This obviously is a contraction for " against." In the Hastings Observer of June 16, a French gentleman, who says, "Room, furnished, wanted by French gentleman in quiet house, against moderate rent, being for permanency, or in return for tuition," gives a very literal translation of à, or whatever else is the Gallic phrase. Hastings. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. "And He sat down over against the treasury (St. Mark xii. 41), E. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP. The expression "against," or over against," =next to, is common enough. CHAS. JAS. FERET. [See also 'N. E. D.'] BATTLE OF NASEBY (8th S. vi. 9, 122).-On reference to Baker's History of Northamptonshire,' under "Holdenby," I think your correspondent will gather that Whyte-Melville has based his story of Holmby House' upon that portion of the work. A tract entitled "A Letter from his Majetties Covrt at Holmbie,' 1647, gives the original particulars of Lady Cave importuning to kiss the king's hand with a design of delivering a letter to the king. The tract further relates: "The Commissioners after they had examined her sent her prisoner to the Mayor of Northampton. She is a very handsome Lady, and wondrous bold. JOHN TAYLOR. Northampton. does not occur in the printed 'Name-Index' to the WAR SONGS (8th S. vi. 147).-Your correspondent is referred to 'N. & Q.,' 4th S. vi. 167, 194, 244, 267, 304, 307, 315, 341, 353, 365, 375, 383; vii. 10, 145, 158; 5th S. vii. 392; 7th S. viii. 307, 434; also to 'Lyrics of Ireland,' by Samuel and Book of French Songs, Revolutionary and Lover (Patriotic and Military_Songs,' 197-234), Patriotic,' Chandos Classics. 71, Brecknock Road. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. GERMAN BANDS (8th S. vi. 28, 114).-Has not the superstitious connexion of German bands with rain originated in the fact that before rain, sounds, often at a long distance, such as church bells, "trains, bands, &c., are very distinctly heard, and by degrees the ignorant have connected the hearing of a German band, even when close at hand, with rain? It is a not uncommon remark to hear in many places, "We are going to have rain, as I heard the Sticklehurst bells to-day," or the "Great Smashem trains," as the case might besounds perhaps three, four, or more miles away, condition of the atmosphere or the direction of usually inaudible, but which, owing either to the the wind, are to be heard before rain. If Sticklehurst bells and Smashem trains had been peripatetic, like the German bands, the ignorant would probably have attached the same foolish super stition to them. C. H. SP. P. To the list of counties in which the advent of a German band is held to betoken a proximate downpour may be added Surrey. A friend of mine informs me that the people of Redhill, where he has lived for twenty-five years, are firm believers in the superstition, as I call it, but not he, though he is a man of education. One would think, however, that their faith must have been put to severe strain in the dry weather of last year. F. ADAMS. 14, Eastlake Road, Camberwell, S.E. The superstition that the appearance of a Germ band forbodes rain is current at Chertsey, Surre A native of Romsey informed me, some time a that whenever an organ-grinder or a German bar goes by it is sure to be wet; but the most infallib sigu is " an old man with a drum." Does not this drum carry the belief back to the days before "The Fatherland, the happy Fatherland, sent those German bands to us"? Shepperton. W. P. M. "SORELLA CUGINA (8th S. vi. 88).-Brothers (the word standing alone) are those who have the same father and mother; brothers german have the same father, but different mothers; brothers THOMAS NOEL (8th S. v. 487; vi. 52). He matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, February 19, 1819, aged nineteen, as the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Noel, of Kirkby Mallory, co. Leicester, and graduated B.A. in 1824 (Foster's 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886, vol. iii. p. 1026). His father's death is thus recorded in Gent. Mag., February, 1854, New Series, vol. xli. p. 214:— "Aug. 22 [1853]. At his residence in Plymouth, aged 79, the Rev. Thomas Noel, M.A., for fifty-five years Rector of Kirkby Malory, co. Leic., to which church he was presented by Thomas Noel, Lord Viscount Wentworth, in 1798." DANIEL HIPWELL, A Mr. Noel was sent by English Evangelicals in EXITS EXIT (8th S. v. 248, 478; vi. 118).—I quite understand the point of MR. BIRKBECK TERRY'S objection to the use of exits; but he is sadly in error if he supposes that any one proposes to supplant "the long-continued stage directions cit and exeunt" by a verb to exit. The directions ked by Shakespeare and in the old plays are ely Latin words, without a taint of Anglicizing. WeStanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words to 8, mine, when visiting the place in one of his tours through the county, had, in a playful humour, suggested to the landlord that the true sign of the house was the "Boleyn Butcher," "Bull and Butcher" being a corruption of what was meant as a title for King Henry, once the husband of Anne Boleyn. The axe had been added on the signD. R. board as a fit emblem. At Sedlescomb, the "loveliest village" near Hastings, the Queen's Head" inn, a charming wooden-fronted hostelry, commemorates Queen Elizabeth. She once visited Northiam, not many miles off, and there her shoe is still to be seen. Tradition says a desire to make known the Cinderella-like proportions of her foot was the cause of her leaving this sign of conquest behind her. Hastings. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. EDINBURGHEAN GRAMMAR (8th S. vi. 8, 53, 133).-"Between you and I" has been used by a vast number of English authors of repute, from Shakespeare to Browning; see N. & Q.,' 5th S. ix. 275, 412; x. 18, 139, 190, 237, 291, 331, 357, 397. In 1774 Horace Walpole called it a "female inaccuracy," and was surprised that Lord Chesterfield should be constantly guilty of it; but in 1782 Mason fell into the same error (Correspondence of Walpole and Mason,' 1851, i. 147-8, ii. 261). W. C. B. Your correspondent at the last reference may be right in stating that educated people in the northern counties of Scotland are never guilty of "the abuse of the first personal pronoun"; but I certainly can corroborate what PROF. SKEAT has written, for I have frequently heard "the abuse" from the lips of persons belonging to various parts of Great Britain and Ireland. "Let you and I the battle try, F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. per Phrases,' by C. A. M. Fennell, D.Litt., 1892.) is a verse known to all readers of 'Chevy Chase.' stas, nevertheless, quite allowable to say "he they exit," &c., using the ordinary inflecapls of English verbs. Whether we need a verb de exit is, of course, quite another point. The de stantive exit we unquestionably possess. CHAS. JAS. FERET. us t "THE KING'S HEAD" (8th S. vi. 7, 58, 156). When visited the village of Hever, about sixty years ago, I took luncheon at the inn then known, if I remember rightly, as the "King's Head." The house was also known as the "Bull and Butcher." A figure of King Henry VIII.—a three-quarters length, I think-was displayed as a sign, and in a corner of the painting was a small axe or chopper. Before the visit I had heard that a well-known antiquary of the county of Kent, a relative of "Between I quite agree with MR. BIERLEY that Charles Dickens, though largely self taught, would never have spoken or written such a phrase as you and I." The words quoted by MR. WALLER are put into the mouth of "Perker," and belong to him. Dickens rightly and naturally makes his characters speak in their own "vulgar tongue." Ventnor. E. WALFORD. Mr. Terriss used the phrase "Between you and I" on the first night of 'The Fatal Card,' at the H. T. Adelphi, September 6. THOMAS: BULLER (8th S. vi. 148).-Consult 'Lives of the Bishops of Winchester,' by S. H. For John Thomas see Alum. Oxon.,' 17151816, part iv. 1406, and Gent. Mag., 1781, p. 242. For William Buller see Alum. Westmon.,' 1852, p. 549; 'Burke's Landed Gentry,' 1894, vol. i. p. 246; and Gent. Mag., 1796, part ii. p. 1061. G. F. R. B. 'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS' (8th S. v. 425).-I have an old copy of the 'Pilgrim's Progress' which contains three parts. In addition to the usual parts i. and ii., part iii. opens with the same title as the others, The Pilgrim's Progress From this world to that which is to come, Delivered under the similitude of a Dream.' Then follows this introduction, "Shewing the several dangers and difficulties he met with, and the many victories he obtained over the world, the flesh, and the devil: together with his happy arrival at the celestial city, and the glory and joy he found, to his eternal comfort." Then comes "The Preface to the Christian Reader," signed J. B. Then there are two sets of laudatory verses, one addressed to the Author and the other to the Reader. The first is signed with the initials B. D. and the other with L.C. After these the narrative begins of a young man named Tender-conscience leaving the City of Destruction, struggling through the Slough of Despond, entering at the Wicket-gate, following the course of the original Christian, with varied experiences, till he crosses the river at last. I cannot believe that this part was written by Bunyan. The style and subject-matter are very inferior to the other two parts. Unfortunately my title-page with the date is gone. There is writing on the fly-leaves dated 1775, and the book has every appearance of age. Old as it may be, the famous original passage in part i. which states that the lock on the outer gate of Doubting Castle "went damnable hard " has been modernized to "very hard." Who wrote part iii.; and how old is it? Neenah, Wisconsin, U.S. DOLLAR. [The third part, which is denounced as spurious and contemptible, first appeared in 1692, and reached a sixth edition in 1705.] THE MOTHER OF ADELIZA OF LOUVAIN (8th | S. v. 367; vi. 36, 175).—I do not suppose it is of very great importance to discover the parentage of Adeliza, Queen of England; but certainly it is of some interest to any person who, like myself, believes he is descended from her. T. W. and J. G. have not, I am afraid, done much to make out the first wife of Godfrey of Louvain, and the latter gentleman has made a great mistake in his dates, for he has put the two Godfreys to death in 1044 and 1069, when, of course, it ought to have been 1069 and 1139. It is not generally known first wife of Godfrey Barbatus. that three different persons are put forward as the The editor of Orderic, Collins's 'Peerage,' and, no doubt, others, give Ida of Namur. Now, I find mention of Sophia, daughter of Emperor Henry IV. I was lately informed by the Professor of History at Göttingen that the real person was a lady of the family of Montreuil, and sister of Alberos, Archbishop of Trêves. It would require another Paris to decide this question, and the three persons were, no doubt, great beauties. It is not possible that Clementia, second wife of Godfrey, could have been mother of Adeliza, for her first husband, Robert of Flanders, only died in 1111. I may say that Collins, in his old 'Peerage,' under the head of "Percy," vol. ii. p. 288, enters fully into this question, and quotes no end of foreign authorities. I hope that some one will one day be able to tell me who was Milicent de Camville (8th S. v. 509), Queen Adeliza's cousin. Clevedon. DOMINICK BROWNE. MILICENT OF LOUVAIN (8th S. v. 509).-Did not the daughter of Roger de Tony, who was named Godhilda, after her ancestress Godhilda of Barcelona and Catalonia, marry Baldwin II. of Jerusalem ? HYDE CLARKE. of Les Noyades would not be complete without ATTERCOP (8th S. v. 379).-This word, though not in general use, is still occasionally heard in the North Riding of Yorkshire. I believe it survives also in Cumberland. Some years ago I heard it used in North Lancashire. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. CREPUSCULUM (8th S. v. 306, 397, 514; vi. 92, 157).—Omnibi will be found in Howitt's 'Visits to Remarkable Places,' ed. 1840, vol. i. p. 200: "In summer all the inns there are filled jam-full; train of omnibusses or omnibi are flying down to Broomielaw every hour." Having used it, appa- Alnwick. DANTE AND NOAH'S ARK (8th S. iv. 168, 256, 373; v. 34, 212, 415; vi. 157).—The account given by J. J. Nouri (said to be now in an American madhouse) is in No. 46 of Science Siftings. There are traces of something like lunacy about it; but I cannot see why the ark's remains should not be still visible. The Armenians insist they are on the top of the mountain, but inaccessible. Of course they are not on the present top, but the place that was the top in Noah's time. E. L. G. 66 ABBAS AMARBARICENSIS (8th S. v. 469).-I cannot find "Amarbarica " or Amarbaricum" in any gazetteer, modern or ancient, and can give your correspondent no more help than may be derived from the following quotations. The first is from the 'Abregé de l'histoire de l'ordre de S. Benoist,' 1684, ii. 681: "Il a este observé que Charlemagne divisa la Saxe en plusieurs dioceses. La ville de Werden, ou de Ferden fut honoré d'un siege Episcopal & eut pour premier Pasteur saint Suidbert qu'un Historien du païs dit avoir esté Religieux de profession, & Abbé. Il [saint Suidbert] bâtit le monastère d'Amarbaric pour des Religieux Scots c'est à dire nés en Irilande [sic], ou dans l'Angleterre Septentrionale qui l'avoient suivi dans la Saxe, ou qu'il y fit venir. Les deux premiers Abbez furent saint Patto, & saint Tanco." The second quotation is from the 'Acta Sanctorum,' Feb. tom. ii. p. 890: "Altera controversia de patria et monasterio Amarbaricensi est. Fitzimon Catalogo Sanctorum Hiberniæ adscripsit. Hunc secutus Colganus in Actis Sanctorum Hiberniæ, duabus motus rationibus; prima, quod omnes Scoti, qui temporibus istis et superioribus in Gallia et Germania pietate aut doctrina claruerunt, fuerint Hiberni. Secunda, quod Amarbaricense monasterium arbiretur Armachanense apud Hibernos legi debere." The writer, however, dissents from both of these theories, but gives no geographical explanation, so that we are left in doubt whether Amarbaric is the name of a place in Saxony or in Scotland. F. ADAMS. AN ANCIENT CUSTOM AT ST. CROSS (8th S. vi. 86). MR. HALE's note eminded me of another custom which it was my good fortune to witness when on a recent visit to the Hospital of St. Cross. It was the day before Easter Sunday, and as I passed through the kitchens my attention was drawn to the concoction of an enormous plumpudding of a like nature to those eaten at Christmas. I was told it was a "gaudy" pudding, partaken of by the brethren on special feast days in the year, of which Easter Sunday was one. Originally on "HANGING AND WIVING GO BY DESTINY" (8th S. vi. 106).-I notice that your correspondent, MR. C. R. HAINES, at the above reference, spells the name of the Dean of Exeter, first Heynes, and subsequently Haynes. The writer of the article in the 'D. N. B.' keeps to Heynes. Can your correspondent tell me which is the more usual or correct? I should also like to know the maiden name of the dean's wife, Joan, and the circumstances and date of Heynes's imprisonment in the Fleet. Dr. Simon Heynes was Rector of Fulham from 1536 till his death in October, 1552 (Wood's Athen. Oxon.,' vol. i. p. 672). The exact date of his death I cannot discover. As the information I solicit does not directly bear on the title of this note, perhaps MR. HAINES would kindly communicate privately with me. CHAS. JAS. FERET. 49, Edith Road, West Kensington, W. There is the following allusion to this proverbial saying in Hudibras,' part ii. canto i. v. 839-44, published in 1664 :— If matrimony and hanging go By dest'ny, why not whipping too? Then spare the rod, and spoil the child. This expression, with a slight variation, occurs in the 'Proverbs of John Heywood,' 1546 :Be it far or nie, wedding is destiny, And hanging likewise, sayth the proverbe, sayd I. In the 'Schole-hous of Women,' 1541 (Hazlitt's That liue alway in great honour, To hang or wed: bothe haue but one houre. GREEN HOUSE, Kensington GARDENS (8th S. vi. 28, 154).-A letter, signed R. J. F., concerning the above, appeared in the Athenæum of July 11, 1885. The writer very minutely describes both the interior and exterior of the building. He speaks of it as having been "built by Sir Christopher Wren," and details many of the alterations which have from time to time taken place and marred its beauty. The letter contains an urgent appeal that "a building, historically interesting as well as artistically valuable," should be put to better use than as a storehouse for garden lumber. JOHN T. PAGE. 5, Capel Terrace, Southend-on-Sea, THE ALMOND TREE (8th S. iv. 309, 359; vi. 97, 157).-MR. D. D. GILDER draws attention to the use of the almond in the superstitious customs of India. The following instance is from Mr. Rudyard Kipling's fine story Without Benefit of Clergy,' in 'Life's Handicap': "Now look,' said Ameera. She drew from an embroidered bag a handful of almonds. 'See! we count seven. In the name of God!' She placed Mian Mittu, very angry and rumpled, on the top of his cage, and seating herself between the babe and the bird she cracked and peeled an almond less white than her teeth. "This is a true charm, my life, and do not laugh. See I give the parrot one half and Tota the other.' Mian Mittu with careful beak took his share from between Ameera's lips, and she kissed the other half into the mouth of the child, who ate it slowly with wondering eyes. 'This I will do each day of seven, and without doubt, he who is ours will be a bold speaker and wise.'" -P. 144. W. A. HENDERSON. C. C. B. says the almond is a symbol of hope because "its flowers precede its leaves." But the flowers of the Judas-tree also appear before the leaves; which tree is named after Iscariot, who hanged himself, it is said, on one of that kind; so that it should be a symbol of despair. COL. TORRENS (8th S. iv. 68, 132, 219).-The inscription on a tombstone in the burial-ground of the parish of Paddington, co. Middlesex, records that Col. Robert Torrens, late Major-General and Adjutant-General of Her Majesty's Forces, Bengal, died May 18, 1840, in his fifty-sixth year. A further inscription on the same stone furnishes the information that his sister, Jane Isabel Torrens, died at Clifton, Jan. 30, 1846, in her sixty-fifth DANIEL HIPWELL. year. TABITHA, ACTS IX. 40 (8th S. vi. 86).—It may be passingly interesting to remark that about the year 1849, in Barnsbury Chapel, Islington, N., a minister, named Gilbert, baptized a female child in the name of Tabitha Cumi. She was the infant daughter of Mr. Crouch, hairdresser, Clark's Place (now Upper Street), Islington. I witnessed the HARRY HEMS. ceremony. [Should it not be Talitha Cumi?] Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Calendar of the Patent Rolls in the Public Record Office, Edward I., A.D. 1281-1292. (Stationery Office.) THE text of this important volume has been prepared "under the supervision of Mr. H. C. Maxwell Lyte by Mr. J. G. Black and others. It follows the same lines as the Patent Roll Calendar, 1327-1330, which was published a short time ago. Those who have been accustomed to use the rolls, and those only, can estimate the value this series of calendars will possess for historians and students of local antiquities when they have them before them in their entirety. No calendar, however well constructed, can ever stand in the place of the originals. There must be occasions when the rolls themselves will require to be inspected; but in most cases the calendar will fulfil all the purposes of the originals. This will prove a great advantage, for two reasons. The student can follow up his researches by his own fireside instead of being compelled to make a journey to Fetter Lane, and, which is a most important consideration, the rolls will be saved from needless friction. Every care is taken by the officials for their preservation, and those who consult them are, almost without exception, equally thoughtful; but parchment which has existed six hundred years since it formed the skin of a sheep is tender and fragile; every time these old rolls are unfolded some damage, however slight, is likely to accrue. preface to the former volume it is not easy to explain what is the nature of the Patent Rolls. It would not be true to say that all public documents were enrolled thereon; but it is so nearly accurate that we shall not endeavour to correct the exaggeration. Any number of bits we might quote from the volume before us would throw little light on the rest. Commissions and pardons form a considerable portion of their contents; from these we may sometimes gain a glimpse of the state of society in the places to which they refer. Here, for instance, is a picture of life in the North Country in 1283. Just six hundred years ago Alexander de Kyrketon and John de Lythegreynes received a royal commission to investigate an affray which took place at Elesden, in Northumberland. There was by royal charter a weekly market on Thursdays and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of W. C. B. UDAL TENURE (8th S. v. 47, 138).-I am too late, I see, to answer MR. RENDEL'S query as to the meaning of this tenure, or wherein it differs from its opposite, or feudal tenure; which may shortly be summarized as a holding of lands in absolute possession, without acknowledging any superior lord, as distinguished from feudal lands, which are held of a superior (see Wharton's and Cowel's Law Lexicons '). There are no udal or allodial lands in England, according to Sir E. Coke (Co. Litt., 93a); and see Hallam's Middle Ages,' chap. ii. p. 1. Your correspondent may be interested in knowing that a "Udal League" has recently been formed (I received a prospectus shortly before leaving England in 1889, but I cannot now lay my hands upon it), having for its object, if I remember rightly, the restoration of the old udal, or allodial, rights of the inhabitants of Zetland (now the Orkney and Shetland Isles) in the lands of their forefathers, of which they considered they had been deprived by Scottish aggression and occupation. What success attended the formation of this league I have been unable to learn since my removal to the other end of the world. Fiji. J. S. UDAL. To those of our readers who have not read the luminous |