BUMBLE-BEE.—Was the use of this compound, now confined to the very vulgar or to children and their nurses, ever general in England; and if so, when was it superseded by the present term? Webster gives Forby as his authority for the word. What is the date of this writer, and where in his works is the word to be found? The only instance I know of the occurrence of the word bumble (let no one maliciously quote Charles Dickens against me) is in that line of Chaucer's

"And as the bitore bumbleth in the mire"; and yet the Greek Bóußos which was applied to the sound made by bees, and of which the root bomb is said to be formed by onomatopoeia to represent any buzzing or booming sound, would seem to legitimate bumble, to the exclusion of the supposed intruder humble used in the same sense. For, although it may be urged that this latter expresses the humming sound of bees (whence the German hummel), yet the insertion of the b (I am guiltless of intending a pun) requires explanation; and it would look as if the genuine word hum had been engrafted on the final syllable of bumble, of which bomb was the root. I find that Walker, in his edition of Johnson, after directing that humble (humilis) be pronounced without aspiration, absurdly pronounces in the same way the same combination of letters in humble-bee, as if this also had the same root, and were not derived, whether by false analogy or no, from hum.

W. B. C.

THE BURIAL OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE BEFORE THE GREAT REVOLUTION OF 1789.-In France on the eve of the great Revolution (France, Holland, and the Netherlands. By Admiral Sir George Collier. Edited by his Grand-daughter, Mrs. [The Vocabulary of East Anglia, by Robert Forby, in 3 vols. 12mo, appeared in the years 1830, 1858.]

Charles Tennant. London, 1865, p. 20,) the following custom is narrated:

"We continued our journey through Luzarche and Econen to St. Dennis, the burial-place of the kings of France and the royal family. It was in 1773 when I was there, and Louis XIV. was then unburied, it being the custom not to inter one king till his successor dies.

The reason of this I never could learn."

Perhaps some contributor may throw some light upon this very strange practice, and what was the reason of it. G. MORRIS.

Bloomsbury.

EULOGIUM ON CHATHAM.-Was Grattan the author of the eulogium upon the first Earl of Chatham, commencing Original and unaccommodating, the features of his "The secretary stood alone. character possessed all the hardihood of antiquity"? If so, where is it to be found in any collection of his speeches? Philadelphia.

of

BAR-POINT.

the following ?— CIVIL WAR.-Who was the editor or compiler

"A Description of the... Sieges and Battles in the North of England. . . . during the Civil War in 1642-3, &c. Memoirs of General Fairfax, and James Earl of Derby to which is added the Life of Oliver Cromwell likewise an impartial History of the Rebellions in 1715 and 1745. Bolton: printed by G. Drake. 1785." 8vo. pp. 476.

The copy before me contains, at p. 203, “An Exact Representation of the Execution of James Earl of Derby, at Bolton, 1651."-"G. Taylor del. Bolton"; and at p. 211, a portrait of "O. CromThe pages from 87 to 108 are occupied by "A well"-"G.Taylor del. G. Barlow sculp. London." Genuine Account of the Taking of Bradford, copied from a manuscript written by Joseph Lister, who was an eye-witness thereof." A comparison with PP. 7-27 of Mr. Thomas Wright's Autobiography of Joseph Lister, of Bradford (Lond. 1842) will show that the former account is much altered from the original.

W. C. B.

THE COURT IN 1784.-In what works am I likely to find the largest collection of Court gossip and scandal for this year? I am anxious to find a notice of a marriage which took place in London at this date. F. M. S.

DISSENTING BELLS.-In an account of the opening of the magnificent new Unitarian church at Todmorden, Lancashire, on April 14, 1869, the papers say "A beautiful peal of eight bells rang out a jubilant welcome, and flags were hung out from the belfry windows." Is this the first believe that in the West of England a bell is often instance of dissenting bells? I think not, for I I have heard that "peals" of bells are attached an adjunct to Methodist and other chapels. And to several of the recently constructed Roman Ca

tholic churches.

S.

CARTULARIES, ETC. OF FAVERSHAM ABBEY AND DAVINGTON PRIORY. -In the Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. i. p. 203, is the following foot-note :

"Weever cites a cartulary of Feversham in the Cotton Library. It is not there at present. It is said that James, the librarian to Sir Robert Cotton, took the liberty of lending Sir Robert's MSS. to whomsoever he pleased. This is a clue to the loss of those which are not in Smith's Catalogue, but it appears that some were not restored which were ient afterwards by Sir T. Cotton, as may be proved by his book of loans in the British Museum."

On p. 200 it is queried that the cartulary of Davington is in the possession of Sir John Filmer; the owner of the priory therefore wrote to the present baronet, Sir Edmund Filmer, who in answer (Feb. 3, 1861) says, "I cannot find any book answering your description."

I shall be glad to hear if the whereabouts of these cartularies is known, and at the same time I should be obliged to anyone who can refer me to unpublished MSS. containing information relating to these religious houses. Late in the last century there were remaining three old buildings within the precincts of Faversham Abbey, and the refectory of Davington Priory. I am anxious to see engravings or drawings of them. Can your readers refer me to any work containing what I am in search of? I have consulted in vain local and county histories-Buck, Grose, and Pennant. GEORGE BEDO.

6, Pulross Road, Brixton. HERALDIC. Will any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me whose arms are these Gules three women's busts (faces), 2 and 1 or? R. G. L.

HONEYCHILD. There is a very ancient manorhouse called the Manor of Honeychild, near to St. Mary's in the neighbourhood of New Romney, occupied by William Dering Walker, Esq., J.P. for the county of Kent. The manor belongs to Sir Edward Cholmeley Dering, Bart., of Surrenden Dering, near Ashford, and 35 Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner. Can you throw any light on the date or meaning of the word Honeychild? Sometimes old copper coins have been found in the fields adjacent. I have written to Mr. W. D. Walker for one, and will forward it to your office; it may aid antique inquiry. THOMAS BUNBURY.

JANET LITTLE.-Who was " Janet Little, the Scotch milkmaid," whose poetical works were published at Ayr in 1792? Was she a genuine milkmaid or milkwoman, like Ann Yearsley of Bristol, whose poems appeared about the same date under the auspices of Hannah More? A. J. M.

two very brilliant writers, Byron and De Quincey; did it originate with the former? Here are the two passages:

"If, after all, there should be some so blind
To their own good this warning to despise,
Led by some tortuosity of mind

Not to believe my verse and their own eyes,
And cry that they the moral cannot find,
I tell him, if a clergyman, he lies;
Should captains the remark, or critics make,
They also lie too under a mistake."

(Byron, Don Juan, canto i. st. 208.)

6

"You are tempted, after walking round a line (of Milton's) threescore times, to exclaim at last- Well, if the Fiend himself should rise up before me at this very moment, in this very study of mine, and say that no screw was loose in that line, then would I reply: Sir, with due submission, you are What!' suppose the Fiend suddenly to demand in thunder, What am I?' Horribly wrong,' you wish exceedingly to say; but, recollecting that some people are choleric in argument, you confine yourself to the polite answer-That, with deference to his better education, you conceive him to lie'; that's a bad word to drop your voice upon in talking with a friend, and you hasten to add- under a slight, very slight mistake.""-De Quincey; "Milton versus Southey and Landor.")

Upon the church-door in a certain East Anglian parish a shred of leather had long hung, which, upon investigation, microscopical and archæological, was declared to be the dried skin of some Saxon villein (!) who had been nailed by the ear. When, where, and how this peculiar discovery was made I have yet to learn. C. J. R.

VELOCIPEDES. Where and when were these machines first used or spoken of? In a letter of Bettina von Arnim ("the child"; vide passim, Mr. Lewes's Life of Goethe) to her brother Clemens Brentano, I find the following remark :

"This match is a work of Grandmama [Sophie von Laroche, a celebrated German novelist of the last century, the friend of Wieland]. A short time ago the lady in question met at her house this Herr von Drais, just as he was trying in front of it a draisine [Bettina seems to coin the word here sur-le-champ], a kind of seat with wheels, which Herr von Drais moves along with his hands and feet." (Vide Clemens Brentano's Frühlingskranz aus Jugendbriefen ihm geflochten. 2 vols. 1844. Vol. i. p. 107.)

Unfortunately, these letters are not dated (months or days excepted), dates of years being a weakness of Bettina's; but from other evidences, it is to be conjectured that the letter alluded to was written in 1802 or 1803.

WHITTINGTON'S SHIELD OF ARMS AND STONE. Can any of your readers tell me what has become of the stone bearing the arms of Whittington, formerly in one of the walls of Christ's Hospital ? It was in the possession of the late Mr. E. B. Price, F.S.A., and was sold with the rest of his antiquities in 1852. T. F. FALKNER.

[At the dispersion of the antiquities of the late Edward Bedford Price, F.S.A., at Puttick's on April 7, 1853, this mediaval City relic passed into the collection of Mr. W. H. Ibbett, a dealer in articles of virtù, now of Jewin Street, Aldersgate Street, who parted with it to some unknown

We must pause awhile to consider this strange figure, who fills a larger space in the literary history of the nineteenth century than any, other German woman. Every one knows the child' Bettina Brentano- daughter of the Maximiliane Brentano [née Laroche], with whom Goethe flirted at Frankfurt in the Werther days-wife of Achim von Arnim, the worshipper of Goethe and Beethoven-for some time the privileged favourite of the King of Prussia-and writer of that wild, but by no means veracious book, Goethe's Correspondence with a Child." (Vide Life of Goethe, i. ed. 1855; vol. ii. pp. 360-371.)

customer about three years ago. It certainly ought to have been deposited in the library and museum of the City of London. The western walk of the cloisters of the monastery of Grey Friars in Newgate Street was under the Great Hall, pulled down in 1827, as was Whittington's library at the same time. The shield of Whittington, within a quatrefoil, was inserted in various parts of the building. An etching of the stone from the library of Grey Friars, A.D. 1421, is printed in the Chronicle of the Grey Friars, edited for the Camden Society by Mr. John Gough Nichols in 1852.

Whilst on this celebrated memorial we may as well record in our pages the inscription on the restored stone, the fifth we believe (see " N. & Q." 1st S. ix. 501; x. 234), recently erected at the foot of Highgate Hill, so lovingly has the memory of Whittington been cherished, where, as some fondly imagine, the runaway apprentice sat listening to the Bow bells of Cheap. The present stone has been replaced by Mr. Richard Perkins, proprietor of the Whittington-stone Tavern, at the expense of 407.- a noble act, for which our worthy host merits the gratitude of all our local antiquaries. It has been re-faced, and enclosed in an oval plinth carrying an iron railing supporting a very handsome lamp. The inscription is as follows:

At each end of the stone are the letters "S. M. I. 1821," the date of the third stone erected by the parochial authorities of St. Mary's, Islington, in that year. In Howitt's Northern Heights of London is an excellent engraving of the Whittington Stone and the Lazar House, from an old print by Chatelaine, now in the possession of J. E. Gardner, Esq. ]

"HAULED OVER THE COALS."-Speaking of a man having been reprimanded, it is often said that "he has been hauled over the coals." In

Fuller's History of the Holy Warre, 1639, book v. chap. ii. these words occur:—

"If they should say the Templars were burned wrongfully, they may be fetched over the coals themselves for charging his Holinesse so deeply."

Is this any clue to the expression?

J. H. J.

[This adage has been already noticed in "N. & Q." 1st S. viii. 280, 524. Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary,

than the Saxon, the Roman, and even the Druidical era. The fact of so many tumuli surrounding it affords no clue whatever to the date of its erection. Within its area human remains have been sought for in vain a circumstance that militates strongly against the sepulchral theory of Wansey. Long after such temples were abandoned by their worshippers, or the latter had been swept from the face of the earth, the sacredness of a sanctuary attached to each; and the heathen devotee, whether a follower of the Baalim or not, was actuated by a superstition akin to that of the Christian in medieval times, and believed that his gods would accord him a more ready acceptance in Elysium if his body was deposited in immediate proximity to a spot which had been specially dedicated to religious uses. Abstractedly, he perceived little difference between one class of Mauzzim and another: in his facile judgment, each and all were protectors of erratic mortality.

A stronger reason than the above can be adduced against the revived theory of Wansey. The country, and more especially the southern and western parts of it, was in much too troubled a state at the period in question to admit of such an undertaking as the megalithic structure of Stonehenge. The granite of which the inner circle of stones (originally thirty in number, and weighing several hundred tons) is composed must have been brought a distance of a hundred miles at the least-most probably from the high-lands of Dartmoor. That district, at all events, is the nearest source of the primary rock. How such an astonishing feat as this could have been performed at such a time, is a question for the learned and ingenious Canon, and those who are disposed to accept his view, to determine. In this endeavour, Geoffrey of Monmouth, I fear, will not avail them; for when that apt disciple of Merlin wrote, in the troublous days of king Stephen, the antiquity of the monument was already involved in a haze of fable. His lucubrations will bear no better interpretation. The simple fact of the Saxons distinguishing the structure by no better appellation than "the hanging-stones" justifies the presumption that, at the period of their advent in the country, all knowledge of its origin and intention had passed away. It is a noteworthy fact also, that the Saxon Chronicle is utterly silent on the subject of its building. On the contrary, the historical Triads of the Welsh represent that the raising of "Maen Ketti" was one of the three great labours undertaken by the primitive inhabitants of the island-our much-abused Keltic progenitors.

Twenty years ago the late Dr. John Williams, the learned Archdeacon of Cardigan, was considered a Cyclops indeed for contending that Hecatæus, the Milesian, who flourished in the sixth century B.C., had aptly described the old monu

ment on Salisbury Plain, and the religious services performed there in honour of Apollo. What, it was asked, could pinked and painted savages, inhabitants of this western Sandwich Isle, know about a Grecian or any other classical divinity? The detection of a very little woad sufficed to quench the poor Doctor's hyperborean proclivities. The ratio justifica was demolished by the ratio suasoria. At the dawn of history and civilisation, Grecian warriors might bedaub their persons with pigments, mineral and vegetable, and Roman imperators follow the example: a little pink and vermilion detracted not at all from the personal charms or the exclusive pretensions of nations located in the east and south of Europe; but a little purple that was in vogue amongst the people in the west at the same period was decidedly a sign of vulgarity and barbarism! Truth, remarks Tacitus, is confirmed by inspection and delay. Prof. Nillson, the Danish antiquary, has adopted, wittingly or unwittingly matters little, the main conclusion of Williams. He assigns 500 B.C. as the most probable date of the Stonehenge erection; and this quadrature of the old Salisbury circle is very generally recognised by savans at home, as well as abroad. The Professor further supposes that some designs (similar to the figures that embellish the sepulchral grottos of New Grange and Dowth in Ireland) were originally carved upon the surface of the stones, but they have been destroyed by the action of the atmosphere. How he pretends to reconcile this lastmentioned supposition with the division of the unchronicled past into Stone, Bronze, and Iron epochs, is more than I know. Manifestly such carvings (not to mention the tenons and mortices) could never have been executed by any other than iron tools; and this little circumstance alone is sufficient to explode the popular but empirical notion that originated with his countrymen, touching the order or development of the primitive manual arts-in our quarter of Europe.

With regard to the origin and purpose of Carnac, on the coast of Britanny, I have little to add beyond the fact that similar paralellitha (but upon a very inferior scale) are to be seen on the heights of Dartmoor, and in such situations as to lead to any other supposition than that which connects them with sepulchres. They also abound in every other country, in the East as well as the West, that is distinguished for its so-called "Druidical" remains. From their proximity to the old British cursus, where the charioteer acquired that dexterity in the management of his

team which so much astonished Cæsar and his legions, I feel half inclined to the opinion that they were designed for cognate sports; that they were not improbably goals to which pedestrians in a race returned, or from whence they started. But be this as it may, it is diffi