2" d S. IX Jan. 21. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



51 



hibition of prophecies : notwithstanding the sup- 

 posed sanctity of diviners, predictions have been 

 rendered penal, because they unsettle men's 

 minds, and stimulate them to take active steps 

 for accomplishing the downfal of princes, or for 

 bringing about other political changes, to which 

 the prediction points. L. 



FOLK-LORE AND PROVINCIALISMS. 

 (2 nd S. viii. 483.) 



Brangle. — This word is used in Lincolnshire, 

 and is given by Halliwell in quite an opposite 

 meaning to that ascribed to it by the translators 

 of Rabelais, where it seems to mean to prevent 

 difficulty. Sir. Halliwell says, " Brangled, con- 

 fused, entangled, complicated. Lincolnshire." And 

 so I have always heard it applied. Thus, a con- 

 fused and complicated account is called " a 

 brangled account." 



Cushion. — In the parish accounts of Wrangle, 

 near Boston, " A velvet quishon of greene " is 

 mentioned as belonging to the pulpit in 1673. 

 See Chaucer's Troiltis and Cressida, Book iii. line 

 961., where " quisken" for Cushion occurs. 



Leery is frequently used in Lincolnshire to 

 express feeling shy, bashful, under restraint. 

 Thus, a country girl will say, " I felt quite leery 

 when the lady spoke to me." 



Widbin. — Your correspondent A. A. says, that 

 the Anglo-Saxon for the Bed Dogwood is corn- 

 treou. It is rather singular that the botanical 

 name of the Dogwood — Cornus florida — should 

 approach so near to the Anglo-Saxon ! 



Singing before Breakfast. — " If you sing before 

 breakfast, you will cry before night," is a very 

 common saying in almost every part of Lincoln- 

 shire. Pishet Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



I send a few provincialisms not in Halliwell (ed. 

 1855) : — 



Crump, a knock, more especially on the head. 

 Cambridgeshire. 



Dee, noise. — Cambridgeshire. 



Haling-way, towing-path. — Cambridgeshire. 



Cambridgeshire people pronounce two, do, and 

 the like, as tew, dew, &c. ; they also insert to- 

 gether in such phrases as " What are ye at there, 

 together ? " 



Scoggin, a vane, weathercock. — Kent. 



Brangle, decidedly from ebranler, to shake 

 (act). 



Lear. Halliwell, s. v. says Lear = hollow, 

 empty. 



Maiden. — I have often heard a most dearly- 

 loved deceased friend, born in Lancashire, use the 

 word maiden in the sense of clothes'-horse : in 

 the same county the word winter-hedge, given by 

 Ilailiwell, is used in the same meaning. 



P. J. P. Gantillon. 



Brangle (2 nd S. viii. 6. 483.), like the Scotch 

 brangle, to shake, to vibrate, is probably from the 

 French braider, brandir. Cushion is from French 

 coussin, from Germ, kussen, kissen, perhaps derived 

 from the Heb. D<3, " a bag," " purse." Huffkins 

 may be a diminutive formed from huff, " to swell," 

 from A.-S. hebban, to " raise." Leer may come 

 from leer, '_' empty," from A.-S. gelar. Asimnel 

 or symnel is " a kind of cake made of sugar, flour, 

 plums and saffron " (Marriott's Eng. Diet.), from 

 L. simila, flour, fine meal; whence the A.-S. 

 symbel, simble, simle, a feast, banquet, supper. A 

 maiden was likewise a sort of guillotine ; and 

 gleer may be connected with the Dan. glar, Icel. 

 gler, glass. R. S. C h arnock. 



The Mayor of Market Jew or Marazion 

 (2 nd S. viii. 451.) — While staying some time since 

 at Marazion in Cornwall, I went into the little old 

 church with the clergyman, who, pointing out a 

 large high bishop's throne-like kind of seat, said : 

 " That is the mayor's seat, and it is a common 

 saying here — ' In one's own light like the Mayor 

 of Marazion.' " Certainly the position and appear- 

 ance of the seat justifies the legend. 



W. DE MOHUN. 



The King's Scutcheon (2 od S. ix. 6.) — In 

 answer to Mr. Bruce, perhaps the following in- 

 formation may be of service : — My father was a 

 King's Messenger for upwards of forty years, and 

 served under fifteen or sixteen prime ministers. 

 When on duty, that is to say travelling with 

 despatches, he always wore a scutcheon or badge 

 of this description : as well as I can recollect, 

 a small lozenge-shaped frame about four inches 

 long, made of some metal very strongly gilt, in- 

 side of which was the arms of England, painted 

 on some kind of stout paper, I think ; so it ap- 

 peared to me. This was covered by a thick glass 

 let into the frame ; from the bottom of the frame 

 and affixed to it by a ring depended a small solid 

 silver greyhound, in full chase. The badge was 

 worn round the neck by a broad blue ribbon. It 

 was his authority for passing turnpikes toll free, 

 through parks and any private property, and in 

 fact anywhere he had occasion to go, and like- 

 wise for pressing posthorses or carriages on the 

 road. In reading Mr. Bruce's Note it struck 

 me there was a great similarity in the two cases, 

 as I know my father's was a very ancient office, 

 he receiving as part of his fees Ad. per day for 

 livery, which fee had been in existence from the 

 time of Elizabeth. He also held his situation by 

 patent. , S. J. S. 



Sib Peter Gi.eane (2 nd S. viii. 187,)— For par- 

 ticulars of him, see Blomefield's Norfolk" Village 

 of Hardwick," where are still the remains of a 

 red-brick house, surrounded by a moat, in which 

 he resided. X. Y. 



