Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/502

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494


NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. XL JUNE 20, 1903.


living 1670-1725 resided afc Highholm, near Dunfermline in Fifeshire. not Ayrshire, as I had been incorrectly informed. He had three sons : (1) David ; (2) Moses, who emi- grated to America, married Janet Keir, and had a son David, b. 1747 ; (3) James of Whoughall. David, the eldest son, de- signated in my account " of North Fod, near Dunfermline," was father of the Andrew Crawford of whom I wrote, who married Mary Spink, of a Yorkshire family living near Northallerton, and later settled at Brighton. I have also heard that John Crawford had a numerous family, in addition to the children I have mentioned, and that one of his sons, William Crawford, took to business and became a successful merchant at Manchester. My account is possibly correct in this, as I have repeatedly, in searching at Somerset House, come across Crawfords of the northern counties of England. QUAESTOR.

" PRIVILEGIATUS " (9 th S. xi. 448). IGNOTUS will find this designation attached to a large number of names in Foster's ' Alumni Oxoni- enses,' and to one on each of the three pre- ceding pages to that on which C. W. H. Pauli occurs. The statute " De laicis ad privilegia Universitatis ad mittendis" required these persons to be matriculated : hence their names find a place in Foster's list. They were for the most part citizens of Oxford, or college officials who had deserved well of the University, though some, like Mr. Pauli, probably received in this way a recognition of merit which in the case of more illustrious persons took the form of an honorary degree.

A. T. M.

' CELEBRITIES AND I ' (9 th S. xi. 368, 416). Of course I may be wrong and C. C. B. may be right, or, as I venture to think, vice versa. If it be still true that two blacks do not make a white an assertion which may be open to doubt in this upsetting age the quotations from Mudie's catalogue do not strengthen his contention, and his excursus into French literature may be in support of mine, though it is impossible to rule English grammar from the other side of the Channel. The labels in a druggist's shop, for all their learned look, are officinal clues only, not titles of literary productions. I suppose they simply indicate "This is Senna," "Here is Rhubarb," and the like ; and if the Lin. or the Sp. or the Tr. were written at full length I should expect to find it in the nominative case.^ A book is written de, of, about, con- cerning, something or somebody, and it seems to me that this, if not expressed,


should at least be understood in the title of it, notwithstanding the existence of inelegant examples to the contrary. ST. SWITHIN.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS (9 th S. xi. 309, 414, 454). The following is the wording of the missing title-page in the REV. FRANK PENNY'S book :

" Christmas Carols, | Ancient and Modern ; | Including | the most popular in the West of England, | and the Airs to which they are sung. | Also Specimens of | French Provincial Carols, j With an Introduction and Notes. | By | William Sandys. F.S.A. | London : | Richard Beckley, 42, Piccadilly. | 1833."

This is, on the whole, the best work on carols which we possess in English, and it has never been superseded. Mr. Sandys incorporated the greater number of those published by Mr. Davies Gilbert in his book called 'Some Ancient Carols,' 1822; second and enlarged edition, 1823.

My copy of Mr. Sandys's book was formerly in the possession of John Payne Collier, who has written on the fly-leaf : " See a curious speculation on Carols in Maitland's 'Dark Ages,' p. 151 and note." W. F. PRIDEAUX.

SEVEN DIALS (9 th S. xi. 448). The immortal Boz refers to a little humorous poem which had a very great vogue at the time, and is by no means ill written. The title-page is as follows: "Monsieur Tonson ; by John Tay- lor, Esq. Illustrated by Robert Cruikshank. London, Marsh and Miller, Oxford Street, and Constable and Co., Edinburgh, 1830." The frontispiece gives a ' Portrait of Tom King ' ; and the woodcuts are funny. There is a short life of Tom King prefixed to it. He was a " merry wag," born in the year 1720, and died 10 December, 1805. The poem records one of his merry pranks, and is amusingly told.

Tom King was rambling one night with a friend, "iust by that spot the Seven Dials hight," when it came into his head to knock at one of the doors. A refugee Frenchman at last opened it, and asked, "Vat your com- mands vit me 1 ?" With all politeness Tom asked "if there's a Mr. Thompson lodges here," and with all politeness came the reply : " No, sare, no Monsieur Tonson lodges here." But the matter did not rest there, for Tom was so unkind as to go through the same performance the following night, and this time the answer was : " Sare, 'pon my soul, no Monsieur Tonson here." This was repeated night after night, till the jest became intolerable, and the Frenchman had to seek new quarters. Just then Tom went abroad for six years, by the end of which time the Frenchman had just returned to his