10* S.I. MARCH 26, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
251
Corps Diplomatique. The word bridge is the
Anglicized form of the Russian name for
the game, which seems to be a combination
of other games of the whist family, such a:
Geralasch, Siberia, and Preference. It was
first played in England about 1880, according
to the 'Encyclopedia Britannica.' The rules
of the game in English were printed in
1886, under the title of 'Biritch, or Russian
Whist.' When I played it for the first time
in London, in 1892, it had already attained
some popularity. M. Jean Boussac says that
the game was introduced into Paris from
London in 1893, and quotes a paragraph
from the Figaro of 26 November of that year,
which gives a notice of the game. I think it
as well to mention these dates, as the author
of 'Badsworth on Bridge' gives a circumstan-
tial account of the first introduction of bridge
into England in the year 1894. F. JESSEL.
DANTEIANA (10 th S. i. 181). By an un- accountable lapsus oculi, involving a perver- sion of meaning, I wrote "less restricted " in the eleventh line, whereas it should, of course, have been "Dante's thought was more re- stricted." This, I hope, will rectify an almost unpardonable blunder. J. B. McGovERN.
St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.
GERVAISE HOLLES (10 th S. i. 208). -Inquiries have already been made for the printed works of this noted antiquary in a complete form, but without success (7 th S. x. 348). So far as I can ascertain, extracts from the MSS. in the British Museum have appeared in the ' His- tory of Sleaford,' by Creasey ; Thompson's
- Boston,' 185G; and Weir's ' Horncastle,'
1820 ; the Stamford Mercury, since the com- mencement of 1864 ; and the Topographer, vol. iii., 1790. A portrait of Holies was given in the ' Lincoln Diocesan Archaeo- logical Papers,' with a biographical sketch. For this list I am chiefly indebted to the contributors of 'N. & Q.' on various dates and occasions. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.
71, Brecknock Road.
"MEYNES" AND " RfllNES " (10 th S. i. 49,
92, 217). I hope this may not lead to a new question. I go by the 'English Dialect Dic- tionary,' which gives rhine as a Wiltshire variant, with a note that it is there pro- nounced reen (presumably riming with been). And I dare say some pronounce it as rine, riming with line. But it is not so very certain that all these words arose from the same original, for our vowel-sounds do not wobble about wildly, as most people believe. It is a mere matter of curiosity to compare High German forms. As a fact, not a single
English dialect-form is of High German
origin, nor ever had any chance of being so,
except (indirectly) through Norman. But it
is possible that the prov. E. rine, a stream,
though absurdly spelt rhine to look Greek
and " classical," or else to imitate the spell-
ing of the German Rhine, reallv represents
the A.-S. ryne, a water-course, the origin of
our runnel and our prov. E. rinlet, with the
same sense. This ryne is derived from runn-,
the weak grade of rinnan, to run ; whilst
the High German Rinne is derived from the
prime-grade of the cognate Old High German
form. It would very greatly conduce to
clearness if we could only stick to English
(Anglo-Saxon) forms, and let the Old High
German slide. That is what I would plead
for. When we know the history of our
English forms we can compare the foreign
ones at leisure, with fewer chances of error.
WALTER W. SKEAT.
KIPPLES (10 th S. i. 109). Kipples is a local pronunciation of the name Cupples. In his ' Halloween ' Burns says :
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
And twa red-cheekit apples,
To watch, while for the barn she sets,
In hopes to see Tarn Kipples
That very night.
Tarn Kipples, it has been suggested, was a son of the Rev. Mr. William Cupples, minister of Kirkoswald (1720-52), where the scene of the poem is laid. Be this as it may, Mr. Cupples was locally known as Mr. Kipples, and others of the same name were
- o known in Ayrshire and elsewhere.
In the same poem mention is made of Rab McGrean. This is a local form of Graeme or Graham. Burns's great-grandmother, a Kirkoswald woman, was Janet McGrean, otherwise Graeme or Graham.
William Cupples was a well-known man in his day, and edited John Stevenson's lurious tract ' A Rare Soul - strengthening Jordial ' (Glasgow, 1729, 8vo), in which fre- quent reference is made to his predecessor Elenry Adam, minister of Kirkoswald 1694- 1719. DAVID MURRAY.
Glasgow.
SPANISH PROVERB ON THE ORANGE (10 th S.
. 206). About fifty years ago a farmer in the
county of Durham said in my hearing, " The
ate Bishop Barrington used to say, 'Fruit is
- old in the morning, silver in the afternoon,
nd lead at night' "; but I think the episcopal
utterance was not original, though I cannot
ust now cite an earlier authority. It is such
i, usual thing for me to refresh myself with
in orange about midnight, and to do so with
