Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/246

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238


NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XL MARCH 21, IMS.


ceeded his brother as Viscount Molyneuxof Maryborough. Both brothers had fought under the Earl of Derby, and it is, perhaps, riot strange that the young wife should have fled to the Isle of Man for safety. The Earl and Countess of Derby and their children had withdrawn there after the raising of the first siege of Latham House in May, 1644, and the countess had apparently been there ever since. That others were m the castle besides the family -is, I think, implied in the letter from the earl to the countess, written when he was a prisoner at Chester, in which he tells her " to procure the best conditions you can for yourself, and our poor family and friends there" (Seacome's 'House of Stanley, p. 309). JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

Is your correspondent acquainted with 'The Story of Rushen Castle and Rushen Abbey in the Isle of Man/ by the Rev. J. G. Gumming 1 If not, I think he might study it with advantage.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

LINGUISTIC CURIOSITIES (9 th S. x. 245, 397, 456: xi 34, 172). When I was a youngster in the 52nd Regiment, twenty-five years ago, I was greatly interested in military slang a abject which has hardly received the atten- tion it merits and I remember that " scorf " was a common expression for " to eat," with a faint idea of hastiness or greediness. " Who 's the beggar that scorf ed my rooty " (i.e., that ate my bread.) "If I catch him he 'irget a telling-off; he will,_ man horse! " " Rooty " is the Hindustani ruti, picked up by the regiment in India, of course. Many regiments use Maltese words, or fragments of Spanish acquired at Gibraltar. "Man horse! " is a common phrase for enforcing an asseveration. Every soldier uses the verb " to stop " for to stay, to dwell, to be quar tered in a place. "Where are you stopping V means, Where is your regiment quartered " Have a drink, Tom 1 " " No, I 'm going up the pole." This means, I am avoiding drink and minding my conduct, with a view tc getting my lance-corporal stripe. A "square moll " is a respectable girl with whom a soldie keeps company, as distinguished from a female companion of easy virtue. "I'l watch it" is invariably said for I'll tak good care that such-and-such an untowar* event shall not occur. An interesting articl might be written on the phraseology em ployed by private soldiers and non-com missioned officers.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS. Town Hall, Cardiff.


ARMS WANTED (9 th S. xi. 8, 117, 195). In Burke, 1888, and in Debrett, 1901, the arms of Sir John St. Aubyn, Lord St. Levan, are given within a bordure wavy, and the crest is charged with a bendlet sinister wavy. These are the modern marks of illegitimacy at least in England. GEORGE ANGUS.

St. Andrews, N.B.

SMYTHIES FAMILY (9 th S. xi. 68, 196). A somewhat noted member of this family was homas By water Smithies, who died 20 July, 883. He was founder and editor of the British Workman, Band of Hope Review, and everal other kindred publications. See bituary notice in Athenaeum, 28 July, 1883. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

JOHN WILBYE, PL. 1598-1609 (9 th S. xi. 148) Absolutely nothing is known of the family >f this musician. I had at one time an mpression that it was an Eastern Counties name, and made inquiries at the Probate Jffices of Bury St. Edmunds, Ipswich, Peter-

orough, and Norwich for wills of persons _f the name, but without any result. If ?. J. A. S. wishes to pursue his investigations '. should suggest that the Lincoln Probate Office might possibly have some entries of }he name. The parish registers of St. Mary's, Bury St. Edmunds, have entries of a name which may be read as Wilbye, but very doubtfully. G. E. P. A.

FOOTPRINT OF THE PROPHET (9 th S. xi. 126). The following instance of a miraculous footprint has not, I think, been given in ' N. & Q.' I quote from the recently published ' Journal of a Tour in the Netherlands in the Autumn of 1815,' by Robert Southey, with an introduction by W. Robertson Nicoll. The place where the traveller saw the footprint is near Spa :

"Close by the other [springs] is a footstep cut in stone some four or five inches deep, with these words beside it : ' Le Pied de St. R. : Not knowing who the Saint might be, but not doubting that his footstep had been imprinted there for some good purpose, I enquired the meaning, and was informed that Ladies who desired to become fruitful were to set a foot in it and obtain their wish thro' the merits of St. Remacle." P. 141. I am not sure that I can identify this saint. Is it St. Remaclus, Bishop of Maastricht, whose life occurs in Butler's ' Lives of the Saints ' under 3 September?

EDWARD PEACOCK.

Wickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey.

RECORDS IN MATERNITY (9 th S. xi. 66, 152). While dealing with this subject, reference might surely be made to 2 ud S. vii. 260, with