Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/186

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148 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.x. FEB. 25, 1922.

Rector of Sherington, Bucks, who departed this life Nov. 30th, 1848, in the 60th year of his life.


A life of ceaseless occupation clouded, but could not obscure, those high and rare endowments with which he was abundantly gifted. He was esteemed rather for what he was, than for what he did. Warm, generous and sincere in hearty in mind and manners spotless and uncorrupt, his office as a Christian priest was adorned by his character as a man. Of a loving and truthful nature he ever was the regard of the good; of tried and unshaken principle he will not be forgotten by the wise. By those who enjoyed his friendship and knew his worth, his memory will be preserved in that enduring regret in which grief disguises itself as the fond remembrance of the excellence it laments.


"Earthland."—One of the first explanations given to the young student of English charters and rolls is that he must assume that terra, or its English equivalent land, means "arable land," other cultivated land being described as pratum, "meadow," &c., while pastura, boscus, &c., described the occupation of the other enclosed land.

To one so instructed the word earthland[1] is therefore a surprise. 'O.E.D.' gives instances of 826 (Charter of Ecgberht in Cod. Dipl., v. 84), c. 1000 (voc. in Wr.-Wülcker, 279), and 1885 (Archæological Journal, xlii. 271: this relates to the Thames estuary).

I contribute a quotation that does something towards completing the history of the word, and copy rather fully since (by some misunderstanding) the word appears in the article yardland of the 'O.E.D.' It is obviously impossible for an editor to look up the context of every quotation that reaches him. If what follows had been before him, he would not have inserted it as an instance of a word which, I am informed, was not used in Scotland.

On 19 June 1496, the King confirmed in mortmain a charter of Elizabeth Massun, relict of the late John Skrimgeoure, called "Jak," burgess of Dundee, dated 1 Mar. 1495—by which she granted to the chaplain of St. Bartholomew the apostle at the altar of Corpus Christi in the parish church of St. Mary of Dundee

Unam peciam terre in dicto burgo infra tenemen- tum quondam Nicholai Skrimgeour ex parte aus- trali vici fori, extendendo a gabulo aule nuncupate le Erie Dauid Huntlintoune Haw versus boream usque ad terrain anteriorem dicti tenement!, cum occidentali parte clausure seu venelle eidem pecie terre correspondent!, et aliam peciam terre prope australem partem dicti tenement! inter le yertland ejusdem et terram quondam dicti Nicholai, unacum parte dicte venelle eidem pecie

  • From EARTH sb.z [" The action of plough-

ing "] + LAND=Arable land (' O.E.D.'). terre correspondent! (' Begistrum Magni SigilH Begum Scotorum I. (18), 491, 492). Q. V. CUMULATIVE STORIES. Many cumulative' stories have appeared in ' N. & Q.' e.g., see 7 S. viii. 321 ; ix. 163, 461 ; xi. 161, 29410 S. ii. 50212 S. iv. 183. Probably these references are not exhaustive. There is a cumulative story in Hubert Pernot's ' Anthologie populaire de la Grece Modernej' Paris, Mercure de France, 1910, p. 180. The Greek songs, &c., are given only in French prose. The story begins, " Chante, coq, eveille le vieux." In English it runs : Crow, cock, wake the old man, who wa a guarding the garden and its little roses. There came a fox, that ate the cock, that waked the old man, &c. Then follow seven more stages : There came a dog, that ate the fox, that, &e. There fell a log, that killed the dog, that, &c. The oven was lighted, that burnt the log, that, &cv There came a river, and it put out the oven, that, &c. There came an ox, that drank up the river,. that, &c. There came a wolf, that ate the ox, that, &c. There came a gun, that killed the wolf, that, &c. The story is taken by Pernot from ' Recueil de chants populaires epirotes,' collected by Aravantinos, Athens, 1880,. p. 139, No. 200. I may point out that there is an interesting chapter on cumulative stories in ' Popular Tales and Fictions, their Migrations and Transformations,' by W. A.. Clouston, 1887, vol. i., pp. 289-313. ROBERT PIERPOINT. PRIVILEGES OF THE DEAN AND CANONS OF WINDSOR. Some of the terms expressing these are curious. The Dean and Chapter are free from payment of Ward penny, Aver penny, Tithing penny, and Hundred penny, and are discharged from Grithbrech, Forstall,. Homesoken, Blod-wite, Ward-wite, Heng-wite, Fight-wite, Leyr-wite, Lastage, &c. (quoted by Pote in 'Antiquities of Windsor'). Some of the terms in the latter list deserved a footnote in Mr. Pote's work. R. B. PORTRAITS OF COLERIDGE AND DICKENS. It may be of interest to note that in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts there is a portrait of Coleridge by Washington Allston. The ' D.N.B.' mentions Allston's portrait of Coleridge in the National Portrait Gallery, but the writer (Leslie Stephen) doubts the existence of another one. Artist

and sitter were in Rome in 1806, and in

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