9'"s.ii.Nov.26,'98.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
427
ton of Hemel Hempstead, somewhere abou
the commencement of last century. Thei.
daughter Nelly married the eldest son of the
Rev. Benjamin Preedy, D.D., of St. Albans
wherefore my desire to discover the ancestors
of Eleanor Stourton. The above Richarc
has been mentioned, but I wish for veri
fication. DIGBY COTES-PREEDY.
BRAMPTON FAMILY. How can I obtain information respecting the family of Bramp ton in Northamptonshire prior to the com mencement of the parish registers in 1550 From that date I have the complete record The family appears to have been settled in the same place and on the same lands from " time immemorial," although no members o: it seem to have been of importance or posi tion. I do not know which documents 1 ought to consult.
FREDERICK J. BRAMPTON.
PILLATERY. What is this plant or moss The full name, as I have it from some old folks here, is " pillatery i' th' wall," and is so called " because it grows in old walls." This is " good for fits," and " the best thing out for gravel." THOMAS RATCLIFFE.
Worksop.
[Seek in dictionary under ' Pellitory.']
REV. FRANCIS STANNARD. He was rector of Stourmouth, Kent, 1719 until his death in 1726. Any further information would be very acceptable. ARTHUR HUSSEY.
BIGGLESWADE. Can any one explain this name ? It has been suggested by a clerical friend that it means " By-Ivel's-swade," and that Northill and Southill mean respectively north and south of the river Ivel. Is the name Biggies wade in any way connected with the name Swading, which, with Long Swading Plantation, is near Sandy ? By " con- nected " I mean as to the derivation of the name. M.A.OxoN.
" SOOT." When did it became customary to make this word rime with foot ? Fifty years ago everybody, I believe, made it rime with cut. I remember not a few aged per- sons of birth and breeding who followed the older sound, and I know some who do so still. The more modern pronunciation seems to come from a spurious politeness. It has climbed upward, but the peasant still ignores it. I, for one, could wish that society had not followed the use of Tooley Street. J. S.
PARISH REGISTERS DATING FROM THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN. I find some parish registers headed as dating from the Feast of St. John
Baptist, 1558, though the first entries are
several months later. Was this feast named
in Act or Order as the date of commence-
ment? THURSTAN C. PETER.
"DEVELOPEMENT." Twice at least in the- Ediriburgh Review for October the word " developement " occurs. At p. 314 Mr. Andrew Lang is said (in his * ' Making of Religion ') to be " dissatisfied with the current anthropological theory as to the origin and developement of religion " ; and in a review of Mr. Frazer's 'Pausanias,' p. 371, certain students are described as having " learned to appreciate the orderly and systematic de- velopement of Greek art." The repetition of the form seems to show that it is used de- signedly and deliberately. Is there any/ authority for the spelling ?
THOMAS BAYNE, Helensburgh, N.B.
[According to the ' H.E.D.,' " developement " was common in the last century, and is occasionally employed in the present.]
HAILEYBURY. I think Lord Macaulay somewhere wrote a somewhat satirical description of the East India Company's college of Haileybury. That description whether justly or not I do not say repre- sented that institution as a sort of paradise of mediocrity, where lavish honours were awarded to slender scholarship, and where there was a gold medal ana a row of sumptuously bound prize - books for nearly every student in the place. If such a passage exists either in Macaulay or any other writer can anybody tell me where it is to be found ? M. P. B.
" WELKING."
" The eye of the experienced boatman saw the horns of the monstrous leviathan welking and waving amidst the wreaths of mist." Scott's- ' Pirate,' chap. ii.
This word is not explained in the glossary bo the only edition of ' The Pirate ' I have. Is .t the same word as our Lincolnshire " welk- ," which Halliwell explains as wallowing? [ have never heard the word in use.
C. C. R
[In the reprint of ' The Pirate ' just published in /he "Border" edition of the Waverley novel* 'welking" is not given in the glossary, though 'welked is, as signifying marked with pro- juberances or ridges.]
ALABASTER GROUP. Can any one tell me he subject of a small alabaster statuette, of ood workmanship? A man on his knees, )ody bent to the ground in an attitude or ubjection, hands bound together behind his
