2" 4 S. IXFeb. 11..'60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



107 



Malsh 13 in no manner connected, either in 

 meaning or by derivation, with marish. 



Marish as a provincial word is not known here. 

 I question whether it is to be heard in the mouths 

 of the common people anywhere. To Tennyson, 

 however, does not belong the honour of its intro- 

 duction into English literature. Marish is the , 

 English form of the mediaeval Latin word maris- 

 cus° which latter is probably derived from the 

 An"lo-Saxon mersc (old German marsch, whence 

 our word marsh). 



It is a fine old pleasant sounding word, for the 

 use of which Mr. Tennyson has very good au- 

 thority, as the following examples will show : — 



Capgrave : — 



" Then was the Kyng ful glad of this chauns, and 

 gadered a grete boost, for to goo into Scotland: but 

 whan he cam into that Lond, the Scottis fled onto wodes 

 and marices and othir stranuDge place." {Chronicle of 

 England, p. \W.) 

 Spencer : 



" Only these marisbes and myrie bogs." 



Faerie Queene, b. v. c. x. s. xxiii. 



The word marsh is used by Spencer a few 

 stanzas previously. 

 Markham (Gervaise) : 



" The more sedgie, marish, rotten, and fertile such 

 grounds are, the fitter they are for the hauntes of such 

 foule." {Hunger's Prevention, 1655, p. 8.) 



For other instances of the use of marish by 

 Chaucer, Lord Berners, Raleigh, Milton, Dyer, 

 &c, see Richardson's Dictionary under " Marsh." 



Edward Peacock. 



Bottesford Manor, Brigg. 



hi Huntingdonshire I know not, unless, indeed, 

 any considerable colony of Dutchmen came over 

 at any time for the purpose of draining and em- 

 banking the fens there. Jaydee. 



The word melsh, or melch, as applied to weather, 

 is by no means confined to the fen or marsh dis- 

 tricts, being common enough in Yorkshire, where- 

 the writer has often heard it used. Indeed, Hal- 

 liwell gives rnalch as a Craven word. So Grose : 



"Melsh, moist, damp, drizzling; melsh weather. North. 

 Mulch, straw, half-rotten." S. 



It seems, if not an onomatopoetic word, to be 

 more connected with the A.-S. milts, mild, than 

 with marish, or marsh. Cf. milce, pity, mildness ; 

 and the well-known passage in Hamlet (Act II. 

 Sc. 2.) : 



" The instant burst of clamour that she made 



Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven." 



Where milch = moist, certainly gives the best 



J. Eastwood, 



This word is pure Dutch, and has nothing 

 whatever to do with marish, the old form of 

 marsh. Mahch in Dutch means soft, tender, 

 ripe (as applied to fruit), and would well describe 

 the wet and boggy condition of the ground in 

 rainy weather. How the word came to be used 



BRASS AT WEST HERLING ; " ET PRO QUIBUS 

 TENENTUR." 



(2 nd S. viii. 417. 461. 541) 



If, as your correspondent H. Haines alleges, 

 there are very few sepulchral brasses on which an 

 expression similar to the above is to be found, the 

 same cannot be said of old wills ; for here, there is 

 an embarras de richesses ; and they all undoubtedly 

 fix the meaning according to the Editor's ex- 

 planation — an obligation to pray. I will select 

 a few specimens : — 



Extract from the will of Sir Robert Ogle, 

 Knt., dated 7th February, 1410 : — 



" Volo eciara quod duo honesti et idonei capellani per 

 xij annos ibidem pro anima mea, et Johanna? uxoris mex , 

 ac omnium parentum et benefactorum nostrorum, et pro 

 animabvs quibus teneor, celebraturi inveniantur, horas ca- 

 nonicas cum placebo et dirige singulis diebus h canone 

 licitis prsemissa dicturi, et quod sua salaria de terris meis 

 in Northmidelton &c. eisdem capellanissolvantur." 



From the will of Alan de Newark, a dignitary 

 of York, dated " Ebon in fest. Trim" 1411 : — 



" Item lego omnia alia bona mea distribuenda magis 

 pauperibus et egenis in civitate Eboraci et locis aliis, et 

 in alios pios usus, ad laudem Dei. et pro mea, et aliorum 

 quibus astrictus sum animabus." 



And further on in the same will : — 

 " Item volo quod ordinetur ut unus capellanus celebret 

 in Ecclesia Ebor. ad altare Sancti Johannis Evangelists 

 pro anima Thomse fratris mei, et animabus parentum 

 meorum, et omnium eorum quibus tenentur, et anima mea, 

 per xx annos proximfe sequentes mortem meam ; ethabeat 

 quolibet anno C*." 



And once more in the same will : — 

 " Item volo ut residuum bonorum meorum pauperibus 

 et egenis non fictis, — pro animtl Thom» fratris mei, et 

 mea, et animabus parentum meorum et omnium eorum 

 quibus sumus obligati, ac omnium fideliuin defunctorum, 

 fideliter et discrete distribuantur." 



From the will of Robert Wyclifle, Rector of 

 Rudby, dated Sept. 8, 1423 : — 



" Item volo quod viginti librae dentur duobus capella- 

 nis celebraturis pro anima mea animabusque patris mei et 

 matris, et omnium benefactorum meorum, et pro animabus 

 omnium illorum pro quibus teneor, et sum oneratus exorare. 

 Et volo qubd Johannes De Midilton sit unus de prsedictis 

 capellanis." 



From a will, in English, of Sir William Bulmer, 

 Knt., dated 6 Oct. 1531 : — 



" To the College of Staindrop and the Priests there, 

 x'., for the soules of my father and mother, and for my 

 wyfs saull, and for all ihesaulls Jam bound to pray for." 



From the will of Richard Burgh, Esquire, dated 

 6 Dec. 1407 : — 

 " Item lego xiij marcaa duobus presbyteris ad cele- 



