148
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. FEB. 21, 1911
Queries.
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.
" To PILL." This word, with derivatives,
occurs frequently in the correspondence
carried on between the Brookfields and
their friends during the years 1841-7. The
letters are printed in ' Mrs. Brookfield and
her Circle,' published in 1905. Here are
a few examples of passages where the word
is used :
Take heed to your way going up and down stairs, and don't pill. W. H. B. to Mrs. B., Aug. 9, 1845.
[I called on Thackeray] but as he was out we [i.e., I and Kinglake] came here and pilled till after 12. W. H. B. to Mrs. B., Aug. 18, '45.
I believe you are quite serious in your_ waj*nings
.. illing. " Aug. 8, '45.
and fears of my Pilling. Mrs. B. to W. H. B.,
A pilling good-natured curate was telling little
parochial jests. Mrs. B. to H. Hallam, Dec. 5, '46.
I have come to the Pilling reflection that you
and H. F. H. dwell a deal too much in the " Pride of Intellect, William." Mrs. B. to Mr. B., July 10,
I sit in inward chafement while the pill goes
on of what we do at Oxford. Mrs. B. to Mr. B., July, '47.
A. sung little sentimental songs without any sense of pill. Mr. B. to Mrs. B., Nov. 30, '47.
Pray convey kind wishes, pilsome and unpil-
some, to Brookfield. H. Hallam to Mrs. B.
The two pill -consecrated chairs of Poetry and History. -H. Hallam to Mr. B., Dec. '47.
I suppose the word is a bit of the Cam- bridge slang of the period. What is its precise meaning ? No help is to be found in any dictionary that I have consulted. A. L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.
MOTTO TO A SONNET OF WORDSWORTH'S. To the sonnet which begins " Wait, prithee, wait ! " published in 1835, Words- worth prefixed these four lines :
Miss not the occasion : by the forelock take That subtle Power, the never-halting Time, Lest a mere moment's putting-off should make Mischance almost as heavy as a crime.
If this is a quotation, has it yet been traced ? Mr. Nowell C. Smith in his edition of Words- worth (1908, vol. i. p. 544) suggests that the lines may possibly be Wordsworth's own. His suggestion is confirmed by Lane Cooper's 'Wordsworth Concordance' (1911), which shows that the language of the motto is thoroughly Wordsworthian* The phrase " subtle power " occurs in the first line of a sonnet dated 1811, "Praised be the Art
whose subtle power could stay." " Heavy
mischance " comes near to " severe mis-
chance," which occurs in stanza xxvi. of
' Guilt and Sorrow,' a passage dating from
1820. The most noteworthy parallel is
furnished by the phrase " the never-halting
Time," which is repeated from ' The Excur-
sion,' vi. 1181 :
I see the eldest Daughter at her wheel Spinning amain, as if to overtake The never-halting time.
If the motto is not of Wordsworth's own composition, it would be very interesting to know the source of a passage which had already influenced his language on so many different occasions.
L. R. M. STRACHAN. Heidelberg.
THE FIRST BARMAID. I should be much obliged for information as to when and where the first barmaid was employed. I am told that this was in a public -house in the City during the Crimean War, and that the innovation was due to the large number of men called up for service, and was rapidly copied, as it was found to attract customers. L. WYATT PAPWORTH,
Secretary and Treasurer, Women's Industrial Council. 7, John Street, Adelphi, W.C.
HENRY JAMES CHIPPINDALL was, accord- ing to the ' East India Register and Direc- tory for 1824,' appointed to the Indian, Civil Service in the year 1802 ; he was Collector of Inland Customs at Calcutta in 1824, and died in India about the year 1840, leaving a widow. He was said to be- brother-in-law to a Major-General Latter, H.E.I.C.S. His widow's death is recorded in The Gent. Mag. in 1850 as " Eliza Harri- son, widow of Henry James Chippindall r Esq., Bengal Civil Service." Any further information regarding him, particularly re- garding his parentage and descendants, if any, would be much appreciated.
W. H. CHIPPINDALL, Col.
Kirkby Lonsdale.
BARBERS AND YELLOW. What was the- reason why a barber's shop in Montargis,. and probably in other parts of France, was distinguished by yellow paint ? and why should the practitioners therein wear yellow waistcoats ? I read of two of them in Justin Masse's ' Les Deux Reves ' : " Us portaient la traditionnelle veste jaune " (p. 45). Some centuries ago the house of a traitor was made yellow (Judas colour) in France. ST. SWITHIN.
