced by 
vitriol and other burning acids ought to be avoided, 
for though beautiful at first, become in time rotten 
where touched by the destructive chemical. 
The dyeing of calf skins has almost superseded 
the binder’s stains —so familiar to the last genera- 
tion — a beautiful process that I would not abolish 
from my shelves; my Note being merely one of 
warning to the lovers of good bindings against 
the elaborate marbles effected by acids deleterious 
to leather. Luxe Liner, F.S.A. 
Regent’s Park. 
“* Winchelsea,” its Etymology.—I have never 
been satisfied with the derivations of this name, 
as given by ancient and modern historians, viz. : 
“ Wincel-angulus; Ea, mare; a nook or bend of the 
sea coast.” 
“ Wind, chills, sea; Friget mare ventus.” 
“ Wind, chelseum; exposed to winds.” 
“ Wind cold island,” or “Cold wind island.” 
The first syllable, Win, we find as a prefix to 
the names of several places, as Wincanton, Win- 
borne, Winchester. It is derived from the British 
gwent, white ; which the Romans converted into 
venta, and the Saxons transformed into winta. 
Thus, Caer gwent, the white city, became Venta 
Belgarum ; then Winta ceaster, Winchester. The 
second syllable is probably derived from the Saxon 
word Ceosel, chysel, thesil, gravel, or shingle; the 
transformation into chyls, or chels, being easy and 
natural enough. The third syllable is manifestly 
from the Saxon Jg, Ey, Ea, island. Thus Win- 
chysel-ea, or Win-chyls-ea, would signify “ white 
shingle island;” and might have been appro- 
priately applied by the early inhabitants to the 
piece of land consisting of sand and shingle washed 
up by the sea, and surrounded by it at high tide, 
on which the ancient town of Winchelsea was 
built ; and from thence the name was transferred 
to the town itself. W.S. 
Hastings. 
Lady Arabella Denny.—The following piece of 
information, as given in Edwards’s Cork Remem- 
brancer (p. 196.), may be worthy of a corner in 
SOON SRR: 
“1760. The thanks of the governors of the workhouse 
of Dublin were presented to Lady Arabella Denny for 
ber unremitting attention to the foundling children, but 
particularly for a clock lately put up at her ladyship’s 
expense in the nursery, with the following inscription ; 
‘For the benefit of infants protected by this hospital, 
Lady Arabella Denny presents this clock, to mark, that 
as the children reared by the spoon must haye but a 
small quantity of food at a time, it must be offered fre- 
quently; for which purpose this clock strikes every 
twenty minutegjat which: notice all the infants that are 
not asleep must be discreetly fed.’ ” 
ABHBA. - 
Village Signs.—The following rhyme might, 
until recently, have been seen under the sign- 
board of the “Fox Tavern,” at Frandley [Frank- 
by?], Cheshire : 
“ Behold the Fox, near Frandley Stocks, 
Pray catch him when you can; 
For they sell here good ale and beer, 
To any honest man.” 
J. K. 
Epitaph at Kailzie.— The following quaint 
epitaph I copied from a tombstone in the church- 
yard belonging to what was formerly the parish 
church of Kailzie, near Peebles : 
“ Gulielmus Horsburgh, 
De eodem obiit 
Edinburg Septimo 
Julii, 1711, anno 
Etat xxiv. 
“ Of four and twenty years of age here lies 
Th’ apparent chief of two old families: 
The Horsburgh of that Ilk, and Tait of Pirn, 
Lies in one person in his isle and urn; 
A man of courage, strength, and comley feature, 
Of a good temper and obliging nature.” 
Pa. 
Monkshood. —Two cases of dogs eating this 
plant (the Aconitum napellus) have occurred 
within two years in Yarmouth, Norfolk. Now as 
it, as well as the A. lycoctonum, is also called wolfs- 
bane, and is said to have been used for destroying 
wolves, the question occurs, how was it adminis- 
tered? The dogs above-mentioned ate the green 
leaves and stems when it first appeared in the 
garden in spring. One died in convulsions in 
twenty minutes; the other’s life was saved by the 
copious administration of castor oil. But both 
were pets, and might therefore eat it from a de- 
praved appetite, instead of grass which, as is well 
known, dogs eat when they require anemetic. It 
does not seem probable that wolves or other 
animals in a state of nature would commit a similar 
mistake with such a pungent and acrid plant. 
ould it have been mixed with carrion and laid 
as abait for wolves? It may be doubted whether 
this would effectually conceal its taste, and, also 
whether putrid flesh would not be an antidote to 
it, or at least diminish its virulence. 
I have read somewhere, that in our war with 
Nepal, the Nepales poisoned the wells with a 
plant called bikh — Aconitum ferox — and that its 
pernicious effects were neutralised by adding 
putrid horseflesh to the water. This result must 
be due to the same chemical process which renders 
