Miss Betham-Edwards's French is (after her long experience of France) perhaps better than her English. ST. SWITHIN.

["Antiquation" appears in the 'N.E.D.' and other dictionaries.]

ALBERT DÜRER'S NAME. Mr. T. Sturge Moore, in his recently published "appreciation of this great artist in relation to general ideas," writes as follows:

"The German name of Durer [sic] or Thürer, a door, is quite as likely to be the translation, correct or otherwise, of some Hungarian name, as it is an indication that the family had originally emigrated from Germany. In any case, a large admixture by intermarriage of Slavonic [?] blood would correspond to the unique distinction among Germans, attained in the dignity, sweetness, and fineness, which signalized Durer."-'Albert Durer' (1905),

p. 57.

It is well known that the artist's father

was born in the Kingdom of Hungary, in a little village named Eytas, situated not far from a little

town called Gyula, eight [Hungarian] miles below Grosswardein: and his kindred made their living

from horses and cattle."-Ibidem, p. 51.

The late Rev. Louis A. Haan, formerly Protestant pastor at Békés Csaba, a little town not far from Gyula, fully investigated the matter, and identified the site of the old home of Albert Dürer the elder, and published the results of his investigations in a Hungarian pamphlet, which appeared in 1878 under the title The Family-Name of Albert Dürer and the Place of Origin of his Family. The exact site is shown on a German map attached to the pamphlet. The name of the little village, which was swept away during the Turkish wars, was Ajtós, and is mentioned in several old deeds published by Haan (Aytos in 1456 and 1515, Ajtos in 1517 and 1518, and Ajthos in 1564). The j and y are interchangeable in old Hungarian.

Ajtó is the modern Hungarian, and Thür (not Thürer) the German, name for door, and the artist's canting arms also show an open door with two leaves on the triple mount of Hungary.

Ajtós is an adjective, and would mean "fitted with a door or doors" under ordinary circumstances, but probably meant something else in the name of the village.

It is clear, therefore, that the patronymic of the artist is merely a play upon the supposed meaning of the name of his ancestors' Hungarian home, but I fail to see in what way it is an indication that the family had originally emigrated from Germany. According to Haan, the population was purely Magyar in the fifteenth century, and conse

quently without any Slavonic or German strain in it.

Nor can I understand why "the way he [the artist] puts a little portrait of himself, finely dressed, into his most important pictures," should " carry our thoughts away to the banks of the Danube," because his old ancestral home stood on the White Körös, and "the young horse breeder" would have to wander several days' ride from home and to cross the wide river Theiss on his way before he reached the banks of the Danube.

Haan was still able to trace the brick foundations of the old church and of another large building. At the present day Ajtós is merely a puszta, i e.. a plain, bordering upon the vineyards of Gyula, which the artist spells "Jula."

A copy of Haan's pamphlet is in the British Museum, press-mark 10601. d. 7 (7). L. L. K.

A word has dropped out before "destroys," and editors have been exercised about the appropriate filling of the "Soon gap. would probably suffice; it is in accord with the drift of the poet's appeal, and it would be rhythmically satisfactory. Whalley proposed "quite," Gifford "so," and either serves the purpose fairly well. In Mr. Humphry Ward's English Poets,' ii. 17, Prof. A. W. Ward inserts "that" as his choice, and in a footnote gives the explanation 666 that' conj."

If

this means that the word utilized is a con

junction, then the editorial explanation of the passage becomes distinctly puzzling. "That" as a relative would be defensible, only it is doubtful whether Jonson would have deliberately repeated the syntax of the previous clause. THOMAS BAYNE.

THE JUVENILE THEATRE.-With reference to MR. SANDFORD's remarks at 10th S. iv. 414, I may say that I have several times sent articles to N. & Q' about the toy theatre prints-always called the juvenile theatre by the publishers; and I have said that I have a large collection of West's and other publishers'. With regard to the collection in the Print Room at the British Museum (chiefly, I think, West's), it may, as MR. SANDFORD

and I have some prints not in the Print Room; but I think the B.M. is the more complete. It is doubtful if a perfect set will ever be forthcoming. The prints were made to be destroyed. I believe I have the largest set known of the Skelts' prints for the juvenile theatre, but they are not so rare: they total to about a thousand different prints. I do not think any of the juvenile prints can be relied on as being from the actual characters after 1840.

I also have about a thousand of the series of whole-length figures known as "Theatrical Portraits." From these I should think arose the title "one penny plain, twopence coloured," cominonly "penny plain, tuppence coloured." Most of the celebrated actors and actresses between 1811 and 1850 are represented.

The 40,000 prints MR. SANDFORD looked through were, of course, mostly duplicates, and chiefly Skelt's and Green's, for neither of whose prints I feel much respect, though there are a few that are good. The subject is a vast one. These juvenile theatre prints were at one time to the public what the press is now, and the prints were issued by millions. If there was a run on a particular plate, the printer would be working all day and all night. They were all printed by hand, and required a skilled workman, accustomed to this class of work, to get good proofs.

I have for years intended to write an account of these prints, &c., comprised in the period between 1800 and 1850; but the experience I have lately had of the expense of publishing is likely to last me a very long time. I am still in hopes that I shall leave an account in manuscript.

..

RALPH THOMAS

AYESHA ITS PRONUNCIATION. In the author's note at the commencement of Mr. Rider Haggard's new novel 'Ayesha' it is stated that the name Ayesha should be pronounced Assha." I cannot help thinking that there is some misprint here. If Orientals do say Assha, it is only through carelessness. The name is really of three syllables, and the best way to pronounce it is Aisha, the vowels as in Italian, and the stress on the initial syllable. Perhaps this is what Mr. Haggard means. It will be perceived that there is a hiatus between the first and second vowels. To avoid this, many speakers insert the consonant y, and so we get the pronunciation Ayisha or Ayesha. There is no reason whatever why Mr. Haggard's readers should not pronounce the name of his fascinating

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

Queries.

WE must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

"PIGHTLE": "PIKLE." (See 1st S. iii. 391; 2nd S. ix. 443, 489; 4th S. ix. 220, 287.)-In trying to trace the early use of this word for the 'New Eng. Dict.' I have found, by means of the excellent subject-index to the last volume (iv.) of the Catalogue of Ancient Deeds in the Public Record Office,' a deed which may confidently be assigned to the thirteenth century, and probably to the third quarter of the century. It runs :

Pese de Springefeld dedi concessi et hac presenti "Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Willelmus Carta mea confirmaui Tiphanie filie Stephani pastoris de Wodeham. In libero Maritagio totam croftam illam que vocatur Wlstanes pictel que Jacet sub Bosco quod [sic] vocatur Mosegraue. In parochia de sprngefeld [sic] cum sepibus et fossatis et omnibus pertinentiis dicte Crofte pertinentibus Habendam et Tenendam sibi et heredibus de se prouenientibus aut cuicumque dare dimittere uel assingnare uoluerit et quando uoluerit. Libere quiete bene In pace honorifice et hereditarie exceptis domibus Religionis et Iudeis. Reddendo Inde annuatim capitalibus dominis feodi sex denarios [at Easter and Michaelmas] pro omnibus seruiciis et demandis secularibus saluo seruicio domini regis scilicet quando scutagium euenerit ad viginti solidos vnum denarium et ad plus plus et testibus Johanne Walram Gileberto de le stonhelle ad minus minus. [Warranty: Testimonium.] His Johanne Wlfyet Rogero Cobbe Sawalle de camera Roberto Chonterel Roberto Carpentario de Wodeham et aliis."

If any Essex antiquary is able to fix the date of this deed by the names of parties or witnesses, Dr. Murray will be very glad. Apart from this undated quotation, the earliest instance supplied by contributors to the Dictionary is one from the Fifth Report of the Hist. MSS. Comm., p. 556, where a deed is mentioned whereby. "in the 9th year of the same reign [Edw. II.] a pightle of land is granted to Thomas le Warner, tailor, in Frogmore Street, High Wycombe." It is not even clear from this summary whether the word used is in English form, or in Latin form pictellum, pightellum. Any other early instances of the word will be welcome, as well as any further light on the sense in which the word has been or is used in the United States. At the

:

"Pightlel, or pikle, is a word very nearly obsolete, and so rarely in use that I am at a loss as to its etymology. Pightel signifies an enclosure surrounding a dwelling-house, and is sometimes synonymous with lawn."

Any instance of this use from an actual document would be very useful. ROBERT J. WHITWELL.

Oxford.

'RELIQUIE WOTTONIANE.' (See 10th S. ii. 326)-I should be grateful for help in annotating the two passages below in Sir Henry Wotton's letters :

1." He might peradventure take cold at his back: which is a dangerous thing in a Court, as Ruy gomez de silva was wont to say, that great Artisan of Humours."-Fourth ed., p. 437.

2. "I hear that one hath offered to the Prince of Orange an Invention of discoursing at a great distance by Lights: Is it true?"-Wotton to John Dynely at the Hague, 12 August, 1628, ibid., p. 558. In letters not in the Reliquiæ' Wotton mentions:

.

3. A painter, Jacques de Gein.

4. A musician, servant to Prince Charles, and by birth an Italian from Padua.

5. A phrase from 'Don Quixote,' a woman "who doth herself border upon forty years." 6. Can any genealogist tell me whether there was any blood relationship between Sir Henry Wotton and (a) Francis Bacon, (b) Sir Anthony Shirley, (c) Sir Dudley Carleton? Wotton's maternal grandmother was a Gainsford; he speaks of a relationship between Carleton and himself through the Gainsfords. L. P. S.

CLASSICAL QUOTATIONS.-Can any one give me the exact reference for the following quotations?

1. ἠπίστεις κατέχοισα (Heliodorus).

2. Ubi rudentes stridunt, et anchora rumpuntur, et malus gemit (Seneca).

3. Tam otii debet constare ratio quam negotii (Seneca).

4. Premant torcular qui vendemiarunt. 5. Aliquid sapidum in fungo.

6. Est bene non potuit dicere, dixit, erit.

H. W. "QUAM NIHIL AD GENIUM, PAPINIANE, TUUM!"-The motto is taken from the 'Illustrations to Drayton's Polyolbion,' attributed to Selden. It is used by him as a quotation. What is its original source?

W. T.

[The motto was also placed on the title-page of the 1800 edition of the Lyrical Ballads,' and a query on the subject from PROF. KNIGHT appeared 10th S. iv. 351. See, however, Mr. Hutchinson's note in The Atheneum for 24 December, 1898, and his "Centenary Edition" of the 'Lyrical Ballads'

SHEFFIELD PLATE.-I should be glad to know in what works I can find most details of the history of Sheffield plate and its manufacture. P. M. "BBL."-Will any of your readers give me the explanation of "bbl.," the abbreviation for "barrel"? WILL. D. HOWE. Butler College, Indianapolis. [Such contraction does not seem easily comprehensible or defensible.]

MRS. BLACK AIRE. - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writing from Ratisbon under date of 30 Aug., 1716, speaking of the inability of the higher classes to determine the proper social gradation, says:—

"The foundation of these everlasting disputes Excellency, which they all pretend to, and, what is turns entirely upon the rank, place, and title of very hard, will give it to nobody. For my part, I could not forbear advising them (for the publick good) to give the title of Excellency to everybody, which would include the receiving it from everybody; but the very mention of such a dishonourable peace was received with as much indignation as Mrs. Blackaire did the motion of a reference."

Will some one please explain the allusion to
Mrs. Blackaire?
D. M.

Philadelphia.

[There is obviously a misprint. The allusion is to Widow Blackacre, in Wycherley's 'Plain Dealer,' Act III. sc. i.]

THOMAS WRIOTHESLEY, EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON.-In the biography of this Lord Chancellor (d. 1550) in the D.N.B,' lxiii, there is an error about his daughter Anne, which has not, I think, yet been pointed out. It is stated at p. 152 that she was intended by her father to be the third wife of Sir John Wallop (q v.). Wallop, however, died before the marriage took place, and Anne seems to have died unmarried."

Whether or not she died unmarried, it is clear that her father, the earl, did not intend her to be third wife to Sir John Wallop ('D.N.B.,' lix. 152), who died in July, 1551, because

1. Sir John Wallop's second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Clement Harleston, was certainly alive when the earl made his will and died, and she is said to have survived her husband. See Collins's Peerage' (Brydges), iv. 302.

2. In the earl's will, dated 21 July, 1550, his daughter Anne's intended husband is styled "Mr. Wallop"; and "Sir John Wallop,

work were devoted to The Eccentric Society," established in 1801; and the particular extract ran :

Both the Sheridans were also 'Eccentrics; and few of the members, since the establishment, have entered with so much spirit into its proceed ings as did Richard Brinsley Sheridan......The speaking, which used to be heard at their meetings

when The Eccentrics, twenty-five or thirty years ago were in the zenith of their glory, is represented by those who were members at that period ......as having surpassed in eloquence, brilliancy, and effect, anything they ever else where heard. Among the eloquent Eccentrics of the period referred to, there was a Mr. Brownley, a reporter on The Times paper, whose happiest oratorical efforts are said to have been almost superhuman. There must certainly have been something very extraordinary in them when Sheridan was frequently heard to say: 'I have heard a great deal of excellent public speaking in my time, but I never heard anything at all approaching to that of Mr. Brownley.'"-Vol. ii. pp. 5-7.

My special object in recalling this is to repeat the question put by FITZHOPKINS from the Garrick Club in 1863, which has not yet been answered: "Is any specimen of Mr. Brownley's almost superhuman' oratory preserved?" Journalistic orators are not so many that this marvellous one among them should be quite forgotten.

of your

ALFRED F. ROBBINS. THE KING OF BATH-Can any readers supply a complete list of the Masters of Ceremonies for both the Upper and the Lower Room at the Bath assemblies during the eighteenth century? After the retirement of Capt. Webster in 1704 came the long reign of Beau Nash, who appears to have been succeeded (1758-69) by the almost equally celebrated Samuel Derrick. In The Morning Post of 29 Oct., 1777, we read that Major George Brereton has been elected Master of Ceremonies at Bath. He was the brother of the actor, and a famous duellist. A Mr. Dawson seems to have occupied the position in 1785; and during November of the same year, according to Warner's History,'

Richard Tyson holds the office. The same authority informs us that James King was Master of Ceremonies in 1787. Previous to these later dates a Capt. Wade held the post. Possibly this is the person who enjoyed a similar position at Brighton, and whose daughter had an unfortunate adventure with a dastardly tailor named Mothersill. It is said that the notorious Capt. John Donellan, Master of the Pantheon in 1772, who was hanged for the murder of his brother-in-law at Warwick on 2 April, 1781, was a candidate for the office. In Peach's Historic Houses of Bath' several names are given, but there is no complete list. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

Fox Oak, Walton-on-Thames.

RECORDS WANTED. - I shall be glad of precise information as to the whereabouts of the following records, which I am unable to find in the Record Office, the British Museum, or St. Paul's Cathedral.

1. "The Proceedings of the Commissioners for ejecting Scandalous, Ignorant, and Insufficient Ministers and Schoolmasters within the City of London,” temp. Commonwealth.

2. The certificates of church goods furnished to the Commissioners by the churchwardens of the City churches after the Great Fire.

3. The records of the swearing-in of the London church wardens from the days of Edward VI. onwards.

With reference to my first query, I may remark that I am aware of the fact that the Proceedings of the Committee for Plundered Ministers, which bear upon the subject, constitute Add. MSS. 15,669-71 in Brit. Mus.

W. McM.