ws.ii.Aco.27.i9w.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
167
M.E. serv-es, dissyllabic plural of serve, A.-S.
ayr/tf, fern. ; and in the Northern dialect this
plural took the form xervis. As to the A.-S.
syrfe, it is not native English, but is derived
(with mutation) from the Latin sorbus, a
service tree. Hence the derivation from
Latin is perfectly correct ; only cerevisia is
a very bad shot. When will "etymologists "
condescend to historical investigation, in-
stead of adopting the handiest guess ?
WALTER W. SKEAT.
" BUZZING." The subjoined, from the Standard of 23 May, should interest students of slang :
" A form of street robbery which is not generally known was described at the Southwark Police Court, on Saturday, in a case where a well-dressed man, named Sidney Perry, was committed to three months' imprisonment, with hard labour, as a suspected person, and subject to one of the sections of the Prevention of Crimes Act. 'Buz/ing' is the name given to the crime. A gang of thieves surround a man, and while one robs him, the rest maintain a buzzing noise. If the victim should seize his assailant, the leader, known as the ' spokesman ' the part played by the accused declares that, as a passer-by, he saw the robbery, and that the actual thief escaped."
This amplifies and particularizes the definition in Hotten's 'Slang Dictionary/ " Buz, to pick pockets ; buzzing or buz-faking, fobbing." ALFRED F. BOBBINS.
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 the answers may be addressed to them
direct.
NICHOLAS BILLINGSLEY. (See 7 th S. xii. 408; 8 th S. i. 423, 517; ii. 34.)-A small
octavo volume, entitled "The History of
St. Athanasius by N. B. P. 0. Catholick.
London, Printed for D. Maxwell, for Christopher Eccleston under St. Dunstans Church, Fleetstreet, 16G4," has lately come into my hands. The letters "N. B." are printed in ordinary roman capitals, whilst the "P. C. Catholick" are in italics. I should be glad to know what the last phrase signifies, and if the author is Nicholas Billingsley, a list of whoso works, dating from 1657 to 1667, appears in Lowndes, this however not being among them. The book bears the imprimatur of Gilbert Sheldon, Bishop of London, 23 November, 1662. Lowndes certainly mentions the work under 'Athanasius,' but ascribes it to " N. B. P. C.," which I think is an error.
It is of some interest to note that this little volume bears the autograph of the Rev. A. D.
Wagner, who for about fifty vears was
connected, as curate and incumbent, with
St. Paul's, Brighton.
Any information as to the book or its author would be welcomed.
WM. NORMAN.
" BUTTERY." On p. 237 of a well-compiled 'History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the County of Derby,' Sheffield, 1857, we are told:
"An entry in a book without date, but written more than fifty years ago, states that three roods of land, lying in Samuel Richardson's little buttery, were left to buy bread and wine for the holy sacra- ment for ever, for Stanley chapelry. The field is now called Samuel's buttery, and the residue of it belongs to Richard Bateman, Esq., whose tenant purchases the bread and wine, estimated to cost annually the fair rent of this plot of land."
I do not find this meaning of the word buttery in what PROF. SKEAT calls the 4 Neglected English Dictionary ' ('N.E.D.'). Is it known elsewhere ? and can it be explained ? It may be noted that the chapelry of Edale, in this county, was formerly divided into five large farms, called booths or vaccaries.
S. O. ADDY.
' GOODY Two SHOES.' Did Goldsmith write this fairy tale? Where can I find full particulars of the same ? S. J. A. F.
PORTUGUESE PEDIGREES. There are, I understand, in the library of Lambeth Palace some Portuguese pedigrees. Could any of your readers inform me what families they refer to, or where I can obtain this information 1 ? A. J. C. GUIMARAENS.
FIRST -FLOOR REFECTORIES. In Durham Cathedral, in Finchale Priory, and in Bay- ham Priory, Sussex, the refectory is upstairs over a crypt. Where else in England does this occur? The late Rev. E. Mackenzie Walcott stated it was so "in two northern monasteries." Which were these ?
T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.
Lancaster.
MARYLEBONE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN 1836. Did this society print its proceedings? and at what date did it cease to exist ? XYLOGRAPHER.
" VINE " TAVERN, MILE END. In Sep- tember, 1903, an interesting old wooden structure called the "Vine" public - house, which stood on the pavement at Mile End, was destroyed by order of the Borough Council of Stepney. It had been etched years ago by the late Mr. Edwin Edwards, and I am told that a turnpike once stood hard
