TYRONE: ITS HISTORY.-Can any of your readers kindly say where I could obtain works or articles dealing with the history of co. Tyrone or any part of it? DRUMNAFERN.

HEREDITARY USHER OF THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER -In The Gentleman's Magazine I find this notice: "April 27, 1758. Died John Walker Heneage, Hereditary Usher of the Court of Exchequer." Can any one tell me when this office was abolished? F. H.

CANOVA'S WORKS IN ENGLAND.-Can any of your readers give me particulars as to the whereabouts of the three under-mentioned works by this sculptor, all of which are presumably in England?

1. Dirce, nurse of Bacchus, as a sleeping nymph on a fawnskin, holding a mystical cist. Executed for the King of England.

2. Magdalen reclining. Executed for Lord Liverpool.

3 A female figure in the act of dancing and striking a cymbal. Executed for Count Manzoni of Forli, and sold by his heirs in England.

G. A. S-N.

NELSON RELIC IN CORSICA. It appears from a lecture given recently at East Dere. ham, in Norfolk, by the Rev. T. T. Norgate, on his tour in Corsica, that he discovered

were ever personally acquainted? It seems
to bear that interpretation; but possibly it
only means that when they were in the com-
pany of other people they seemed like beings
of another sphere. Is there any record of
any meeting between the two poets? I do
not think there is. Among Coleridge's letters
there is one, dated 1818. addressed to his
friend Mr. Tulk, who had sent him a copy of
Blake's poems,
in which high admiration is
expressed for many of the designs and poems
of the poet-artist. Perhaps there may be
other references to Blake in Coleridge's
writings; but I am not aware of them.

B. DOBELL.

ROSE: ROBINS: EDMONDS: BOSSEY.-Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' give information about the husband or family of Mrs. Elizabeth Rose who was buried at Seal, 1783. She was the mother of Richard Rose (in the Permit Office), grandmother of Samuel Rose (commissioner of excise at Edinburgh, &c.), and ancestress of the Rev. Sanderson Robins, Mrs. Edmonds, the Rev. George Rose, Dr. Bossey, &c. The family was a branch of the family of Rose of Kilravock.

(Mrs.) MARSHALL RIGBY.

White Knowle, Buxton.
M.A. AND M.P.:

PARLIAMENT.

conversation the abbreviations are often
66 an Em.A." or an
used, and pronounced
"Em.Pe." When the initials are used in
print, or in writing, by which form of the
indefinite article ought they to be preceded
-by a, calling for member, or an, calling for
?

mal speaking one says a Master of Arts," "a pair of silver candlesticks on the high altara Member of Parliament"; but in private of a village church presented to the inhabitants by Lord Nelson in recognition of, and as a thankoffering for, the kindness shown to him whilst stationed off the coast of Corsica, watching the Dutch fleet. The inhabitants were still very proud of this gift, of which no mention appears to have been made during the Nelson Centenary." Is anything known of this gift and the date? I do not think that it is mentioned in the 'Dispatches.' F. H. S.

WILLIAM BLAKE AND S. T. COLERIDGE. I have in my possession an article on "The Inventions of William Blake, Painter and Poet.' A note in pencil on this shows that it has been taken from The London University Magazine of 1829. It is a very remarkable article, since it shows a complete appreciation of the genius of Blake, both as painter and poet-a very uncommon thing at that period. The author expresses his opinion that Coleridge, Blake, and Flaxman had laid a foundation for a purer philosophy than then existed; and in a note he says:

"Blake and Coleridge, when in company, seemed like congenial beings of another sphere, breathing for a while on our earth; which may easily be perceived from the similarity of thought pervading their works."

Does this mean that Blake and Coleridge

em

As I write there are no Members of Parlia ment other than the Lords, who make no use of these initials. Would it not be a desirable reform to suppress the comparatively modern, and useless, letter, and spell the word "Parlament"? EDWARD S. DODGSON.

Hôtel Central, Biarritz.

GOLDEN ROOF AT INNSBRÜCK.-I should be very grateful to any of your readers for information respecting "The Golden Roof" at Innsbrück, erected by one Frederick of the Empty Pocket. What is the date of it? and what gained for Frederick his nickname? Was it really cased in gold when first built? Any other information would be gladly received. (Mrs.) A. HARRIS. Wharfenden, Farnborough, Hants. "SHAKKESPERE":"SHAKSTAFF."-In a file of Court Rolls of Warwick College at the Public Record Office (Bdle. 207, 88), Richard

Shakkespere (grandfather of William) appears as a suitor for Snitterfield, and is constantly presented for making default. In one instance the entry appears as "Richard Shakstaff and Robert Ardern owe suit of court, and have made default" I should be glad to know if this substitution of one name for the other has been noticed in other documents of the period. I may add that a facsimile of the above entry appears in my book The Manor and Manorial Records.' NATHANIEL J. HONE.

Bedford Park, W.

rare

PEG WOFFINGTON. In Lowe's Bibliographical Account of English Theatrical Literature' an entry occurs of a pamphlet of which no example is to be found in the British Museum. It is entitled Supplement to the Memoirs of Mrs. Woffington. Being the Achievements of a Pickle-herring; or, the Life and Adventures of Butter Milk Jack. 1760, 12mo." I should be glad to hear from any reader who possesses a copy of this, or who knows of the whereabouts of an example. W. J. LAWREnce.

69, Trouville Road, Clapham Park, S. W.

Beplies.

PIDGIN OR PIGEON ENGLISH.
(10th S. v. 46.)

SIR JOHN FRANCIS DAVIS does not use the word "pidgin in his work on 'China' John Murray, 1857), but he has the following (new edition, revised and enlarged, 2 vols., sentence in vol. ii. p. 110:

"The structure of Chinese phrases is often discoverable in the broken English of Canton, which is a Chinese idiom in English words." Further on (p. 140) he says:

"The Chinese were surprised to find what, in the jargon of Canton, is called a Sing-song, erected on the shores of the celestial empire, and in that very shape, too, which most nearly resembles their tive." own performances, a mixture of song and recita

This refers to a party of Italian operasingers who erected a temporary theatre at Macao, and there Rossini's operas with success." Again, on performed most of 384 we read :

p.

Another functionary remains to be mentioned under the name of linguist, who seemed to be so called rather on account of the absence, than the presence, of those accomplishments which are usually implied by the term; for these persons could not write English at all, and spoke it scarcely intelligibly......The business of the linguist is to procure permits for delivering or shipping cargo, to transact all affairs with the custom house, and to keep accounts of the duties and port-charges."

strange lingo came into being, which afterCanton was therefore the place where this wards received the name of "pidgin English." The earliest mention of it with which I am acquainted is to be found in the late Dean Farrar's 'Chapters on Language,' Longmans, 1865, where on p. 126 in a foot. note I read :

"And here is a specimen of the Chinese 'pigeon'

(.e., business) English: My chin-chin you, this chie you do plopel pigeon (=proper business), along one velly good flin (=friend) belong mi; mi wanthe, all same fashion along mi,' &c. ('Prehistoric Man,' ii. 428)."

Prehistoric Man,' the author of which was Dr. Daniel Wilson, was published, as the Dean tells us in his list of Books Consulted,' in 1864-a fact which completely agrees with DR. MURRAY'S recollection, and proves the excellence of his memory.

"THE TWO FRIENDS," PRINCES STREET, LONDON, 1794.-In the Memoirs of the Count de Cartrie' the author speaks of his arrival in England from Hamburg in company with the Viscount and Viscountess Walsh de Serrant, and of their stopping at "The Two Friends," Princes Street, London. He further mentions that we had to traverse the city from one end to the other to reach Princes Street." Can any correspondent tell me if the sign is known, and which Princes Street it is likely to have been? Princes I do not gather from his query that he is Street was, and still is, a very common name acquainted with the late Charles G. Leland's in London. I should be glad to have any in-Pidgin-English Sing-song; or, Songs and formation regarding "mine host." Are there any views known to exist of the Princes Street in question? JOHN LANE.

The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.

Stories in the China English Dialect' (Trübner & Co., 1876). This most amusing and, withal, instructive book is little, if at all, inferior to the better-known Hans

Pidgin, it may be observed, is now the generally accepted spelling of the word in the Anglo-Chinese newspapers.'

With one more quotation I end :—

"The word pidgin, if derived, as is generally supposed, from the English word business, indicates the difficulty with which Chinese master our pronunciation. It is also characteristic of the jargon, from the incredible variety of meanings which it assumes. As the term wallah in Hindu, and that of engro in Rommany, are applicable to any kind of active agent, so pidgin is with great ingenuity made expressive of every variety of calling, occupation, or affair. As business or commerce is the great bond of union between the Chinese and foreign residents, it is not remarkable that this should be the chief and ever-recurring word, and give its name to the language formed in its service."P. 3.

“Pidgin English" has not much literature, but Leland is its poet-laureate.

JOHN T. CURRY.

"BROWN BESS" AS APPLIED TO A MUSKET (10th S. v. 21).—This note is interesting, but it is an error to suppose that the word bus signifies the barrel, for it expresses the gun itself. Bus is the early Low Countries' equivalent for a gun, quite irrespective of size, as Büchse means the same thing in medieval German.

A very early mention of the word bus, buss, or bussen occurs in a Low Countries' record of anno 1313, concerning which I give a copy of a passage in a treatise of my own, Early Ordnance in Europe,' published in Archaologia Eliana, 1903

"It is reported that the city of Ghent was in possession of ordnance anno 1313, a date somewhat anterior to the legendary discovery of gunpowder by Schwarz; and that the magistrates of the town gave to their ambassadors going to England bussen met kruyt or donderbussent but this statement, made in a work published in 1843, has not been authenticated, and the city archives have been searched since with a view to finding the passage, but without success. It is incredible, however, that a statement so precise as this, made by a writer of repute, could be a pure invention, and really there is no reason for doubting his good faith."

During the second quarter of the fourteenth century this word bus, as applied to a gun, frequently appears in Low Country records. R. COLTMAN CLEPHAN.

Kruyt, gunpowder. Our designation "blunderbuss" bably from this word.

Reynard, 'Trésor National,' t. ii.

1843).

comes pro

p.

35 (Liège,

Surely "British troops" (p. 22) to be historical, should be "English troops." This mistake is being constantly made by writers RALPH THOMAS. in the press.

"PHOTOGRAPHY" (10th S. iv. 367, 435, 450, 490; v. 37).—With reference to the process named "photo-zincography," I think the extract given below establishes the date of the discovery, and, as it is rather earlier than that given at the last reference by MR. JAGGARD, it may be worth insertion in your valuable paper.

The extract is from the introduction to 'Domesday Book, Facsimile of the Part relating to Cheshire,' Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, 1861, written by Col. Sir H. James, R.E. F.R S., and is as follows:

In

"In 1859 we improved the chromo-carbon process to our requirements in such a way that the photographs could be at once transferred to the wax surface of a copperplate to guide the engraver, or to plates of zinc or stone for printing as by the ordinary methods; and as we generally use zinc plates, I named this art photo-zincography. To Capt. A. de C. Scott, R.E., who has charge of this branch of the work, we are chiefly indebted for this success. an interview with the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, he asked my opinion as to the applicability of this art to the copying of some of our ancient MS. records, and I at once expressed my belief that we could produce facsimiles of them at a very trifling cost. But with the view of testing this, I had a small deed of the time of Edward I. copied and printed by this process, and with the sanction of the Right Hon. Lord Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, copies of it were bound up with my Annual Report of the progress of the Ordnance Survey to the 31st December, 1859, which has been presented to both Houses of Parliament."

A. H. ARKLE.

STEVENSON AND SCOTT: "HEBDOMADARY (10th S. v. 44).-The word "hebdomadary" seems also to have had a fascination for Charles Lamb. Writing to Cary (13 April, 1831), he says:

"I am daily for this week expecting Wordsworth, who will not name a day. I have been expecting him by months and by weeks; but he has reduced the hope within seven fractions hebdomadal of this hebdoma."

S. BUTTERWORTH.

TWIZZLE-TWIGS (10th S. iv. 507; v. 53).— Twizzle is here the M.E. twisel, double. MR. T. W. HALL mentions Wigtwizzle, near Sheffield, and tells us that in 1280 it was spelt Wygest wysell. This place-name, hitherto known only in later forms, has been explained by reference to A. S. weg-twislung, branching of roads, or to a hypothetical weg-twisla, of But if the first s in the same meaning. Wygestwysell is not a mere clerical error,

66

·

722, Spence Street, Philadelphia.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10th S. iv. 529).—I am able, after much research, to answer my own query. The lines,

this derivation is impossible, and the first given at the penultimate reference by MR. "shambuck." Its etymology element of the word is the rare A. S. man's SCHLOESSER as name Wig. Wigtwizzle, therefore, is the is from Hottentot samba, a buffalo, from the twizzle"-whatever that may be-of a man skin of which animal the whip is supposed called Wig. We may compare Oswaldtwistle, to be made: more often it is cut from that of in Lancashire (which contains the man's the rhinoceros or hippopotamus. See Keane's name Osweald), and Entwistle, Extwistle, | Boer States' (under Terminology '), a little Birtwistle, and Tintwistle, which also appear book from which much valuable information to contain men's names. The A.-S. twisla not found in recent African works may be N. W. HILL. is the fork of a river; the cognate O.H G. gleaned. zwisila is simply a fork. What the "fork in these place-names was is uncertain, but it may refer to a fork shaped piece of land, like the gores, pikes, and nooks so often occurring in field-names. We may also compare the A.-S. healh, a corner or nook, of which the place-name Halum, now Hallam, is the dative plural. This word is often compounded with personal names, as Scottes healh, Scott's nook. The nominative plural is also found in Allas, near Bradfield and Wigtwizzle, representing A.-S. halas, nooks. It occurs again in The Hallowes, near Dronfield. The dative singular appears in Ecclesall, formerly Eccleshale, near Sheffield; and in Pitwineshale, mentioned in 1181, the first element of which is the man's name Pitwine. The other element, hale, a nook, is found in the opening lines of 'The Owl and Nightingale':

Ich was in one sumere dale,
In one suthe dizele hale.

It is possible that twisla and healh were
different names for the same thing.

S. O. ADDY.

Twistle is a fairly common termination for place-names in Lancashire; e.g., Oswaldtwistle, Entwistle, Extwistle, Boitwistle, Tintwistle. Cf. Haltwistle in Northumberland; also Twistleton, now Twiston (all these in Lancs.). See Whitaker's History of Whalley,' vol. ii. p. 225, where this word is discussed. R. TRAPPER LOMAX. Chatburn.

"JAMES" UNIVERSITY (10th S. v. 47). Possibly the reference MR. HUTTON is in search of is to "King James his Academe or College of Honour," consisting of "Tutelaries" (Lord Chancellor, Knights of the Garter, &c.), "Auxiliaries" (of the House of Lords and members of Government), and "Essentials" (the most famous lay gentlemen of England). The death of James I. in 1625 prevented the completion of this scheme, the initiation of which was due to Edmund Bolton. R. B. Upton.

"SJAMBOK": ITS PRONUNCIATION (10th S. iv. 204, 332, 512; v. 35).—The pronunciation of this word by South Africans is correctly

Still like the hindmost chariot wheel is cursed, Ever to be near, but never to be first, are probably misquoted from

Why like the hindmost chariot wheels are curst, Still to be near, but ne'er to reach the first, in Dryden's translation of the fifth satire of Persius. See Dryden's 'Works,' 1821, vol. xiii. p. 255; and Persius, 'Satires,' v. 72, where

one reads

Cum rotâ posterior curras et in axe secundo, &c. Mr. T. G. Bowles appears to have quoted the lines in a recent speech at Lynn.

The lines,

A. B. B.-J.

Whose part in all the pomp that fills
The circuit of the summer hills

Is that their grave is green,

are from 'June,' by William Cullen Bryant;
but "their" in the last line should be his.
G. F. CORLISS.
SHEFFIELD PLATE (10th S. v. 27).—Would
not the following be found of use?
'Old English Plate,' by W. J. Cripps, 1903,
pp. 148 and 152.

Plate and Plate Buyers,' Quarterly Review,
April, 1876.

Illustrated Handbook of Information on Old Pewter and Sheffield Plate,' by Wm. Redman.

'Plate and its Hall-Marks,' by Mary H. O'Connor, in Munsey's Magazine, March,

1900.

'A List of Books, &c., illustrating Metal Work,' 1883, by R. H. Soden Smith (B. Mus. Lib. BB.E. a28).

For Newcastle plate see a report of the exhibition of Newcastle plate which appeared in The Newcastle Chronicle, reproduced verbatim in The Antiquary, vol. xxiii.

There was also an excellent article entitled 'Old Sheffield Plate' in The Daily Telegraph of some time ago, but unfortunately, although it was preserved, it is without date.

On the north side of the Hammersmith Road, a little east of St. Paul's School, I