Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/432

354 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.viii.APRn,3<uo2i. BANQUO (12 S. viii. 308). The name Banquo seeing to be of genuine Keltic origin. The word Cu = "dog," but- is also used to designate a warrior. As to the initial syllable, its meaning may be either " female," in which case it is properly spelt bean ; or " white," " pale," in which case it is spelt ban. The latter seems preferable, but the word bean-cii = " bitch " is commonly used in Gaelic. Legends and poems in that language, derived from ancient times, contain many namss of which Cri forms a part, either as prefix or affix. The " qu " in Banquo is due to the aspiration of the second part, in a name compounded of two words, accord- ing to a common rule of Gaelic grammar. N. POWLETT, Colonel. Malone says : Fleance, after the assassination of his father, fled into Wales, where, by the daughter of the Prince of that country, he had a son named Walter who afterwards became Lord High Steward of Scotland, and from thence assumed the name of Walter Steward. From him, in a direct line, King James I. was descended ; in compliment to whom our author has chosen to describe Banquo, who was equally concerned with Macbeth in the murder of Duncan, as innocent of the crime. But Duncan I. was slain in 1040, Macbeth was slain in 1057, and Walter Stewart, Who was steward of Malcolm IV. of Scotland, and from whom Robert II., the first Stewart King, was sixth in descent, died in 1177: so that he cannot have been son of Fleance. As a matter of fact Walter Stewart and his elder brother William Fitzalan, who died in 1160, were descended from a Norman baron named Alan, and their original home Was either Clun or Oswestry. William Fitzalan was ancestor of the Earls of Arundel. Lewis's ' Topographical Dictionary of England ' says : Oswestry is not mentioned in the Norman Survey : according to Dugdale, it was given by the conqueror to Alan, ancestor of the Fitz- Alans, Earls of Arundel, in which noble family the barony continued upwards of 500 years ; but another authority states that the Fitz-Alans became lords of it by marriage of one of the lords of Clun with Maud, widow of Madog ab Meredydd, who on partition of Powysland by his father, succeeded to the division termed Powys Vadog, of which Oswestry formed part. This Madog died in 1160. Unless Fleance was an ancestor of Alan, it is difficult to see how Banquo comes into the Stewart pedigree. If he had any historical existence at all it may be conjected that he was of Norwegian or Danish extraction. JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT. SHERINGTON : OLD CHURCH REGISTERS (12 S. viii. 249). If A. C. C. consults Burke's ' Key to the Ancient Parish Registers,' he will find that the registers commence in 1698, and that the marriages from 1688- 1812 have been printed. The book or books were therefore returned. ARTHUR T. WINN. HUNGER STRIKE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY (12 S. viii. 293). In Mark's ' Tyburn Tree, its History and Annals ' (published, I believe, about 1910), in the chapter on ' Torture et Peine Forte et Dure,' p. 38, is to be found this paragraph : In 1357 Cecilia, wife of John de Rygeway, indicted for the murder of her husband, stood mute, and was sentenced to imprisonment ac- cordingly. In this case it was reported to the King " on trustworthy testimony " that Cecilia had lived without food or drink for forty days. This was regarded as miraculous and Cecilia was in consequence pardoned. Here, in intention at least, the punishment went to the length of depriving of all food. Rymer, ' Fcedera,' vi. 13, is the authority cited, which, however, I have not looked up. J. M. O. TAVERN SIGNS: "FLYING SCUD" (12 S. viii. 170, 236, 276, 313, 335).' The Flying Scud ; or, A Four-Legged Fortune,' a four-act drama by Dion Boucicault, was produced at the long-defunct Holborn Theatre, on Oct. 6, 1866, and was revived attheAdelphi in Aug., 1868. Its success in a period of unusually heavy betting was very marked ; and similar success attended another of Boucicault's plays aimed at " aristocratic vice," ' Formosa ; or, The Railroad to Ruin,' first given at Drury Lane on Aug. 5, 1869. ALFRED ROBBINS. GIUSEPPE PARINI (12 S. viii. 191). With regard to bibliographical details the fol- | lowing are the most modern and most com- I plete works : A. Ottolini : Bibliografia foscoliana. (Firenze, i Battistelli, 1920, pp. 400. Lire 20.) G. Bellorini : La Vita e le Opere di G. Parini. (Livorno, Giusti, 1918.) The latter is the most satisfactory work on Parini and supersedes the essays not only of De Sanctis, but also of Carducci and M. Scherillo. It contains a very full biblio- graphy. Needless to state, no English authority can be quoted, since Italian literature stij] remains terra incognita in this country. HUGH QUIGLEY.