456
NOTES AND QUERIES.
.m. JUNE 10/99
it was no uncommon thing for him to report the
appearance of a " weather-gaw " or a " stob "
(the stump of a rainbo w) some hours previously,
and to make in consequence a sure forecast
of the rough weather that would presently
follow. He died in 1873, so that the actual
use of "gaw"(or "gow")in Scotland is nearly,
if not quite, contemporary. I should fancy,
however, that among country people (although
the farmer now trusts more to the barometer
than to his discernment of signs) the word
has current value at the present moment.
Its etymology I do not discuss, but the dif-
ference between the " gow " of Angus and the
" gaw " of Fifeshire will surprise no one that
is familiar with the provincialisms of the two
counties. THOMAS BAYNE.
Helensburgh, N.B.
This word is used hundreds of thousands of times daily in the West Riding of York
"By Jove," "By George," and "By Gad.
I notice that MR. MAYHEW is at Oxford.
Prof. Joseph Wright, Ph.D., of ' Dialect Dic-
tionary ' fame, will, I know, be glad to see
him and have a chat with him on gow or any
other Yorkshire word. For instance :
If ivvery divel fan his match, Ther seed an' breed, be gow !
Wad mak' a hell atop o' t' eearth As ut as that below.
The above example occurs in the sixth verse of ' T' Creakin' Gaat,' a poem to be found in Ben Preston's ' Dialect Poems,' p. 261 (Simp- kin, Marshall & Co., 1881). There are several pages of a glossary, and the word begoiv is thus explained by the editor (the late Mr. T. T. Empsall, President of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society) :
li ,..Begow, an exclamation or oath (Leeds Dialect, p. 261). This is evidently a mere exclamation or harmless expletive with our author, as well as the kindred words ego>v, iyoiv, and by t' megs."
Mr. Preston is an octogenarian poet, and has been included by Baring-Gould in the latter's ' Yorkshire Oddities.'
CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D.
Hanover Gardens, Bradford.
WINDSOR CHAIRS (9 th S. iii. 349). In ' N. & Q.,' 7 th S. ix. 487 ; xi. 12, the earliest date of "Windsor chairs" is assigned to Smollett in 1759, but there is no reason given for their bearing this name.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
GOODHALL, YORKS (9 th S. iii. 227, 278). There is Goodale House, or Goulsdale, a
hamlet three miles from liudstone, mentioned
by Dugdale in his 'Curiosities of Great
Britain,' vol. ii. p. 852, which perhaps may be
the place your correspondent is inquiring
after. CHAS. H. CROUCH.
Nightingale Lane, Wanstead.
YEED OR YEEDITH (9* S. iii. 369). There can be no doubt that Edith and its shortened form Ede are meant. So in dialect we meet with yale for "ale," yerth for "earth." In London Edith is usually shortened to Edie, but the monosyllabic Ede is not unf requently heard. F. ADAMS.
The explanation is easy : Yeedith is a pro- vincial f form (in familiar speech) of Edith (A.-S. Eadgy th) ; and Yeed is " short " for Yeedith, as Ede, Edie, are familiar abbrevia- tions of Edith. So Falstaff calls Poins Yed- ward (' 1 Hen. IV.,' I. ii. 149) ; and Slender buys two Edward shovel-boards for two shillings and twopence apiece from Yead Miller (Ede, Edward : ' Merry Wives,' I. i. 160). Compare the surnames Yarnold, Yellen, Yeaton, Youl- ton, evidently variants of Arnold, Ellen, Eaton, Oulton. An initial y occasionally develops in common words. Thus the verb ren, run (" to run cheese "), which in Derby- shire assumes the form of ern (erning = rennet or runnet) from A.-S. irnan (to run), is found in Scottish speech under the form yearn. " It sail be my faut if a better [cheese] was ever yearned in Lowden," writes Jeanie Deans to her father (' Heart of Midlothian,' ch. xxxviii.). In the same story the word Yerastian (Eras- tian) occurs. T. HUTCHINSON.
BISHOP HOOPER'S VESTMENTS (9 th S. iii. 209). There was an anonymous 'Answer' to this anonymous 'Examination,' dated 1566.
W. C. B.
AUTHOR OF VERSES (9 th S. iii. 288, 391). Was not Dryden's idea probably suggested by Shakespeare's attribution to Hope? True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings ; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.
- King Richard III.,' V. i. 23, 24.
NEMO. Temple.
' THE THREE SERGEANTS ' (9 th S. iii. 108, 374). I am much obliged to MR. DARLINGTON for kindly replying to my query. Can he tell me under what title William Morris published his adventures in 1848, and who was the publisher ? GUALTERULUS.
CRONBANE HALFPENNY (9 th S. iii. 327). It i was stated in ' N. & Q./ 3 rd S. x. 200, that this : was one of the Irish tokens described in that j useful work James Conder's arrangement of |
