Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/44

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32 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vm. JAN. s, 1921. I am inclined to think that John Pepys alias Peakes, married a Pepys and that he afterwards changed his surname to his wife's maiden name of Pepys. Who "my cozen Nan Pepys, of Wor- cester," referred to in the 'Diary,' under dates, Feb. 15, 1659/60, July 10, 1660, and June 12 and 15, 1662, and Nov. 3, 1667, was, I cannot say, but probably, as Dr. Wheatley remarked, she was a daughter of the above named persons. The Nan Pepys referred to in the * Diary, ' married first Mr. Hall and secondly, Mr. Fisher, and though it would seem strange that the Diarist should continue to call her "Pepys," I shall show in my book that in another instance, he continued to call one of his relations by the name of her first husband long after his death and her re- marriage. The most comprehensive pedigree extant is that by the Hon. W. C. Pepys in his

  • Genealogy of the Pepys Family ' (pub-

lished in 1887) in seven sections. I hope to include a corrected and annotated genealogy of the diarist's ancestors and contemporaries in my work. W. H. WHITEAB, F.R.Hist.S. PAMPHLET ON KENSINGTON SQUARE (12 S. vii. 509). The pamphlet your corre- spondent inquires about is entitled : "Notes on Kensington Square and its notable inhabitants, A.D. 1881. London : Wakeham & Son, Printers, Church Street, Kensington, W., 1881, tor private circulation only." It contains 19 pp. and the reprint has 32 pp., with the same title except that the date is "A.D. 1881-1883," and the imprint is 1883. The prefatory note to the reprint is signed " J. J. M." The author was Dr. John Jones Merriman, long an inhabitant of the Square, who died in 1896. The dates given by Loftie are, it will be seen, incorrect. Both of the above mentioned editions are in the writer's possession. W. H. WHITEAR, F.R.Hist.S. EMERSON'S 'ENGLISH TRAITS' (12 S. v. 234 ; vi. 228). The heroine of No. 18 at the earlier reference, who was as mild as she was game, and as game as she was mild, is Esther Summerson. This praise was drawn from Inspector Bucket by her conduct during their journey in pursuit of Lady Dedlock. See the fifty-ninth chapter in the one volume edition of ' Bleak House. ' 9. (At the second reference.) " A tent of caterpillars." One of the meanings of the substantive "tent " given by the 'N.E.D. *" is "the silken web of a tent-caterpillar," and on the next page a tent-caterpillar is defined as " the gregarious larva of a North American bombycid moth, Clisiocampa,, which spins a tent-like web." 15. " Penshurst still shines for us, and its Christmas revels, * where logs not burn, but men.' " Emerson's quotation, only "where" should be "when," is the conclusion of Ben Jonson's 'Ode to Sir William Sidney on his birth-day,' the last piece but one in 'The Forest.' EDWARD BENSLY. "EMINERE" (12 S. vii. 427). This has no claim to be counted as an English word. It is merely the Latin infinitive constructed with an English auxiliary verb, and should be italicised. At 9 S. xii. 163, col. 2, an example of this usage was quoted from Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' III. i. ii. iii. "they shall matt audire in all succeeding ages." This was illustrated by Bentley's "But of some incidental things I do 7TY<v." In III. i. iii. of Burton's treatise we have "The Decii did se vovere." Other examples could be found if it were worth looking for them. EDWARD BENSLY. EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING (12 S. vii. 461, 511 ; viii. 13). I have read with much interest the letters of your correspondents. In Mr. W. M. Acworth's delightful book The Railways of England ' it is pointed out that though the early English engineers hesitated to increase the size of the carriages they had no scruples as to the length of -the trains, and he quotes contemporary refer- ences to "a luggage train of 80 wagons," the length of which was nearly half a mile ; a passenger train that carried 2,115 passengers and another which consisted of 110 vehicles filled with passengers and propelled by five engines four in front and one behind, the length of which extended to nearly one- third of a mile. This was in the early 'forties. Coupe carriages, which must, I think, have originated in the diligences of France were- not uncommon about twenty-five years ago- I recollect travelling frequently in them on the main line of the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland, and also on the London and North Western Railway. I can recall such a journey on the last men- ioned line as recently as the year 1898. The carriage was a second-class one, but had probably begun life in the higher class. Another survival from coaching-days met with in early railway-practice was a long stop twenty minutes or more at some-