9 th S. II. OCT. 22, '98.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
335
Piers Plowman' (E.E.T.S. edition, p. 483)
and an index to the very numerous proverb
in Chaucer's ' Canterbury Tales ' in the index
to the notes to the fifth volume, p. 508, of my
six- volume edition ; besides a list of proverb;
in Chaucer's ' Troilus ' in vol. ii. p. Ixxviii
Any one who cares to consult these indexes
will find information on a large number oj
subjects, and may perhaps save himself much
time and trouble. That is why I made them.
Some day they will be discovered anc
utilized. WALTER W. SKEAT.
"AFTERTHINK" (9 th S. ii. 287). The ex- pression is in daily use in Lancashire, especially when tea and gossip are to the fore. " Regret " is a better equivalent of the word than " repent." ARTHUR MAY ALL.
DRAMATIS PERSONS OF 'OTHELLO' (9 th S. ii. 246). The names of Julio (not Julia) and Marco appear in the playbills as early as Kean's first season in London, perhaps earlier. They are given to characters which have little to do, and are not distinguished by any names in the text. For instance, Julio speaks a line or two belonging to the Second Gentleman in Act II. ; and Marco
foes on in the Senate scene, and assists to ring on lago in Act V. In the estimation of actors, parts gain in importance by having names given them ; thus the Old Lady in ' Henry VIII.' is usually called Lady Denny in the bills. WM. DOUGLAS.
125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.
' HUE AND CRY, AND POLICE GAZETTE ' (9 th S. ii. 267). The Irish police circular is still published under the following title: "The Police Gazette, or Hue and Cry. Published (by Authority) for Ireland every Tuesday and Friday." This is circulated in England as well as in Ireland ; but there is a similar publication for England alone, published under the name of the Police Gazette only.
C. C. B.
See 'N. & Q.,' 5 th S. ix. 508 ; x. 14, 178.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
" NICE FELLOWS " (9 th S. i. 489 ; ii. 36, 273). It was not Dr. Johnson who said, " A nice man is a man of nasty ideas," but Dean Swift, in his ' Thoughts on Various Subjects ' ('Works,' iii. 409, ed. 1754).
EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.
Hastings.
'THE MARRIAGE REGISTERS OF ST. DUN- STAN'S, STEPNEY' (9 th S. ii. 279). Has -not your reviewer slipped very conspicuously
when he says, " The marriage entries,
beginning in 1568, have fortunately survived
the partial destruction of the church in the
great fire of London " ? The " great fire of
London" never came within two miles of
the church of St. Dunstan, Stepney. Your
reviewer has obviously confused the church
of St. Dunstan-in-the-East with the edifice
standing a mile and a half outside the
furthest City boundary the church, "within
the walls" on St. Dunstan's Hill, between
Tower Street and Thames Street, near the
Custom House. This was "partially"
destroyed in 1666, and its restoration after
the fire involved the addition of a tower and
spire, notable for the very beautiful manner
in which the latter is supported by flying
buttresses springing from the battlements of
the tower, a graceful device, probably sug-
gested by the similar design of the tower and
spire of St. Nicholas's, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
NEMO. Temple.
ROSE CASTLE, CUMBERLAND (9 th S. ii. 265). The Mrs. Dacre who was mother of Lady (Rosemary) Clerk was a daughter of Sir George le Fleming, Bart., Bishop of Carlisle, and had evidently gone to her father's palace, Rose Castle, for her confinement, instead of Kirklinton Hall, her husband's place. Lady Clerk gave the cockade to George IV. when he was in Edinburgh, and it was believed to have passed into the possession of her present Majesty ; but she does not recollect it, and suggests it was lost in the confusion on the death of George IV.
Rose Castle was in the occupation of the Bishops of Carlisle in the thirteenth century. RICHARD S. FERGUSON.
HEBREW NUMERALS (9 th S. ii. 288). It is plain, for obvious reasons, that no precise reply can be given to this somewhat unreason- able request. In my book on ' The Alphabet ' (vol. i. p. 186 ; vol. ii. p. 96) I have stated the reasons for believing that the Semitic letters were used as numerals so early as the seventh century B.C., when the Aramean alphabet was volved from the Phoenician ; or even as early as the ninth or tenth century, when bhe Phoenician alphabet was transmitted to the Greeks. I have given references to what las been written in Germany and England, am ignorant whether anything more definite has been said, or can be said, on the subject. ISAAC TAYLOR.
THE DEVIL AS A BLACK DOG (9 th S. ii. 206). As your correspondent MR. YARDLEY has drawn attention to the black dog of folk-lore,
