44 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. jew is. 1905. In the middle of Prayers, just up the Stairs, Were Bagpipes to my thinking, And the Folks below fell singing too As tho' they had been drinking. XII. I did not like such doings there, And so I took my Hat; I did not think they would a' done so In such a fine place as that; But Nell was for staying till they had done playing Because she liked the Tune, Tor she was shure she neer did hear Old Grundell play'd at home. XIII.
- Then we went out of that fine place
All up upon a Hill. And just below a lhal did grow Much like a Waggon Wheel; 'Twas bigger by half, which made me laugh Just like a Garden Knot. When the sun shone bright, it was as right JLS our Parson's Clock. XIV. And many more fine things we see That was almost as strange, As when the sun should set and rise, And when the moon should change. I did not like to stand so near "When all these things I heard, .For I thought in my heart it was the black art, And I was a little afeard. xv. The sun being low, then we begun To think of going home; But one thing more we had to see Before we went out of Town. We went apace, for being in haste For fear of being benighted ; The hugest men stood strutting within, •So Nell and I were frighted. XVI. Nell had colour as red as a rose, And dare not go any further. They had bloody Weapons in their hands, .And ready were for Murder. So we went back and took our Meer, And away came trotting home, With news enough to tell Father and Mother And little Sister Joan. H. PREFACE BY FOXE THE MAUTYROLOGIST.— In the Harleian MSS. at the British Museum there is a draft in the handwriting of John Foxe, author of the 'Acts and Monuments,' of a preface to some book then in the press. This brief document reads :— " Although yc studious mynd of thys godly brother co piler hereof, and y* worthynes of y* work, hauyng in yt matter enough to com'ende yt -selfe, hath no neede of any furtherance of other com'endation, espeacially beyng assigned and suf- ficiently authorised by thapprobation of Ryght reverend in God, y* L Archbisshop now of Vorke, bisshop then of London, Yet notwithstandyng beyng so requested both by y" author and ye prynter -also hereof to adjoyne herunto a few wordes by waye of preface, I thought ytnot amysse* to satisfye tiys godly purpose herein, wherby to incyte y" studious mynds of such as have leysure to reade, to " diligent perusyng hereof, and so much y° more,
- or that perceauyng ye co'tents of thye treatyse
collected as principal! floweres out of so lerned wryters, I thynk y' same not so very frutf ull and noble only, but rather neadeful specially for y stayng of them Wh want co'fort and consolation,! according as, I nothing doubt but by readyng herof , thou shah better understand thyself, gentle reader, nether countyng any labour lost, nor tynie myspent co'ferred and employed in y' brewyng and tastyng heroff." The Archbishop of York is no doubt Edmund Qrindal, who became Bishop of London in July, 1559, and Archbishop of York in 1570. After Parker's death he was elected Arch- bishop of Canterbury in January, 1575. The book would therefore probably be issued early in _ the period 1570-5, and, from the sympathies both of Grindal and Foxe, would, it may be expected, be a Puritan compilation. I have failed to identify it. WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester. "To PLY." — What is the etymology of the verb " to ply "— I mean the verb " to ply " when used for " to practise, to practise diligently, to use diligently, to do repeatedly," as when we speak of "plyintja. task," "jdyinfl the needle," or of a steamer "plying between Harwich and Antwerp"? The dictionaries usually identify this word with the Fr. plier, "to fold, to bend," Lat. plicare, " to fold." But there are difficulties in the way of this derivation, for the French word is nowhere to be found in the sense of " to practise," and its meanings " to fold, to bend," are difficult to connect with the aforementioned senses of the Eng- lish "ply." I think there are grounds for maintaining with Dr. Johnson that this verb ply, " to practise," is not of Romanic but of Germanic origin. There i« no doubt that there did once exist in North German dialects a verb identical in form with ply, and used in the sense of " to practise," a verb distinct in origin from Fr. plier. I have been reading lately 'Reinaert,' the famous beast-epic written by the Flemish poet Willems in the thirteenth century. In this poem there constantly occurs the verb plitn interchanged with ple<ihen, and glossed by the German editor, E. Martin, by " pflegen, iiben." So this Low German plien is closely connected in form with G. pfleyen,
- Alternative reading, not deleted, "labour not
amysse bestowed." t Alternative reading, not deleted, " wch stand in nead of lerned."
