10 s. XL MAK. 6, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
187
do not find the word " fossel " in the 'N.E.D.,' not, I believe, Mr. William Burton, the well-
nor under "fossil" any explanation of the known connoisseur of porcelain, &c., who
word in this sense. The article in ' The ' gave his name to this expression. What
Encyclopaedia Britannica ' on diamonds does
not give any information. EMERITUS.
" BOBBERY." The source of this word has been much discussed (see 7 S. v. 205, 271, 338, 415, 513). The ' N.E.D.' considers that the evidence of its Indian origin is decisive. But the claim that it originated in East Anglia, so far as its use in our lan- guage is concerned, is supported by a doggerel verse in The Massachusetts Spy for 10 July, 1811; and this is perhaps the earliest instance of the word in print :
Then came Monsieur Frank, all nimble and crank, And he thought like a twig he could wring land, From murder and robbery came to kick rip a bobbery Mong the peaceable folks of New England.
The word " came " in the third line should have been omitted.
RICHARD H. THORNTON. 36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
"PUNT" IN FOOTBALL. Is anything known as to the origin or derivation of this noun and verb used in Rugby football ? Has it any connexion with any other sense of punt, e.g., of punting on the Thames ? Quotations are wanted for both noun and verb before 1857, when Hughes ('Tom Brown's School Days,' I. v. 109) has " The mysteries of ' off your side,' ' drop kicks,' ' punts,' ' places,' and the other intricacies of the great science of football." Can old Rugbeians, whose memory goes back over fifty years ago, help us ?
JAMES A. H. MURRAY. Oxford.
" SAMNITIS." " Mortall Samnitis, and Cicuta bad " (Spenser, ' Faery Queene,' II. vii. 52). Is anything known of the meaning of Samnitis, or of the source from which Spenser obtained the word ?
HENRY BRADLEY. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
BURTON'S LINE. The Athenceum of last Saturday (p. 253) mentions that the blue line on the gums which is one of the symp- toms of lead-poisoning is known outside this country as " Burton's line." It was
Burton then was it ?
of that name.
Probably a doctor
XEL MEZZO.
POPULATION OF ANCIENT ROME. I should
be much obliged if any of your readers
could give me information as to the popular
tion of ancient Rome at its most highly
populated period. W. ANSTRUTHER-GRAY.
House of Commons.
" BEESWAXERS." When I was at Win- chester nearly half a century ago the thick boots worn for playing football were called " beeswaxers," pronounced " bezwaxers." No one knew the origin of the name. I now find that there was an old English word " to beswack," meaning " to strike a heavy blow " : the existence of this word is proved in Schipper's edition of Dunbar's poems, p. 173. Does it not seem likely that this old word was the origin of " beeswaxers " ?
H. A. STRONG. University, Liverpool.
" GLOSE " OR " GLOSS," FRENCH VERSE- FORM. I shall be glad to know of any speci- men in English of the verse-form known in French as the glose, viz., a poem in which some other poem is amplified, each verse of the gloss ending with one line of the text. It is found in French and Spanish, and in some of the Slavonic languages. There are several specimens in Slovenian, printed by Dr. Sket in his two excellent chrestomathies, ' Slovensko Berilo,' Klagen- furt, 1886, and ' Slovenska Citanka,' Vienna, 1906. Has any English poet essayed this kind of composition ? JAS. PLATT, Jun.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED.
This is the home to which the footpath led ; This is the spot uncharted in his works, 'Twas come upon so suddenly, But ever will remembered be As where he takes his final rest.
A. RHODES.
" Enjoy your life, my brother," Is grey old Reason's song ; " One has so little time to live, And one is dead so long."
J. HERBERT.
" WILD MAN'S." In reading some of the letters to the Duke of Newcastle contained in the Additional MSS. at the British Museum for the years 1765-6 I find con- tinuous reference to " Wildman's," which appears to have been a dining club consist-
