Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/302

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294


NOTES' AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIIL OCT. 5, 1901.


nephew of Odo in a charter. But he says (vol. ii. p. 286) that a Sire de Ferte Mace, either Mathias or William, married a sister of Odo, and William, his son, was Odo's nephew. He does not know what sister of Odo, or by which father, or whether a child of Harleve and Herluin. Here lies a doubt which I have been seeking to solve, but at the present I am totally in the dark. W. H. B.

Chesterton, Cambs.

SHAKESPEARE QUERIES (9 th S. vii. 388, 494 ; viii. 80, 148). The custom of pinning copies of verses on the pall is a very old one, but whether it obtained in the days of Shak- speare I cannot say. The following anecdote in Gunning's 'Reminiscences of Cambridge' has reference to the custom, and I am obliged to refer to it under the above heading, though it has no concern whatever with the Swan of Avon.

Speaking of the funeral of Dr. Chevallier, Master of St. John's College (1775-89) in 1789, Gunning observes :

"To the pall were pinned (according to the custom of those days) various compositions in Eng- lish, Greek, and Latin, furnished by the members of the Society, expressive of their deep regret. On separating Butler asked me and the rest of the party to sup at his rooms that evening. When we were all assembled there he t.old us he had during the morning committed a great crime, but whether to term it larceny, felony, or ftaerileye he could not determine ; he went on to state that, as the corpse entered the ante-chapel, he had taken advantage of the pressure to snatch from the pall several of the papers that were attached to it, that he had been arranging them, and would read them to us after supper." Vol. i. pp. 185-6.

When Person was buried in 1808, in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, copies of Greek iambics were pinned on the pall, some of which are preserved in his 'Life' by J. Selby Watson. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

A HULL SAYING (9 th S. vii. 445 ; viii 52 130, 229). It is nearly twenty-five years 1 left Hull, and I cannot speak posi- tively of what may have been said there in that time, but I can assure MR. WILLIAM ANDREWS that he is too positive. The word

twisted, derived from Mr. Twiss's name appeared in print in the Eastern Mominq News soon after that gentleman's appoint- A HULL ATTORNEY OF 1870.

APOSTLE SPOONS (9 th S. vii. .350 410) -I have a dozen of Apostle teaspoons, and a large one which we call the sugar spoon I can give no history of them. They have beer in the family for many years. I have alway heard them mentioned as of German origin


though we have no German connexions. I am utterly ignorant of hall-marks. The tea- spoons have four separate marks on the back of the bowl two floriated devices, " R S " with "2" underneath, and "M C" in large etters. Can it be that this marks the date of 1100? The lower part of the shank is landsomely decorated, and includes the figure of a stork on both back and front. They weigh nearly an ounce each.

The large spoon is an elaborate specimen. The top is a figure of St. Andrew, an inch and five eighths high. He grasps a huge club, which I have never been able to identify as in attribute of his. In an open alcove, about tialf-way down, is a boy holding an open book. There are three angel heads and many floral decorations. On the bowl is inscribed

St. An dreas." There are two separate marks on the back of the bowl, " G G " and " N." By a singular coincidence, R. S. are my initials and G. G. are those of my wife. I have no access to the spoon book you mention. My set of ' N. & Q.' is incomplete and does not include the Fourth Series. The large spoon weighs fully three ounces.

DOLLAR.

Wisconsin, U.S.

HINDU CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS (9 th S. viii. 204). I see in Murray's 'Handbook to India,' first edition, 1891, p. xli, there is some information about Hindu festivals, &c. There are four editions of this book now published (Atken., 27 July). J. H. Stocqueler's 'Hand- book to India,' published by W. H. Allen, London, 1844, has on p. 1, &c., an article on Indian chronology. Some time before 1888 appeared 'Indian Eras/ &c , by Major- General Cunningham, published by Thacker, Spink & Co., of Calcutta. I see in Thacker's ' Indian Directory ' for 1888, on p. 28, a table of Hindu festivals ; thus 12 April, 1888, was New Year's Day in month Boisack, 1295. I think I remember seeing in the papers that some years ago learned natives in different parts of India found on comparing their calendars that they had all got different.

R. B. B.

ELECTRIC LIGHT IN THE THEATRE (8 th S. viii. 289). 23 September, 1880, is given at this reference as the time, and the Teatro Paynet, Habaiia, as the place, for an early use of the electric light for stage effects. An earlier instance "was asked for, but has not yet been supplied. So far as the outside of the theatre is concerned, there was an in- stallation at the Gaiety, under the manage- ment of Mr. John Hollingshead, in August, 1878, which strikingly illuminated the