128. 1. JUNE 17, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
489
ROBINSON FAMILY. I should be glad to
ascertain the connexion or relationship which
existed between Luke Robinson, M.P. during
the Commonwealth (born 1610), of Thornton
Riseboro', or Luke Robinson, M.P. for
Hedon, Yorkshire (died 1773), and the
family of Robinson, now Marquess of
Ripon. I have proof that such connexion
existed, but after long-continued search I
cannot trace the date, &c.
LUKE N. ROBINSON.
Clover Lodge, Dilke Street, Chelsea, S.W.
HENLEY, HERTS. In Nichols's ' History of Leicestershire ' I find that the member of a certain family is mentioned as having married a lady of Henley, Herts. I do not know of such a place, neither have I been able to find it in any county history. Can any of your readers give me information ? JOHN THICKBROOM.
35 Allison Road, Hornsey, N.
R. S. CHARNOCK'S BOOKS. (See ante* p. 410.) Very well. If he has left so few books that they did not deserve the name of a " library," may I modify my query and ask, Does anybody know what has become of the few books he has left ? L. L. K.
FAZAKERLEY : MEANING OF NAME. (See Ante, pp. 288, 395.) Can any reader give the meaning of this name, whether of persons or places ? I see at the latter reference there occurs the spelling Phosakerley.
M.A.OxoN.
MEDIJEVAL LATIN. Is there any Latin- English Dictionary which gives special attention to words found in documents, say from the tenth century onward ?
JOHN PATCHING.
Lewes.
" CONSUMPTION " AND " LETHARGY " : THEIR MEANING IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. During a recent visit to the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, while in- specting the parish register, I was impressed by the number of deaths recorded therein during the period 1650-1750 as the result of lethargy and consumption.
Phthisis and tuberculosis are known to have prevailed in England since the four- teenth century at least ; but, inasmuch as Milton's death appears in the register as due to " consumption," while his biographers attribute it to fever and gout, the natural inference is that " consumption " formerly denoted the gradual breaking-up of the system. "Lethargy," too, to which Defoe is here said to have succumbed, must at that date have had a less restricted meaning than
at the present day, when it is defined as a
" prolonged and unnatural sleep." In none
of the definitions of these complaints in the
- N.E.D.' can I find information as to what
these words exactly denoted in the seven- teenth century. N. W. HILL.
R. BRERETON, ARTIST. I have a picture of horses and children signed " R. Brereton, 1860" (71840). I shall be glad to have some particulars of the artist.
R. VAUGHAN GOWER.
[Robert Brereton, according to Mr. Algernon Graves's ' Royal Academy,' exhibited there ' Chil- dren of John Costazzi, Esq.,' in 1841, and 'Master Townsend ' in 1843.]
PUCK FAIR. What was this ? In the Casement trial one of the witnesses stated that the town of Killorglin is locally known as Buck. On this a correspondent of The Yorkshire Post declares that it is a misprint for Puck, as Killorglin was, and perhaps still is, the scene of the once-famous Puck Fair, at which a " Puck," or he-goat, was placed on a platform in the middle of the fair. The writer is unable to explain the origin or significance of the custom.
J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.
Glendora, Hindhead, Surrey.
GENNYS OF LAUNCESTON AND
PLYMOUTH.
(12 S. i. 126, 193, 249, 299.)
THE family of Gennys or Gennis has been represented in Cornwall from a remote period, and records dating from the thir- teenth century contain references to members of the family. The town of St. Gennys, on the west coast of Cornwall, south of Dizzard Point, is where the name is first found. At that period family surnames, as now estab- lished, were not generally in use, individuals being known by the name of the town or place where they lived, and it is for this reason we find members of the Gennys family, from 1272 to 1346, described as John, de Seintginas, Robert de St. Gennis, Symon de St. Gennys, &c. Gradually the local designation of the individual disappeared, and about the middle of the fourteenth century the name of the town or place became the surname of the family. The earliest notice of this transition and fixity of surname in connexion with the Gennys family occurs in a deed dated at Bodmin,
