222
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9- s. vm. SEPT. M, 1001.
- any rate in colours ; and further, there
appears so far to be no record of these two shields. c ,1
It is worth noting the imposition ot metal metal and comparing it with the coat ot
Wells
a bret or turbot, Norman.
grave has ' bertonneau,
This may be related.]
the turbot."
In ' The English Dialect Dictionary, edited
by Joseph Wright,
A fish identified with
brit is said to be "a
Bishop Beckington in a window in
Cathedral. Both coats doubtless owe their
composition to their owner, the use of yellow
for the charges being quite needless in both
cases. The drawing of the monogram is
somewhat peculiar, the C taking the form
very much of a scythe, making it rather
difficult to recognize the letters. Another
example of the arms of Prior Cantlow is in a
window on the south side of the nave.
In a window on the south side of the sanctuary is a very fine figure of St. Cathe- rine, with the monogram of Prior Cantlow in the bordure, the glass being of the same date as the former.
The modern heraldic and other glass does not concern my present object, which is to put on record what actually exists, and to call attention to this the most ancient exist- ing evidence of the correct arms of the Abbey of Bath, put up while the conventual body still owned the manor and had a summer residence almost adjoining the church which Prior Cantlow adorned with this glass.
It is difficult to understand how Collinson passed over such an interesting window with such scant notice, although we know heraldry was a weak point with him, and he may never personally have visited this church, as he had assistance in collecting local infor- mation. ARTHUR J. JEWERS.
" BRIT" = BRILL. Prof. Skeat derives the name of the It-ill from some Keltic words meaning " streaked, variegated, pied, speckled." Brith, as a Welsh word, is defined by D. S. Evans thus : " A speckled or spotted one"; while in ichthyology he explains Britk y gro as "a samlet, salmonet, or parr," and Brith eof as "salmon trout." He gives brit as the Irish equivalent of the word. The ' H.E.D.' defines brit, britt. as "a local name of the young of the herring 1 sprat,' : but without any etymon or
small fish about the size of a sprat." Many
different sorts of fish are brindled or spotted,
noticeably the plaice. A fishmonger at Aber-
ystwyth affirms that there is no doubt that
a brill is called a brit on the coasts of South-
West Britain generally. A turbot-like fish
was recently served to me at Amroth, on the
south coast of Pembrokeshire, and described
a brit. I was told that that fish is known
by that name all along the coast of
-r-, i 1 1 __ __J MT1 >J T4- ,,,-.l/-J
little
England beyond Wales." It would seem, therefore, that the 'H.E.D,' while saying that birt, burt, is obsolete, ought to have added that brit is a variant in use in Wales and where Cornish formerly prevailed. Brill must be an Anglicized form of the British
adjective brith.
E. S. DODGSON.
and
geographical limit. It defines brill as "a
kind of flat-fish (Rhombus vulqaris), allied to
and resembling the turbot, but inferior in
flavour," stating, however, that the origin
and etymological form are unknown. One
also finds there, " Bret, the name of a fish
identified with the turbot=foVt." Under
- Birt ' the variants are seven, and it is
stated :
41 [Derivation and etymological form uncertain: written also brit(e) t brut, brytte, BRET, q.v. Cot-
THE LATE MR. SAMUEL NEIL. Not a few
readers of ' N. & Q.' will hear with regret of
the death of Mr. Samuel Neil, of Edinburgh,
which occurred on 28 August at the house of
the Rev. Charles Davidson, his son-in-law, at
Sullom, Shetland. Mr. Neil's work as an
original and learned literary student never
received adequate recognition, and little
notice of his death has been taken by
the press. For many years rector of Moffat
Academy, Mr. Neil, on retiring from that
position, made his home in Edinburgh, and
devoted himself mainly to literary work. He
was the editor of the Home Teacher, and
author of numerous educational books. All
his lifetime a Shakespearean student, Mr.
Neil was regarded as an authority on subjects
relating to the immortal dramatist, and for
many years was president of the Edinburgh
Shakespeare Society. He contributed critical
and explanatory notes to the " Library Shake-
speare," published a quarter of a century ago.
Mr. Locke Richardson, in advancing the
suggestion in an article in the New York
Critic of October, 1896, that the words "a
babbled of green fields " might signify that
Falstaff was "mustering his waning powers
in an effort to die a fair death after repeating,
in broken and half-audible accents, verses
[from Psalm xxiii.] learned in childhood," was
apparently unaware that his suggestion was
not new. In vol. iii. p. 12 of the "Library
Shakespeare " there is the following note by
Samuel Neil :
"This gives a special Shakespearean touch to FalstafFs death. His mind appears to have wan- dered through the darkness till a little streak of light glimmered out from bis memory of his child-
