194
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. v. JULY, 1919.
snout concealed in the fur of the breast, the hind
And fore claws locked together, and the bushy
tail thrown over all, as if for a shade from the s\in.
Though the collar bones are rudimentary, the
great anteater has great strength in its fore legs,
and is said to hug like a bear, so as to crush its
enemy to death."
The uardvaik (Orajeteropus capensis) of South Africa is a closely related type.
N. W. HILL.
" GET THE NEEDLE " (12 S. v. 151). The meaning given in the ' English Dialect Dictionary' to the expression "to get the needle " is " to be completely cheated," not, as J. R. H. assumes in his query, " to take offence." No explanation of the phrase is given.
(Miss) M. E. CORNFORD, Librarian. William Salt Public Library, Stafford.
This slang phrase i& illustrated in the 4 N.E.D.' under ' Needle,' in the sense of annoyance or irritation. J. H. Vaux's
- Flash Dictionary,' 1812, says : " To needle
a person is to haggle with him in making a bargain, and if possible take advantage of him." WM. JAGGARD, Capt.
The above phrase is evidently fairly common, as will be seen from the following extracts :
Needle (Tailors'). Got the needle, i.e., irritated as when the needle runs into a finger. Has spread generally over working classes, who have accepted the graphic nature of the phrase. Ware's ' Passing English of the Victorian Era.'
Barrere and Leland's ' Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant ' says :
Needle, The (General). Vexation, stinging annoyance. And it gives a man the needle when he hasn't got
a bob,
To see bis pals come round and wish him joy. Song ' You Should Never Marry.'
(Turf). " To get the needle " or " cop
the needle " is to be so goaded by " the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune " that the better loses his self-control and " plunges " wildly to recover his money.
(Athletics). To " get the needle " is to
feel very nervous and funky.
Farmer and Henley in ' Slang and its Analogues ' give many examples of the use of the phrase, from 1881 to 1898.
ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
MAY (12 S. v. 123, 164). Archer in his ' Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies,' 1875, has this information about the May family. The Rev. Wm. May was Rector of Kingston Cathedral Church, Jamaica. His first wife was Smart, the daughter of Edward and ElizabethjPennant
of Clarendon parish. She died 1722, aged
22. His second wife was Bathusa, daughter
of Florentius and Ann Vasaall of St. Eliza-
beth parish. She died 1746 ; by her he
had issue six sons and two daughters, five of
whom are buried in Kingston Church ; two
died at sea ; one was Florentius, who died
1747. His son, i.e., the Rev. W. May's son,
Rose Herring May, is the only chifd that
survived him, who, it is hoped, will inherit
his father's virtues as well as his fortune.?
Rose Herring May, his only surviving son,
born 1736-7, was Member of Council and
Gustos of Clarendon and Vere. He married
Mar. 28, 1759, Mary Trelawny Wigan (she
died 1786), by whom he had nine children.
He died 1791, and was buried in Spanish
Town. So I should think William, about
whom inquiry is made, was one of hisj
nine children. Grandfather May was at
St. John's College, Cambridge. Perhaps
Rose was another son of Rose Herring May.
Florentius, admitted in 1777, was perhaps
one of Rose Herring May's sons, as also John.
M.A.
FOLK-LORE : RED HAIR (12 S. ii. 128, 196,1 239, 379). What justification is there for) assuming that Rosalind was referring to red hair when she said : " His very hair is of the dissembling colour " (' As You Like It,' ] III. iv. 7-12) ? By Celia's reply at line 12 it would appear that chestnut colour was meant. ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.
ANGUISH STREET: "SCORES" (12 S. v. 122, 165). Forby in his ' Dictionary of East Anglia ' (1830) gives " score " as a gangway down the cliff to the beach for carriages of any kind. It comes from the A.S. scieren, to cleave or cut out. Anguish Street is probably named after the builder. Anguish is a rare name and is supposed to be a corruption of Angus. W. AVER.
Primrose Club, Park Place, St. James's, S.W.I.
" PENNILES BENCH " (12 S. v. 126, 163). About a mile and a half to the north-east of Winwick Church in South Lancashire there is a place marked as " Pennyless Bench " in the six-inch Ordnance Survey map engraved in 1849, which is at a point where three country lanes and a farm-road to Kenyon Hall Farm meet. I remember that it was known by the same name sixty years ago, when there was a large tree, I think it was an oak-tree, growing at the junction of the lanes, and around its roots a circular embankment of earth, overgrown with grass, afforded a seat for wayfarers in dry weather. J. P. R.
