so also is the synonym "Sanguinary James." of 'N. & Q.' characterized another as "quite misNow, while one can fully appreciate the applica- taken," sufficient trouble was taken to read the bility of the intensive adjective to an uncooked original contribution? Not only the heading, but specimen, owing to its usual condition of "gariness" the contents of my question showed that it referred when in such a state, the application loses its force to the earliest use of the word caucus in English when expressed in relation to a baked one. It is politics; and I had seen the definition in the curious to find, however, that the latter appears the Century Dictionary' before sending the question older definition. Another term quoted by Egan to N. & Q.' That definition, so far as it applied is "German duck." This also is in the Slang to my requirements, ran as follows:Dictionary.' Egan defines this as "half a sheep's head boiled with onions," and the name is probably due to its being a favourite dish among the sugar-bakers of the East-End of London (see 'Slang Dictionary'). But of the terms before mentioned it seems to me that the first one quoted is that to which we must look as the earliest known form; and I have but little doubt that the alternative "Sanguinary James is a later coinage; certainly its position of a "softened " variant favours this view. a As to the origin of "Jemmy," I may say that, not being satisfied with the usual explanations afforded, I have been tempted to look elsewhere. And if there be any source which appeals to my mind more than another, it is a word common in the north country and neighbourhood. I refer to "gimmer," defined in the glossaries as 66 young female sheep, a ewe lamb"; often used with the force of an adjective, as in " a gimmer lamb," "a gimmer hog"; Halliwell quotes a "gimmer tree." In my opinion the vulgar "jemmy" is but a corrupted from of this word; and the considerations which induce to this view are no doubt obvious. Such a form as "a gimmer's head" might have conceivably given rise, with due allowance for dialectic changes, to the popular name in vogue; and once we have this the variant terms are not difficult to account for. In conclusion, let it be understood this attempt is only a venture. Be it right or wrong, it is clearly no less unreasonable than the usual explanations given, while there are certain peculiarities of an obvious character which make it worthy of attention. I await criticism, and am willing to learn more about the word referred to. C. P. HALE. "In Eng. politics, a large local committee of voters for the management of all electioneering business of its party: called the Birmingham system, from its introduction at Birmingham about 1880." How far this is "a complete history" your readers have already had an opportunity to judge; but, in any case, seeing that in my question I simply quoted the definition which appears in the 'New English Dictionary,' it is the editor of that work, and not myself, who should be labelled quite mistaken." POLITICIAN. about to inquire into the trivial names which have variety of felspar, containing minute scales of mica Amongst notes collected for a paper on gems I If the ancient sun-stone was not the same as the modern, it may possibly have been a cat's-eye or a "noble" opal; but the latter was called by the ancients paideros, so does not answer to the description of "eye of heaven." The modern sunstone is an opalescent variety of Adularia (feldspar), of a yellow colour, containing minute scales of mica. The moonstone is a variety of the same, but of a white, pearly lustre, and without the mica. B. FLORENCE SCARLETT. This stone is described as "a variety of Adularia, of a very pale yellowish colour. It is almost perfectly transparent when viewed in one direction, but by reflected light it appears full of minute golden spangles, owing to the presence of scales (or, according to Scheerer, crystals) of oxide of iron, or Göthite, disseminated through the mass. The principal localities are Lake Baikal, in Siberia; Archangel Toedestrand, on the Christiana-fiord, in Norway; and Ceylon."-Bristow, 'Glossary of Mineralogy.' Hastings. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. "SORELLA CUGINA" (8th S. vi. 88, 215).-Two of the definitions given at the second reference are strangely at variance with the well-established practice in Scotland, where the term frater germanus, or in English "brother german," now bears, and for centuries past has borne, but one signification, viz. that of brother by full blood." The expression is still in colloquial use. Frater consanguineus was a term used North of the Tweed as long as legal documents were written in Latin; when that practice ceased it was Englished "half-brother on the father's side"; the other relationship, expressed by the Latin frater uterinus, simply became “uterine brother. If A is described in an old legal document as “ brother to B ” (an absence of definition which is of comparatively rare occurrence), it would be impossible to infer the precise degree of relationship in which he stood to B. If the latter were a legitimate son, A might be his legitimate halfbrother on either side, or the illegitimate offspring of either of his parents or of both, born before wedlock, and vice versa; or he might be his brother-in-law, or even his wife's brother-in-law. I take the term frater consanguineus to be, in its etymology, strictly analogous to the Italian fratello cugino of VERNON'S query. As for hermana, it is simply the Spanish for sister, and is doubtless the same word as germana; but I must leave the explanation of the term prima hermana to some one better versed in the niceties of the language than I am. R. E. B. RELICS OF CHARLES I. (8th S. vi. 226, 315, 357). -The house in which the relics of King Charles I. were preserved is Worsborough Hall, near Barnsley. When I knew it, the estate belonged to W. Bennett Martin, Esq., and his son took the name of Edmunds. Hunter, in his 'History of South Yorkshire,' calls it "the seat of Mr. Edmunds, and the house is one of the picturesque old mansions of the seventeenth century. Here is preserved a cabinet, which belonged to King Charles I., brought hither by the Lady Herbert, when she married Mr. Edmunds, the relict of Sir Thomas Herbert, to whom the king had given it. This is the Sir traveller, and in his age a faithful attendant on King Thomas Herbert, who, in his youth, had been a great Charles I., of the last weeks of whose life he has left a very particular and interesting memoir." Mr. Martin had inherited this and other like treasures, which I have often seen, and which I fear are now dispersed. On consideration, I am inclined to believe that the footstool was rather intended for prayer, if required, and that a block was of later use on such sad occasions. Alfred Gatty, D.D. One must not forget that Tennyson is simply giving us in this phrase a literal translation of Fr. 26), and that Aleman is describing a kηpúλos, Aloman's ἁλιπόρφυρος εἴαρος όρνις (Bergk, that is to say, a male kingfisher. οὔ μ' ἔτι, παρθενικαὶ μελιγάρνες ἱμερόφωνοι, γυΐα φέρειν δύναται· βάλε δὴ βάλε κηρύλος εἴην, ός τ' ἐπὶ κύματος ἄνθος ἅμ' ἀλκύονεσσι ποτῆται, νηλεγὲς ἦτορ ἔχων, ἁλιπόρφυρος εἴαρος ὄρνις. The kingfisher is here represented as flitting with his mates over the crests of the waves. Tennyson has changed the scene, but yet retains both Alcman's description of the bird itself and the term "fit" as applied to its motion. Surely, then, he, like Alcman, is speaking of a kingfisherthe kingfisher of poets, not of naturalists. R. J. WALKER. from being "troubled in thinking that Swift made J. CARRICK MOORE. H. B. CARICATURES (8th S. vi. 369).—A complete set, about 900, used to sell for 14l. or 15l., but of late years they have gone down till they fetch only very small sums by auction. A short tion that Falkland was slain at Edge Hill. The time since nearly a complete set was sold for 31. R. R. ROYALIST OFFICERS: DORMER AND LISLE (8th S. vi. 227). The lines quoted by MR. JOHN TAYLOR from the stone in the grounds of Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, were written by Dr. Bennet, Bishop of Cloyne, and were printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1796. With the exception of the following variants the two copies are identical: 1. 1, for "straining" read streaming; 1. 11, for ours "read these; and for "holds" read bears. In 1. 9 the words "State and Church" are reversed. I cannot help thinking that Dr. Bennet's ideas concerning what took place on Naseby Field were somewhat mixed. For example, if for Naseby we read Newbury the references to Dormer and Lisle would be very apt; but in their present setting they are totally unexplainable. It is true that Sir George Lisle fought at Naseby, he being in command of a tertia of foot; but there is apparently no reason why his name should thus be singled out for special mention. As to Dormer if Robert Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon, is alluded to -he had "sealed his loyalty in blood" nearly two years previously. He fell with Falkland and Sunderland at the first battle of Newbury, September 20th, 1643. It was for a conspicuous act of gallantry at the second battle of Newbury, October 27th, 1644, that George Lisle received the honour of knighthood. When darkness came on he fought in his shirt, in order that he might be the more easily recognized by his men. This fact would render the line There gallant Lisle a mark for thousands stood, most peculiarly appropriate to the field of Newbury. I cannot, therefore, help thinking that the mind of the poet was a little hazy as to particulars, and that while he was writing of Naseby he was (as regards Dormer and Lisle) thinking of Newbury. This, at any rate, is my opinion, and I shall be curious to learn if it is in any way corroborated. That such historical inaccuracies as the one I have commented upon are common may be instanced by the fact that the Daily Telegraph recently based a brilliant leader upon the supposi 5, Capel Terrace, Southend-on-Sea. I cannot answer this question so fully as I would inhumanly shot, just outside the castle walls at "Lisle" was Sir George Lisle, who was Colchester, in 1648, after the capture of the town by Fairfax. A stone still marks the site of this 'Memoirs of the Verney Family,' vol. i. p. 161, mention a Sir Fleetwood Dormer, who, no doubt, was the Dormer inquired after by your correspondent. For Lisle, see 'Verney Memoirs,' vol. ii. pp. 338-341. WM. GRAHAM F. PIGOTT. act. Abington Pigotts. "RISING OF THE LIGHTS" (8th S. vi. 308).— MR. HALE is quite mistaken in supposing that the word "lights" is slang. It is a good old English word, and is suitably applied to organs distinguished by their lightness. I find it in Elyot's 'Castel of Helth,' 1541, p. 22, "the lunges or Richardson quotes from Holland's lyghtes." ,'"Under the heart lie the lights, which is the very seat of breathing." Skeat gives still 'Plinie,' earlier instances. nature of the ailment called "rising of the lights," In 1867 I asked (3rd S. xii. 514) the real I had previously sent the same question to the So frequently mentioned in the bills of mortality. Medical Times and Gazette, but got no reply. My question in N. & Q' was headed Medical Query,' as that was the vague title used by previous inquirers. JAYDEE. In Buchan's 'Domestic Medicine,' fourteenth edition, 1794, p. 557, under the head of "Croup" it is stated that "It is known by various names in different parts of Britain. On the east coast of Scotland it is called the croup. On the west they call it the chock or stuffing. In some parts of England, where I have observed it, the good women call it the rising of the lights.' McCulloch, in his 'Statistical Account of the British Empire,' second edition, vol. ii. p. 578, says: able to explain the great mortality attributed to rising 'No commentator on the bills of mortality has been of the lights. Sydenham, however, solves the question, in treating of this distemper under hysteria, which, as it simulates, was confounded in females with almost every other disease." I have not a complete set of the bills of mortality, but I think it will be found that about 1790 "rising of the lights" falls out, and croup" takes its place. In all probability the term was popularly used for any disorder which caused a choking sensation, the idea being that this was caused by a rising up of the lungs. There was one remedy used in country districts when no doctor was available, which I do not find mentioned in any of the books on popular medicine; this was the swallowing of some ordinary shots; these were supposed to keep the lights from rising. J. B. B. I am unable to answer MR. HALE's query as to what disease this is, but cannot resist telling him (if you will allow me) of an incident bearing upon, though apparently conflicting with, the popular use of the word "lights" in the sense of "lungs." Forty years ago, in a Lancashire town, I happened one day to be talking kindly to a poor old woman whose husband was blind; and I asked her how he came to lose his sight. In reply she said that "it was all along of his working in a fine-spinning mill," and that Dr. Turner (well known to students in those days as "old Tommy Turner") said " the oftic nerve was affected." "You know, sir," she added, "that's the nerve as goes to the liver and lights." I felt under no obligation to contradict her, and did not. Whether my story has ever before got into print I do not know. JOHN W. BONE, F.S. A. See 'N. & Q.' 3rd S. xii. 347, 422, 514. as W. C. B. ROMAN QUERNS (8th S. vi. 285, 375).-Querns were in use not only "down to the beginning of this century," but long after. In the Dorset Museum is a two-stoned Irish one, very rude, which did service until 1845. Nay, if all tales are true, querns are in use at this moment in some of the islets off the Irish coast and in the Shetland and Faroe Islands. MR. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP seems to speak of stone mortars. The normal quern consists, like that Irish one, of a pair of stones, the upper turned round by hand, as used now in many Eastern lands. Then there is the ancient saddle quern, like that of the Caffres and other African races. The basin-shaped stone vessel is, I think, usually called by antiquaries simply a mortar, not a quern. These mortars are of several types and degrees of finish, from the rudest hollowed stones up to well-shaped vessels. One in the Dorset Museum has the uncommon, if not unique, feature of a pair of handles, like those of a pitcher, worked in the stone. This mortar Sir J. Evans thinks to be medieval. Dorchester. H. J. MOULE. CHICAGO (8th S. vi. 368).-The native name Chicago having been obtained through French traders and trappers, the Ch was naturally pronounced Sh, as in the case of the Cheyenne tribe, now often written Shyenne. My Chicago friends, old residents in the place, call it Shekago, the a being the a in cake, slightly nasalized, and the first syllable being clipped short, so as to be little more than an initial aspiration. In 1795 a fort and trading post were established on the site of the present city, at the mouth of a creek called the Chicago river, so named from the swamp in which it rises, and which obtained its name, meaning a place with a bad smell, either because it was overgrown with garlic, or, more probably, because it was frequented by skunks. The Abbé Cuoq, the compiler of the well-known Iroquois Lexicon, and the highest authority on such matters, explains the name as "skunk place," from cikakong, the locative case of cikak, a "skunk." The inhabitants naturally do not favour this malodorous etymology, and prefer to derive the name of their city from the Chacaqua, a fork of though how a sluggish creek should come to bear the Chicago river, which is said to mean "thunder," a name of such a signification is difficult to understand. ISAAC TAYLOR. The article on Chicago in 'The Cities of the World,' vol. iii. pp. 295-320, is by Mr. M. F. Sweetzer, who is, I fancy, an American. At p. 296 I find the following with reference to the origin of the name:— "The aboriginal name of the locality was derived from the chikagon, or wild onion, which grew abundantly on the banks of the river, and perfumed the air for a great distance. The primary meaning of the word was quality of the onion's flavour, is easily comprehensible. "strong," and its secondary application, referring to the There are old hunters who confidently assert that the name Chicago is applied by the Indians to that very uncomfortable little beast, the Mephitis americana, but the local archæologists and philologists hotly dispute that statement." According to the article on "Chicago" in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia,' new edition, 1889, by George Forrester, copyrighted in the United States by J. B. Lippincott Company, the correct pronunciation is Shekahgo. A. C. W. BONFIRE (8th S. v. 308, 432, 472; vi. 173, 252). -It has probably been noticed that the quotation from Tyndale's Bible, 1537, 2 Chron. xxi. 19, which is given by R. R. at p. 174 ante, furnishes an important landmark in the history of this word, on both its folk-lore and etymological sides. The quotation runs as follows: " & so he died of euill diseases. But they made him no bonefyre/ like the bonefires of his fathers." In the A.V. the passage runs : ་་ so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers." Of Asa, the grandfather of Jehoram, we are told (2 Chron. xvi. 14) :— he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid "And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and Perhaps R. R. will kindly say if the word "burnings" in the other passages that I have quoted are rendered "bonefires" by Tyndale. But the passage cited by him is quite sufficient to show that the "burnings" in question were not "ignes ossium," but that they were made up of sweetscented materials compounded by the art of the apothecary. ROBERT POLLOK (8th S. vi. 163, 237, 270, 318, 395).—If R. R. will look carefully at the article at the first of the above references, he will see that no inference as to Pollok's poetic quality is drawn from the number of editions through which 'The Course of Time' has passed. But it is surely fair to conclude from the numerous reprints of a book that there is a persistent demand for it. Publishers do not multiply editions of poems for the mere pleasure of loading their own shelves and crowding their own store-rooms with them. They are fully justified, however, in meeting demands as they are made; and this is all that is claimed in reference to Pollok's work. Whatever may be its quality, it is perfectly manifest that from the first there have been buyers, if not readers, of 'The Course of Time,' and the dis posal of it, in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia,' as being "still read in Scotland" is, therefore, superfluous, if not supercilious. Irrelevancy is sometimes worse than inaccuracy. Helensburgh, N.B. THOMAS BAYNE. This to my mind leaves the etymology of the 'Catholicon Anglicanum' open to question. May not the "bane-fire" of the author of that work have been entirely different from the "bone-fire" of Tyndale, which seems undoubtedly to be the parent of the modern bonfire? The alternative is that the author may, like more recent etymologists, have invented a plausible derivation. Do we know enough of him to assert that such a thing is impossible? Anyhow, it seems scarcely safe to depend on his single authority. Johnson's and Ogilvie's etymologies are, of course, both inadmis-husbandmen, &c., and the following: Shane sible. Jaipur, Rajputana. W. F. PRIDEAUX. FAMPOUX (8th S. vi. 389).-Fampoux is the name of a small railway station in France, where a dreadful accident happened some fifty years ago from a train running off the rails. I have forgotten the details of the accident, and also on what line of rail it took place. I think that the whole train fell from a great height. F. E. A. GASC. SAMUEL MORLANd, of Bethnal GREEN (8th S. vi. 368).-The two Latin letters are printed in the first volume of Harris's 'Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke,' 1847, pp. 14-22, where some few particulars of Morland will be found. He appears to have left behind him in manuscript an EnglishLatin Dictionary, and an edition of Hesychius. G. F. R. B. "CONSTITUTION" IN A POLITICAL SENSE (8th S. vi. 221, 263, 303).-Chatham had used the word constitution" before 1770, as quoted by MR. OWEN on p. 222, and had employed it in the distinctly modern sense in his first great speech in the House of Commons, in 1736, on the marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales. In this he declared "filial Duty to his Royal Parents, a generous Love for Liberty, and a just Reverence for the British Constitution to be among that disreputable prince's virtues (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. vi. p. 405). ALFRED F. ROBBINS. GENT (8th S. vi. 284, 375).—In the Irish Record Office these fiants of Queen Elizabeth are preserved: 4687, June 2, 1585; 5009, June 9, 1587; 5228 (date torn); 5682, November 26, 1591. These are pardons for rebellion to a number of persons, including kerns, or soldiers, cottiers, O'Donellan, of Ballydonelan, gent."; "Melaughlen Reough O'Donelan," of same, "gent"; Donogh O'Donelan, gent." The first person pleading the pardon to pay the fine imposed on all. Doubtless many even earlier instances of the use of this convenient contraction could be given. Apropos of the inaccuracies of "Burke," lately referred to in N. & Q.,' the pedigree of the above family, published in the 1843 edition, amongst numerous other omissions, makes no mention of the names of these "gents," whose existence at the family residence is thus established. BREASAIL. According to the 'New View of London' the word appeared twice, thus abbreviated, on the monument of George Long, Esq., on the north side of the old church of St. James, Clerkenwell. He died 1654. F. W. A. This word, as a contraction of "gentleman," is older than your correspondents imagine. It occurs continually in legal deeds of the time of Elizabeth. The earliest instance I have noted occurs in a deed dated October 29, 17 Elizabeth, where one of the parties is described as "Thomas Mynshull, gent." (Public Record Office, Ancient Deeds, A 5632.) A. E. S. In the quotation from Pope's imitation of Chaucer, given at the second reference, is not gent" the old adjective meaning elegant or neat, |