506
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. xii. DEO. 25, 1915.
" Dickie," or " Molly " when it begins to
speak, since it has never been addressed as
"I." For this reason, without considering
other points, it is clear that the bishop-to-be
did not think out the elaborate idea attri-
buted to him.
It would be decidedly interesting if the contributors to ' N. & Q.' would bring together instances of precocious memory .and reasoning power in children who sub- sequently became famous. Among those of ordinary ability, I have heard of memories which dated from the time when a child was ,a year and a half old. On the other hand, some people recall nothing further back than certain occurrences in their sixth or seventh year. Perhaps in such cases some illness, accompanied by high fever or delirium, has blurred the memory.
As to Locker's clever verses, it is amazing that children so rarely reveal the secrets of servants. No doubt many rulers of the nursery take care to inculcate a rigid code, of which the first clause is " Thou shalt not be a tell-tale." But how is it that inadver- tent remarks do not often reveal to the heads of a household that the little people .see a side of domestic life which is sedulously veiled from the powers that be ? not that children have any comprehension of the meaning of what they know.
Perhaps the fact is that the real business in life of children consists in the skilful direction or evasion of the idiosyncrasies .exhibited by parents, nurses, and teachers. " Dick " and " Molly " have to find some way of obtaining satisfaction for their own natures without clashing too violently with the characteristics of the big people. In doing so it rarely occurs to them to " tell mamma " unless something more than usually offensive to them has been done. A child whose personality counts, one with natural ascendancy, has scarcely any occa- sion to invite interference ; and a child with none discovers that it has not the gift of ^compelling attention. G. w.
Locker's verse runs :
I recollect a nurse called Ann, Who carried me about the grass,
And one fine day a fair young man Came up and kissed the pretty lass :
bhe did not raise the least objection ! Thinks I, ' Aha !
Whec I can talk 1' 11 tell mamma ! ' And that 's my earliest recollection.
WM. H. PEET. MR. DONALD GUNN thanked for reply.]
UNDER- SPUR- LEATHER : UNDERSTRAPPER
11 S. xii. 339). At the above reference I
lave been guilty of an inaccuracy, for which
'. wish to apologize. The words quoted are
by John Dennis (1657-1734), who took
occasion in these terms to describe Lew T is
Theobald (1688-1744), a rival writer and
critic. HUGH SADLER.
TAVERN SIGNS: "MOTHER HUFF-CAP": 'TOM O'BEDLAM" (11 S. xii. 279, 346, 385, 446). (1) A. T. M. asks whether Skelton, &c., use the name " Huff-cap." In
'A Looking Glasse for London and England* made by Thomas Lodge, Gentleman, and Robert Greene, In Artibus Magister. London : Thomas Oeede, 1554" ("Huth Library," p. 44),
Adam says : " Why [the] Ale is strong ale, bis hufcap." The ' N.E.D.' gives this and other examples.
(2) And, yet better : "All Niniue hath not such a cup of Ale, it floures in the cup, sir " (Adam, supra, 930) exactly what has been surmised : " that which has the cap of froth on " =Huf-cap.
(3) Dr. Wright's ' Dialect Diet.' gives the Somerset uses : Triticum repens and a, mound of coarse grass.
(4) I will .go so far as to say that the neatest equation on the subject is Capt. Marryat's : "Bub=drink; grub=food."
H. H. JOHNSON.
With regard to the second sign mentioned* an examination of the chapter on ' Tom o' Bedlams,' in vol. ii. of Isaac D'Israeli's ' Curiosities of Literature,' will show, I think, that any direct Shakespearian con- nexion is extremely improbable.
EDWARD BENSLY.
Bishop Joseph Hall, in the third of his ' Satires ' (' Virgidemiarum,' 1597), refers to
The stalking steps of his great personage,
Graced with hutf-cap terms and thund'ring threats,
That his poor hearer's hair quite upright sets.
I do not know if this has been quoted before, as I have not seen all the references in ' N. & Q.' ERIC N. BATTERHAM.
STINGING NETTLES, BEE-STINGS, AND RHEUMATISM (US. xii. 298, 363). L' idee est indiquee dans deux her biers saxons, qui la devaient eux-memes a Dioscoride. Voici le texte :
" For sore of joints, from chill or from any cause, take juice of this wort and an equal quantity of oil boiled together, apply them thereto where it most annoys ; within three days thou hcalest him." On Nettle, ' Herbarium,' clxxviii. 4.
P. TURPIN.
