Legonidec, the Breton scholar, Williams, the Cornish lexicographer, and Mr. Whitley Stokes, the eminent Old Celtic scholar, agree in identifying this ploué with the Welsh plwyf (plwyv), parish. The vocalization agrees with this, ou in Breton being the regular equivalent of Wel. wy, e. g., Bret. roued = Wel, rhwyd = Lat. rete, and Bret. arouéz Wel. arwydd," signum." Well, then, now comes the question, How is the common Welsh word plwyf, parish, to be explained? It is, as Mr. Whitley Stokes has reminded us some years ago, simply borrowed from the Church Latin word pleb-em, nom. plebs, used very commonly in the sense of "the laity, a Christian community, a parish."* Its form in modern Welsh as a representative of plebem is perfectly regular; plwyf Lat. plebem: swyf Lat. sebum (suet, grease). In borrowed words Lat. b medial regularly becomes f (v) in Welsh, e. g., Wel. barf Lat. barba, and Wel. llafur = Lat. labor. And in borrowed words Lat. è regularly becomes wy in Welsh, e. g., eglwys =ec(c)lesia, cadwyn = catena, canwyll-candela, fwyn=fenum (fanum), ffrwyn=frēnum, cwyr = cera, hwyr serum, rhwyd-rete, afwyn habena. Latin e long by position also becomes wy in Welsh, e. g., dwys=densus, ystwyll=stella, hence Dydd Gwyl Ystwyll, the Feast of the Star, the Epiphany. In conclusion, I would refer any scholar who may wish to go more thoroughly into the matter to the famous Grammatica Celtica' by Zeuss. On p. 96 of the second edition of that work one may find a detailed account of the history of the long e in the Celtic languages, a few words of which I will give: "Aremorica vetustior hujus vocalis solutio est or, OE, rarius UI, ut in nominibus propriis chartularii Rhedonensis: Ploilan, in charta a. 862 plebs Laan (Lan in aliis chartis)." Again: "Cornica scriptio UI usitata: plui=plebem, ruid =rēte, muis mensa." A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford. = If, as I imagine, we ought to read Corioli for Carioli, the allusion" inquired for will readily suggest itself to all to whom the landmarks of Roman traditions are dear, and who, therefore, know that of the city which long defied Rome, and in falling gave its name to one of the proudest generals of antiquity, the only remnant is a tower For numerous examples see Ducange, and the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (s. v. "Plebs"). Since writing the above I have been informed by my friend Mr. Morfill that in Polish pleban (Late Lat. plebanus) is the ordinary word for "a parish priest." built by a later age out of the ruins of its crumbled walls "; and while thanking J. T. F. for his sportively sonorous and alliterative after-dinner line, will hope that the originator of the playful application to a treasured pre-Gorgonzola Stilton may be brought to light. R. H. BUSK. TITLE OF EGMONT (7th S. ii. 9, 78, 137, 218).— Ascelin, son of Robert de Yvery, was also called Ascelin Gouel, Gouel de Brehervel, and Gouel de Percheval (the name has twenty-nine orthographies). He commanded the Norman forces under William the Conqueror at the siege of Mantes in 1087, and died in 1119. His eldest son William, Baron of Yvery, had five sons; the eldest, Waleran, was ancestor of the Counts of Egmont in Flanders, and his fifth son, Richard de Percheval, ancestor to the present Earl of Egmont. The first Earl of Egmont, who was a great genealogist, had a large share in compiling the account of his family, called the 'History of the House of Yvery,' 1744. CONSTANCE RUSSELL. See Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,' second edit., 1788, where "low spirits" is given as an equivalent. H. S. COPT (7th S. ii. 228, 278).—Copt Hall, more properly Copped Hall, was a name popularly given to houses conspicuous for a high-pitched peaked roof. There was a Copthall at the back of Throckmorton Street, in the City of London, the name of which survives in Copthall Court and Copthall Buildings. The old manor house of Vauxhall, in which the Lady Arabella Stuart was confined under the custody of Sir Thomas Parry, was known as Copt Hall, or Copped Hall, "being a fair dwelling house, strongly built, of three stories high." There is also a well-known Copthall at Epping, long the seat of the Conyerses, originally built by Sir T. Heneage, temp. Elizabeth, on the site of a manor house of the Abbots of Waltham. In Anglo-Saxon copp (Ger. kopf) is the head or top of anything; the word survived to the time of Wycliffe, "the coppe of the hill" (St. Luke iv. 29), Chaucer, Ben Jonson, Drayton (for examples W. C. B. · See Fuller's 'Hist. Waltham Abbey,' pp. 8, 9; Todd's 'Johnson' and Richardson's 'Dictionary' Ray's 'English Words,' ed. Skeat, E.D.S., p. 38. Cp. and Nares's Glossary' may be consulted). From A.-S. copp, apex, caput. copp was formed the adjective or participle copped, for anything having a high and prominent top. It was especially used for high-crowned hats, "Long coates and copped caps" (Sandy's 'Travels,' p. 47), "High copt hats, and feathers flaunt a flaunt" (Gascoigne, p. 216); sometimes under the form coppled; and also for hills, e.g., "The blind mole casts copp'd hills towards heaven" (Shakspere, Pericles, I. i.), "A little coppyd hill" (Fabyan, i. 123); and for the crest of cocks or other birds, "Accresté, crested, copped, having a great crest or comb, as a cock" (Cotgrave). The transition from a high-crowned hat to the high peaked roof of a house was naturally suggested by the form, The word copthall probably dates from the beginning of the seventeenth century, when domestic convenience was more studied, and houses began to be planned in a square block with a roof in the form of a truncated pyramid, instead of in shallow single-roomed compartments, with long gabled roofs, arranged round a courtyard. EDMUND VENABLES. ham and Bracknal, Berks. end. Reading. 1870 (vol. iv., new series, pp. 500-3). Also to the paper on 'The Bogie' in Thomas Sternberg's 'Dialect and Folk-lore of Northamptonshire' (pp. 138141). CUTHBERT BEDE. SNAKES AS FOOD (7th S. ii. 207, 278).—In The Life of Frank Buckland' an extract from his journal is given, p. 128: "B. called; cooked a viper for lucheon." I have read that the trappers in North America often eat the rattlesnake when better food cannot be got. E. LEATON BLENKINSOPP. One of the hundreds of the county of Surrey, viz., that which includes Epsom on the north- BOGIE: BOGY (7th S. ii. 249).—I would refer east and Effingham on the north-west, is called your correspondent to my (anonymous) article on Copthorne Hundred, and a hamlet of Bur-New and Old Bogies,' in Once a Week, Jan. 1, stow and a common there, on the confines of Worth parish in Sussex, bears the same name. Manning, in speaking of the former (Hist. Surrey,' vol. i. p. xlviii), says that "it probably received its name from some 'thorn' remarkable for the size of its 'head,' or its situation on some considerable eminence, both which are expressed in the Saxon word cop or cope." The prefix cop is not of unfrequent occurrence in Anglo-Saxon place-names, and in some it may have reference to their situation on the "cop" or crest of a hill, in others, such as "Copthorne," I have no doubt that it means the thorn with the big head or crest, in allusion to the ordinary practice of pollarding trees, more especially those which marked a boundary. The word coppice (Fr. couper) is allied to cop in this sense. Copthall, in Essex, stands on an eminence, and is not improbably a corruption of "copt-hull," the crested or conical-shaped hill. G. L. G. There is a Copt Hill about a mile to the east of Houghton-le-Spring. On it is growing a clump of trees. When opened, a few years ago, by Canon Greenwell and Capt. Robinson it was found that an ancient Briton had been buried there-urns, &c., having been exhumed. R. B. Copt coped, i. e., with a coping or high ridge. Near Ripon there is Copt Hewick, and at Wistow, near Selby, there are, or were, Copt Hills. Gascoigne speaks of people wearing "high copt hattes" ('Steele Glas,' 1576, Arber, p. 83). See more in I heard from an old officer that when in the West Indies he was told by a lady, at whose house he was dining, that he might not like the soup, as it was made from snakes. F.S.A.Scot. hawked about the streets there for sale, as eels When I was at Rome in the forties, vipers were are or were in the streets of London. The Australian aborigines-at least those of New South Wales and Queensland- esteem snakes, whether venomous or not, excellent eating. They will not, however, eat a venomous one unless it has been killed by one of themselves. The reason I have heard alleged for this is that they desire to be assured the reptile has not bitten itself and so poisoned the flesh; but there not improbably is a religious or superstitious belief at the bottom of it, though, perhaps, at the present day unknown by the natives themselves. ALEX. BEAZELEY, THE "H" BRONZE PENNY (7th S. ii. 288).-MR. constabulary are all distinguished by a small plate GARSIDE doubtless refers to Mr. Ralph Heaton, of showing an heraldic single rose argent; the buttons the Mint, Birmingham, the writer of the following on the men's uniforms are marked with an heraldic paragraph in the Handbook of Birmingham,' pre- double rose. I noticed the same thing in the pared for the members of the British Association, West Riding. L. L. K. 1886, Birmingham, Hall & English :Hull. "The letter H below the date will be found on many of the bronze coins in circulation; it implies that the coins were struck in the Birmingham Mint. At the time of their introduction in 1875 it was supposed that an extensive gang of forgers were at work, and the Mint authorities were communicated with by an anonymous writer, who stated that the counterfeit coins could be distinguished by the small letter H below the date." ESTE. No doubt the "unknown person" was the firm of Messrs. Heaton, the Mint, Birmingham, who struck our bronze coins, distinguished by an H in the exergue. The firm could, perhaps, tell MR. GARSIDE the names of newspapers to which they wrote in 1875. Your correspondent might be interested in reading the article on "Coinage" in the 'Handbook of Birmingham,' prepared for the British Association 1886 meeting, wherein a reference is made to the correspondence which arose in 1875. Also the Queen newspaper contained letters on this point about two years ago, when Messrs. Heaton explained the meaning of the additional H. H. S. HENCHMAN (7th S. ii. 246, 298).-SIR J. A. PICTON's note is to the point; for it shows that the fifteenth-century form, hensman, still survives as a name. But I must point out that, having expressed myself too briefly, my question," How can au become e?" has been misunderstood. Of course, I meant to say, "How can au become e in the same dialect?" which is a very different matter. Most likely the Galloway hainch was derived not from the E. haunch, but from the French hanche, which may easily have become haunch in one direction, and hainch, shortened to hench, in another. Similarly the word hengest became hest in Danish and hingst in Low German. This would not prove that hingst can turn into hest. WALTER W. SKEAT. pro PROF. SKEAT having quoted Blount, 1691, I had the curiosity to refer to the fifth edition on my shelves, 1681, just ten years older than the fessor's copy. I there find Blount say, "Henchman or Heinsman is a German word, signifying a Domestic, or one of a family. It is used with us for one that runs on foot attending a person of honor." Now I cannot remember where I have come across the word henseman, but I am sure I have in some Scotch poem or prose-and the meaning of the word is fixed in my mind-as a page. ALFRED CHAS. JONAS. COUNTY BADGES (7th S. i. 470, 518; ii. 34, 98, 138, 213). The buildings of the East Yorkshire CLERICAL PRONUNCIATION (7th S. ii. 265).—I do not propose to enter into a controversy with MR. COOPER on his stricture as to the pronunciation of the letter o in the word "sovereign," and with respect to the pronunciation of "Albert," I may say that I have never heard it pronounced as "Allbut." I wish to enumerate a few instances of mispronunciation of Scripture proper names which I myself have heard from the reading-desk, with the hope that by so doing I may induce those clergymen who are either ignorant or careless in this matter to try and correct their errors. The first instance was Epaphroditus, which was pronounced Epaphroditus-short i, emphasis on rod. Next, in Romans xvi., I heard Cenchrea, Andronicus, Phlegon. In the Epistle of Jude v. 11 I heard "the gainsaying of Core," one syllable. Again, in Acts xxiii. 31, Antipatris was given out rotundo" as Antipatris. 66 ore The same individual who made these utterly inexcusable blunders took me to task on one occasion for my pronunciation of "Aser" (Luke ii. 36), which I gave as if spelt "Asser," short a, he saying that he always pronounced it "Aser," long a. But on my remarking that there was no such tribe as Aser, but that we did read of the tribes of Dan and Asshur, he replied, "Oh, I never thought of that!" And so it is. This is not an uncommon fault with a good many people-they do not think. F. W. J. SOLLY'S TITLES OF HONOUR' (7th S. ii. 63, 151).-It was only on referring to an old number of N. & Q.' that I noticed the remarks of MESSRS. ROBERTS and CARMICHAEL on my annotations to the above work. I regret extremely the misprints in my notes on pp. 127, 129 ("Mitford" for Milford), 138, and 205. For them I am to blame, as the proof was sent to me for revision; but owing to bad health I was unable to devote sufficient attention to the task. I admit the force of MR. ROBERTS's remarks on the brevity of my notes. I could easily bave expanded them to a length that would have occupied many columns of 'N. & Q.,' but thought them clear enough for use if Mr. Solly's book came to a second edition. I gave no "references to the best authorities," because this formed no part of Mr. Solly's original plan. I am surprised at MR. CARMICHAEL's objection to my statement that the Seaforth title is extinct. In this I followed Mr. Solly (see pp. 168, 169), and am not aware that the title has been restored. I venture to express a hope that MR. CAR MICHAEL will publish in these columns his notes "Who married Ann Shovell?" (one of Sir on the Scottish portion of Mr. Solly's work. SIGMA. LEWIS THEOBALD (7th S. ii. 148, 215).-I am not ungrateful to those of your correspondents who have made copious research on my behalf, and hope to return the compliment. Will MR. C. A. WARD kindly give me his authority for assigning Theobald's decease to the year 1744? Baker's Biog. Dram.' says 1742. Possibly an examination of any good magazine issued in either of the two years, and commencing with the annual index of names, would settle this moot point. W. J. L. Cloudesley's two daughters). Robert Mansel did Mansel of Margam, but died v. p., April 29, 1723. It is My Lord,-Your Lordship will hear by this post a great deal of melancholy news relating to our sea affairs......On with news that the great fleet, returning from the Straits Sunday morning an express came from Admiral Byng, and being near the Isles of Scilly, Sir Cloudesly Shovel's ship (the Association) struck on a rock. Admiral Byng passed by him within two cables' length of him, and heard one of his guns go off as a signal of distress, but the sea ran so very high that it was impossible to send him any succour. Sir George Byng adds that, looking after him about a minute after the firing of the gun, he other great ships are missing. Sir Cloudesly had on saw no lights appear, and therefore fears he sunk. Two board with him two of his wife's sons by Sir John Narborough, a son of the Bishop of Winchester [Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Bt], another of Admiral Ailmer [Matthew Aylmer, Rear-Admiral of the Red, a distinguished naval officer, created Lord Aylmer], and several other gentlemen. We are still willing to hope that he may have escaped in his long boat, or be thrown on one of the islands, but it is now three days since we had our first P.S.-As I devour N. & Q.' in monthly instal-intelligence. It was about eight o'clock at night when ments, the cause of this seeming delay will be Sir G. Byng saw him in his distress, &c. apparent. SIR JOHN SOANE'S MUSEUM (7th S. ii. 146, 197). -I beg to inform JOANNES MICROLOGUS that the grandson of the late George Soane is my authority for the statement made by me on p. 146. His name is Bernard Soane Roby, who, from his own account, has lately recovered some considerable sum or sums of money from the trust of the museum in question, and who will no doubt furnish the name of his solicitor who so cleverly assisted him in his claim. Coventry Club. C. H. STEPHENSON. 'HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX' (7th S. ii. 108).-Though not altogether an answer to G. G. G.'s query, it may be interesting to state that, according to the Oracle, on January 23, 1882, Mr. Browning himself wrote: "There is no sort of historical foundation for the poem about Good News to Ghent' [? Aix]. I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel, off the African coast, after I had been at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop on the back of a certain good horse York,' then in my stable at home. It was written in pencil on the fly-leaf of Bartolio's 'Simboli,' I remember." Western Mail, Cardiff, GEO. H. BRIERLEY. RAREE SHOW (7th S. ii. 267). "A peep-show; a show carried about in a box. As these shows were chiefly exhibited by foreigners, they received the name raree from the mode in which the exhibitors pronounced the word rare. The fashions of the town affect us like a rareeshow, we have the curiosity to peep at them and nothing more.' Pope."-From the 'Imperial Dictionary.' EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. DUTTON (7th S. i. 308, 433; ii. 199).-Race is one thing, etymology another. I did not refer to the Bengalees. R. S. CHARNOCK. Matlock. DEATH OF SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVEL (6th S. I. 88, 150, 250, 334, 432, 518; xi. 136).-I think that no one has answered the question, I am, with the greatest respect, Cloudesly Shovel was found on the coast of Cornwall. I am, sir, y faithful humble servant, Swallowfield. PRAYERS FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY (7th S. ii. 8, 131, 233).-Perhaps it may be worth noting that Henrietta Maria, the consort of Charles I., who is styled in the Prayer-book of 1669 " Mary, the Queen Mother," seems usually to have been called Queen Mary." On the authority of the 'Life of the Great Lord Fairfax,' by Clements R. Markham, it is stated that the cry or word of the Royalists at the battle of Naseby in 1645 was Queen Mary." Corroborative of this, in a "Thanksgiving for the Founder and Benefactors of this College," read occasionally at this day in the chapel of Queen's College, Oxford, the names occur of " King Charles the First, Queen Mary his Wife." This is usually supposed to have been drawn up by Thomas Barlow, Provost of Queen's College, 1658-1677, and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, 1675-1692. He was in earlier life Librarian of the Bodleian, when Fellow of Queen's College, from 1653 to 1660, where his portrait may yet be seen in the picture gallery. JOHN PICKFOrd, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. 1683. John Hayes, Cambridge, printed 'The Book of Common Prayer,' &c., with a prayer for "Our Gracious Queen Mary, Catherine the Queen Dowager, their Royal Highnesses Mary Princess of Orange, and the Princess Anne of Denmark." WM. VINCENT. Norwich. · SIR WALTER SCOTT AND TENNYSON (7th S. ii. 128, 214, 276).—I am much obliged to MR. W. T. BAKER for his kindly referring me to Shelley as one of the non-appreciators of Scott. I should be glad if he would bear it in mind, and let me know at some future time, when he happens to come across it again, who is the authority for the fact that Shelley did not care at all for the "Waverley Novels." Will MR. BAKER also kindly tell me where I can find Shelley's imitation of Scott's 'Helvellyn'? In Moxon's edition of Shelley, in one thick volume, stated to be complete (one titlepage 1853, the other 1861), I do not see any poem which resembles 'Helvellyn.' However little Shelley may have cared for the "Waverley Novels," the glorious young genius whose name is immortally linked with his, John Keats, must have had some appreciation of them, as is proved by his little poem entitled 'Meg Merrilies' (Keats's Poems,' Aldine edition, 1876, p. 214), which was obviously, or rather necessarily, inspired by Guy Mannering.' A most excellent man, the late Prof. F. D. Maurice, must, I fear, be reckoned amongst the unhappy people, as I must call them, who have not known what it is to love Sir Walter. In one of his works, I think 'Learning and Working,' he says that when Scott has told us what our ancestors wore Shakespeare will tell us what they were. A poor witticism and a shallow criticism. Scott's most devoted admirers are quite ready to admit that in his descriptions of costume he is apt now and then to be prolix; but it is not, I hope, for his descriptions of ruffs and plumes, or even of chain-mail, that we chiefly love Scott. No one will pretend that even the "Waverley Novels" entitle Scott to rank with the great tragic dramatists and the great epic poets of the world; but then the same may be said of Molière's comedies. In reading the works of both these great geniuses, however, it is not merely the author that we admire, but the man that we love. Of all writers, whether in verse or prose, since Horace, Molière and Scott are, I think, the SQUARSON (7th S. ii. 188, 273).—Your correspondents agree so uniformly as to the origin of this word that I hesitate to offer a suggestion. My own idea is that its origin is due to the late Henry Merewether, Q.C. I heard him use it before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1861, and it was then believed to be his creation. He applied it to a squire parson who was giving evidence in a railway Bill matter. HIC ET UBIQUE. Whether the late Bishop Wilberforce was the inventor of the queer compound word squarson or not I cannot say, but he was certainly the inventor of a still queerer compound to describe the union in one person of a squire and a bishop. Soon after his succession to the estate of Lavington, which came to him through his deceased wife, a friend visited the bishop, and on being taken round the property by him remarked, "Why, Wilberforce, you've become a squarson!" "No," said the bishop, with that unforgetable twinkle of the eye which accompanied his best things, "a squishop." EDMUND VENABLES. quaintance, told me that Sydney Smith was the My late father, on the authority of personal acHAROLD MALET, Col. author of this word. APSHAM (7th S. ii. 87, 155, 272).-I beg to assure MR. KERSLAKE that his memory has played him false as to the Anglo-Saxon charter of which he speaks. It is now, as he supposes, in the Salt Library; but the place-name is spelt without any letter i, but as Toppesham, in the charter as well as in two of the three indorsements. He may convince himself of the fact by reference to the photographic copy published by Basevi Sanders in 1881. Apsham, at all events, can |