12 S. II. DEC. 16, 1916.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
497
"leaf." Ascham uses it, 1543, in ' Toxo-
philus.' Dekker, in ' The Wonderfull Yeare,'
Bk. IV., tells us that Queen Elizabeth
" came in the fall of the leafe, and went
^away in the Spring " (1603). Robert
Armin, 1609, ' Two Maids,' Sig. D., has :
' 'Tis the time of yeare, the fall of leafe,
Sir." So Webster in ' The Devil's Law-
Case,' 1623 : " With me, 'tis Fall o' th'
Leafe."
Perhaps I may add that I expect shortly to be in the United States, and hope to confer -with possible benefactors who may enable TOO to produce a third volume of ' An American Glossary.' If sufficiently en- -couraged, I am ready to recast the entire work. I am hopeful, though not sanguine. RICHARD H. THORNTON.
MR. PAGE says that " cricket " is in common use in Northamptonshire for a low, four-legged stool. The variant, a " crackie," or " crackie-stool," is in common use in the Lowlands qf Scotland.
I have always understood the stool to be so called because it was a low, cosy seat used "by housewives when having a friendly and ^confidential " crack, or tete-a-tete con- versation. The name or derivation seems ieasibte. ANDREW HOPE.
Exeter.
"PRIVILEGES OF PARLIAMENT" (12 S. ii. 411). As for the privileges of members generally MR. PRICE should consult Stephen's ' Blackstone,' vol. ii. pp. 340-45 of the 1880 edition ; and Sir William Ansqn on ' Law and Custom of the Constitution,' vol. i. pp. 47 and 184. The privilege of franking letters was claimed by the House of Commons in 1660 in a bill for erecting and establishing a post office. The clause embodying this claim was struck out by the Peers, but with the proviso in the Act as passed for the free carriage of all letfers to
- and from the King and the great officers of
State and the single inland letters of the members of that present Parliament during that session only. The practice seems to have been tolerated until 1764, when it was legalized, each Peer and Member of Parlia- ment being allowed to send free ten letters a day, not exceeding an ounce in weight, to ny part of the United Kingdom, and tc receive fifteen. The Act did not restrict the privilege to letters either written by or to a member, and it was easily abused, members receiving and sending letters for friends, <ince all that was necessary was the signature of the peer or member in the corner of the envelope. In 1837 the scandal had become
so great that stricter regulations were en-
forced; On Jan. 10, 1840, parliamentary
franking was abolished on the introduction
1 of the uniform penny rate. See ' Encyclo-
j paedia Britannica,' llth ed., under 'Frank-
ing.' A. GWYTHER.
In 1429 the Commons were allowed to have freedom from arrest, though this right was not established by statute, and in 1433 they obtained definite recognition of the right to immunity from molestation for " members of either House coming to Parlia- ment or Council by the King's command." Freedom from arrest and liberty of speech were asserted with varying success in the sixteenth and the early part of the seven- teenth centuries.
Sir William Widdrington, 1st Baron Widdrington (1610-51) was sent to the Tower by the House of Commons for bringing in candles on June 8, 1641, without authority, but was released on the 14th.
A. R. BAYLEY.
An interesting chapter on this subject will be found in Macdonagh's ' Parliament : its Romance, its Comedv, its Pathos' (pp. 406, London, P. S. King, 1902, 8vo). On pp. 145-58 the author dates privileges back to Henry VIII. The legal aspect of such privileges is considered by Sir T. E. May in ' A Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, &c., of Parliament,' p. 44, et seq. ; and the same subject is discussed by Dr. Rudolf Gneist in ' Student's History of the English Parliament,' 1887, at p. 240 et seq.
ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
SUBSTITUTES FOR PILGRIMAGE (12 S. ii. 389). Several illustrations of mediaeval labyrinths still existing in French churches are to be found in Enlart's ' Manuel d'arche- ologie fran?aise,' vol. i. chap. vii. (Acces- soires de 1' architecture religieuse). In con- nexion with them he remarks :
" Parmi les ornementsaignificatifsdes pavements d'e'glises, le labyrinths nierite une mention sneciale. On appelle ainsi un motif de rosace circulaire era de polygone rempli d'une seule ligne contournee d'une facon savante et symetrique. Avec quelque habileU et surtout beaucoup de patience, on peut suivre nette ligne de la cir- conference au centre, et telle est sa longueur qu'il fallait parfois une heure pour en suivre a genoux tous les detours. Le jeu de patience qui consistait a le parcourir etait un exercice de piet procurant des indulgences :\ defaut de pelerinages lointains. Certains labyrintlies sont tres petite, et il en est mme qui sont appliques sur un paroi verticale, comme k la cathedrale de Poitiers. C'est du doigt quo ceux-lk e"taient destines <\ etre parcourus."
Langstone, Erdington. BENJ '
