314
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 17, iocs.
been formed from ' Crowe of Crowesmere " ?
Perhaps some member of the family assumed
the territorial appellation only.
There was a grant of arms to a Crowe of Yaxley in 1584 a chevron between three crows. This is curiously like the Cromwer arms mentioned in MB. BAYLEY'S article. When were the latter granted ?
W. ROBERTS CROW.
MCDONALD AND McPlKE FAMILIES (10 S.
x. 105). MR. EUGENE McPiKE of Chicago : who is seeking for information regarding namesakes of his on this side of the Atlantic, may like to know that there are in this neighbourhood members of a family who spell their names McPeake, one of whom is in my service. Two of her uncles, Thomas and Francis McPeake, went to America about fifty years ago.
Thomas settled in Philadelphia, and had a son Thomas, who came over here about six or seven years ago to see his relatives, went back to America, and died soon after.
Francis also went to Philadelphia, but it is believed that he was afterwards some- where in New Jersey.
Two other uncles, James and Patrick McPeake, emigrated at an earlier date it is not known whether to America or some colony.
An aunt, Eliza McPeake, married a man named Mullan, and lived in New York City. She is dead, but her husband and children are still living.
It is not improbaule that McPike and McPeake are merely different spellings of the same name. The spelling McPike is a novelty to me. J. B. GUNNING MOORE.
Coolnafranky, Cookstown, co. Tyrone.
FRENCH WORDS IN SCOTCH (10 S. ix. 369, 450; x. 132, 274). The Irish coinegear, quoted at the last reference, appears as coinneceir in O'Reilly's ' Irish Dictionary.' The point is that it is not of Celtic origin, but is a mere adaptation of M.E. conyger, which is fully explained, with plentiful examples, in the ' New English Dictionary.' As long as correspondents continue to neglect this source of information, they will drift about without ascertaining the whole truth. WALTER W. SKEAT.
How does the writer at the last reference account for the fact that cunnigar (however spelt )= rabbit warren, is more common in the South of England, where Celtic in- fluence has been nil since very remote times, than it is in Ireland ? The inference is obvious : modern philological, i.e. historical,
investigation has tended to show an increas-
ing number of words assigned to another
than the Celtic source to which they were
formerly allocated. H. P. L.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 S. x. 268). 1. Voltaire had an unreasonable dislike for the prophet Habakkuk. On a certain occasion he attributed something to the prophet which he had never said. When a listener pointed out that fact, Voltaire's reply was : " N'importe ; Habacuc est capable de tout."
2. "The greatest King of England was born not at Windsor, but at Huntingdon, alludes, of course, to Oliver Cromwell. Per- haps the saying may be found in the writings of Carlyle, who has been called the " dis- coverer " of Cromwell. JOHN T. CURRY.
2. I do not know whether Thackeray was the first to use the expression, but in ' Es- mond,' Book III. chap, v., St. John is made to say, " Our great King came from Hunting- don, not Hanover." U. V. W. [MR. J. A. GREENWOOD a so thanked for reply.]
HIGH TREASON AND ITS PUNISHMENT (10 S. x. 229). The following are the refer- cences which K. P. D. E. wants. Women used to be burnt alive for treason, but in 1790, by the statute 30 Geo. III. cap. 48, hanging was substituted for burning. The king could, however, before that statute commute the sentence to beheading, as was done in 1685, in Lady Alicia Lisle's case.
The statute of 1814, 54 Geo. III. c. 146, I have already referred to. The statute of 1870 is 33 and 34 Viet. c. 23, section 31.
The last execution for high treason in England was in 1820, when the Cato Street Conspirators were convicted. After they were hanged a man in a mask went on to the scaffold and cut off the heads of the traitors, and exhibited them to the public, and owing to the skilful performance of this duty, he was supposed to be a surgeon. The quarter- ing, however, was remitted. See 33 Howell's ' State Trials,' p. 1566.
For the last sentence for high treason see Reg. v. Smith O'Brien, 7 'State Trials,' N.S. 334, in 1848.
The punishment in its old savage form was, according to some writers, first inflicted in 1284 on the Welsh prince David ; and after- wards on Sir William Wallace in 1305 in West Smithfield, his four quarters being sent to Newcastle, Berwick, Sterling, and Perth, and hung on gibbets there. Some accounts substitute Aberdeen for Stirling. Wallace's head was placed on London Bridge.
