ii s. vii. JAN. u, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES. To BE "OUT" FOB A THING: "Up TO " ONE TO DO A THING (US. vi. 409, 494).—I believe the latter expression to be purely modern American. I heard it for the first time in California about five years ago ; it •was continually cropping up in conversation —-so often, indeed, that, correctly or other- wise, I regarded it as quite the latest argot. But here is another expression, for some time current in the Navy and Army, and now becoming general—-i.e., to " carry on," meaning to continue. Thus a squad of men, being stopped in their work to hear some explanation or instruction, aro ordered to " carry on "—i.e., to proceed with what they were doing. Or an officer will say to a brother-officer, " If I 'm not there, carry on without me." D. O. "DOPE," "TO DOPE," " DOPER " (11 S. vi. 508).—This term seems to signify the unfair administration of a stimulating drug before or during a race, but it is not confined to horses, as I remember to have seen it frequently used at the time when Dorando ran at the Stadium. I do not know the origin of it, but it has always been connected in my mind with the South African word " dop," the meaning of which is apparent enough to those who have read ' The Dop Doctor.' VV. F. PBIDEAUX. The word " dope is American. Doping is the stupefying rnen with tobacco prepared in a peculiar way, as the 'gipsies of old were wont to use Datura stramonium. I fancy it is only another form of " dupe." Latterly it has been applied in connexion with stimu- lant for racehorses, administered internally or by hypodermic syringes. The Jockey Club passed a rule in 1903 to put a stop to the practice as far as possible. If MR. PIERPOINT is interested in the ingredients utilized for doping, he will find a lengthy article on the subject in The Daily Telegraph of 2 Oct., 1903. WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK. THE ETYMOLOGY OF ESHEB (11 S. vi. 487). —The identification of " Esher " with the Aissele of Domesday Book depends upon the recognition of Aisse- as having a long diphthong with thickening of «, and upon proof of a Norman tendency to confuse the reverted r's and I's of the Kentish dialect with each other.* MR. MAYHEW wishes to derive Aissele of Domesday Book from O.E. cesc + heale.
- " A reverted sound [is] formed by the under
surface of the tip of the tongue being turned to the hard palato."—Wright, ' O.E. Grammar,' But at is long and ce is short. Moreover, the length of ai is reflected in "Esher," which has e in its prototheme. This proto- theme is a personal one, and it occurs also in " Bashing," the name of another Surrey village. Esh- and Eash- postulate a Kentish *esc. Kentish e mostly equates West Saxon ve : cf. Kentish ded, tied, slepon (our "deed," "jieed," and "to sleep"), with West Saxon deed, need, slcepan.* Consequently, if the hypothetical Kentish Esc is real, we ought to get a West-Saxon Mac. That, of course, is the well-known name given in the Saxon Chronicles to the eponymous ancestor of the Kings of Kent. This prince's name occurs in " Eashing" and in " Esher." For the former see King Alfred's will (c. 885), wherein we get "set ^Escengum" (Birch, No. 553). The latter appears in Kemble, No^ DCLVL* (dated 987), as " ^scere." JEsc was a very famous name ; but it is very rare, and I know of two persons only who bore uncompounded forms of it. The legends about JEsc, King of Kent (t492 or 514), must at one time have been numerous, and they were very widely spread. He is mentioned, wittingly or unwittingly, in ' Merlin,' and by Malory, Geoffrey, Gaimar, the Saxon Chronicles, Bede, and Ravennas ; and they severally call him Escam, Duke Eustace of Cambernet, Aschillius, Aschis, ^Esc, Oisc, and Auschis (vide ' N. & Q.,' US. ii. 473-4). ALFRED ANSCOMBE. GRAY AND THE ANTROBUS FAMILY (US. vi. 461).—May I add one or two notes on Mrs. William Antrobus ? This lady, the widow of the Rev. W. Antrobus, was the daughter of Alderman Nutting, a merchant of Cambridge, on whom Cole has some curious remarks. She survived her nephew, the poet Thos. Gray, dying in 1773. There were two other daughters of Alderman Nutting : a Mrs. Scarfe, who kept the well- known " Three Tuns," and who was after- wards married again to a surgeon in Alder- manbury, London ; and a Mrs. Hide, whose husband was book-keeper to her father, and whose son was a b ewer and merchant in the University town. Mrs. Wm. Antrobus " had the Post Office reserved to her on her father's death." She had (besides other children) two daugh- ters, Mary and Dorothy, the latter of whom
- Kentish f represents W.S. cs ; W.S. fa after
palatal c, g, sc; W.S. ie and y, the t-umlauts of fa (Germanic ou) and ii, respectively. In late Kentish manuscripts «=W.S. «, i-umlaut of &, uuscript also ; vide Wright, «.«., 188, 190, 191.
