2"^ S. YI. 1-17., Oct. 23. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



335 



sembled "Whittlesea and the other fen meres the 

 tradition may be easily explained ; for they were 

 remarkable for sudden squalls of wind, very dan- 

 gerous to boats, which the bargemen believed rose 

 from the bottom of the mere. AYhittlesea mere 

 has recently been drained by steam, and is now 

 chiefly under the plough. I recollect seeing in 

 the newspapers at the time a statement that when 

 its drainage was partially accomplished it was 

 thickly covered with reeds, and the foxes from 

 the adjacent coverts of Northamptonshire took 

 refuge there, and for one season had perfect im- 

 munity from the hounds. I fear I have done but 

 little to explain the tradition of Haveringmere. 

 But if I have succeeded in fixing its locality 

 aright, we must hope that some of your Ely 

 readers will investigate the subject thoroughly. 



E. G. R. 



Doctor Florence Henseij (2°'^ S. vi. 245.) — W. 

 B. Mac Cabe asks whether this man is an Irish- 

 man, and whether any farther particulars are 

 known concerning him ; also, what became of him 

 afterwards. 



In the Grand Mag. for 1758 there is a long 

 account of this person. The paper is headed, 

 " Authentic Memoirs of the Life and Treasonable 

 Practices of Doctor Florence Hensey, who re- 

 ceived Sentence of Death 14th June, 1758, at 

 Westminster for High Treason in holding trai- 

 terous Correspondence with France. Abridged 

 from a pamphlet just published." The first para- 

 graph in the paper is as follows : — 



" Florence Hensey was born in the County of Kildare 

 iu Ireland, from whence he came very j'oung to England, 

 and soon after went over to Holland, where he was edu- 

 cated in the University of Leyden. His natural parts 

 were rather phlegmatic than sprightly, so that he made 

 greater advances in Physic and the laborious Sciences 

 than in polite literature. He afterwards travelled in 

 Switzerland, and continued some time at Berne, from 

 whence he went to Italy, and from thence removed to 

 Gejoa; from Genoa he" went to Lisbon, and traversed 

 Spain in his way to France. By these travels he gained 

 a competent knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, and 

 Spanish ; and his residence for some years in Paris en- 

 abled him to speak and write the French tongue with 

 great fluency." 



There is a long account of his career, but I 

 cannot find anything more about him after his 

 trial but what is mentioned by your correspon- 

 dent. A. B. S. 



Torqu.iy. 



End of the Fust of Lent (2"'' S. vi. 235.)— Some 

 of your correspondents seem rnthcr to argue as to 

 what ought to be, than what is. I can not only 

 repeat that the guns fired, the people rejoiced, 

 and went out in their holiday clothes to Sorrento 

 and Castellamare ; but that I was told the reason 

 to be, that at noon on the Saturday our I..ord de- 

 scended ad inferos to liberate the souls there, 

 nnd, therefore, at that hour the fast was at an end. 



What the opinion and the practice may be else- 

 where, I cannot say : such it was, however, at 

 Naples. Mr. Buckton's letter is very curious 

 and valuable. I hope his leisure will permit him 

 to return again to the subject. F. S. A. 



The Tricolor (2"'> S. vi. 215.) — I should feel 

 much obliged if your correspondent would kindly 

 refer me to the authorities on which the facts 

 stated in his letter are based. A. A. 



Medical Prescriptions (2"'^ S. vi. 207.) — In 

 answer to Rha's question, I beg to state what has 

 been frequently communicated to me, namely, 

 that the plan of writing medical prescriptions in 

 Latin is universally adopted in Europe ; and for 

 this reason : That there may be one language 

 common and intelligible to all medical students of 

 either English or foreign Universities ; otherwise, 

 if a person educated at an English University 

 learnt only to give prescriptions in English, and 

 another person educated at a French (or any 

 foreign) University learnt only to write pre- 

 scriptions in French, neither Englishman nor 

 foreigner would understand each other's prescrip- 

 tions, because not acquainted with each other's 

 languages. M. B. 



" Some" peculiar Norfolk Sense of (2"« S. vi. 

 285.) — To express " It is exceedingly hot," the 

 Norfolk equivalent is, " That is some hotness." 

 The word some here is not from the Saxon som 

 (nonnihil), but from the French somme, and means 

 total. " It is total hotness." The phrase " all 

 and some " often occurs in Chaucer, meaning all 

 and total. All is distributive, but some, meaning 

 total, is collective. Someness in this dialect is 

 totality. 



" And shortly told all the occasion 

 Why Dido "came into that region. 

 Of which as now me listeth nat to rime. 

 It nedeth nat, it n'ere but losse of time, 

 For this is all and some, it was Venus, 

 His owne mother, that spake v.ith him thus." 



Legende of Goode Women, Dido. 

 " It is a congener of the Latin id, the Gothic ita, and 

 the Sanscrit idan. Tliat is similarly related to the Gothic 

 thata and the Sanscrit tat." {Eichhoff, p. 88.) 



T. J. BUCKTON. 

 Lichfield. 



1. For this extended use of the word "some," 

 in the sense of much or exceeding, we may in the 

 first place find a parallel in the Scottish " and 

 some." "And some, a phrase used in Aberd., 

 Mearns, &c., as denoting preeminence above that 

 which has been mentioned before." Thus, " wi' 

 the foremost up, ajul some," equal to the foremost, , 

 and a good deal more than equal : " He'll sing wi' 

 her, and some," he sings as well as she, and a great 

 deal better. (Jamieson.) 



2. Ti (some), in Greek, has occasionally the 

 same force as the Norfolk "some." Acos n, tiraor 



