10
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL JAN. 2, im
To be " out on the Never Never " is a bit
of [ Australian bush slang. A book descrip-
tive of this part of Australia was published
by Sampson Low & Co. in 1884 under the
title of ' The Never Never Land.' It would
be interesting to know something definite
about the Canadian " Never Never Country,"
and whether the phrase is in common use
among Canadians as descriptive of that
portion of their Dominion. J. F. HOGAN.
Royal Colonial Institute,
Northumberland Avenue.
' VILLAGE BLACKSMITH ' PARODIED. I remember reading a very witty parody of ' The Village Blacksmith ' some years ago in a paper or review, but forget where. Can a reader of ' N. & Q.' say where it may be found ? It is not in a recently published ' Book of Parodies.'
(Madame) CHRISTINE AIGUESPARSES.
CUTHBERT SHIELDS. Can any reader give information concerning Cuthbert Shields, whom I have seen described as a " great Oriental scholar," said to have been " wor- shipped as a god by the Druses " ? He was further known under the name of " Robert Laing." What books did he write ? CHRISTINE AIGUESPARSES.
2A, Rue de Berlin, Brussels. [Shields was a Fellow of Corpus College, Oxford.]
TRAVELLING UNDER HADRIAN. How long would it have taken, in the reign of Hadrian, for a traveller, with every facility afforded him, to reach Britain from Rome ?
KAPPA.
BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM AT CHURCH. Can some one tell me the origin of the custom for the bride-elect not to see the bridegroom- elect on the day of the wedding until she meets him in the church ?
H. S. STRATFORD.
" MASTER PIPE MAKER." A silver tobacco-box is engraved Mr. C*F
Joseph Funge Shipwright
and Master pipe maker
of Woolwich in
Kent.
The date of the box is 1692.
Was there such an official at Woolwich ! ROBERT BIRKBECK. 20, Berkeley Square.
CAPT. RUTHERFORD AT TRAFALGAR. I shall be glad to be referred to any work bearing upon the battle of Trafalgar where the part taken by H.M.S. Swiftsure is re- corded, and mention of Capt. Wm. Gordon
Rutherford, C.B., is made. The captain
died 14 Jan., 1818, and is (with his wife)
buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. Any
information will be acceptable.
A. W. COOPER. 230, Navarino Mansions, Dalston, N.E.
" BROKENSELDE." " Le Brokenselde 7\m West Chepe by Milk Street is said to have been in 1332 a tavern, and it is mentioned in Henry Rede's will, 1420 (' Calendar of Wills,' quoted in Topog. Record, vol. iv. p. 35).
What was a Brokenselde ?
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. SHIPS RENAMED AFTER THE RESTORATION.
Has any list come down to us of the ships whose names were changed after that event ? The Naseby became the Royal Charles, and there were several other changes follow- ing the return of Charles II.
K. P. D. E.
GOWER, A KENTISH HAMLET. There is a hamlet called Gower in Eastry parish (in Sandwich), Kent. How did the hamlet get this name ? What is its derivation ? R. VAUGHAN GOWER.
Ferndale Lodge, Tunbridge Wells.
MEDITERRANEAN.
(10 S. x. 308, 351, 376, 456, 495.)
ONE of the contributors to this lengthy discussion, after drawing my attention to it, inquired whether the points still in doubt could be elucidated by some one acquainted with Modern and Mediaeval Greek. I ad- mitted that Classic Greek alone, stopping short, as it does, at about the third century A.D., helps but little toward the solution of such apparent linguistic riddles.
Perhaps I may state at the outset that 'Ao-wpt (in Smith's ' Diet, of Ancient Geo- graphy ' ) does not stand for any known Greek word, but is evidently a misprint for "Ao-Trpjj. This is the more or less collo- quial Mediaeval and Modern Greek adjective for Aew6s= white. Ducange and others after him are inclined to seek its derivation in the Latin asper, because a diminutive Turkish coin, the third of a para, is known among Greeks as aa-n-pov* (being " white "
- Cf. Littre's French Diet.: "Blanc ancienne-
ment, petite monnaie de cinq deniers. Mettre quelqu'un au blanc, le ruiner, lui gagner tout son argent."
