2o<i S. VI. 154., Deo. 11. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



481 



to a Weekly Collection of News issued by the same 

 publisher ; for at page 238. there appears " a cha- 

 racter of the late Earl of Peterborough too long 

 to be inserted in our weekly collection." I have 

 only pp. 189—260. and 273—320 inclusive. , It 

 seems rather strange in our times, but from many 

 of the communications from serge-makers and 

 their work-people, which betoken an impending 

 strike for increase of wages, that the masters ex- 

 hibit great jealousy of " the Clubs " or benefit 

 societies which the men were organising among 

 themselves. It is now the policy to encourage 

 rather thaa to impede such prudential arrange- 

 ments. Y. B. N. J. 



Oxey and Sway. — Can any derivation of these 

 words be suggested ? — 



Oxfiy, a moorish piece of land, long ago re- 

 claimed from thp Solent Sea. 



Sway, a village on a heathy waste of the New 

 Forest. E. K. 



Pocket-Handkerchief. — The compound struc- 

 ture of this word invites an inquiry into its 

 etymology. Can any of the readers of " N. & Q." 

 suggest why it is that the English language does 

 not afford a term for the article in question so 

 simple as the word mouchoir f Is it to be inferred 

 from the complex character of the only term we 

 have to denote so indispensable an article of the 

 toilet, that the pocket-handkerchief came later 

 into use with us than with the French ? H. N. 



New York. 



Fossatum. — What is a " fossatum super aquam 

 quos venit de Huppelea quod dominus Rex Ricar- 

 dus fecit ? " Is it an embankment ? There is a 

 large artificial lake, of old date, close on the locality. 

 It is "super aquam," and is " made." But it oc- 

 curs close afterwards, " usque ad alveum fossafi, 

 super quem eadem Abbacia fundata est." The 

 abbey stands by a river side, in a valley. E. K. 



PalceogTopky. — Is there any book published 

 which enables you to decipher old documents ? 



A. P. D. 



[The abbreviations used in ancient records varj' with 

 the different styles of writing, and present formidable 

 obstructions to the progress of the uninitiated student. 

 To those who are desirous of waking themselves ac- 

 quainted with these characters, Mr. Sims {Manual for 

 the Geneahtjist, Sfc, p. xiii.) recommends the perusal of 

 the following works : Lexicon Diplomaticum, by J. L. 

 Waltherus, 1745 ; Nnuveau Traits de Diptomatit/lie, 6 vols. 

 1750-65; Court-Hand Restored, by A. Wright, J 848; 

 Elementa de J'alt'ograpMe, par N. de Wuilly, 2 vols, 1838 ; 

 JMctionnaire den Abhr£viatiOHS, par Ji. A. Chassant, 1840; 

 Puleof/rapltie den Chartes, par L. A. Chassant, 1847. Mr. 

 Sims then gives a list of works containing explan.ltlons 

 of ancient terms continually to bo met with in Records 

 and other ancient documents. We have seen iu the pos- 



session of a friend in MS., Archaismus Graphicus, ab 

 Henrico Spelman coriscriptus in usiim filioruin suorum, 

 A.D. 1606, which would prove a most useful little work if 

 published as a hand-book to the contractions of mediaeval 

 Latinity. ] 



" Lareovers for Meddlers." — Can anyone curi- 

 ous in " lip-lore " give a solution of the sayincr 

 that one often hears at this time of the year when 

 the medlars make their appearance on the dessert- 

 table, " Lareovers for medlars?" I quote from 

 sound, and am ignorant if the unknown word be 

 spelt correctly, or if there be a pun intended on 

 the word riiedlar with its brother in sound, med- 

 dler. H. B. 



[When children are over inquisitive as to the meaning 

 or use of any articles, it is sometimes the custom to re- 

 buke them fiy saying "A hireover for young meddlers." 

 In Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia. a hiyer-over is ex- 

 l]|,iin«(l "A gentle term for some instrument ol chastise- 

 nient."] 



Quotation Wanted: — 

 " Ille, super Gangen, super exauditus et Indos, 

 Iniplebit terras voce ; et furialia bella 

 Fulmine compescet linguae . . . . " 



Can any of your readers state from what work 



the above quotation is taken? It occurs in Mon- 



talembert's celebrated article in the Correspondant 



— " Un Debat sur I'lnde," etc. J. M. 



[See Silius Italicus, Punicorum, lib. viii. 408.] 



THE GENEALOGICAL SUGGESTION. 



(2°'> S. vi. 307. 378. 438.) 



Like the theories of the great moral reformer, 

 Robert Owen, Mr. Gakstin's plan, as suggested, 

 may read very well upon paper, but would de 

 facto be found very difficult to put into practice. 

 It would assume that in all localities wherever 

 records are to be found, reside a number of dis- 

 interested and unemployed individuals who are 

 willing to render their gratuitous services as 

 copyists in a labour of love at the beck and call 

 of any one possessing the cacoethes scribendi, and 

 as we must also assume, to a certain extent, the 

 amor mmimi, or else a considerable lack of the 

 same precious commodity. Barters may do very 

 well in an infant state of society, but it has al- 

 ways receded with civilisation ; and it is anything 

 but complimentary to the present sera to presume 

 that this species of literary traffic would be either 

 appreciated or sustained by the public generally. 

 In return for Mr. Garstin's required transcript, 

 which I find on examination to be merely a 

 fairly-written pedigree of one of his family cog- 

 nomen containing some half dozen lines, suppose 

 that I desired from his locality copy of a MS. of as 

 many pages half obliterated and difficult to de- 

 cipher ; would not his patience be exhausted by 



