floor of the bay into portions resembling the "squares" of a chess-board may have been of real service in making calculations. To enable people to understand such a coin as the penny, which did not, like the shilling, represent the annual rent arising from an undivided corporeal thing,* it may have been necessary, in the first instance at any rate, to use actual demonstration, in order that they might see, with their very eyes, that the coin represented an aliquot part of the rent arising from an undivided share of real property. Now the "squares" drawn on the floor of the bay, or on the substituted diagram or reckoning-board, might very well have been called panes, or, in Latin, abaci. Skeat says a penny is a little pledge, a pawn," and he refers us to the word Pawn' in his dictionary. Under that word he refers to the French pan, a pane, and says that the English pane is a doublet of pawn. He might also have referred to the medieval Latin pannus, a portion. The 'Prompt. Parv.' has " pane, or parte of a thynge," and Way, in a note on the word, says that, according to Forby, "in Norfolk a regular division of some sorts of husbandry work, as digging or sowing, is called a pane." The word penny, according to Kluge, may be derived from pan, a broad, shallow vessel, or it may be associated with pawn, and a hypothetical base *pand. If then the A.-S. penning-a word which is common to the Teutonic languages-is the name of one of the portions of an undivided bay of 240 square ft., or, as the case may have been, of 400 square ft., we may reasonably believe that it is compounded of a Teutonic prefix *penn, or *pann, and a termination -ing, as in shilling or farthing. These divisions of the bay seem to be connected with the reckoning board or calculating-table. One of the commonest signs of an old English inn was "The Chequers." This sign, according to Larwood and Hotten's History of Signboards,' p. 488, is "perhaps the most patriarchal of all signs," and may be seen even on houses in exhumed Pompeii." These authors quote an explanation of the sign given by Dr. Lardner :: "During the Middle Ages, it was usual for merchants, accountants, and judges, who arranged It may be remarked that solidus, the Latin word for shilling,' means "undivided," and is usually regarded as equivalent to "solidus nummus. The Gothic salipwos in John xiv. 2 means "bays," and is akin to O.H.G. selida (with open e), a dwelling, and possibly to A.-S. selde, as in sumorselde, a summer-house. The summer-house was a booth of one bay. matters of revenue, to appear on a covered banc, so called from an old Saxon word meaning a seat Before them was placed a flat (hence our bank)., surface, divided by parallel white lines into perpendicular columns; these again were divided transversely by lines crossing the former, so as to separate each column into squares. This table was called an Exchequer, from its resemblance to a chess-board, and the calculations were made by after the manner of the Roman abacus). A money. counters placed on its several divisions (something changer's office was generally indicated by a sign of the chequered board suspended. This sign afterwards came to indicate an inn or house of entertainment, probably from the circumstance of the innkeeper also following the trade of moneychanger a coincidence still very common in seaport towns."- Arithmetic,' p. 44. There is a nursery jingle, common everywhere in England, but now in a corrupt state, which relates to counting up to twenty. Three or four years ago the Rev. Carus Collier sent me the following version from Bridlington in East Yorkshire: : One, two, come buckle my shoe; Thirteen, fourteen, here we've brought him; Seventeen, eighteen, here we hoist him; One, two, come buckle my shoe; Seven, eight, lay them straight. 1178 the chequered table in the Court of In the 'Dialogus de Scaccario' of the year Exchequer is thus described : "Scaccarium tabula est quadrangula. Superponitur autem scaccario superiori pannus niger virgis distinctus, distantibus a se virgis vel pedis vel palmæ extentæ spacio. In spaciis autem calculi sunt." In another passage the 'Dialogue' shows that in the twelfth century the origin of the Exchequer table was unknown. But these lines, which have probably been repeated in some form by every English child in every English village, tell us of penny weights, of counting up to twenty, and of laying out the virga or "sticks" by which, as it seems, the black cloth of the reckoning-table was divided into "squares" or "panes," and they seem to tell us of "fixing" the "sticks." It will be seen that the lines refer, not to the twelve pence which make the shilling, but to the twenty penny weights which make the ounce. Accordingly, they may refer to the 20 portions of 20 square ft. each into which, as we have seen, a bay of 400 square ft. could be divided. If we adapt bays containing 400 square ft. each to the hide of 120 acres and the various divisions of the hide, we shall get the following table of acres, bays, and annual rents : Rent. 8. d. rent" was sometimes called redditus albus, or white rent, because it was paid in silver. The nominal measure of value was a real or imaginary house containing an area of 4,800 square ft., divided into 20 bays of 240 square ft. each, or 240 spaces of 20 square ft. each. The whole house corresponded to a pound of silver, every bay 200 corresponded to a solidus, or shilling, and 100 every space of 20 square ft. corresponded to 50 a penny. Or, to express the same thing in 26 terms of ounces instead of shillings, the 13 nominal measure of value was a real or imaginary house containing an area of 4,800 square ft., divided into 12 bays of 400 square ft. each, or 240 spaces of 20 square ft. each, the whole house corresponding to a pound, every bay corresponding to an ounce of 20 pennyweights, or pennies, and every space of 20 square ft. corresponding to a penny. A farthing corresponded to a space of 5 square ft., plus half a rood. Whether we reckon in ounces or shillings, the area of house-room was to the area of arable land as 1 to 1,089. 18 As the bay of 240 square ft. corresponds to 6 acres, so the bay of 400 square ft. corresponds to 10 acres. In both cases the penny represents a "square" or "pane" of 20 square ft., together with the corresponding half-acre. In assigning 10 acres to a bay of 400 square ft., instead of 6 acres to a bay of 240 square ft., we shall only have altered the shape of the house. We shall not have changed the proportion between the house-room and the monetary units or between the house-room and the land. The bovate, for instance, will still consist of 15 acres, and its proper houseroom will still be an area of 600 square ft. If the area of the bay be 240 square ft. the house attached to the bovate will be 40 ft. long and 15 ft. broad. If the area be 400 square ft. it will be 30 ft. long and 20 ft. broad. Obviously the large bay of 400 square ft. will be more suitable for the open, basilical form of house, whilst the small bay of 240 square ft. will be more suitable for the enclosed, quadrangular form of house, for 20 bays of 240 square ft. each will make a better quadrangle than 12 bays of 400 square ft. each. I have been trying to put together the scattered parts of an old economic machine. In doing this I have kept in view the sporadic occurrence in England of the rule or law of gavelkind, and have seen how well these regular and minute divisions of houses and land were adapted, not only for the purpose of apportioning chief rents on partition, but also for the purposes of division and subdivision amongst heirs; for real property in the ancient world was divided specifically, or in kind, and not, as with us, by a distribution of the net proceeds of sale. S. O. ADDY. 'DR. SYNTAX' (9th S. v. 8).-In the early Mr. Wigfull, of Sheffield, architect, tells forties, when a student of Arts at the Unime that he has lately measured the fork-versity of Edinburgh, I remember seeing built bays of an old barn at Barlow-Wood- a tall, gaunt, erect man with a military air seats, near Dronfield, and found the sides to going along Nicolson Street. His dress be 19 ft. by 19 ft. This was inside measure-attracted observation. He had on a green ment. coat and long Hessian boots up to his knees, while his head was adorned with a shining brass helmet and plume of feathers. Youthful curiosity caused me to make inquiry who the strange apparition was. I was told he was Dr. Syntax, a name which he either assumed or which had been conferred upon him. One of his peculiarities was to attend churches on Sundays and take a sketch of the officiating clergyman. I have seen him doing so in the forebreast of the galleries of St. Giles's and The term "chief rent" is here used in the Lady Yester's churches. He was understood sense of "land-tax" or rente censive, and the to have a bee in his bonnet and to be harmwords "arable land" include the common less. His appearance at church, though from rights appurtenant thereto. This "chief the oddity of his apparel apt to divert the The pound, the shilling, the penny, the halfpenny, the farthing, and possibly also other monetary units, were originally the ́expression, in weights or pieces of silver, of the values of annual chief rents charged on defined and graduated areas of house-room or house-space and on areas of arable land proportioned or correlated to the size of every such area of house-root. These areas are the "squares" of the Roman agrimensores. attention of the congregation, was not course, merely borrowed from the Latin objected to. His name was Sheriff. He died a number of years ago, and his sketches were secured by a bookseller with a view to their publication, but I do not know if this ever took place. He certainly never wrote the Travels of Dr. Syntax, although his having borne the name may have caused parties to ascribe the composition to him, and to throw doubts as to Mr. William Combe being the real author. Alike doubt was thrown upon the authorship of The Burial of Sir John Moore' by a Durham farrier laying claim to its composition; but, so far as I am aware, Dr. Syntax of Edinburgh never laid claim to being an author. A. G. REID. Auchterarder. 66 The reference here to a magazine article has probably been misleading. 'Modern Athenians' (A. & C. Black, 1882, pp. 2 and 3) speak about John Sheriff, on whom the name of "Dr. Syntax" was bestowed, from the remarkable likeness he showed to the figure so called in Rowlandson's coloured prints, published about the year 1815." G. L. The authorship of the Three Tours of Dr. Syntax' has been so fully discussed in the pages of N. & Q' that, unless any new light can be thrown on the subject, they may, without doubt, be attributed to the pen of William Combe (see 4th S. ii., iii., iv.). EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. THE KNIGHTS OF BRISTOL (9th S. iii. 321).I have been much interested in the account of the Knight family of Bristol. I am quite sure that if the writer of it had examined the will of Francis Knight, "one of the Aldermen of the City of Bristol," he would have found that the testator does not mention a son George. The will is dated 8 August, 1616, and was proved 12 October of the same year (P.C.C. Cope, 112). In Le Neve's 'Knights,' p. 175, it is distinctly stated that George Knight, of Bristol, merchant, father of Sir John Knight, Mayor, &c., was a son of John Knight, of Com. Oxon. I am interested in trying to find the ancestry of a certain Christopher Knight, a good account of whom will be found in Oliver's History of the Island of Antigua.' In my search I have gathered a good deal of information concerning the family of Knight. HOWARD WILLIAMS LLOYD. Germantown, Philadelphia. THE SURNAME JEKYLL (9th S. iv. 415, 483): -I am afraid that I do not understand A. H.'s position. The Welsh Iuddew is, of Judaeus, and is entirely unconnected with the Indo-Germanic root yudh. It has, naturally, no connexion with the Celtic personal names derived from this root, which cannot be brought into relationship with O.E. gud, "battle." That, as is well known, has lost a nasal before the spirant, in accordance with a familiar law of O.E. philology, and therefore corresponds to an older gunp (O.H.G. gund=O.N. gunnr, from gunor). Its Greek cognate is póvos, &c. The suffix hael represents an older saglo-, and has therefore nothing to do with English hale, Greek kadós and Sanskrit khalu, which are not related to one another. W. H. STEVENSON. "THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER" (9th S. v. 65). --PROF. SKEAT'S paper on this subject is interesting; no doubt his conclusions are correct. The subject of colour has not received the attention which it deserves. Much has, I need not say, been done from the point of view of art and physical science, though even there further investigation will have to be made; but the students of history, philology, and folk-lore have hitherto given it little attention. Green is very noteworthy; sometimes it seems the symbol of the springtide, and consequently of hope, mirth, and gladness, at others it is connected with immodesty and jealousy. It is notably a rare tincture in our older English heraldry. This may be because it was regarded as of evil import. Can it have been connected with the evil eye? We are told that the cloak of Death was of green (Ballad Soc., xxi. 27), and in Caithness it was unlucky to wear green on a Monday (Scott, Border Min.,' iii. 345). We hear also of "the fairies' fatal green ('Lady of the Lake,' iv. 13). Green stockings for women formerly considered a sign of an evil life. Marlowe, describing a woman of loose character, speaks of were Her green silk stockings and her petticoat Of taffeta, with golden fringe around. In Gellam,' xxvi. This colour is still used as a social badge by the women of Greenland. The hair is fastened up in a knot by ribbon, "being red for girls, blue for married women, black for widows, and green for those who were neither widows nor maids" (A. Riis Carstensen, 'Two Summers in Greenland,' 22). At times in France it has been a political symbol. On the occasion of the murder of Henry III. Duke of Guise, distributed green scarfs to all, openly rejoicing in the event."-Louisa Stuart Costello, A Summer amongst the Bocages and the Vines,' ii. 132. In modern times it seems to have become a badge of the elder line of Bourbon. I have among my notes the following cutting from the Lincoln Herald of 29 July, 1831 : "The Messager des Chambres states the occurrence of a Carlist riot at Montpellier on the 15th instant, the name-day (St. Henry) of the Duke of Bordeaux. High mass was celebrated with much ostentation, and a novena for the return of the enfant du miracle took place. A ball was announced, to which nobody but those who wore green and white ribbons should be admitted, and the ball room was decorated in these colours. The tri-colour was to be trampled under foot; and some young people of the party paraded the streets in tricoloured slippers. The authorities interfered, and the ball was prevented." The fact that green was used as a party distinction in the time of the Commonwealth has lately been dwelt upon in the pages of 'N. & Q' In a recent article in the Month Mr. C. Kegan Paul has spoken of "the green banner of the Church of M. Comte" (July, 1899, 65). On the other hand, in mediæval times, it is stated that a part of the dress of St. John the Evangelist was represented as green (Walcott, Sacred Archæology,' 258); and Dante saw in Purgatory angels in green garments "like tender leaves new born (Dugdale's Trans.,' canto viii.). Richard Whitford in his 'A Werke for Housholders,' 1537, condemns the form of words "by my hood of green," which was, in his day, an oath used by children. See Gasquet's 'Eve of the Reformation,' p. 314. We have, perhaps, here a reference to the colour of fairy garments. EDWARD PEACOCK. The expression green-eyed, which PROF. SKEAT considers subjective and not refer ring to the hue of the eyes, is used with a different meaning in the vulgar inquiry "Do you see any green in my eye?" the verdancy of inexperience, of course, not the sickly cast of jealousy-in the words of the much-loved serpent of old Nile- My salad days, When I was green in judgment. 'Antony and Cleopatra,' I. v. While reading the Professor's article Pope's lines at once occur to the mind: : Pied Piper of Hamelin.' If I mistake not, the word blue has also been employed as a vulgar euphemism. "the An amusing instance of what might be called "projected subjectivity," e. g., pot calling the kettle black," is in 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' III. i.: Snout. O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee? Bottom. What do you see? An ass's head of your own, do you? [Italics mine.] The answer of the "translated" prince of clowns to his questioner seems to me to be rather artificial, and the ass joke is surely overworked in the play. In like manner Mr. Stiggins ('Pickwick Papers'), on reaching the temperance meeting in an inebriated condition, declared his opinion that "this meeting is drunk," and thereupon proceeded to assault the respectable brother who kept the door. Brixton Hill. FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. FIRST HALFPENNY NEWSPAPER (9th S. ii. 504; iv. 270, 357, 425, 526). The enterprise of Scottish journalists must not be overlooked in this discussion. Early in 1864 an ephemeral sheet appeared in the afternoon at Pittenweem, Fifeshire; and about the same time the Greenock Telegraph, which still flourishes, was started as an evening halfpenny paper. In August of the same year, independently of these, and starting from no precedent, the late Dr. Hedderwick founded his halfpenny afternoon daily, the Glasgow Evening Citizen. To all intents and purposes Dr. Hedderwick was a leader in the Sphere of evening journalism, for, although he may have been slightly anticipated both in for saying that he fared forth with his new England and Scotland, there is the best reason kind had ever been attempted. His immediate paper in the belief that nothing else of the and continuous success was the best justification of what seemed to his friends at the time only a hazardous experiment. In its independent inception, character, and aim, this admirable journal deserves to be regarded as an adventurous pioneer and a suggestive national exemplar. To-day, with its thousands of advertisements, its fresh telegrams, and its skilful editing and management, it is one of the best newspapers in the country. There is little doubt that many of the existing afternoon journals, both in Scotland and Eng land, followed the brilliant lead of Dr. Hedderwick, who was, it may be added, not only an ingenious and enterprising journalist, but a distinguished man of letters. His 'Villa by the Sea and Lays of Middle Age' give him a notable place among the poets of philosophic idealism. THOMAS BAYNE. Helensburgh, N.B. Was not the French Le Petit Journal the first of the great halfpennies, or did the Echo precede it? Is it not still the greatest, &c., or has the Daily Mail outstripped it? I mean, of course, in point of circulation only. THOMAS J. JEAKES. CHURCHES BUILT OF UNHEWN STONE (9th S. v. 68).-Great Clacton Church, Essex, is a Norman structure, almost entirely built of septaria, i. e., of the rounded nodules of laminated stone found in the London clay, which abounds in the neighbourhood. The south-east portion of St. Osyth Church is also built of septaria, thirteenth century. W. B. ROGERS'S GINEVRA' (9th S. v. 3, 92).-The Mistletoe Bough,' I find, was written by Thomas Haynes Bayly, a fact I ought to have remembered. Bayly's first volume of poems was published in 1827, Rogers's 'Italy' in 1822. Whether Bayly took the incident on which his poem is founded from Rogers or not I cannot say. C. Č. B. "HOPPING THE WAG" (9th S. v. 25).—To which may be added that commonest expression of London Board School children "Playing the charley wag," often shortened into "Playing the charley." I would like to put an interrogation point after "charley" for an explanation. C. E. CLARK. SUFFOLK NAME FOR LADYBIRD (9th S. v. 48). -I suspect that it has been pointed out over and over again in N. & Q' that ladybird is a euphemistic rendering of Our Lady's bug, and that bug was once the usual name by which small insects were designated. "HIPPIN" (9th S. v. 47). According to Weigand's 'Deutsches Wörterbuch,' Hippe in German is the same wafer-shaped cake as the more commonly known and highly relished Waffel, which is baked between two iron forms, and consists either merely of a little flour and honey, or, if made in a more costly way, of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. These waffel cakes, which are of the lightest weight, and of very small nourishing value, have always been a favourite relish, attracting many visitors of the fairs to the row of public stalls where they used to be speedily manufactured. As to the origin of the other name Hippe in German, Heyne (v. Grimm's 'Deutsches Wörterbuch') seems to be right if he derives it from the extremely thin and light substance of this cake, and connects it with the adjective hippig thin, meagre, insignificant. H. KREBS. OCEAN "HAIL, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, THE STAR (9th S. v. 28).-In Dr. Julian's 'Dictionary of Hymnology,' p. 99, under 'Ave Maris Stella,' there is a list of English translations, each with a first line somewhat similar to the above, but Dr. Lingard's name does not appear. One is by Caswall. Bath. C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. |