Gravesend and Sittingbourne were not incorporated until the time of Elizabeth. Bagshot was originally ⟨a⟩ royal demesne, afterwards noted for its inns.
Liverpool.
Husship: Alderwoman (7th S. vii. 370; viii. ⟨7⟩0).—As the owner of the MS. in which these words are found, I have been much interested in Mr. Buckley’s communication. I cannot, however, agree with him in thinking that “alderwoman” is here “used in a general sense for a person of rank or noble.” I have no doubt that alderwoman in this case simply means the wife of an alderman; and I believe “my lady harper” to be no other than the wife of Sir William Harper, alderman of London, and Lord Mayor in 1561–2. He is often referred to in Machyn’s ‘Diary,’ and is still gratefully remembered in Bedford as the founder of the Grammar School.
Sidesmen (7th S. viii. 45).—If Mr. Coleman will please to look at 5th S. xi. 504, he will see a long reply in refutation of the meaning and derivation of “sideman” in favour of which he has given his opinion, and further at xii. 31 a notice of Prof. Skeat approving of this reply. It has absolutely nothing to do with Synod, the first known connexion of which with the English word “sideman,” or assistant, is mentioned.
Sampson Norton, Knt. (7th S. viii. 9).—Sir Sampson Norton was “Master of ye Ordnance of Warre” to King Henry VIII., and is buried with Dame Elizabeth his wife (“base daughter to…L. Zouche”) in Fulham Church, Middlesex. My note is from Top. and Gen., i. 60; but I believe Faulkner has some mention of him.
16, Montague Street, W.C.
Moxon’s ‘Chaucer,’ 1843 (7th S. viii. 86).—With reference to the remark by F. N., that “it is strange that any one pretending to know anything about Chaucer should ever have been deceived by the dishonest title-page” of Moxon’s ‘Chaucer,’ I have to confess, with shame and confusion, that it was really some time before the truth about this title-page dawned upon me; and hence I have not shrunk from saying, in a note to p. xviii of my edition of Chaucer’s ‘Minor Poems,’ that “I cannot but think that this title-page may have misled others, as it for a long time misled myself.” I beg leave to say that I have probably instructed more pupils in Chaucer than any one else; and I never yet met with any one who had not, at the outset, been deceived. To every young student the revelation has been a surprise.
The reason is simple, viz., that the unsophisticated reader is quite ready to believe that what a respectable publisher says is really true; though I can quite understand that booksellers and publishers may know better. I think this title-page is a cruel fraud, and ought to brand the perpetrator of it with indelible disgrace. I would fain hope that cases of equal enormity are uncommon.
The extremely artful way in which the ‘Minor Poems’ are introduced between portions of Tyrwhitt’s genuine work is extremely baffling to the uninitiated. There is not the faintest hint anywhere that any one but Tyrwhitt ever touched the preparation of the book. F. N. is quite wrong in saying that there are no notes by Tyrwhitt on the ‘Minor Poems.’ The fact is that the “Remarks on the Minor Poems,” printed in Moxon’s edition at pp. 445–452, are palpably Tyrwhitt’s own; and I may add that many of them are valuable. The advertisement at pp. 443, 444, is Tyrwhitt’s, and his name is printed on p. 444. The glossary is Tyrwhitt’s, bodily. And it is precisely because the book is all Tyrwhitt’s down to p. 209, and again all Tyrwhitt’s from p. 443 to the end, that the deception is so clever and so complete.
Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans (7th S. vii. 462; viii. 31).—In the list of Charles I.’s children, written and signed by the Princess Elizabeth, Harl. MS. 6988, fol. 220, the name of the youngest is given as “Princess Henrietta, born at Exeter, 16th of June, 1644.” She signed her marriage contract, however, as “Henriette Anne.”
Mrs. Cibber (7th S. viii. 88).—The English opera to the success of which this young singer, then Miss Arne, contributed, was the pirated ‘Acis and Galatea’ of Handel, produced by Arne, the “political upholsterer” and father of Dr. Arne, May 17, 1732. Handel produced his ‘Esther,’ his first oratorio (written long before), in the same month, May 2, but not in reply to the piratical performance of ‘Acis.’ To that he replied, June 10, by producing the same serenata, with several additions, scenery, and costumes, but without action.
Words that are not Wanted (7th S. viii. 85).—I am sorry to find in ‘N. & Q.’ statements about the good, useful, well-formed, and ancient word reliable, of the kind that one used to see in the pre-scientific stage of our knowledge of English. It is now twelve years since Mr. Fitzedward Hall published his scholarly and exhaustive treatise ‘On English Adjectives in -able, with Special Reference to Reliable’ (Trübner, 1877), in which he exhibited the authority for the word; and it is somewhat marvellous at this time of day to see it characterized as a word resting merely upon “some rare examples in good authors, and innumerable examples in current literature.” Every one who knows the history of the word knows
