- 88
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. iv. MARCH, 1918.
legend built upon a coincidence. That
other dates were intended to be so indicated
is, in my opinion, highly improbable. But,
as I have not seen the previous corre-
spondence and do not know the exact point
raised, I will not say more.
HENRY E. DUDENEY.
PUBLIC-HOUSES WITH NAMES CONNECTED WITH THE WAR (12 S. iv. 46). About two miles from Oxford, on the road through Henley to London, on the right-hand side just after you have reached the top of Rose Hill, is a public -ho use which till 1914 had the sign of the King of Prussia. When I first remember it about 1857 the sign bore on one side a picture of King Frederick William, who received a D.C.L. from the University in 1814. Subsequently this picture was replaced by one of King William I. The sign is now the Allied Arms. JOHN R. MAGRATH.
Queen's College, Oxford.
PADDINGTON POLLAKY (12 S. iii. 509 ; iv. 31). The Times of Feb. 28 gave an interesting memoir of Ignatius Paul Pollaky, who died at Brighton on Monday, Feb. 25, at the great age of 90. He was certainly a remarkably astute investigator of crime.
CECIL CLARKE.
Junior Athenaeum Club.
[Other correspondents thanked for references to notices in The Daily Mail of Feb. 28 and The Observer of the 3rd inst.]
PARCY REED OF TROUGHEND (NORTHUM- BERLAND) AND SIR REGINALD READE (12 S. iv. 47). Sir Walter Scott's ballad ' The Death of Keeldar ' appears on p. 13 of ' The Gem ' for 1829 (not 1828), accompanied by a beautiful engraving by A. W. Warren, finely printed by E. Brain, from a painting entitled ' The Death of Keeldar,' by A. Cooper, R.A., " in the possession of the Publisher," that is W. Marshall, 1 Holborn Bars, London. Sir Walter has a note introductory to the ballad. ,
T. LLECHID JONES.
W. D. R. will find a good deal of informa- tion about the murder of Parcy Reed, though not the date of the crime, in one of the author's notes to ' Rokeby,' which, as it is easily accessible, I do not transcribe.
B. B.
The ballad ' The Death of Parcy Reed ' will be found in ' Early Ballads, illustrative of History, Traditions, and Customs,' &c., edited by Robert Bell (London, George Bell & Sons, 1877), p. 161. In the introductory
remarks it is stated that this ballad was
originally published in ' The Local His-
torian's Table Book,' by Mr. Robert
White, as taken down from the chanting of
an old woman who resided at Fairloans,
Roxburghshire. T. F. D.
A full account of the murder, the ghost story, and the ballad referring to Parcy Reed will be found in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, Newcastle, 1888, pp. 370-72. It does not, however, give the date your correspondent requires, nearer than to say about the middle of the sixteenth century. ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
CHESS : CASTLE AND ROOK (12 S. iv. 49). " Rook " is the old Persian word " rukh," meaning " tower " and " hero." The ' Shahnamah ' describes the combat of twelve champions, chosen by Kai Khusrau, with an equal number chosen by Afrasiab, in order to decide the vexed question of the frontier line between Iran and Turan. These champions are called, in the poem, " Duazdah ~Rukh " =" the Twelve Towers." When the game of chess was introduced into Persia from India, this name was given to the " castle," which was, probably, an elephant with a " tower " for archers on its back. N. POWLETT, Col.
" Rook " is a Persian word (used also in Turkey) for the castle. "Checkmate" is Sheihk mat, i.e., Sheihk dead, from the Arabic. H. C. SURTEES.
If CARACTACUS will consult The British Chess Magazine for May, July, August, September, and October, 1913, he will find some correspondence on this subject, in which, although he will not find a direct answer to his question, he will discover certain clues. JOHANNES CAMBRENSIS.
In 1882 Prof. Skeat noted in his ' Etymo- logical Dictionary ' that the remote origin of the name was unknown, and added :
" Devic cites d'Herbelot as saying that in the language of the ancient Persians it signified a warrior who sought warlike adventures, a kind of knight-errant. The piece was originally denoted by an elephant carrying a castle on his back ; we have suppressed the elephant . . . .[the] word rukh in Persian means a hero.
Mr. Elliot Stock's reprint of Caxton's ' Game and PI aye of the Chesse ' has the picture of a rook on horseback. A long chapter is devoted to him. Caxton would give CARACTACUS much welcome enlighten- ment. ST. SWITHIN.
