g* g. XL APRIL ii, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
299
Ireland, England, and Wales, and will comprise
American and colonial dialects which are still in
use in the mother country." It claims also to give
pronunciation, etymology, and the geographical
area over which each word extends, together with
such detailed account of popular customs and
superstitions and rural games and pastimes as will
render it indispensable to the ethnologist and the
folk-lorist. How thoroughly this scheme is carried
out can be tested abundantly by the two-thirds of
the work which have already appeared. Turning
for a moment to the new parts, we find magerful=
masterful, on the strength of three quotations from
Mr. Barrie, no other instance of use being supplied.
Magistraf,e=red herring is a curious Glasgow locu-
tion. Many instances of maid for young girl may
be found in ' N. & Q.' Very curious is the appella-
tion in North Lincolnshire for the pansy, " Meet-
her-in-the-entry-kiss-her-in-the-buttery." Michael
seems a queer name to apply to a girl, "She's a
ticht Michael." Middling, middlingish, &c., are
common in the West Riding. "Nobbut middling"
is still a reply to an inquiry after health. Milkmaids
is applied to a field flower, of which we cannot give
the scientific name, in places so remote as York-
shire and Essex. Under mother a very elaborate
and interesting account, taken largely from Gomme,
is furnished of the children's game so named.
Many curious proverbs are quoted under moudie-
warp&nd its variants, as 4t A moudiewort needs nae
lantern." Multiplying glass is, we fancy, some-
thing different from a magnifying glass. In our
childhood we had glasses on looking through which
objects were indefinitely multiplied. Under mum,
mummer, mumchance, and mummy very curious in-
formation is supplied. Mumchance=stuf>idly silent,
is said to be, like whist, derived from a game, at
which stillness was necessary, which was so entitled.
This derivation is from Nares. Munbe, sb., for a
thing inevitable, " What munbe munbe," is familiar
in the North. In the West Riding the machine for
tearing woollen rags into mungo used to be called a
devil, which is not the term given. Nanny supplies
interesting folk-lore. " Nanny netticoat in a white
petticoat, the longer she stands the shorter she
grows," is a familiar West Yorkshire riddle for a
candle. In the same district napper cotse=head.
Nominee is used of children's counting-out games.
The dialectal uses of old occupy many columns, as
do those of one. Otherguess, familiar in Yorkshire,
is less widely dispersed than we should have
thought. Is not pal=a, companion in dialectal use ?
In the West Riding piffing is used of the short,
sharp bark of a little dog ; compare piffer. Piece,
in cloth manufacture, implied a length of some
forty or more yards. When divided, as was gener-
ally the case in broadcloth, the halves were
spoken of as ends. Gold pig signified goods returned
after being purchased. Pile sometimes means a
large as well as a small quantity: "He has made
his pile" (American). Under preen, to dress up, it
might be noted that birds preen themselves. A
list of words the meaning or origin of which
remains to be ascertained accompanies the title-
page and preliminary matter.
The Jewish Encyclopedia. Projector and Managing Editor, Isidore Singer, Ph.D. Vol. III. (Funk & Wagnalls.)
AT 9 th S. viii. 174 and x. 198 we drew attention to the first and second volumes of this spirited and scholarly enterprise, the aim of which is to supply
" a descriptive record of the history, religion, litera-
ture, and customs of the Jewish people from the
earliest times to the present day." Since then a third
volume has appeared, carrying the alphabet so far
as Chaz, and constituting, according to the original
announcement, one-fourth of the entire work. Sense
of ?the utility and importance of the encyclopaedia
grows upon us with continuous employment and
frequent reference. Vol. iii. has an attractive
frontispiece, a photographic reproduction of Rudolf
Christian Eugen Bendemann's fine, if rather con-
ventional picture of ' Jeremiah at the Fall of
Jerusalem,' from Berlin, a short life of the painter,
whose name Christian strikes one as strange in a
Jew, being supplied. ' Beni-Israel ' describes by
pen and pencil the native Jews of India, formerly
known as the Shanvar Telis. Jewish betrothal
customs include, among other illustrations, a beauti-
ful Italian Ketabah, or betrothal deed, a specimen
of exquisite workmanship from the New York
Public Library, reproduced in colour. Some bridal
processions have also high interest. ' Bible Canon,'
' Bible Exegesis,' and ' Bible Translation ' are among
the most important and the most richly illustrated
articles in the volume. Under ' Blood Accusation '
is described the often-repeated statement that Jews
require Christian blood for certain purposes of
ritual, a charge dating, it is said, from the thir-
teenth century. The article constitutes an import-
ant chapter in the history of credulity and super-
stition. ' Brick-Making ' has a specially fine illus-
tration of captives making bricks for the Temple
of Ammon at Thebes. ' Burial ' describes and depicts
many curious customs. With the article may be
compared that on ' Cemetery.' The biographical
articles, which are numerous, are not confined to
individuals of Hebrew descent, but include men
such as Bismarck and Browning. The work is
being systematically carried out.
Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland. By William Edward Hartpole Lecky. 2 vols. (Longmans & Co.)
THIS is practically the third edition of a work the contents of which, though mainly historical, ap- proach too nearly the domain of polemic to be dis- cussed in these peaceful columns. Thus much may, however, be said, that the neglect with which the book was long treated shows how indisposed was the public to deal with the problems of Irish mismanagement. Even here, it will be seen, we begin to occupy debatable ground. The informa- tion we supply is derived from the author himself. Published anonymously in one volume in 1861, by Saunders & Otley a firm which shortly after- wards ceased to exist when the author was just leaving the university, it fell flat, about thirty copies being sold, and the remainder disposed of "probably, says Mr. Lecky, "for waste paper." Ten years later it was much toned down, new infor- mation was added, and the book was issued under the name of the author, then beginning to be known, in two volumes by Messrs. Longman. Even then the sale was slow, until frequent allusions to it by Mr. Gladstone and other members of his Govern- ment gave it such a fillip that the entire edition was sold. It was not reprinted until to-day, Mr. Lecky having been erroneously charged with seeking to suppress it. It is now issued, in what will (presumably be its final form, as a companion work to the author's 'History of England.' A life of Swift, which previously stood first, has dis-
