Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/25

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ii s. vi. JULY 6, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


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it as " wanting reasonableness, propriety, solidity." It is probable that the word should properly be simply sleeve, without the terminal less, which would seem to have grown out of the negative meaning of a word , the radical sense of which had become obsolete. Thus O.N. sliojr, Dan. xlor = dull, inactive, blunt ; Sw. slo dull, deadened, inert, barren.

As for the interchange of the sleeve and the glove between Diomed and Cressida, Shake- speare there introduces a custom. Gloves and sleeves were both frequently worn in war as the token of esteem from a lady love. Hall, the chronicler, in a notice of a tourna- ment of the time of Henry VIII. says :

"One part had their plumes at whyt, another liadde them at redde, and the thyrde had them of several colours. One ware in his headpiece his ladies sleeve, and another bare on hys healm the glove of his dearlynge."

TOM JONES.

"TELLING" NUMBERS (11 S. v. 390). A long and interesting series of examples of telling numbers in various parts of the world was published in The Daily News a year or two ago. J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.

' BITE AGAIN, AND BITE BIGGER' (11 S. v. 369). There used to be a saying, " Bite bigger, Billy," used as sarcastic comment when any " tall " tale was told. " Bite bigger, Billy," occurs in a dialect recitation, I believe ; probably the one which MR. JAMES W. WALKER asks about. In one of the children's monthly papers The Chil- dren's Friend, I think many years ago there was an illustration of two children, the girl holding an apple to the boy, entitled ' Bite Bigger, Billy,' and having, I think, .a few verses with it. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

I certainly read a story based on this expression in The Band of Hope Review in the early sixties. Whether it was told in rime or not I cannot recall. But I think its title was, ' Bite Bigger, Billy.'

JOHN T. PAGE.

EDWARD CECIL, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON '(11 S. v. 428). The senior representative of this nobleman is somewhat obscure, but it is not difficult to point out the line of research. He left four daughters his co- heirs : (1) Dorothy, who died in France in 1652, unmarried ; (2) Albinia, wife of Sir 'Christopher Wray of Barlings Abbey, co. ^Lincoln, Knight, who died in 1646, leaving


issue ; (3) Elizabeth, married Francis, fifth Baron Willoughby of Parham (she died in 1661, leaving surviving three daughters, viz., Diana, Frances, and Elizabeth, all of whom married, but the eldest died s.p. ; the line of Frances became early extinct ; while Elizabeth, who married Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, is now represented by Lord De Ros) ; (4) Frances, married second Viscount Saye and Sele, and is now repre- sented by her heir general the Lord Saye and Sele.

The senior coheirship, of course, fell to the descendants of Albinia, the second daughter, and Sir Christopher Wray. They had a large family of six sons and six daughters. The male line is extinct, but the heirship eventually vested in the descend- ants of the granddaughters of Lady Albinia through her eldest son, Sir William, who died in 1669. There were five of these co- heiresses of their brothers, viz. : (1) Olympia, who died unmarried ; (2) Margaret, the senior next of kin to her brother Sir William Wray, who died in 1686. She married Rev. James Jeffreys, D.D., Prebendary of Canter- bury, younger brother of Judge Jeffreys. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. 6 Sept., 1689, aged 40. His wife survived him many years, being buried as " Margaret Jeffreys, widow," 21 Sept., 1723. There were two children of the marriage, both baptized in the Cathedral, viz., Tufton (a daughter), bapt. 29 March, 1688, buried 31 Dec., 1689, and John, bapt. 22 Aug., 1689. What became of the latter I have failed to discover, but he was probably the father of Dr. Jeffreys, residentiary of St. Paul's in 1799, who is said by Burke (' Extinct Peerage,' sub ' Jeffreys of Wem ') to have been grandson of the Prebendary of Canterbury and Margaret Wray. If this be so, then in his issue (if any) now vests the senior co -re presentation of Lord Wimbledon. Failing this, we have the three younger sisters of Margaret. These were : (3) Al- binia, said to have married after 1680

Lewis. (4) Tufton, wife of Sir James Montagu, Chief Baron of the Exchequer (d. 1712), who left an only daughter Eliza- beth, married to Sir Clement Wearg, Solicitor-General, who died in 1726. His widow survived till 1746, but died s.p. (5) Drury, the youngest sister, married to Sir William Sanderson, Bart. His male line failed in 1760, but he had a daughter Tufton who was twice married first, to a Capt. Barrie ; secondly, to Alexander Horton of the Grove, Buckingham.

W. D, PINK.