s. in. JAN. 28, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
75
Derbyshire story, told as I learnt it, an axe
is appealed to, and lastly a man. The old
woman had appealed to everything as far as
the cat, which, like the rest, would not, nor was
there mention of milk in a saucer as an
inducement to the cat to kill the rat. Just
then a man in white appeared, and to him
the old woman appealed. The man spoke to
the cat, which began to kill the rat, the rat
to gnaw rope, rope to hang butcher, butcher
to kill the ox, ox to drink the water, water
to slack the fire, fire to burn the axe, axe to
chop the stick, stick to beat the dog, dog to
bite the pig, pig to run o'er th' brig, "an 1 so
th' owd woman got home that night." I
remember the children used to make a ring,
and as they rattled off " the cat began to kill
the rat," &c., danced round merrily. The
most interesting bit in the story, as told in
Derbyshire to me and other children, was
that the man was Christ Himself.
THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.
MAYERS' SONG (10 th IS. i. 7 ; ii. 512). Some seventeen or eighteen years ago, when this subject was engaging the attention of the readers of Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, I contributed to the second volume of that now defunct magazine the words and music of the Mayers' song formerly in vogue in this village. Bearing this in mind, on reading the question propounded in 'N. &, Q. ; by MR. GERISH I wrote to that gentleman direct, asking if a -copy of this melody would be of any service to him. On receiving a reply in the affirmative, I at once supplied him with a harmonized setting. I did not reply to the question through ' N. & Q.,' as I deemed that its columns were not open to the printing of notation. Should MR. WAINE- WRIGHT also desire a copy of this melody I will gladly send him ona
I have many versions by me of the old May carol. These invariably give the fourth line quoted as
For fear we die in sin or
Or else we die in sin.
I think therefore the word " should " has got inserted by some scribe in error. Hone's version, as follows, seems to be most gene- rally used :
ISemewiber us poor Mayers all,
And thus we do begin To lead our lives in righteousness, Or else we die in sin.
JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 th S. iii. 8). For " As in a gravegarth," &c., see
' X.E.D.,' 8.v. " Grave, sb. 1 5. attrib. and comb.,"
-"1880, Rossetti, 'Ballads and Sonn.,' 273"
(the passage inquired for is the only example
given). C. P. PHINN.
Watford.
' SARUM" (10 th S. ii. 445, 496 ; iii. 37). The second word in the second line of Q. V.'s note, to which he refers me, is "delusion," the delusion being "that Sar, with a stroke through the tail of the r, stands for Saruni."
I fear that I am still under this delusion ; for I am inclined to maintain that Sar, " with a stroke through the tail of the ?," must stand for Sarum, and for nothing else. Sar', I allow, may stand for Saresburia, or Sara, or any word that begins with those letters. Unfortunately I was not in time to correct my reply at p. 49G of the last volume. The stroke which I had written through the tail of my } was turned into an apostrophe above it. S. G. HAMILTON.
POLICE UNIFORMS : OMNIBUSES (10 th S. iii. 29). Mr. Punch's Almanack for 1862 shows us the old police uniform cutaway coat, white ducks, and "topper." During 1863, according to the same authority, the white trousers seem to have disappeared ; while early in 1864 the force is pictured in a substantial coat of the modern pattern. The extinction of the " topper " by the helmet clearly took place in 1864. In that year Tenniel twice drew John Bull in the habit of a policeman. On 14 May we find him in a top hat, and on 29 October in the helmet which, with certain modifications, has endured to the present day. In his issue of 25 February, 1865, Mr. Punch pokes fun, both verbal and pictorial, at "Robert's" new headgear. LIONEL MONCKTON.
69, Russell Square, W.C.
The present form of omnibus became uni- versal between January, 1880, and December, 1888. I left England at the former date, when tram-omnibuses, as I heard them called, were extremely rare, and found them universal on my return early in 1889. Doors were
- aken off omnibuses about 1880. The ticket
system now in vogue came into use by the LG.O.C. in January, 1891, but had been used 3y trams and the Star Omnibus Company some time previously. Within the last few years I have tried to invite materials for a aibliography of the omnibus in ' N. & Q.' 9 th S, Index). EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.
As to the former query I refer MR. PHILIP NORTH to the pages of The Illustrated London News.
As to omnibuses with doors, these were plying
