Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/572

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. i. JUNE n, 190*.


same name, only in combination. It knows of two Duveltons, now Doltons. Besides, the old English use of " field " is to describe the open-field in which the members of the community had their several plots, not the close which the individual held. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon dictionary gives "well" as the equivalent of Willa. The Devonshire Domesday knows of two Willas, now respec- tively Edginswell and Coffinswell, from the names of their proprietors, besides a Bradwell or broad well and a Shirwell or clear well. To turn these wells into fields would be a little arbitrary. OSWALD J. REICHEL.

Lympstone, Devon.

THE LOBISHOME (10 th S. i. 327, 417). I quoted a passage from 'Henry VI.' which showed that to draw blood was supposed to be a way of undoing witchcraft. But it may be well to show also that it was considered a way of undoing transformation caused by witchcraft. A popular story, prevalent throughout Europe, tells how a princess, betrothed to a king, is changed by her step- mother to a duck. The bird comes by night to visit her betrothed, and in human voice, which she still retains, laments her fate. Her betrothed sheds three drops of her blood, and restores her to her original form. This story is in Thorpe's 'Yule Tide Stories' and in many other books. E. YAEDLEY.

I should like to point out that the Portu- guese name for a were-wolf is lobishomem, and not as printed. E. E. STREET.

ARISTOTLE AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY (10 th S. i. 405). At 9 th S. xii. 91 I gave my reason for thinking that Aristotle was not mis- interpreted by Shakespeare and Bacon.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

POEMS ON SHAKESPEARE (10 th S. i. 409). DR. FORSHAW appears to have been already forestalled in the task of compiling a volume of tributes to our national poet. TheAthenceum, 21 May, p. 653, reviews 'The Praise of Shake- speare : an English Anthology,' by C. E. Hughes. WILLIAM JAGGARD.

139, Canning Street, Liverpool.

MILITARY BUTTONS : SERGEANTS' CHEVRONS (10 th S. i. 349). According to Mark Antony Lower in his 'Curiosities of Heraldry,' "the chevron, which resembles a pair of rafters, is likewise of very uncertain origin. It has generally been considered as a kind of archi- tectural emblem " (p. 62). I am inclined to think that in the eighteenth century the halbert, or halberd, carried in the hand de- noted the sergeant. It is mentioned as his


badge or ensign of office both in 'Roderick Random,' by Smollett, and 'Amelia,' by Fielding. In vol. xii. of the "Cabinet Edition " of the ' History of England ' (con- tinuation by the Rev. T. S. Hughes, B.D.) the frontispiece depicts the execution of Admiral Byng in 1757. The unfortunate admiral is represented as blindfolded, kneel- ing on a cushion in front of the capstan, and opposite the firing party of five marines, wearing conical caps, whilst the sergeant in command holds in his right hand a halberb and has a sash over his shoulder.

JOHN PicKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

One may hope to be set right in the matter if wrong ; but did not the sergeant's chevron have its origin in the pheon or broad arrow, which, as a Government mark, was associated with the military organization of the City trained bands ? Although it is a disputed point when the broad arrow assumed its present distinctive signification as a Govern- ment mark, there can be little doubt that it originated in the badge of Richard I., which was a pheon, or " broad R," the latter being either a corruption of " broad arrow " or an abbreviation of "Rex" (see Palliser's ' Devices '), while the pheon became a royal badge through being carried by the sergeant- at-arms before royalty, like the modern mace. It was a barbed fishing-spear or harpoon- head, but the indented inner edges of the flanges of the pheon do not, of course, appear in the sergeant's chevron. This, however, would naturally not be an indispensable detail in the distinguishing marks on the sleeves of non-commissioned officers.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. 161, Hammersmith Road.

" SORPENI " : " HAGGOVELE " (10 th S. i. 208, 256). The first element of haggovele seems to be derived from Icel. hoggua, to cut, hew, while the second is, without any doubt, the Old English word gafol, gofol, tax, tribute, rent. OTTO RITTER.

Berlin.

CHAIR OF ST. AUGUSTINE (10 th S. i. 369). The following paragraph, taken from the Daily Mail of 23 January, 1902, may consti- tute a reply to MR. ALFRED HALL'S question :

" At a meeting of the Canterbury Royal Museum Committee yesterday a letter was read from the Bishop of Hereford asking for the return of St. Augustine's chair, used by him on his missionary journeys, which for some time past has occupied a prominent place in the museum. The Bishop stated that the chair was removed some years ago from the chancel of the church at Bishop's Stanford, and that the vicar and parishioners desired to have it