246
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. MAR. 20, 1910.
mistook for their coat that of another family
of Denny or Dennys.
A modern instance adds weight to this supposition. In one edition of Lodge's ' Portraits of Illustrious Persons ' the various family arms are introduced into the ornamental border of each engraving. The coat over the portrait of Sir Anthony Denny is not his, but Argent, a chevron between three mullets sable an exact parallel to the supposed error of the designer of the Waltham panels.
If this be the true explanation, it would prove the panels to be of a later date than has generally been supposed, namely, subse- quent to 1552, when (as the inscription on her portrait sets forth) " Joane y e daughter of S r Ph. Champernoone and relict of S r Anthony Dennie purchast Waltham Abbie of K. Ed. y e 6 th ," unless they may have been removed to Waltham from the old Denny seat at Cheshunt, when the heads of the family took up their residence at the former place. H. L. L. D.
" THE RISING SUN." In a late issue of the Cambridge Granta we are told that ' ' the fashioners of signboards had something besides their art ; they had optimism as well. Rarely, if ever, do we light upon an inn that is called ' The Setting Sun,* but a ' Rising Sun ' may welcome us^at the end of many a dusty road."
The signification, however, thus imputed to the sign is not the correct one. "The Rising Sun " was not a sign of a particularly invitatory character, like, for instance, " The Traveller's Rest," "The Dew Drop Inn,"
- t The Packhorse," or " The Plough " ; it was
originally merely the badge of cognizance of King Edward III., and was set up, like so many other heraldic signs, by a retainer who had been in the king's service. It is sometimes described more heraldic ally as " rays issuing from a cloud."
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
" DEW DROP INN." Some years ago an inn at Dorchester Point, near Boston, U.S., had on its sign the inscription ' ' Dew Drop Inn." The local pronunciation of " do " is " dew," so what to a visitor seemed a very sentimental name was, when pronounced by a countryman, the matter-of-fact request "Do drop in." M. N. G.
" BANG-BEGGAR." The only quotation illustrating the use of this word in the ' New English Dictionary > is dated 1867. But the Archdeacon of Montgomery, in searching
for materials for the new edition of his
' History of the Diocese of St. Asaph,'
came upon the following entry in the
Llangollen Vestry Book, under date 24 Feb.,
1787 :
"John Owen was appointed bangbegar [sic], to keep away from the parish all stragglers, all idle persons, who may come to be troublesome to the neighbourhood, the remuneration to be I/. Is. per annum."
The above extract appeared in a news- paper, no date or place being given ; but I am indebted to Archdeacon Thomas for kindly supplying the above particulars.
R. B. P.
QUEEN OF BOHEMIA'S PLAYERS. Among the petitions presented to Charles I. through the Lord Chamberlain is one from ' ' The King and Queen of Bohemia's Players, for leave to exercise their quality, being restrayned by the justices."
" Answered, vizt. His Majestie is graciously pleased that the petitioners have free liberty to exercise their quality of playing without restraint any former Act of Prohibition to the contrary notwithstanding. Dec. 13, 1630."
The actors did not seem, however, to be always content with one profession. In the February following the College of Physicians petitioned against "divers empirics."' One of these was " Bugges, one of the Queen of Bohemia's players, sometimes an apothecary. The College allowed relief" (7 Feb., 1630). L. C., V. 44. C. C. STOPES.
BULGARIAN RIVER TRADITION. According to a legend, the rivers Isker and Maritsa were brother and sister, and flowed together along the heights of Rilo. One day the young girl, struck by the beauty of the country which she saw eastwards, said to her brother : " Lo, I say, what a great sea lies in that direction ! I will go and see it. I will descend and go towards the sun until I find it." The Isker was shocked, and tried to dissuade her ; but when he saw that it wa,s useless, he said: "Thou seekest to desert me for the white sea. Well, if I am left alone I will pass on, but I shall reach the sea before thee, for I will descend northwards and join the rapid Danube." This is the reason why the Isker and Maritsa, starting from Rilo, flow in opposite directions.
The Maritsa is said to weep as a wounded widow in the Bulgarian war-song ' Sumi Maritsa,' to the melodious strains of which Prince Alexander's troops marched to the battle of Slivnitsa against the Serbs.
FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.
Streatham Common.
