232
NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vn. MARCH 23, 1907.
M;ikr ;i. lottery ;
And by dc\ ice let hlocUisli A.jux draw Tin- sort td fight with Hector.
THOMAS BAYNE.
In Swift's ' Stella at Wood Park ' the spelling of this word is made to conform to the pronunciation :
I must confess your wine nncl vittle
I was too hiinl upon a little; and Walker, in his dictionary, complains of the Dean for having thus, " in some of his manuscript remarks " also, done a " mischief to language." Walker seems to have regarded the pronunciation vittle as being itself a corruption ; but surely the word was always pronounced so or, at least, without any sound of the c. Butler (' Hudi- bras,' I.ii. 87-8) has the couplet :
His death chared pistols he did tit well, Dra.\\ u out from lift- .preserving victual.
But Butler's rimes prove nothing except his facility in twisting sounds. C. C. B.
POONAH PAINTING (10 S. vii. 107, 152, 195). An earlier reference than any given BO far is contained in the following advertise- ment in The Liverpool Mercury of 19 Sept.,
"Poonah Work or Oriental Painting. This elegant and fascinat ing Art, which enables any Lady to ornament her Dress or embellish her Rooms, Furniture, &c., in a style at once superb and nouvelle, taught in a few lessons, with the greatest facility, and at a very moderate expense. Days for inspection of (lie above work, Tuesdays ai^ Fridays from 12 to 4 o'clock, No. 33, Bold St."
R. S. B.
Probably the modus operandi was the same in the case of young ladies as in that of children, though the former would exercise more care and taste, and produce less pardon- able results. I now remember seeing Poonah stencil patterns in a portfolio containing some of my mother's early works ; and I have an impression that she had no great opinion of the effect which she had produced by rubbing colour through the holes. In one respect she was like Rebecca Linnet in
- Janet's Repentance,' chap. iii. (a friend has
very kindly directed me to the passage) :
"At school shi' had spent a great deal of time
in acquiring (lower - paint ing according to the ingenious method then fashionable, of applying the shapes of leaves and tlo\sers cut out of card- board, and scrubbing a brush over the surface thus
conveniently marked out."
My mother's stencil patterns were cut in
paper. ST. SWITHIN.
" POMPERKIN " (10 S. vii. 187). Has not this word been reduced to the present usage
of pumpkin ? A pomekin or pomerkin would
seem to be a fruit akin to other fruit of the
tribe of PomacesG. Pepones (from the Greek
TrfTriDv, mellow, melon ; and the Latin
peponem, accusative of pepo, a large melon)
are described in Salmon's ' New London
Dispensatory,' 1676, as being " pompions
or great Melons." Cf. also Pepo cucumeralis
and Pepo sylvestris, or wild pompion.
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS (10 S. vii. 189). 1646-7. With reference to the edi- torial note in regard to my query under this date, 1 would remark that it is not an ex- planation of the classical system of the interregnum that I desire. I am fairly weir acquainted with it, and Dr. Shaw s ex- haustive church history of the period shows that the triers of the classis referred to were really three in number. What I want is an expression of expert opinion as to the probable reason for the payment of a modern " lawyer's fee," by the wardens of St. John's, to the parish (?) clerk of St. Botolph's, by order of a member of a body which had no jurisdiction over either parish.
1661-2. For " scineing " read scizeing.
W. McM.
" Taprells " is probably an abbreviation of " tape-purles," i.e., fringes of tape hang- ing from the head of window-curtains, and corresponding to the modern valance (see Nares).
Would not the grate for the watercourse be a drainage receptacle for rainwater flowing from a pipe or conduit, as in the waterspout of to-day ?
By a " schrve-pin " would appear to be meant the shrieval staff of office, or some- thing to represent it, standing at the entrance to the sheriffs' pew. " Shrieve," says Cowel, was vulgarly sheriff.
" Poynts " were laces, and performed the office of buttons.
J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
WESTMINSTER CHANGES, 1906 (10 S. vii. 81, 122, 161, 193). Stillington Street was probably named after Robert Stillington, who was a Prebendary of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and afterwards became Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord Chancellor. He died after a rather stormy career in 1491. There is a memoir of him in the ' D.N.B.' W. F. PRIDEAUX.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 S. vi. 449). I have since been informed by Miss Charlotte Lloyd, of Quebec, that the
