Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/442

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434


NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xii. NOV. 28, 1903.


which skirted the path of the carriage in which he sat, the instructions for his capture ! Had he got out between Slough and Paddington, and not at the latter, he would have escaped, as the telegraph did not work at the intermediate stations."

I conclude from this last note that the wire was a special one laid down for royal pur- poses at Windsor Castle. Is that so?

THORNE GEORGE.

TAMBOURELLO (9 th S. xii. 329). This is called "lawn-tennis," played with tambourines in place of rackets we may assume a parch- ment bat. as in " battledore and shuttle- cock." A. H.

SIR HENRY SIDNEY'S HEART (9 th S. xii. 307). The following letter, communicated by Mr. Jas. W. Lloyd, of Kington, in whose posses- sion it is, appeared in Bye-Gones for 18 March, where a sketch of the urn was also given. The inaccuracies of the letter are followed in the copy :

Leominster, 23 iSep 1 ', 1807.

SIR, I have sent you a drawing of an urn in the Possession of Mr. Nicholas Bell in Leominster, in which [was] the heart of Sir Henry Sydney, Lord President of Ludlow Castle, the urn is made of thick lead, it does not appear to have had any lid to it. the urn I am of Opinion came into Mr. Nicholas's hands in the following manner, it was first in Possession of the lievd. Dr. Coningsby [vicar of Bodenham and rector of Pencombe, co. Hereford, who died 170(5], on whose dicease Mr. Harris, Attorney, late of this Town (deceased), came into possession of Several Manuscripts, Papers and other curiosities which the late Dr. Coningsby had col- lected with intention to publish an History of the County, amongst which was this urn. Mr. Cole- man, sen., married the widow of the late Mr. Harris, on his death it came into possession of his Son, Mr. J. Coleman, who gave it to Mr. Nicholas I cannot find the drawing of the Stones found at the Priory, but when I drop on them will send you a drawing of them. Yours Respectifully, F. HARRIS.

^(Addressed) Mr. Alien, Jun., Bookseller, High Street, Hereford.

E. W.

The urn referred to in the query is now placed in the mediaeval collection' at the British Museum. ANDREW OLIVER.

ENVELOPES (9 th S. xii. 245, 397). Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates ' states that envelopes for letters are mentioned by Swift, 1726. Until recently I had several envelopes dated 1856 addressed to my father, which had been franked through the post. Three or four of them were franked by Lord Fortescue. I have an envelope addressed to myself (not on H.M.S.) which is franked by the Duke of Cambridge, as " Cambridge," not " George." I can remember well a packet of unused envelopes being given to my mother, all franked by a member of Parliament, for her


future use. It was such abuse of the "frank " system that led to its abolition, I believe. I can certainly say I have seen numbers of envelopes franked, besides the above. Surely envelopes, as such, introduced commercially shortly after 1840, were nothing but a revival, and as a covering were used centuries ago. Under date 21 July, 1627, Secretary Conway gives an account of his " opening a letter in the presence of the King, which contained a blank sheet." And again, under date 19 Octo- ber, 1627, the writer of said letter " in treats inquiry into the device of leger-de-main, practised on his letter of July last."

For the moment I cannot say when Charles Lever wrote * Harry Lorrequer. 3 but in chap. xxix. occurs the following : " The waiter entered with a small note in an envelope." Again, in chap, xx.: "The entire envelope

was covered with writing The waterguard

officers will take it at eight-pence." This, therefore, must refer to a period anterior to the penny post. THORNE GEORGE.

[' Harry Lorrequer ' appeared in 1837.]

BLACKHEADS (9 th S. vii. 169, 253). I was inaccurate in saying that the 'H.E.D.' re- cognizes this word "only as the name of a bird " ; for it occurs there also as meaning a "marsh-worm." In 'A Cornish-English Vocabulary,' beginning on p. 64 of ' Archseo- logia Cornu -Britannica,' by William Pryce, M.D. (Sherborne, MDCCXC.), one finds, " Pedn, a head. See Pen. Pedn diu, young frogs, black heads; Pednan, id" If Dr. Pryce meant "black heads" to be a synonym of " young frogs," we must add the latter term to the senses mentioned under the ' H.E.D. 's ' head- ing ' Blackhead.' E. S. DODGSON.

NAVAL PRONUNCIATION (9 th S. xii. 28, 118, 257). I should have added to my list of words pronounced in a peculiar manner in the navy the word ensign, which becomes ensin at sea. In the army I can only remember two words with peculiar pronunciation : route, pro- nounced rout, and rations, pronounced rations. REGINALD HAINES.

THOMAS LLOYD, REPUBLICAN (9 th S. xii. 324, 378). The system of shorthand written by Lloyd was published at Philadelphia in 1793, during his absence in England, by a " J. C.," whose identity has not been satisfactorily established. A second edition was published by Lloyd himself in 1819. The alphabet is given in J. Ensign Rockwell's * Teaching, Practice, and Literature of Shorthand' (Wash- ington), 1884, where MR. AXON may compare it with that of Graves and Ashton (York), 1775. They are so nearly identical that they