Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/320

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314


NOTES AND QUERIES. [u s. x. OCT. IT, IOM.


AUTHORS WANTED (11 S. x. 270). In answer to F. H., (2) "Perimus licitis" is the motto of Lord Teignmouth.

3. "Dii irati laneos pedes habent " (Macr., S. i. 8). A. GWYTHER.

2. " Perimus licitis " is placed by Mr. King in his ' Classical and Foreign Quota- tions ' No. 3089 among the ' Adespota.' In

  • Cassell's Book of Quotations,' edited by

Mr. W. Gurney Benham, it is said of this quotation : " Used by Sir Matthew Hale. Founded, perhaps, on passages in St. Gregory (Moral., Book 5, and Homily 35, ' in Evang.'), in which he urges care and moderation in things lawful." HARMATOPEQOS.

3. "Dii pedes lanatos(nof laneos) habent." Petronius, 44, 18. S. G.

DENE HOLES OR DANE HOLES (11 S. x. 249). Mr. T. Rice Holmes writes in his

  • Ancient Britain and the Invasions of

Julius Caesar,' Oxford, 1907, pp. 253, 515-17, that dene-holes are probably subterranean jgalleries, and may have been used as refuges in time of danger. The name means Dane- "holes i.e., " hiding-places from the Danes." Some Kentish dene -holes (he adds) con- tained bronze implements ; and those of Essex are almost certainly post-Xeolithic. If, as seems probable, they are of very early age, the name connecting them with the Danes can have no relation to their origin, and can only refer to a much subse- quent use of the excavations.

The Rev. J. W. Hayes in a lengthy article on Dene-holes in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. 44 sq., 1909, considers the evidence in support of the large number of theories which have been advanced to account for them. The etymology of the word dene indicates its derivation from an Anglo-Saxon word sig- nifying a depression, cave, den, or hole, dene being used with hole as a double name, in the same way as " river " is used with Avon and Ouse, both of which words signify river or running water. Of ten theories concerning the purposes of dene -holes, there is only one, according to Mr. Hayes, which .satisfies the laws of evidence, and that is that these excavations are simply chalk pits, chalk wells, or chalk quarries, and not granaries, hiding-places, or burial-places. The fact of chalk being dug for, often through 60ft. of superimposed strata, in- stead of being quarried at the surface, would be because surface chalk is impure and unfit for building-blocks or for making lime ; whereas good block chalk in a dense,


pure condition is best obtained under great masses of sand, such as are found at Hang- man's Wood. Abbey Wood, Bexley, Swans- combe, Purfleet Hill, and various oth >r places. Th3 Chislehurst caves may be old, but there is nothing to favour th> view of their mysterious origin. They are simply old chalk workings. Tha evidence of m^n who have worked in the caves goes to show that half a century ago chalk was still exten- sively obtained from these workings, and used by farmers as a dressing or manure for poor soils, in the days when manure was scarcer than now and the demand for chalk dressing proportionately greater. (This summary of Mr. Hayes's conclusions is from The Geographical Journal, xxxv. 76, 1910.)

Dene-holes have come under considera- tion in various archaeological publications, and I have noted, besides the above, tli3 following references, which, no doubt, may be largely added to : The Antiquary, 1907, pp. 367, 407; 1909, p. 81. The Athenceum, 1908, 14 March and 18 April, pp. 289 and 479. The Daily Chronicle, 1905.. 27 April, ' Essex " Dane Holes " : Some Curious Theories as to their Origin and Purpose,' by Mr. Ashley H. Johnstone of Grays. The Daily Neics, 1908, 7 Jan., ' Dene-Holes near London,' by Ernest A,-, Baker, M.A. ; 1909, 11 Feb., Chislehurst Caves.' The English Mechanic, 1897, 8 Oct., ' What is a Denehole ? ' The Essex Natural- ist, 1907. The Geological Magazine, 1898, July. The Home Counties' Magazine, 1900, January. The Reliquary, 1908, July, p. 189 sq., ' Deneholes in Kent and Essex,' with illustrations. J jj |_FREDK. A. EDWARDS.

' THE FIGHT AT DAME EUROPA'S SCHOOL ' (11 S. x. 268). Your correspondent F. H. C. inquires ths name of th 3 author of the above famous pamphlet, and says his copy bears no date, but he supposes it was published in 1871. I have not yet seen MR. F. MADAN'S articles thereanent in 'N. & Q.,' 6 S. iv., or the Supplement of the 'D.N.B., but I may repeat here my obituarv notice of the author, tha Rev. H. W. Pullen, who died in Birmingham on 15 Dec., 1903.

My original contribution made to The Western^ Daily Press of (Bristol contains the record of my personal recollections of Mr. Pullen, whom I met at Perugia fifteen years prior to his death, when he was staying at Brufani's hotel, busy revising a new edition of ' Murray's Guide to Central Italy.'