Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/146

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118


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. AUG. 7, im


gallows in The Town and Country Magazine, ii. 289. It does not bear the slightest resemblance to the well-known engraving of the lady in the Eastern dress by Thomas Watson after Reynolds, but the face is somewhat like that of the lady with the lapdog in the print by Valentine Green after E. F. Calze, described by J. Chaloner Smith, * British Mezzotinto Portraits,' pp. 567-8. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

" ONE SHOE OFF AND ONE SHOE ON "

(10 S. ix. 270; xi. 434, 477). '\ On dit d'un homme qui se sauve a la hate qu'il est sorti un pied chausse et 1'autre nu." The saying is still common : I quote it from the ' Dictionnaire Universel, dit de Trevoux,' edition of 1771, s.v. ' Pied.' H. GAIDOZ. 22, Rue Servandoni, Paris (VI e ).

"THE SCOMER UPON THE HOPE" (10 S. xii. 68). Jamieson gives to scomer, skomer, v.n., to sponge, cater ; Belg. schuymer, a smell-feast ; gaan schuymen, to sponge, to be a smell-feast, to live upon the catch ; and this from schuym, the scum of a pot. In brewing, cleansing is the act of removing the yeast from the beer, in order to stop the fermentation. One of the modes is by simply skimming the yeast off as it rises to the surface : the hand who performs this work is called the skimmer, or scummer, or (obsolete form) scomer.

In common phraseology " upon the hope " (or hoop) meant to drink without stint ; to drink and make good cheer with reckless prodigality. See ' N.E.D.' under ' Cock-a- hoop,' and Sir James Murray's note on " figures ' on the Hoop ' " in tavern signs.

TOM JONES.

In Yorkshire a scummer = skimmer, a thing for removing scum.

H. SNOWDEN WARD.

FLINT PEBBLES AT BRIGHTON (10 S. xii. 50). It is quite natural that the stones lying inland, and subject to horse and wheel traffic, should be split, and that those on the beach should retain their natural condition. Those that are carted inland for paving have to be split to make them suitable for mending roads. W. SCARGILL.

THACKERAY : HOUND ABOUT PAPERS (10 S. xi. 141, 210; xii. 33, 78). " Horse- godmother " (ante, p. 33) is defined by the ' N.E.D.' as " a large, coarse-looking woman" (dialect and vulgar), with a reference to Thackeray's ' Vanity Fair,' chap, xxxix. L. R. M. STRACHAN.

Heidelberg.


ARAB SHEIKHA NEFZAONI (10 S. xi. 327). Not having read Mr. Laurence North's ' Syrinx,' I cannot be sure about " the mysterious volume " mentioned therein.

Many years ago I made the following note of the title of a book which was lent to me :

"The Perfumed Garden of the Sheik Nefzaloni ; or, The Arab Art of Love. Sixteenth century. Translated from the French version of the Arabian MS. Cosmopoli, 1886."

Possibly my version of the name " Nefza- loni " is correct. What place London,. Paris, Brussels, &c. " Cosmopoli " stands for I do not know. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

JEWS AND JEWESSES IN FICTION"^ 10 S. xi. 169, 254, 316, 394, 458). There have lately been published in The Daily Mail two stories, the first being ' A Sinner in Israel,' and the latter called * The Money Master,' both by Pierre Costello. Many of the characters in both are sons or daughters of Israel, although some of them are not very strict followers of the tenets of Judaism. W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

Chatterton in one of his^dramatic inter- ludes invents a character, Counterfeit, and calls him a Jew. M. L. R. BRESLAR.

GLAMORGAN (10 S. xi. 306, 498). If " Glamorganshire " is an error, it is a much older one than stated at the latter reference. Speed's ' History of Great Britain ' (London,. 1623) has " Glamorganshire." The map in ' The History of Wales ' by the Rev. Wm.. Warrington (London, 1788) has the same,, and ' A Collection of Welsh Tours ' (London,. 1898) agrees. ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.

ST. DAVID : " TAFFY-ON-A-STICK " (10 S; xi. 327, 477). " Taffy " and "toffee" as used on Tyneside have a sort of connexion, "s " taffy " is the local pronunciation of

toffee." R. B R.

South Shields.

THOMAS PAINE'S REMAINS (10 S. xii. 44).. See the communications at 4 S. i. 15, 84, 201, 303; 7 S. iii. 249, 336. Mr. Dow's pamphlet has already been summarized at 4 S. i. 201. W. C. B.


SAINTS' SATISFACTION (10 S. xii. 48). " I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us " (Romans viii. 18). " Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight o glory " (2 Cor. iv. 17), ST. S WITHIN.