170
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. AUG. 26, 1916.
more decisive as to the spuriousness of the
productions, because they are impressed on
separate pieces of parchment, which are
stitched on to the charters. In other words,
as Mr. Stevenson says,
" the fabricators of these charters, deeming that seals were necessary to them, could only procure them by cutting the seals and pieces of the parchment to which they were attached from other deeds, and then sewing the parchments and seals on to these charters."
It is worth while to repeat that Mr. Stevenson's exposure of these forgeries is absolutely conclusive, because the seals in question are still quoted as illustrations of Anglo-Saxon usage. For example, Dr. K. Brandi, Professor at Gottingen, draws special attention to them in a contribution to the Gottingische Oelehrte Anzeigen, 1905, p. 955 ; and they are produced as evidence in the last (eleventh) edition of ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica,' xxiv. (1911), 540.
R. L. P.
A SUBURBAN FALB OF 1816. The Observer recently reprinted the following extract from its issue of Aug. 4, 1816 :
" West End Fair at Hampstead concluded on Monday last. In two out of fifty or sixty of the booths erected there were no less than two hun- dred dozen of bottled porter drunk, beside wine, tea, and other refreshments. All the others were proportionately full of company, and the Village of West End for the whole three days and nights of the fair presented a scene of mirth and festivity which was unalloyed by either accident or disturb- ance."
The merrymakers in the " Village " of Hampstead of those days would appear to have been of a somewhat bibulous inclina- tion. Let us hope the porter was light.
CECIL CLARKE.
Junior Athenaeum Club.
KINGSWAY. It is perhaps worth noting that there was a street called " Kings way " or " The Kings way " a hundred and seventy and two hundred years ago, though very probably the London County Council were aware of the fact when they named the new street which runs south from High Holborn to Aldwych. In Edward Hatton's ' Xew View of London,' 1708, p. 43, we read :
" Kings way, or road, betn Kings gate sir. or Theobalds road W. and Grays inn lane E. It lies on the X. side of Grays inn walks."
In the map called ' A Survey of London, made in the year 1745,' reprinted by Mason & Payne, it appears as " The Kings Way," being the eastern part of Theobalds Row (now Road), between the corners of Bedford Row and Graies Inn Lane. In later maps
its name is Kings Road, e.g., in Fairburn's
'Plan of London and Westminster,' 1796;
Langley & Belch's ' Xew Map of London,'
1816; Wallis's ' Guide for Strangers through
London, and its Environs,' 1824.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
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.
1. " TO HAVE BEEN IX THE SUN." The
earliest available reference for this phrase in its familiar meaning of " to be drunk " is The Oentleman's Magazine of 1770, vol. xl. p. 559. Dickens, in ' The Old Curiosity Shop,' chap, ii., has a variant :
" Last night he had had the sun very strong in his eyes."
There is no clue to the origin of these phrases, unless it be contained in the following extract from a sermon by the Puritan divine Robert Harris, entitled ' The Drunkard's Cup,' 1619, p. 21 :
" They bee buckt [i.e., soaked] with driuke, and then laid out to bee Sunn'd and scornd."
Does this refer to a practice of ejecting a drunken man from a tavern and leaving him to sun himself outside, to the scorn of passers- by ? Can any evidence be produced as a link with the modern phrase ?
2. "WRITTEN IN SUNBEAMS." I have not succeeded in tracking this phrase to its origin. Jortin, in a sermon of 1751, says :
" The great duties of life are written with a Sun-beam."
Farrar, in ' Darkness and Dawn,' chap, xlvi., writes :
" Such words fall too often on our Cold and careless ears with the triteness of long familiarity ; but toOctavia they seemed to be written in sun- beams."
Is the phrase known to readers of ' N. & Q.' ? Can other examples be quoted ?
3. " ONE'S PLACE IN THE SUN. This expression is now a household word on account of the German Emperor's use of it. I should be glad to be informed of the date of this, and what German words were used . The phrase occurs in Italian form in 1879 in Barrili's ' Cuor di Ferro,' chap. xix. :
"Son debolezze e disdicono ad un uomo
chi ha da guadagnarsi ancora it suo posto al sole."
