Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/422

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. MAY 21, 1910.


-author of ' Varronianus, ? ' The New Cratylus, 2 &c. ? The former work contains an Intro- duction to the Philological Study of the Latin Language (2nd ed., 1852.).

JOHN HODGKIN.

MISTLETOE at the last reference quotes from the late Mr. Justice J. FitzJames .Stephen's ' History of the Criminal Law of England l three passages bearing on the derivation of this word. The last sentences in the penultimate paragraph quoted read :

  • ' The derivation of ' Culprit ' given in dic-

tionaries is culpatus. See Johnson, Skeat, the ' Imperial.'- ?

As far as my observation goes r this is not invariably so in the case of recent dictionaries, several stating that the derivation is un- certain. One of the authorities Mr. Justice Stephen specially mentions does not bear out .his assertion. After reading MISTLETOE'S contribution, I took down from its shelf my old folio copy of Johnson's dictionary, and found the following therein :

"Culprit, n.s. [About this word there is a great dispute. It is used by the judge at criminal trials, who, when the prisoner declares himself not guilty, and puts himself upon his trial, answers, Culprit, God send thee a good deliverance. It is likely that it is a corruption of Qu'il pardit. May it so appear; the wish of the judge being that the prisoner may l>e found innocent.] A man arraigned before his judge."

F. A. RUSSELL.

4, Nelgarde Road, Catford, 8.E.

HENRY BARKER, PREBENDARY OF WEST- MINSTER (11 S. i. 305). I have a mezzotint portrait of the above, inscribed : Obiit 5 Sept. Ann. 1740 JEtat. 87.

Harricus Barker S.T.P.

Ecclesiae S tt Petri Westmonaster 8 Pra?bendar 8 et de Hotherfield-Orays in Co mitat. Oxon. Rector. J. Gibson pinx. G. White fee.

Arms and motto, " Deus nobis hsec."

HENRY T. BARKER.

Ludlow, Salop.

SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATORS (11 S. i. 327). According to Lowndes, the first illus- trated edition of Shakespeare was that of Rowe, 1709-10, in 7 vols. It is not stated whether only one artist or several were responsible for the illustrations. Theobald's edition of 1733, however, was adorned with plates designed and etched, according to Redgrave, by Henry Gravelot. Hanmer's edition of 1744 was also illustrated, the plates being etched by Gravelot after designs by Francis Hayman, R.A.

It would be rash to affirm without more areful investigation that Gravelot (whose real name was D'Anville) was the first single


illustrator of Shakespeare, but, at all events, both he and Hayman were long anterior to Thurston, who furnished woodcuts for Wallis & Scholey's edition, 1803-5, as well as for the Chiswick edition of 1814.

W. SCOTT.

MANNERS, DEPORTMENT, AND ETIQUETTE : THEIR BIBLIOGRAPHY (11 S. i. 84, 233). An interesting account of the Italian books mentioned at the latter reference, and others in the same language, will be found in an article on ' Italian Courtesy-Books of the Sixteenth Century, ? by Mr. James W. Holme, in The Modern Language Review for April last (Camb. Univ. Press).

EDWARD BENSLY.

WOOD STREET COMPTER : SPONGING- HOUSES (11 S. i. 328). There is a delight- fully vivid, if somewhat Hogarthian, but altogether amusing, sketch of life as it was lived in the Wood Street Counter, to be found in Dryden's ; Miscellany,' 1716, at p. 333 of vol. iii. It is -called ' The Counter Scuffle,* and the first two stanzas, which give a good idea of the whole, are as follows : Let that Majestick Pen that writes Of brave King Arthur and his knights, And of their noble Feats and Fights ; And those who tell of Mice and Frogs, And of the Skirmishes of Hogs, And of fierce Bears, and Mastiff Dogs,

be silent.

And now let each one listen well, While I the famous Battel tell, In Woodstreet Counter that befel in high Lent.

WM. NORMAN.

For information on the Compters see works of James Neild and Josiah Dornford ; or on their earlier use as " Counters n see the ' Counter Scuffle l and ' Counter Rat * pamphlets circa 1680.

Of the sponging - houses described in novels, "Coavinses ?r ('Bleak House,* chap, vi.) is probably the best-known example. It is said (Allbut's ' Rambles in Dickens Land,' p. 18) to have stood on the site of No. 1, Cursitor Street. The establish- ment of Mr. Moss ( ' Vanity Fair ' ) was also in Cursitor Street. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

An account of London prisons, including those for debtors, and specially applicable to the eighteenth century, is contained in Percy's ' London,' 1824, vol. iii. p. 322 ; also in Leigh's ' New Picture of London, 2 1823, p. 106.

Several novels have described life in debtors' prisons, but perhaps the one which