12 s.x. MAR. 25, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 237
the water at high tide." See 'History of Totnes Priory and Medieval Town,' in which are many instances of the name. Hugh R. Watkin.
Chelston Hall, Torquay.
William Spry (12 S. ix. 510; x. 14).
It may interest C. H. S. to know that a
William Spry was Governor of Barbados.
He left an only daughter and heiress, Wil-
helmina, who was married on Aug. 30,
1792, to William Earle Welby, eldest son of
Sir William Earle Welby, Bart.
JAS. SETON-ANDERSON.
39, Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex.
OLDMIXON (10 S. vi. 249, 416). In
casually looking through some numbers
of ' N. & Q.' for 1906 I came across notes
regarding this family at the above references.
It would be interesting to know whom John
Oldmixon (1673-1742) married and what
issue he had. In this connexion the
following extract from The Edinburgh Adver-
tiser, dated Jan. 27, 1789, may be of
interest :
In the 84th year of her age, Mrs. Hannah Old-
mixon of Newland, Gloucestershire. This lady
was the daughter of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon,
Esquire, in the county of Somerset, the renowned
antagonist of Pope, and the great Whig historian
of the last century.
JAMES SETON-ANDERSON.
39, Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex.
CEEESE SAINT AND CHEESE SACRIFICES
(12 S. ix. 130, 239, 255, 279, 335). For
sacrificial gifts of cheese see ' Gregory of
Tours,' quoted by H6fler in the Archiv fur
Anthropoloqie, new series, vi., p. 10 Ib.
I owe the reference to the article ' Kase,' in
Hoops' s ' Reallexikon der Germanischen
Altertumskunde.' L. R. M. STRACHAN.
Birmingham University.
VERLAINE AT STICKNEY (12 S. ix. 429, 472'
518 ; x. 14). May I be allowed to supple-
ment my letter under this heading. On
looking through some volumes of cuttings
the other night I came across an article which
will be of interest to ST. SWITHIN as it deals
mainly with Verlanie's bearing at Stickney.
It was contributed to T. P.'s Weekly, now
happily come to life again under another
name, and entitled ' Paul Verlaine in Lincoln-
shire,' by One who knew him there. I
extract the following :
It says a good deal for Verlaine's personal bear-
ing that he quickly won toleration, and presently
popul u-ity. among the villagers. One of Verlaine's
Subjects in the school was drawing. This was
taught in class. The boys liked their teacher,
and none the worse because his unusual English
added lightness to the proceedings. Red faces
grew redder with suppressed mirth, until suppres-
sion failed, as Verlaine turned upon one rustic pupil
suffering from old-fashioned influenza, yet guiltless
of the use of the handkerchief, and roared out,
" Sweep your nose, sir ! sweep your nose ! " A
difficulty with some of the villagers was to get
at Verlaine's true designation. " Monsieur " was
taken as a first name, and they wished to be
respectful to the genial foreigner. So it came about
that he found himself addressed as " Mister
Mossoo," to his own great enjoyment.
Verlaine's good nature was great. One re-
members how tvo big boys used to presume on it
in the long walks they regularly took with him.
The question would be frequently propounded,
" What is the French for water ? " The answer
would be duly returned. " L'eau." Then the
tvo would be bracketed, " Waterloo ! How is
that, monsieur ? " Verlaine would give desperate
chase as the two boys sought safety in flight. He
took it all in excellent part. One remembers
teaching him to charge in the football field, the
lesson being accompanied by practical lessons upon
Verlaine's person. What wonder that English
boys' prejudices yielded to him, and they voted
him the freedom of the country. Verlaine went
to the plain-brick Wesleyan chapel in the village.
He was anxious to know the points of divergence
between church and chapel. He stored up one
sentence from a sermon, and would roil it out as
a stock quotation, " This question is shrouded
in impenetrable mystery." He attended the
Sunday School anniversary. . . . Verlaine's
quick sympathy appreciated the simple ritual and
the evident reality of the occasion.
A relaxation which Verlaine allowed himself
j was a trip to Boston on the Saturday school
holiday. The mode of conveyance was &- carrier's
spring-cart. Goods were carried as well as
passengers, and Verlaine woijld find himself mixed
up with baskets of butter and eggs, and crates of
poultry, and bags of farm produce.
At Boston he made friends, and later resided
there for a while. VerMne in the cn-rrier's cart
was a strange figure. He used to make He^er
sketches of himself wedf,ed in and obscured by
large countrywomen with exaggeratod baskets,
his own slim figure almost at vanishing point
under the pressure. The arrival of Verlaine's
mother at Stickney added a new interest to the
Klace. She had a room over the tailor's shop over-
>oking the rectory grounds, and almost beneath
the shade of the noble chestnut trees. She knew
no English at all and must have found the village
unutterably dull but for the devotion of her son,
who attended her with gentle assiduity. This
devotion was one of the touches quicklv appre-
ciated in the domestic atmosphere of old village
I life, and went straight to the hearts of the people.
His speech and his manners might be outlandish
and fair subject for their clumsy ridicule, but he
was a good son to his mother, and public opinion
regarded him, therefore, as a man who at all
events had the root of tho matter in him.
The arrival of Verlaine's mother at
! Stickney does not agree with Lepelletier.
W. A. HUTCH INSON.
32, Hotham Road, Putney, S.W.
