332
NOTES AND QUEEIES. [a* s. v. APRIL 23, 1900.
" LUGGAGE TRAIN." I find Nuttall's * Eng
lish Dictionary ' recognizes this term. I hav
always considered it an amateurish way o
describing a goods train. Is there such
thing as a luggage train 1 The same die
tionary describes luggage as "traveller
trunks," which shows that an American die
tionary has been copied ; an English dictionar v
would have said " travellers' boxes." Trunk
is essentially an American word, though, o
course, English people use it occasionally. An
hotel waiter once said to me, " Those peopl
are American." I said, " How can you tel
that? they look just like English people
" No," was the reply ; " English traveller
would have asked if their boxes had arrived
they asked for their trunks." Certainly fo
the gigantic encumbrances Americans trave
with " trunk " seems more appropriate.
RALPH THOMAS.
EPITAPH. The following epitaph on the inner north wall of the chancel of Tenterden Church was copied by me recently :
"To the memory of the Reverend Matthew Wai lace, son of the Reverend Dr. Wallace of Edinburgh, Vicar of Tenterden, Doctor of Laws, who was born on the 28th of October, 1728, at Moffat in Scotland, and died at his Vicarage, on the 14th of November, 1771, aged 43 years and 6 days. Agreeable manners, great benevolence and excellent parts, united to extensive learning, pastoral fidelity and discourses uncommonly elegant as well as instructive, rendered him universally beloved, respected and esteemed in an English parish, even in Times during which the National Prejudices that had formerly subsisted were again attempted to be highly inflamed between the Northern and Southern divisions of Great Britain."
Pall Mall.
THEATRICAL DEADHEADS. I take this from the Era, 7 April :
" In the museum at Naples I was much interested in a case of theatrical tickets found in a tragic theatre in Pompeii. They were variously made in hone, ivory, and metal. You are aware, perhaps, that to this day the gallery of an Italian theatre is called the pigeon loft. Well, the little tickets for this part of the auditorium were in the shape of pigeons, while varying devices were used for other parts of the house. What attracted my attention most curiously, however, was a set of diminutive skulls modelled in ivory. These were used solely by those having the right of free admission. Now does not this suggest the very possible derivation of the term?"
The " deadhead," I may add, is the terror of present-day theatrical managers.
S. J. A. F.
"SOLDIERS' 'BACCA." In the forties, in North London, when, about this time of the year, the hedges began to burst into
green, it was common for juveniles to call
the new leaves "soldiers' 'bacca." It was
generally supposed, too, that soldiers of that
period used to smoke it in their pipes in lieu
of the genuine weed, just as we boys some-
times smoked short lengths of cane as sub-
stitutes for cigars and, I may add, with very
doleful consequences. HARRY HEMS.
Fair Park, Exeter.
"CENTORIE LANDS." In Exchequer De- positions of 6 James I., concerning the vicar- age of S. Tawton (of which the North Wyke family had been "farmers" or "proctors" since the dissolution, holding of the Dean and Canons of Windsor), there is allusion to the " Centorie " (also spelt " Century ") lands belonging to the said vicarage.
I had wondered whether the word might be derived from " precentor " (choirmaster) and signify chantry-house lands, but in Mr. Baring-Gould's ' Book of the West,' vol. ii., I have come upon, no doubt, the true interpre- tation. Dealing with political and eccle- siastical organization among the early Celts, he says :
"Every noble, arglwyd, or flath exercised rights of sanctuary, and the extent of his sanctuary con- stituted his llan or lawn Throughout Cornwall a
number of sanctuaries remain, under the name of sentry -fields"
ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.
HALLAM'S RIDDLE." In the Globe for 27 Feb. the following is printed :
Here, however, is an old riddle to which an answer has apparently never been found. Hallam,
- he historian, we are told, gave this riddle to a lady
- o solve, allowing her a year to do it in. Hallam
[ied before the year was up, and it was left un- answered :
'. sit on a rock whilst I 'm raising the wind, ut, the storm once abated, I'm gentle and kind ; 've kings at my feet who await but my nod n o kneel in the dust on the ground I have trod, 'ho' seen to the world, I'm known to but few ; 'he Gentile detests me, I 'm pork to the Jew ; '. never have passed but one night in the dark, And that was with Noah alone in the Ark ; Vly weight is three pounds, my length is a mile ; And when I'm discovered you'll say with a smile, 'hat my last and my first are the best of our Isle."
n the issue of the same paper for 1 March
- is stated that
those who do attempt Hallam's riddle come to gnominious grief. One correspondent says it is ' R,' )ut how does this square with ' My weight is three )ounds, my length is a mile ' ? "
As the correspondent who had suggested
R," I reminded the editor of the notorious
! amiliarity of " classic Hallam " with Greek,
nd as rho is the Greek name of r, his ob-
ection fell wide of the mark. At any rate,
ris was my solution :-
