2"* S. IX. Mar. 24. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



225 



arrangement, feel inclined to doubt, if Messrs. 

 Willi? & Sotlieran did not offer a real copy of the 

 above description for sale. Which is right ? 



F. S. 



[The edition of Jaraieson which we have before us is 

 in four volumes, each volume, from I. to IV., bearing the 

 date of 1841. But these volumes have in addition their 

 own proper title-pages. Vols. I. and II. are there de- 

 scribed as The Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish 

 Language, by Robert Jamieson. The second edition care- 

 fully revised and collated, with all the Additional Words in 

 the Supplement incorporated, and their most popular signi- 

 fications briefly given by John Johnstone. & two volumes. 

 "Edinburgh, "1840. While the special titles of Vols. III. and 

 IV. describe them as Supplement to the Etymological 

 Dictionary of the Scottish Language. In two volumes, 

 which two volumes, we may add, are dated Edin- 

 burgh, 1825. The explanation is simply this, that 

 •while all the words in the Supplement are incorporated in 

 the Dictionary all the explanations and illustrations are 

 not. The Supplement is therefore still essential to the 

 completion of the work.] 



British Scythed Chariots. — In the Neiv Rug- 

 beian of last month (a periodical brought out at 

 Rugby every month, and contributed to by pre- 

 sent as well as old Rugs), there is an article dis- 

 proving the common belief that the ancient 

 Britons used chariots with scythes on the spokes 

 of the wheels. The writer says there is not the 

 slightest mention of them in Caesar or Tacitus, 

 since " Essedarii " in Csesar, and " Covini " in 

 Tacitus, mean only " war chariots," and are 

 spoken of just as we use "cavalry" or "ar- 

 tillery." The writer then goes on to derive 

 " covini," which he says is identified with the 

 Celtic kowain, which is our English " wain." He 

 then says that the first i<iea of British scythed cha- 

 riots was introduced by Pomponius Mela, the 

 geographer, and the poet Silius Italicus. Would 

 any correspondent be kind enough to give his 

 opinion on the subject, as it would be a great 

 point to disprove an unfounded statement, ami so 

 general a belief. Fuimus. 



[The wheel-carriages and war-chariots of the ancient 

 Britons are mentioned by Greek and Roman authors 

 under various appellations, viz Renna, Petoritum, Currus, 

 Covinus, Esseda, and Rheda. The Renna, as the name 

 implies, was a state or chieftain's carriage, and used 

 rather for travelling than for war. The Petoritum. so 

 called from having four wheels, was larger than the 

 former, and used probably as a family vehicle. The 

 Curru* was the common cart or waggon used in time of 

 peace for the purpose of agriculture and merchandise, 

 and in time ot war for conveying baggage, &c. The 

 Covinus was a lightly constructed car, armed with 

 scythes or hooks for cutting or tetring through all ob- 

 stacles. (Canf. Mela, iii. <> ; [jucan, i. 426. ; >ilius, xvii. 

 422.) The occupants (covinarii) of these formidable 

 carriages seem to have constituted a regular and distinct 

 part of a British army. (See Tacit. Agric. 3.i. and 30., 

 with Becker**' note ; Bbtticher's Lexicon Tarit. s. v., and 

 Becker's Callus, i. 222.) The Esseda or Esscdum was 

 also a war -chariot, larger than the last mentioned, but 

 Dot armed with scythes. The method of using the esse- 

 dum in the ancient British armies was very similar to 



the practice of the Greeks in the heroic ages. The 

 drivers of these were designated Essedarii. (Cajs. R. G. 

 iv. 24.) There were about 4000 of them in the army of 

 Cassivelaunus. The Rheda appears to have been veri- 

 similar to the covinus and essedum. It was of Gallic 

 origin. 



That the Ancient Britons used scythed chariots in war 

 was never questioned till the Marquis de Lagoy published, 

 in 1849, his elaborate work On the Arms and Instruments 

 of War of the Gauls, in which his inquiries are extended 

 to other nations, and among them to the Britons. That 

 antiquary found among the medals of Julius Csesar of the 

 consular series one commemorating (as he concludes) his 

 conquests in Britain. On this a trophy is represented, 

 composed of such arms as might have been used by a 

 British warrior, viz. a helmet, a sword, shields, spears, &c , 

 and lastly a chariot, at the foot of the trophy, which the 

 Marquis assigns, as well as the other implements of war, 

 to the Britons. The representation, however, of the sup- 

 posed war-chariot is so exceedingly small (smaller, in 

 fact, than the shield which figures beside it) as to leave 

 the question respecting the actual form, &c. of the ancient 

 British covinus much in the same state as the Marquis 

 and his two predecessors, Vaillant and Morell (whom he 

 compels to his aid) found it. We shall be happy to re- 

 ceive the opinions of some of our classical correspondents 

 and antiquaries on this interesting subject, which we 

 think deserves farther investigation.] 



" To Knock under." — Uncle derivatur ? Allow- 

 ing that the phrase has the force of submittere [?], 

 what can knock mean in such a connexion ? 



Clammild. 



Athena?um Club. 



fits equivalent, " to knuckle under," appears to be the 

 older phrase. To knuckle, properly to bend, to bow, to 

 kneel. Hence, original!}', to knuckle under meant simply 

 to bend under, to yield, to submit, to kneel. From a 

 modern misapprehension of the expressions to knuckle 

 under and to knock under, people sometimes, when they 

 use the phrase, knock under the table with their knuckles, 

 suiting the action to the word. There is also the expres- 

 sion " to knock under the table." This also appears to be 

 a modern misapplication. Knuckle was formerly the knee 

 (we still say "a knuckle of veal"). Hence to knuckle 

 under, meaning to kneel.'] 



Johv Nevill, Marquis of Montagu. — Can 

 you inform me who was the wife of Joint Nevill, 

 Marquis of Montagu (brother of the famous 

 king-maker), and whether they had any descend- 

 ants or not ? Harold. 



[Sir John Nevill, Marquess of Montagu, married Isabel, 

 daughter of Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorp, Knt., ami had 

 issue two sons, George and John, ami five daughters, 

 Anne, Elizabeth, Margaret, Lucy, and Isabel. Consult 

 Burke's Extinct Peerages, art. Nkvii.l, for the marriages, 

 &c. of the children.] 



His Majesty's Servants. — When was this 

 term first employed as applicable to actors? I 



find that after the Restoration it was again re- 

 vived : — 



"As formerly since the coming in of His Ma'r the 



players have been called the King's servants and the 



i Duke's servants They now perlorm at the great 



I Play-Hnuse in Lincoln a-Inn -Fields, called Sir William 



Davenant's house, and at Salisbury House, where they 



i commonly act 'The Changeling.'" Now at this day 



