436
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. MAY 27, 1910.
ablative postpositive case-ending equiva-
lent to Latin a, ab, de, e, ex which some-
times becomes dik. There are many dialects
in Baskish, and the spelling is irregular.
The arbitrary string of letters aviatik, lately used in speaking of aircars, or flying- machines, of a certain kind, appears to be the unhappy invention of some fanciful French journalist, and will never flourish, any more than "aviator," " aviation," &c., having no root or stem to keep it alive. To connect it with Latin aui, bird, is impossible, by the rules of the Roman language. The Latin word uolatio, flying, includes the motion of all creatures which fly by Divine right, or nature, and does justice to bats, insects, and certain sorts of fish, as well as being applicable to the artificial, or imitative, flight of men and women. That is the proper term for " the Latin races," but for Englishmen such words as " fly," " flier," " flight," " flying," are clear enough and shorter. Why should we deviate from good English in favour of false Latin ?
EDWARD S. DODGSON.
Oxford Union Society.
MlD-NlNETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE
FOR BOYS (12 S. i. 188, 257, 315). I think the name of George Mogridge (" Old Hum- phrey ") should find a place in this list. Such books as his ' Tales in Rhyme for Boys ' certainly gave me great pleasure more than fifty years ago. Doubtless his writings would be dubbed " goody-goody " by present-day readers, but that is a matter of opinion. There was a moral enforced by every story he told, and his influence on the children of his day must have been tre- mendous. His output was considerable at the end of the ' Memoir ' published after his death the list of his published works occupies six pages. George Mogridge was born at Ashted, near Birmingham, Feb. 17, 1787, and died at Hastings, Nov. 2, 1854. His grave is in All Saints' Churchyard, and over it a suitable memorial has been placed by the Committee of the Religious Tract Society " to mark their high estimate of his character and works." (See 9 S. x. 195.) JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.
A CHURCH BELL AT FARNHAM IN DORSET (12 S. i. 389, 420). The inscription " Ora Mente Pia Pro Nobis Virgo Maria" is recorded as on a bell at Pleshey, Essex, with the well- known trade - stamp inscribed " William ffoundor me fecit." This founder was probably William Dawe, and there are two birds (daws ?) on the stamp. His date was
c* 1400 (Downman, 'Ancient Church Bells,"
1898, p. 48 ; Stahlschmidt, ' Church Bells of
Kent,' 1887, pp. 24-7).
The " Ora Mente " inscription is also at Chertsey and at Wotton, both in Surrey (Stahlschmidt, ' Church Bells of Surrey/' 1884, pp. 142, 79), and doubtless elsewhere.
The stamp of William the founder is^ recorded for Essex, Herts, Kent, Norfolk,, Somerset, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and Sussex, but as it was apparently used by another William after his death, it affords no very close indication of date. There is a bell bearing this stamp in Magdalen Tower,. Oxford, built c. 1480. Many founders' stamps and letters went on from generation-, to generation in the same foundry.
Durham. J T ' F '
SONG WANTED : ' THE DUSTMAN'S WIFE '" (12 S. i. 227, 333). I think the song MR; BURLS mentions was called ' The Dustman' s ; Wedding,' which described the adventuress of a certain " Hookum Snivvy, who wore short gaiters,'* at the wedding of his friend Joe Buggins. The last time I heard it was- at the Old Coal-Hole (Judge and Jury) in_ the late fifties.
It was sung to the tune of ' Billy Taylor/ I do not know who the publishers were, if it ever was published, but I do not think the authorities would allow it to be sung at any of the music-halls at the present day. ALFRED MASSON.
' The Dustman's Wife ' was published by B. Williams, 11 Paternoster Row, London- The outside illustrated cover reads " "Written by G. W. Hunt"; but within it is superscribed : " Written and composed by E. W. Hunt." The first line of the song runs :
O, once there liv'd in Bethnal Green. A copy of the song is among G. W. Hunt's- compositions in the British Museum Library . A, H. MACLEAN.
14 Dean Road, N.W.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PLATE (12 S.i. 248.-. 379). The mark P. R. repeated is of course irregular, as there should be the " castle '* and the " thistle " if the piece is of Edin- burgh make ; the period could be best judged by the style of the work. Patrick Robertsom was admitted as a goldsmith in 1751, and was working certainly up to 1778.
May I take this opportunity of saying that the authoritative book on English Hall- marks is ' English Goldsmiths and their Marks,' by Charles James Jackson, F.S.A..,. Macmillans, 1905 ? W. B. S.
