9* s. V.JUNE 16, IMC.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
479
The "old order" completely changes. Men
stand about the walls of the ballroom
waiting " to be asked," and look pictures of
sheepish anxiety until they are curtseyed to,
and led forth to the dance by blushing
maidens. Whether this be considered equiva-
lent to an offer of marriage I cannot say,
but if repeated frequently throughout the
dancing season, it might certainly be expected
to bring about the desired result. B.
In the Midland counties, at any rate, the " convention " is as MR. THOMPSON supposes, and ladies may use their privilege through- out the whole year. I need scarcely say I have never known one do so, except as a joke. (See, by the way, Brewer's ' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.') C. C. B.
For an article by the late Cuthbert Bede, touching on all the points contained in this query, see ' N. & Q.,' 2 nd S. i. 9. An extract from a work on ' Courtship, Law, and Matri- mony,' published in the year 1606, will be found in 4 th S. viii. 505. Reference to a so- called Scottish Parliament Act of 1228, and the non-existence of such an Act, is treated on in 7 th S. x. 188, 293.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
THEBAL (9 th S. v. 337). If this name is a contraction for Theobaldus, then Husenbeth, in his ' Emblems of Saints ' (Dr. Jessopp's third edition), gives two saints who were so named, viz., St. Theobald, a bishop of un- known, but early date, who is represented, in episcopal vestments, upon the pulpit at Hempstead Church, and of whom a painting formerly existed upon the rood-screen in the same edifice; and St. Theobald the Con- fessor, whose day is 1 July, and who died in A.D. 1150 The same author quotes that an illustration of the latter gentleman, with shoemaker's tools about him, may be found in ' Ikonographie der Heiligen,' J. v. Radowitz, Berlin, 1834. HARRY HEMS.
Fair Park, Exeter.
The late Canon Bardsley, in his 'English
Surnames,' says : " St. Theobald represents
a name whose susceptibility to change was something amazing." There are many in- teresting variants at p. 59, the nearest to the form required being Tebald. Smith and Wace's 'Dictionary of Christian Biography' does not include a Theobald, canonized or otherwise. ARTHUR MAYALL.
ANCESTORS (8 th S. xii. 65, 133, 211, 332, 475 ; 9 th S. i. 170, 272). In the pocket 'Spanish and English Dictionary ' of F. C. Bustamante,
the word antecesar is translated "prede-
cessor, forefather." A forefather is only
one kind of ancestor. In a note on the
latter word I said a Lord Mayor could use
it in speaking of his predecessors at the
Mansion House. It is worth noting that
mayors in Spain use the Castilian equivalent
of it, which is antecesor, in this very sense.
Thus, in El Correo de Guif/uzcoa, published in
San Sebastian, 18 May, you may read :
"Contestando el Alcalde a las liltimas mani- festaciones del senor Echeverria dijo que, en efecto, en uno de los primeros dias de Julio le llevaron a casaun baul enviado por su antecesor, que acabaha de cesar en el cargo."
The translation whereof is this :
"The Mayor, in reply to the last declarations of Mr. Newhouse, said that, as a fact, on one of the first days of July they brought him to his house a bale sent by his ancestor, who had just left off ceding his place in the office."
That happened at Renteria, in the province of Guipuzcoa. PALAMEDES.
EXTENT OF ST. MARTIN'S PARISH (9 th S. v. 397) Will H. T. B. state where the pas- sage he quotes comes from ; the edition, the volume, the page, and the date of Horace Walpole's letter? I have carefully looked through two editions of Horace Walpole's letters of the year 1776, and cannot find this passage. I think I can explain the meaning of it, but would prefer not to do so until I see the letter itself with the context.
H. B. P.
Inner Temple.
CUMBERLAND'S ' JEW ' (9 th S. v. 416). This play was acted at the Surrey Theatre so late as 7 August, 1839, with Dowton in the part of Sheva (the Jew). WM. DOUGLAS.
125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.
MALACHY DUDENY (9 th S. v. 416). There was a Malachi Dudeney who was a prominent merchant in Exeter in the middle of the seventeenth century. He is mentioned in the will of his brother-in-law, dated 8 April, 1653, as well as in a list in the P.R.O. sup- posed to have been written before 1635. I believe he belonged to the family of Dudeneys of Stoke Canon, Devon. I have a number of notes concerning him which I have not at hand at present ; when I can look them up I shall be pleased to lend them to MR. DUDENEY. (Mrs.) F. B. TROUP.
Offwell House, Honiton.
GENIUS AND LARGE FAMILIES (9 th S. v. 433). Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was one of a family of twenty children, and Haydn one of twelve children by the same mother. Franz
