Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/184

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148


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ID* s. n. AUG. 20, iw*.


nexion, occurred on 13 April, I am inclined to believe that some place near Dead man's Bay was named after St. Carpus, 13-14 April, hence arose the confusion. With the Bristol seamen, who apparently gave the names in this locality, went some "poor Italian monks who have all been promised bishop- rics." An island in this vicinity was named " Island of Friar Lewis," perpetuated in the names Cape Freels (Frailes the Monk) and Lewis Island. Does the use of St. Carpus, not found in the York, Sarum, or Hereford Calendars, as far as I can gather, point to any particular order of monks? Is the identification of Carqus with Carpus in- admissible etymologically 1 And is carqus rather a corruption of carcass 1

2. Are the following saints associated in any calendar of the period : St. Agnes (21 Jan.), St. Bridget (17 Feb.), St. Rhenus (24 Feb.), St. Baldred (5 March), St. Gregory (12 March) 1

3. Cape Spear (Hesperus), near St. John's, Newfoundland. Would the evening star be in a very conspicuous position to a seaman sailing south, to Cape Spear about 1 Jan., 1498 1

4. Thefollowing places are evidently named in connexion with 25 March : Devil's Look- out, Adam or Oldman, and Paradise. What events of this character were commemorated on or near this day in England 1 Is the use of Paradise Anglican or Gallic (Norman or Breton)?

5. Can Placentia have had a liturgical significance 1 Has the association of clowns, crokers, and cupids any ?

6. Skirwink and Spurwick appear to be connected with two Yorkshire names on our coast, Flamboro Head and Robin Hood's Bay. I cannot find them in any book of reference. I thought Skirwink might be formed from sher (and wick) as in Sherwood Forest, which was said to extend at one time to Whitby.

7. Is there any modern book in which Calendars, Martyrologiums, and Obtuariums of particular dioceses, churches, or orders in England, Normandy, &c., are grouped for comparison ? I am in search of references to printed or MS. calendars, &c., directly connected with such ports as Bristol, Weymouth, Southampton, London, Whitby, St. Malo, Dieppe, Lisbon, Seville, Genoa, and Venice. I should feel deeply indebted to any reader who would supply me with tran- scription of any particular calendar, &c., of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries having such local connexion.

8. Was the "day of March" the 25th or 31st in England ? G. R. F. PROWSE.

jbt. John's, Newfoundland.


" To SPEAK WITH THE TONGUE IN THE

CHEEK." What are the origin and meaning of this phrase ] EDWARD PALMER.

[The significance seems about the same as that of a vulgar and current locution, " To wink the other- eye." The phrase means that a thing is spoken,, but that credence is scarcely expected.]

KEGIMENTS ENGAGED AT BOOMPLATZ. I should be glad to know of some book giving an account (with regiments engaged, &c.) of the battle of Boomplatz, under Sir Harry Smith, in 1848. This, of course, was against the Boers. A. J. MITCHELL, Major.

"TRYLLE UPON MY HARPE." Thomas Ginder, of the parish of Elham, in Kent, by his will, dated 1466, gave, among other pay- ments to the church, "To the light thafc commonly at Elham is called Trylle upon my Harpe, 6d" This light is so called in two- other wills ; and John Goldfinch (1471) refers to the same as " Trilleon my Harpe." What is the meaning ? Was it a light maintained by the minstrels or local musicians'?

ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent.

  • LEGEND OF THE PURPLE VETCH.' I shall

feel much obliged if you can inform me where I can find the * Legend of the Purple Vetch/

W. MOORE.

SHROPSHIRE AND MONTGOMERYSHIRE MANORS. Can any of your Welsh readers kindly assist me in identifying the manors of " Nethergorther, Sandford, Osleston, and Wolston, in the counties of Salop and Mont- gomery," as recited in a grant of them by James I. in 1614 to Sir Richard Hussey and . Edward Jones, Esq. 1 In what parishes are they situated ? Any genealogical information respecting the grantees and their families would also be welcome. F. N.

LONGFELLOW. I shall be glad to be told, if possible, what is the exact significance of the words " until near the end " in a passage occurring in Thomas Davidson's account of Longfellow in the ninth edition of the ' Ency- clopaedia Britannica.' It is said of the poet :

" Though very far from being hampered by any dogmatic philosophical or religious system of the past, his mind, until near the end, found sufficient satisfaction in the Christian view of life to make it indifferent to the restless, inquiring spirit of the- present, and disinclined to play with any more recent solution of life's problems."

Did he towards " the end " either become hampered by some " system of the past," or cease to find "satisfaction in the Christian view of life " 1 In Robertson's' life of the poet (" Great Writers " series) it is said that