NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. in. JAN. 13, 1917.
bronze coin with verdigris is all too easy'
but this is not patina.
- The recipe for patina is similar to, but far
more lengthy than, that of the Oxford gar-
dener for making a lawn : " You rolls 'em
and you cuts ' em ( and you cuts 'em and you
rolls 'em for a hunderd years."
H. A. HARRIS.
The diacetate of copper (verdigris) is prepared commercially by exposing sheets of copper to the action of acetic acid, pro- duced from the fermenting marc of grapes. The copper becomes encrusted with the crystalline salt, which is removed and pressed into cakes. Pieces of cloth moistened with acetic acid are sometimes substituted for the grape marc.
Verdigris is decomposed by water into a soluble subsesqui-acetate, and an insoluble tribasic acetate. A. R. BAYLEY.
" DUITYONERS " (12 S. ii. 509). Evidently meant for " tuitioners " ; I have not met with the word, but it is regularly enough formed from "tuition" in the sense of " guardianship of a child." Is MR. T. W. HALL sure that he has read the MS. correctly ?
HENRY BRADLEY. Oxford.
Perhaps for "tuitioners" ( tutors or guardians), a likely- sounding word, although I have never met with it. A. E. S.
Does this word represent " tuitioners," formed on the analogy of " petitioner," " executioner," &c. ? In the ' Oxford Dic- tionary ' we find " tuitionary." Your corre- spondent omitted to say in what part of Britain the deed in question was done. To know that detail might help us to decide. EDWARD S. DODGSON. The Union Society, Oxford.
" CARRSTIPERS " : " CORRELL " : " WHELP- ING" (12 S. ii. 488)." Whelp " was alluvial mud, used instead of plaster. The work at " Pettie's kiln " was in fact " wattle-and- dab " (or " daub "). The water in part of the Humber near Hessle is known locally as " Hessle whelps." A " water-whelp " is a dumpling made with flour and water. In his recently published ' Highways and Byways in Nottinghamshire,' Mr. J. B. Firth writes (p. 362) :
" At Littleborough, if you have good fortune, you may see the ^Egir. This is the bore, or wall of water, which rushes up the Trent during the spring-tides, followed by a series of waves known as 'whelps,' "
holding much mud in suspension. See also the 'tE.D.D.,' vol. vi. p. 449. A. C. C.
"STAIG" (12 S. i. 68, 116). As it is
always important to hear Sir Walter Scott
on a matter of exclusively Scottish interest,
it may still be appropriate to cite his use and
explanation of the word " staig." In ' The
Pirate,' chap, xiii., he makes Triptolemus
Yellowley, Factor in the islands for the Earl
of Zetland, give this account of the repulsive
dwarf kept in the service of Norna of the
Fitful Head :
" Well, sirs, he started at first, as one that heareth that which he expects not ; but pre- sently recovering himself, he wawls on me with his gray een, like a wild-cat, and opens his mouth, whilk resembled the mouth of an oven, for the deil a tongue he had in it, that I could spy, and took upon his ugly self altogether the air and bearing of a bull-dog, whilk I have seen loosed at a fair upon a mad staig."
In a foot-note the author defines " staig " as a " young, unbroken horse," which exactly corroborates the statement made in the review of the Strathearn volume.
The extract thus given and the authorita- tive definition, have a twofold significance. In the first place, the speech ostensibly represents the practice of Kincardine, the Factor's native county ; and, secondly, Scott's application of the term shows how he found it used in Southern Scotland.
THOMAS BAYNE.
SARUM MISSAL : MORIN, ROUEN : COPY SOUGHT (12 S. ii. 489). This 1514 edition is described from the imperfect copy in the British Museum in W. H. J. Weale's ' Biblio- graphia Liturgica ' (London, 1886), p. 183. But no other copy seems to have been known to that writer. An imperfect copy of an edition of 1515 by the same printer is in the Stonyhurst Library. Weale (Index, p. 283) mentions many editions of the Sarum Missal printed at Rouen by Morin, dating from 1492 to 1519. W. A. B. C.
Grindelwald.
A LOST POEM BY KIPLING (12 S. ii. 409, 475, 495). Under the title ' A Lost Kipling Poem ' Prof. E. S. Meany inquired for this in The Century for January, 1909, stating that Mr. Kipling himself had forgotten about it ; and in the same magazine for April, 1909 (Ixxvii. 471, 958), a correspondent printed ' The Foreloper,' " from a clipping which he made from a newspaper several years ago." Under the title ' The Voortrekker,' the poem was printed by Mr. Kipling himself in his ' Songs from Books,' New York, 1912, pp. 93-4. It contains fourteen lines, and differs somewhat from the earlier newspaper version. ALBERT MATTHEWS.
Boston, Mass.
