LORD FANNY (7th S. vi. 69, 133).—I really must protest against such a reckless "guess as that of MR. E. H. MARSHALL. The Rev. Francis Hodgson has not been dead many years. He was Provost of Eton and Archdeacon of (I think) Derby; he lived all his life among scholars and distinguished men, and neither they, nor old Etonians, nor his surviving relatives (one of whom happens to be a personal friend of my own) would willingly allow that there was anything effeminate about him. E. WALFORD, M.A.

7, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W.

That is, "Llanllwch was, Caermarthen is, Aber-
gwili shall stand." The other prediction is ac-
credited to a Glamorganshire prophet :-
Llandaf y sydd,
Llandaf a fydd,

Llandaf a godir o gerig Caerdydd.
That is, "Llandaff now stands, Llandaff will always
stand; with Cardiff stones will Llandaff be built."
Some remarks on these prophesies appeared in the
Red Dragon and also in Cymru Fu, the Cambrian
Notes and Queries.
ARTHUR MEE.
Llanelly.

[MR. JULIUS STEGGALL repeats the information sup

"LINCOLN WAS, LONDON IS, AND YORKE SHALL plied by the REV. ED. MARSHALL.] BE" (7th S. vi. 108).-The old distich

Lincoln was, London is, and York shall be The fairest city of the three, is noticed in two articles on Yorkshire Local Rhymes and Sayings' which appear in the Folklore Record, vol. i. p. 160; vol. iii. p. 177. Fuller is cited as remarking in his 'Worthies':"That Lincoln was-namely a far fairer, greater, richer city than it now is-both plainly appears by the ruins thereof, being without controversies the greatest city in the kingdom of Mercia. That London is we know, but that York shall be God knows.' Those who hope that it may become the English metropolis, he adds, 'must wait until the river Thames runs under the great arch of Ouse bridge.'

Admitting that, however, a city may be exceeding fair without having any claim to surpassing hugeness or to political or commercial importance.

As yet York seems to be utterly regardless of her destiny, and things are done in her midst which apparently tend to retard rather than to help on the fulfilment of the prophecy. Nevertheless the consequences of a battle of Dorking may bring it about much sooner than any one would be willing to predict. ST. SWITHIN.

W. Perkins, in his 'Fruitful Dialogue concerning the End of the World,' instances as a "flying prophesie" "Canterburie was, London is, and Yorke shall be," with a marginal note, "In the north they say, Lincolne was" (Collected Works,' folio, 1618, p. 468). WALTER HAINES.

Faringdon, Berks.

Hazlitt, in English Proverbs,' 1882, has, "Lincoln was,' CL. (Clarke's 'Paroemiologia,' 1639, but without reference). There is an amplified version of this proverb in Brome's 'Travels,' 1700, 8vo. :Lincoln was, and London is, And York shall be,

The fairest city of the three."

ED. MARSHALL.

Two popular sayings in Welsh of the same character as that quoted by MR. PLOMER have come under my notice. The first is attributed to Mer

lin :

Llanllwch fu,
Caerfyrddin sydd,
Abergwili saif.

LONG TENURE OF A VICARAGE BY FATHER AND SON (7th S. vi. 65).-The circumstance mentioned by CUTHBERT BEDE is very remarkable, cap" it by but it is not unprecedented. I can long odds. In 1861 I sent a note to N. & Q' (2nd S. xii. 141) entitled 'Parochialia, Blisland, Cornwall,' containing a list of institutions to the rectory of that parish from 1410 to 1834. On referring to that communication it may be noticed that the Rev. William Pye was instituted (April 10) 1780. He died in January or February, 1834, and in the last-named month his son, the Rev. Francis Woolcock Pye, was instituted. This, perhaps, so far, is not very remarkable; but when I say that the last-named clerk is still living and without assistance performs all the duties of his office it becomes so, the father and son having already held the benefice a hundred and eight years three months and more. What, perhaps, is still more extraordinary, the present rector, after a long widowhood, at the age of eighty-four married a second wife, who about a year after such marriage gave birth to a daughter. One other remarkable circumstance in this vigorous old gentleman is that for many years he considered himself an invalid and lived most abstemiously. He has never used spectacles, and writes a hand which a writingmaster might envy.

This, however, is not all I have to say respecting the tenure of this benefice. The Rev. Stephen Hickes, the predecessor of William Pye, was instituted October 13, 1718, and held the benefice sixty-two years, so that it has been held by three incumbents, one of whom is still living and active, for the long period of 170 years, an average of upwards of fifty-six years. John Dell, the predecessor of Stephen Hickes, was unfortunate; he died after a tenure of only nine years. But, one step further! The predecessor of John Dell was instituted in 1660, so that there have been only five incumbents since the Restoration, and from 1529, when Thomas John was instituted, who held the benefice through the stormy period of the middle of the sixteenth century down to 1581. In fact from 1529 to the present day, a period of nearly 360 years, the benefice has been held by eleven rectors only, and from

1266 down to the present time, 662 years, by
twenty-seven (see 'N. & Q.,' 6th S. xii. 77). The
date of the institution of each rector may be seen
in my History of Trigg Minor,' vol. i. pp. 51-53.
I challenge the readers of N. & Q.' to bring
forward a similar case.
JOHN MACLEAN.
Glasbury House, Clifton.

The Rev. F. Beadon, Canon of Wells, died June 10, 1879, aged 101 years, having been rector of North Stoneham for more than sixty-eight years. He was presented to the living in succession to his father, Edward Beadon, who had held it from 1761 till his death on Dec. 10, 1810, at the age of eightyone; so it remained in the hands of father and son without a break for 118 years.

PHILIP NORMAN. PASSAGE FROM RUSKIN (7th S. vi. 108).—The passage in question will be found in 'Fors Clavigera,' Letter V., May 1, 1871, p. 10.

EILDON DOUGLAS.

[Many correspondents supply the same information, and some quote the passage, which is at the service of G. F. R. B.]

SOAPY SAM (7th S. vi. 46, 95).-This story is not even now told in the form in which I used to hear it five-and-twenty years ago, and which, I think, is obviously correct. Query: Why is the Bishop of Oxford called "Soapy Sam"? Answer (by the bishop himself): Because, although he is often in hot water, he always comes out with clean hands. JOHN WOODward.

It is painful to see a good story mangled, even if not genuine. The tale related should be: Bishop Wilberforce, of Oxford, being asked by a young lady, with more familiarity than taste, "Why are you called 'Soapy Sam'?" replied, "I suppose because I have often been in hot water and always came out with clean hands."

WILLIAM FRASER of Ledeclune, Bt. [C. C. B. and KILLIGREW supply the same correction.]

cester side. I would like to know whether we
had any other city than York and Bristol walled
all round, like foreign ones, instead of having
their river for part of their boundary.
E. L. G.

ETYMOLOGY OF WHISK OR WHIST (7th S. vi. 146, 178).-CELER's insinuation at the last reference, that I "changed Skinner's Viffte into Visste merely to insinuate a groundless etymology," is a groundless insinuation, and ranks among those (fortunately rare in N. & Q.') which deserve no reply. The fact is simply that I (rightly or wrongly, but innocently) suggested the possibility of "a mere misprint" in Skinner, which, if a sin, is no worse than CELER has himself done in his own note. The long s is often confused with the f.

If I was wrong, I was misled by Skinner, who associated the Danish word with "Teut. Wischen" as an alternative. But Viffte is not necessary to my theory, for Prof. Skeat, in his 'Etymological Dictionary,' quotes the "Dan. Viske, to wipe, rub, sponge; from visk, sb., a wisp, a rubber; Swed. viska, to wipe, to sponge, from viska, a whisk." What one could have more nearly approaching the principle of the "swabber" I am at a loss to imagine.

CELER says that "the E. whisk is a misspelling for wisk, as the history shows, so that the wh in it is unoriginal." Unoriginal it may be, but assuredly the h was there long before the word was used as the name of a game, as "history shows" in the works of Gascoigne, Skelton, Beaumont and this game was first called whisk, and not whist, Fletcher, &c. At any rate, we must recollect that which was only a corruption of the earlier name. Those who adopt the notion that the name means word whisk being used in that sense in English. "hush" have not yet shown an instance of the

JULIAN MARSHALL.

May an old whist-player be allowed a word on this subject from a non-scientific point of view, having no acquaintance with etymology as a BRISTOL (7th S. iv. 225; vi. 108).-In Carlisle's science. The popular belief is that whist is 'Topog. Dict. of England,' 1808, I find that "pre- some derivative of husb," implying silence, and vious to its being dissevered from the counties of by sequence enforcing it upon both players and Gloucester and Somerset, and made a county of it- spectators. It is difficult to conceive that any self, it was reckoned by the Parliamentary Rolls in game should be named with reference to its possible the county of Somerset." That seems about as onlookers; and in respect to the players themselves, reasonable as calling London in Surrey, except so far from being a game of silence or secrecy, that Bristol, when actually in population our every card played is the medium of conversation, second city (but claiming only the third largest to the partner hand especially, and to the other extent of walls), had a little of its walls south of hands if they have the wit to observe it. Speakits river, while London had none. Another pecu-ing (with the cards instead of the tongue) is, in liarity was having a church larger than its cathe-fact, the very essence of the game. The four of dral, and this unique parish church was its only public building on the Somerset side of the stream. But certainly its "nucleus" (whether castle, cathedral, or marts), as well as most of its walls and population, was always on the Glou

spades, say, is led by X. (first lead in that suit). By so doing X. tells his partner, as distinctly as the game permits, "Du wist (Dutch, weiszt, German, thou knowest) now I have neither the two nor three of that suit." It is needless to multiply

this illustration. Every card played conveys an intimation, either complete in itself or to be completed later in the game. The popular attribute of silence is utterly fallacious. The origin of the game is (probably irrecoverably) lost. TraditionCAUF (7th S. v. 287, 517).-Spelt corf in ally it is rather Latin than Teutonic. Possibly used for drawing coal out of the pits, made of Brockett's Dictionary.' A large wicker basket,

the Antients. Exceeded only by himself in a like invention, which was that of an Iron Fly......which at a Feast,

to which he had invited some of his especial friends, flew from his hand about the room, and returned again, as is affirmed by Peter Ramus, Expressed thus by Divine Du Bartas," &c.-P. 399.

See also Wanley's 'Wonders of the Little World' (1678), p. 224, where, among other references, the following are given: Pet. Ramus, 'Schol. Matb.,' 1. 2; Versteg., 'Rest. of Decayed Intellig,' c. 2, p. 53; Keckerman in 'Physic,' 1. c. iv. p. 1368; Du Bartas in sixth day of the first week. Archytas, Governor of Tarentum, "made a wooden pigeon which could fly" (Lemprière).

J. F. MANSERGH.

In A Treatise upon the Art of Flying,' by
Thomas Walker, 1810, there are drawings of such
machines.
W. C. B.

G. P. R. JAMES: 'THE COMMISSIONER' (7th S. vi. 27, 111). As supplemental to my note on Charles Lever and G. P. R. James, it may be pertinent to subjoin the following extract from a letter addressed to me on March 3, 1873, by the highly distinguished "A. K. H. B.," of St. Andrew's, Scotland :

"The traces of Lever's hand in Kilgobbin' seem very plain. But a young man in Edinburgh has given out that he is in fact the author of Lord Kilgobbin.' He says that he wrote a good many of the earlier chapters, as they came out in the Cornhill; and that then, having to go to India, he sold his work, so far as it was done, together with a sketch of what was to follow, to the proprietors of the magazine, who then employed Lever to finish it; the Edinburgh man not knowing till the book was completed and published that Lever was the man who finished it. It is certainly hard if a man like Lever is to be represented as dressing himself in borrowed plumes, which never mortal less needed to do."

The claim, to carry any weight, should have been made in the lifetime of Lever. A perusal of his private letters during the progress of Kilgobbin,' of which I possess a great number addressed to Major Dwyer, leaves no room to doubt that Lever alone was the author-apart from the internal evidence revealing its paternity.

To the list of books which Lever certainly did not write may be added 'Major O'Connor,' by the author of 'Charles O'Malley.' Lever, in a letter now before me, brands it as a forgery. But no doubt he often borrowed names and incidents. The Hibernian Journal; or, Chronicle of Liberty, published at Dublin in December, 1776, contains "The Tour of Cornelius O'Dowd,' marked by humour like Lever's own. No reference is made by Lever in 'Cornelius O'Dowd' to this old production; but the coincidence can hardly have been accidental, especially as in a letter to James MacGlashan Lever thanks him for a file of old Dublin newspapers printed about the year 1776, and sent to Spezzia in 1866, where Lever then lived.

W. J. FITZPATRICK.

No author's name is on the title-page of the copy of this book in my possession, which is presumably the first edition. It is printed, as follows:

"The Commissioner: | or, | De Lunatico Inquirendo. With Twenty-eight Illustrations on Steel | by | Phiz s. Orr and Company London. | Fraser and Co. Edin| Dublin | William Curry, Jun. and Company. William burgh. | 1843."

On the next page is the following dedication:Vices of | The British People, | This Faint and In"To that illustrious Body | The Faults, Follies, and adequate Attempt To place in the Prominent Situation which they deserve, | a few of the Principal Members | of that numerous and Remarkable Band, | is dedicated, With a most profound sense of their merits | By | their most humble and obedient servant, | F. de Lunatico K.F.M. F.S.ST. L., &c."

If the style is father to the man, it may be safely said that 'The Commissioner' does not in any way resemble that of G. P. R. James, nor is it a book which either he or Lever might be proud of owning. The illustrations by Phiz are about his average, most of them more or less caricatures, and probably, commercially speaking, the work was a failure. Can it be that the work was a joint production, or written by James and floated under the editorship of Lever? Would not a reference to the Dublin University Magazine of about the date 1842-3 be likely to contain some information throwing light upon the points? It is not a singular instance in the publishing world of a work being written by one author and floated under the protection and name of another in order to obtain a sale. The subjoined is extracted from a bookseller's recent catalogue :

"582. Phiz's Illustrations. Hook's Peter Prigging, The College Scout, edited by Theodore Hook, with 8vo, cloth uncut (titles stamped), 14s. 6d. Scarce. Colhumorous plates by Phiz, original edition, 3 vols. post burn, 1841."

This book was really written by the Rev. William Hewlett, Head Master of Abingdon School, and originally published in the New Monthly Magazine, then edited by Theodore Hook.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. MR. FITZPATRICK does not seem to be aware that the Maxims of Sir Morgan O'Doherty' is an early work of John Gibson Lockhart.

H. G. KEENE.

ROBERT NUGENT DUNBAR (7th S. iv. 508).-This gentleman, about whom G. G. inquires, was the representative of the family of Dunbar of Machermore, parish of Minigaff, stewartry of Kirkcudbright. He married in 1856, Annette Ellen, daughter of the Rev. Anthony Pingleton Atcheson, rector of Teigh, Rutland. His eldest surviving son, Robert Lennox Nugent Dunbar, succeeded him and is now owner of the property. Machermore House is a picturesque building of the

sixteenth century on the east bank of the Cree, near Newton Stewart. The property was purchased from the family of Macdowall in 1623 by Alexander, second son of John Dunbar of Enterkin, in the county of Ayr, who was a cadet of the family of Dunbar of Blantyre. The latter descended from Cuthbert, second son of Sir John Dunbar of Mochrum and Cumnock, who obtained the barony of Blantyr from his elder brother Patrick about the year 1437. The Dunbars of Mochrum in turn were decended from George, third son of Patrick, tenth Earl of Dunbar and March (the second son becoming Earl of Moray), who, on July 25, 1368, got a charter of the lands of Camnock, Blantyre, and Mochrum. The origin of the family in Scotland is traced to Cospatric, Earl of Northumberland (this earldom was administrative, not hereditary), who obtained the lands of Dunbar, in Haddington, from Malcolm Canmore, and whose son is styled Cospatricius Comes in one of the writs of Colding. ham, A.D. 1130.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

MUNCELLAM LAPIDEAM (7th S. vi. 107). The meaning and derivation of muncella are not far to seek. It is merely a provincial mode of spelling moncella or moncellus, a little hill, a mount. In the Provençal dialect mont becomes mon or mun (vide Littré, sub voc.), so that the Low Latin moncellus becomes muncellus. The "Moncellus Gervasii" of the Middle Ages changes to the French "Monceau St. Gervais." In Italian monceau takes the form of mucchio, being, I suppose, a degraded form of mu(n)chio=mucchio.

The Provençal dialect has close affinity with Italian. In the latter the vowels o and u are frequently interchanged, e. g., munire, munisterio, munitione for monire, monasterio, monitione, &c. "Usque quandam muncellam lapideam" defines the boundary as being "up to a certain rocky hillock," or possibly "heap of stones."

Sandyknowe, Wavertree.

J. A. PICTON.

May not muncella be an attempt to Latinize the Old French word moncel=Modern French monceau, a heap? If I am right in this conjecture, muncella lapidea would mean what is commonly called in the north a cairn-a very obvious mark for a boundary. It may be objected that moncel would make moncellus, and not muncella; but the Norman-French form of the word is mouceau and mouchel, which may account for the change of the vowel o into u. The change of gender is more difficult to account for, but cf. cerveau and cervelle, both derived from cerebellum.

EDGAR MACCULLOCH.

a very apposite quotation: "XIIe S...... Puis
ruerent Absalon en une grant fosse, e jeterent
pierres sur lui, si que il i out un grant muncel."
The derivation is from the Latin monticellus,
diminutive of mons, montis, through the Provençal
moncel.
JULIAN MARSHALL.

[Answers to the same effect are acknowledged from the REV. ED. MARSHALL, M. T. M. W., &c.]

ANSON'S VOYAGES' (5th S. iii. 489; iv. 78, 100, 396; 7th S. vi. 92).-It would appear that Mr. Walter was accepted as the author of the popular edition of Lord Anson's Voyage round the World,' at the time of its publication, by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1748. At pp. 251-4 there is given "An Account of the Spanish Squadron commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro, abridg'd from chap. iii. of a Voyage round the World compiled by Rich. Walter, A.M., from Lord Anson's Papers, and publish'd under his Lordship's Direction." In the course of the narrative occurs the sentence, "With this motly crew (says Mr. Walter) Pizarro set sail,"” &c.

I have an octavo copy of the work published in Dublin, 1748-the seventh edition-which has a similar title to that given at 5th S. iv. 78, and which also contains the dedication to John, Duke of Bedford, &c., signed by Richard Walter.

Liverpool.

J. F. MANSERGH.

He says,

Since writing my former reply I have had the advantage of consulting the Dictionary of National Biography,' in which the writer of the article "Anson, George," seems to set the vexed question of editorship at rest. "Though Robins was certainly employed as sub-editor and assistant (Piercy Brett to Cleveland, Jan. 3, 1747-8), there is no reason to doubt the plain statement on the title-page"; and he then refers to my father's communications to 'N. & Q.' He adds, "Whether edited by Walter or Robins, the book was virtually written by Anson himself, as stated on the title-page, and as affirmed by Anson's friends" (Barrow, p. 408). Where can I find the letter of Piercy Brett, who was Anson's first lieuE. L. H. TEW, M.A.

tenant?

Hornsea Vicarage, E. Yorks.

LOUIS XIV. AND STRASBOURG (7th S. v. 345; vi. 152).-MR. R. N. JAMES quotes from a book of 1744 certain remarks on the French occupation of Strasbourg, which show that the city appeared to be all but ruined by that occupation. Mutatis mutandis, however, precisely the same remarks might be made now as to the results of the change Muncella is, I think, obviously a mound, a from French occupation to German. "In the streets word which Cotgrave translates by sepes, sepi- and exchange, which formerly were thronged with mentum. It is the same as the Old French...merchants, you meet with none hardly now"muncel Modern French monceau. Littré gives i. e., in 1888-but men, not indeed, "in Buff Coats

Guernsey.