"26
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. JAN. 13,
says, be imperfect, but it is the most com-
plete known. I have a collection as numerous,
and I have some prints not in the Print
Room ; but I think the B.M. is the more
-complete. It is doubtful if a perfect set will
ever be forthcoming. The prints were made
to be destroyed. I believe I have the largest
set known of the Skelts' prints for the
juvenile theatre, but they are not so rare:
they total to about a thousand different
prints. 1 do not think any of the juvenile
prints can be relied on as being from the
-actual characters after 1840.
I also have about a thousand of the series of whole-length figures known as "Theatrical Portraits." From these I should think arose the title " one penny plain, twopence coloured," commonly "penny plain, tuppence coloured." Most of the celebrated actors and actresses between 1811 and 1850 are represented.
The 40,000 prints MR. SANDFORD looked through were, of course, mostly duplicates, and chiefly Skelt's and Green's, for neither of whose prints I feel much respect, though there are a few that are good. The subject is a vast one. These juvenile theatre prints were at one time to the public what the press is now, and the prints were issued by millions. If there was a run on a particular plate, the printer would be working all day and all night. They were all printed by hand, and required a skilled workman, accustomed to this class of work, to get good proofs.
I have for years intended to write an account of these prints, &c., comprised in the period between 1800 and 1850 ; but the experience I have lately had of the expense of publishing is likely to last me a very long time. I am still in hopes that I shall leave an account in manuscript.
RALPH THOMAS
AYESHA : ITS PRONUNCIATION. In the author's note at the commencement of Mr. Rider Haggard's new novel 'Ayesha 7 it is stated that lt the name Ayesha should be pro- nounced Assha," I cannot help thinking that there is some misprint here. If Orientals do say Assha, it is only through carelessness. The name is really of three syllables, and the best way to pronounce it is A'-i-sha, the vowels as in Italian, and the stress on the initial syllable. Perhaps this is what Mr. Haggard means. It will be perceived that there is a hiatus between the first and second vowels. To avoid this, many speakers insert the consonant y, and so we get the pronun- ciation Ayisha or Ayesha. There is no reason whatever" why Mr. Haggard's readers should not pronounce the name of his fascinating
heroine exactly as it is spelt, viz., as a tri-
syllable, with antepenultimate stress.
JAS. PIATT, Jun.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
" PIGHTLE " : " PIKLE." (See 1 st S. iii. 391 ;
2 nd S, ix. 443, 489 ; 4 th S. ix. 220, 287.) In
trying to trace the early use of this word for
the * New Eng. Diet.' I have found, by means
of the excellent subject-index to the last
volume (iv.) of the * Catalogue of Ancient
Deeds in the Public Record Office,' a deed
which may confidently be assigned to the
thirteenth century, arid probably to the third
quarter of the century. It runs :
" Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Willelmus Pese de Springefeld dedi concessi et hac present! Carta mea confirmaui Tiphanie filie Stephani pas- toris de Wodeham. In libero Maritagio totam croftam illam que vocatur Wlstanes pictel que Jacet sub Bosco quod [sic] vocatur Mosegraue. In parochia de sprngefeld [-sic] cum sepibus et fossatis et omnibus pertinentiis dicte Crofte pertineutibus Habendam et Tenendam sibi et heredibus de se prouenientibus aut cuicumque dare dimittere uel assingnare uoluerit et quando uoluerit. Libere quiete bene In pace honorih'ce et hereditarie ex- ceptis domibus Religionis et ludeis. Reddendo Inde annuatim capital! bus dominis feodi sex dena- rios [at Easter and Michaelmas] pro omnibus seruiciis et demandis secularibus saluo seruicio domini regis scilicet quando scutagium euenerit ad vigiuti solidos vnum denarium et ad plus plus et ad minus minus. [Warranty : Testimonial!).] His testibus Johanne Walram Gileberto de le stonhelle Johanne Wlfyet Rogero Cobbe Sawalle de camera Roberto Chonterel Roberto Carpentario de Wode- ham et aliis."
If any Essex antiquary is able to fix the date of this deed by the names of parties or witnesses, Dr. Murray will be very glad. Apart from this undated quotation, the earliest instance supplied by contributors to the ' Dictionary ' is one from the Fifth Report of the Hist. MSS. Comm., p. 556, where a deed is mentioned whereby, "in the 9th year of the same reign [Edw. II.], a pightle of land is granted to Thomas le Warner, tailor, in Frogmore Street, High Wycombe." It is not even clear from this summary whether the word used is in Eng- lish form, or in Latin form pictellitm, pightellum. Any other early instances of the word will be welcome, as well as any further light on the sense in which the word has been or is used in the United States. At the
