458 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''rt S. YI. 153., Dec. 4. '58. 



does more than make roeks to move [he makes them] 

 speak. (V.) Aud why weepcst thou, O marble? (L.) 

 1 bewail su great a lo.ss. (V.) Alas! ['tis true] thou 

 causest me [who am but] a traveller to weep also." 



Ithubiel. 



" Cambridge University Calendar." — In what 

 years since its first appearance in 1796 has the 

 l)ublication oi' the Cambridge Univeisity Calendar 

 been omitteil ? Joseph Eix. 



St. Neot's. 



" Cant." — Will you, or some of your corre- 

 spondents, kindly inform me of the earliest use of 

 the word cantf In the Spectator, No. 147., the 

 following account of its origin is given : — 



" Cant is by some people derived from one Andrew 

 Cant, who, they say, was a Presbyterian minister in some 

 illiterate part of Scotland, who, by exercise and use, had 

 obtained the faculty alias gift of talking in the pulpit in 

 such a dialect that it was said he was understood by 

 none but his own congregation, and not by all of them. 

 Since Master Cant's time, it has been understood in a 

 larger sense, and signifies all sudden exclamations, whin- 

 ings, unusual tones, and, in fine, all preaching and pray- 

 ing like the unlearned of the Presbyterians." 



I should be glad to get the different shades of 

 meaning traced. E.xul. 



Lions and Maids. — Addison refers, in Spec- 

 tator, No. 13., to "the received opinion, that a 

 lion will not hurt a virgin." Besides Spenser's 

 Una and the Lion, and the passage in the ballad 

 of " S. George and the Dragon " {Percy, 3rd Ser. 

 b. iii. No. 2.), what allusions to this belief are to 

 be found in our old writers ? Ache. 



Families of Morsce. — In Hasted's History of 

 Kent, vol. ii., I find, — 



" Henry VIII. demised to John Morce of East Mailing 

 his mashin Ditton and East Mailing." 



Again, Hasted, vol. i. p. 529. : — 

 " Queen Elizabeth made a grant of sundry premises in 

 the parish of Higham to John Morsce." 



1. Can any of your readers tell me whether the 

 families of Morse now resident in Gloucestershire 

 are descended from the above-mentioned John 

 Morsce or Morce ? 



2. Is the family of Morse now resident in Nor- 

 folk in any way connected with the Gloucester- 

 shire families ? 



3. If originally all of the same family, how has 

 the difference in the present armorial bearings of 

 each branch arisen, there being three coats borne 

 for Morse, viz. : Ar. a battle-axe in pale gu. ; 

 Party per pale ar. and sa. a chevron between 

 three mullets pierced ; Ar. a battle-axe ppr. be- 

 tween three pellets. The crests being either 

 " two battle-axes in saltier," or " a knight armed, 

 couped at the waist, bearing in dexter hand a 

 battle-axe." 



In the Add. MSS. in the British Museum men- 

 tion is made of several Morses living at various 



places in Suffolk between the years a.d. 1580 and 

 1734. 



An answer to any or all of these Queries will 

 greatly oblige Battle Axe. 



"Tzs all over, like the fair of Athy^ — Can 

 Messrs. D'Alton, FitzPatrick, or Blacker, or 

 any others of your Irish contributors, supply the 

 origin of this well-known Irish phrase, illustrative 

 of a matter ending almost as soon as it had begun ? 

 I also want an explanation of the following Irish 

 phrase : " I'll die where Bradley died, in the mid- 

 dle of the bed," i. e. at home, and happy. 



Where can I procure a copy of the late Sheffield 

 Grace's Escape of Lord Nithsdale from the 7'ower 

 of London, as related by his Countess in a letter ? 

 Poor Grace died July 11, 1850. Ein Frager. 



Pie-grieche. — Sismondl, in his Histoire des 

 Frangais, a.d. 1614, states that Louis XIII. 

 showed, at an early age, a passion for birds of 

 prey : — 



" II vouloit toujours avoir dans son cabinet des dme- 

 rillons, des pies-grifeches et d'autres petits oiseaux de 

 chasse." — Vol. xxii. p. 295. 



An emerillon is a merlin hawk. The word 

 grieche is stated, in the Dictionnaire de VAca- 

 demie, to occur only in connexion with the 

 substantives ortie and pie. Chambaud explains 

 grieche by speckled. He states that " ortie- 

 grieche" is " the male, Roman, or Greek nettle;" 

 and that a " pie-grieche " is " a specklecj magpye, 

 a wary-angle." The word " pie-grieche " is also 

 used metaphorically to signify " a scold," " a 

 vixen." Qu., what is the origin of the word 

 grieche f and what is the bird of the pie tribe 

 of which Louis XIII. was fond, and which has 

 furnished a proverbial name for scolds in France? 



L. 



Boroxigh of Trill. — I have in my collection an 

 impression from a seal bearing the legend " S 

 comvnitatis bvrg de Trill," and for a device a 

 shield charged with three cheveronels. Was Trill 

 an English municipal borough ? if so, in what 

 county was it situate ? and when and from what 

 cause did the corporation become extinct ? 



S. PoMICAN. 



Morville Family. — Can any of your readers give 

 me information of an heiress of the Morvill (or 

 Morville.) family intermarrying with the Engleys 

 or Sandeforth family? The Morville arms as 

 quartered are, azure fretty and semee de lis or. 



Hugo, 



Families of Anglo-Saxon Origin. — Can any of 

 the readers of " N. & Q." contribute a list of 

 English families who can be proved or assert 

 themselves, or are reputed to be, of Anglo-Saxon 

 origin. I mean of course families who have had 

 landed estate from time immemorial, and who 

 bear coat armour. 



