196
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. i. MARCH 5,
supposed to have been the place where in former years the boys used to throw at cocks tied to a stick. Certainly we retain the term "cockshy" at the present day.
Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.
It may be noted that shut is dialectal (e.g. N. Linc.) for shoot. Again, the surname Cockshott seems more likely to be derived from a place-name than from anything else. There is a chapelry to Ellesmere named Cockshute, Cockshut, or Cockshott, probably from one of many cockshoots. J. T. F.
Torch and Taper (10th S. i. 109). — In the excerpt given it will be observed that the torches were used in the funeral procession generally, "to burn about me on the day of ray burying," while the wax tapers were burnt stationarily at the "month's mind." Before the Reformation the churchwardens provided wax torches — in fact, let them out, and charged according to consumption; but in the instance cited by Mr. Hussey fresh torches were evidently found, in accordance with the provisions of the will, "afterwards to remain to the church." Torch, taper, and candle appear to have differed chiefly in point of size and in the amount of wax used; but the foundation of a torch was, of course, of a different material from that of a taper. With Shakespeare "torch" is synonymous for " candle," for he makes Romeo say, I. iv.:
A torch for me: let wantons, light of heart,
Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels;
For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase,
I'll be a candle-holder, and look on.
Quariars or quarions, occasionally called "morters" or "mortises," were also employed sometimes to serve the purpose of a taper. A quarion, says Bishop Percy, was a square lump of wax with a wick in the centre. Round lumps of the same are still used in the royal nursery under the name of "mortises" (see the 'Northumberland Household Book and Arechœologia, vol. iii. p. 156). By candela, says Fosbroke, was originally meant a torch made by besmearing rope with pitch, wax, or tallow. At funerals the number of torches with which the deceased was honoured varied according to his rank or riches, and the torches were extinguished in the earth with which the body was covered. By the will of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, twenty-four torches, each of eight pounds, in weight, were carried (Strutt's 'Manners and Customs,' vol. ii. p. 108). On the other hand, the tapers which were sometimes called hearse-lights were of smaller dimensions, and were not intended for the hand, but were fixed on prickets. (See further 'Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of Antient Times,' by John Nichols, 1797, p. 219, note.) At the "garnysshinge of the hersse" of the Lady Anne of Cleves the extraordinary display was made of 649 stationary lights, and in the procession "went poore men in blacke gownes with torches," and fifty "yeo-men with theyre torchis on eche side" (? of the corpse). — 'Excerpta Historica,' 1831, p. 306.
J. Holden MacMichael.
I believe the torch is a light carried in the hand, formed of a combustible substance, such as hemp or flax, soaked in tar, tallow, or other fat, and is of necessity used in the open air. Shakespeare speaks of "a waxed torch."
A taper is a small wax candle, a long wick coated with waxy matter, and is generally used within doors. Even Shakespeare admits of a difference, for he says, "Get me a taper in my study, Lucius."
71, Brecknock Road.
Epitaph at Doncaster (9th S. xii. 288, 413, 470). — I am grateful for the replies given by several correspondents, especially for the very full one by E. G. B. May I point out, however, that none of the replies answers my query as to what is the meaning of "who in this world did reign three score years and seven, and yet lived not one"?
The Doncaster epitaph is an adaptation of an earlier one, discussed (7th S. xii. 506; 8th S. i. 155, 503; ii. 74; v. 75, under the heading "Quod expendi habui."
Cokayne ('Complete Peerage,' iii. 104n.), speaking of Edward Courtenay, the twelfth or third Earl of Devon (ob. 1419), says :
"His is said to have been the magnificent monument at Tiverton destroyed towards the close of the sixteenth century (mentioned by Risdon in his 'Survey,' 1605-1630), on which was the well-known curious inscription of
Hoe, hoe, who lies here?
'Tis I, the Erle of Devonsheer,
With Kate my wife, to me full dere;
We lyved togeather 55 yeres, &c.
The wife Kate is, however, a mystery, and he certainly directs his burial to be at Ford Abbey, not at Tiverton."
Cokayne does not quote Risdon's inscription with absolute accuracy; but that is not of much consequence, for, as Risdon himself says, it had been destroyed about forty years before he wrote. Luckily, however, we are not dependent on him for our knowledge of it. Spenser's 'Shepheardes Calendar,' with notes by E. K. (probably Edward Kirke), first
