496 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. JC* B 22, 1912.
According to Wright, a "shire-man" is "a man not born in Norfolk, Suffolk, or Essex." JOHN T. PAGE.
WILTSHIRE PHRASES (11 S. v. 326, 434). A discussion and attempted elucidation of "As Deep as Garrick" will be found in my article 'Folk-lore in Word-lore,' in The Nineteenth Century, September, 1910, pp. 550-2. A. SMYTHE PALMER.
Hermon Hill, S. Woodford.
'TWICE A TRAITOR' (11 S. iv. 533; v 390). In answer to WYCKHAM'S inquiry, the publishers of ' Twice a Traitor' are William Stevens, Ltd., The Family Herald Press, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden; and the novel is No. 270 of their "Monthly Magazine of Fiction" Series, issued at 3d. per copy. T. H. BARROW.
[Mr. W. H. Peet also thanked for reply.]
FAMILIES: DURATION IN MALE LINE (11 S. v. 27, 92, 132, 174, 213, 314, 355, 415, 473). At p. 213, ante, I expressed the opinion that the number of peers, whose ancestors in the time of Henry VII. held land still in possession of their lineal male descendants, was between thirty or forty; but on referring to Mr. Shirley's 'Noble and Gentle Men of England,' I find that I erred greatly on the side of moderation, and that the exact number in 1866 was eighty-nine. This number included 8 dukes, 7 marquises, 38 earls, 6 viscounts, and 30 barons. Of this total number two peerages have become extinct: the dukedom of Buckingham and Chandos, representing the family of Grenville of Wotton, co. Bucks, and the marquisate of Hastings, representing the family of Rawdon of Rawdon Hall, co. Yorks. On the other hand, since 1866 nine of these landed families have received peerages: Legh, Northcote, Knatchbull, Gerard, Patten, Heneage, Knightley, Ridley, and Acton. The fact that ninety-six members of the House of Lords can trace a male lineal descent from landholders at the beginning of the sixteenth century speaks well for the vitality of the class.
If one refers to Burke's 'Peerage' or 'Landed Gentry,' one finds that a large number of families lay claim to a Saxon descent. Two of these families are those of Kingscote and Dering, who are mentioned ante, p. 356. In this connexion, it might be well to consult the chapter headed 'Some "Saxon" Houses,' in the second volume of Mr. J. Horace Round's book 'Peerage and Pedigree.' Mr. Round makes very short work of these claims. He examines the descent of all these families, including those that I have named, and finds that the claims cannot be supported by a shred of genuine evidence. The only houses whose claims to "Saxon" origin he admits are those of Berkeley, which is descended from Eadnoth, who held the office of "Staller" under Edward the Confessor, and Arden, which shows a clear descent from Ælfwine, Sheriff of Warwickshire in days before the Conquest, and which held Domesday lands at least as late as the days of Queen Elizabeth. Mr. Round, while acknowledging the "splendid pedigree" of the Shirleys, declines to recognize their "Saxon" origin.
As a Devonshire man, I must congratulate Mr. Spurway on his "practically unique" pedigree. His name should certainly have found a place in Mr. Shirley's book, as well as in Col. Vivian's 'Visitations of Devonshire,' as it is one of the oldest in the county. It was an ancestor of Mr. Spurway, I presume, who was elected the first Mayor of Tiverton when that borough received its charter of incorporation in 1615.
Early Fountain Pens (11 S. v. 388).—The pen employed by Fanny Burney in 1789 was probably of the same construction as that illustrated in 'A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,' by a Society of Gentlemen, 1754, and again in 'Chambers's Cyclopaedia,' 1788. The first-named work states, under the heading 'Pen,' that a
"Fountain-Pen is a pen made of silver, brass. &c., contrived to contain a considerable quantity of ink, and let it flow out by gentle degrees, so as to supply the writer a long time without being under the necessity of taking fresh ink."
The nib is "screwed into the inside of a little pipe which again is soldered to another pipe forming the body of the instrument. The nib is protected by a tubular cover which fits over the little pipe, and has within it a coaxial pin, which seems to be intended to screw into the tubular shank of the nib; it served also to plug the aperture through which the ink flowed. "To use the pen the cover must be taken off, and the pen a little shaken, to make the ink run more freely." The upper end of the body is closed by a screwed-on tubular cover fitted with a "port-craion." Rhys Jenkins.
Your correspondent Mr. Strachan) will find a good deal of information on the subject of Fountain Pens in my Cantor
