186
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. m. MARCH 10, 1917.
To Sam my baliff, lest he repine,
J give my residue of stock and kine ;
My gamekeeper I give of guns a stock,
.My Joe Manton egg and knock,
He can go forth and shoot the feathered flock,
And when I am in heaven above,
He can pursue the sport I love.
to my servant from the ranks,
That due to me may be his thanks,
The chargers that I rode in battle,
Horses that heard the cannon rattle.
And to my brewer I do give,
Hoping that he may long live,
Of malt and hops a rattling store,
That when he's drank the ale he may brew more
Yes, and puncheons full of rum,
Filled as tight as any drum,
And he is a fellow fine,
To him I give my stock of wine,
With glass, I Yes, and everything
That makes a joyous table ring.
And to my gardener rake and spade,
And every tool that suits his trade,
And as the poor devil needs some luck,
I give him all the fruit to pluck,
And in the garden he will find some greens,
'Cauliflowers and kidney beans.
.And to my housemaids noisy crew,
My chairs and tables not a few,
Brushes and brooms with gooses' wings,
And every other sundry thing,
And lest that they should think me mean,
I give them all they have been used to clean.
Now to the cook I give my tea,
rSome twenty pounds of fine Bohea.
And that she may remember me,
I give her all the good coffee,
With sugar, plums and good spice,
And everything folks think is nice,
And lest that she should think them shams,
.My bacon I do give and all the hams,
With bread and flour and good salt meat,
And everything that's fit to eat.
To Mary, my scullion wench,.
As good as needs sits on the bench,
And though her portion is but small,
Tis all that's in the servants hall.
And that her mind may be at peace, She shall have all the kitchen grease, And she must search well o'er each nook, For all the cook may overlook.
To the old woman at the gate,
Which I have passed through of late,
Who to crack hazel nuts is willing,
And to buy some I give a shilling,
But as that will only buy a few,
I give her all that in the garden grew,
And so long as she doth live,
To her all the hazel nuts I give,
But if any she doth dare to sell,
The next she cracks shall be in hell,
But all I intend for her to eat,
For she will be short of bread and meat,
And only on that proposition
The nuts are hers by that condition.
And lest a varlet of mine should repine,
To Henry the labourer I give my swine,
Snorters collected with great pains,
And all the store of swill and grains.
To Mary Ann, who was my wife, The joy and comfort of my life, What providence has given to me, When I die I give to thee.
Dated 1st day of June, 1815,
Willoughby Dixie, Bos worth Park, Leicestershire.
S. A. GBUNDY-NEWMAN, F.S.A.Scot. Walsall.
ARMY CASUALTIES. Every one who has
attempted to compile regimental rolls of
honour is aware of the extraordinary diffi-
culty of being accurate or complete, for the
official registers at the Public Record Office
are full of discrepancies, largely owing to
the fact that lists were frequently made up
long after the event. As an example of
this slackness one may cite a letter written
by the Secretary at War to the Officer Com-
manding the 1st Battalion of the Royal
Scots on March 20, 1812 (W.O. 12, 1894).
He called for a return of casualties among
the officers from Dec. 25, 1809, demanding
that it should be " finished without delay,
with an explanation of the cause of the
delay." The best sources of information
are the Register of Casualties (W.O. 25),
which are indexed separately (recently re-
numbered under "Ind."); the Commissary-
General's Register ; Special Pay Lists
(notably the Waterloo ones) ; and Claims.
A guide to the War Office records at the
Public Record Office is badly needed, for the
official catalogue affords the minimum of
help. J. M. BULLOCH.
123 Pall Mall, S.W.
" CADUA." In Act III. of Congreve's ' Love for Love ' (first 4to, 1695), Sir Sampson Legend, mocking his son Valentine, cries :
" You shall see the Rogue shew himself, and make Love to some desponding Cadiia of Four- score for Sustenance. Odd, I love to see a young Spendthrift forc'd to cling to an Old Woman for Support."
It has been acutely suggested to me that this puzzling term " Cadua " is a misprint for Latin caduca = & woman ready to drop into her grave. Even so it certainly is a somewhat obscure expression, and a reference to caduca in this sense would be valuable. Caducus homo is a medical term = an epileptic, and it is so used by Firmicus Maternus. Caducus morbus (epilepsy) occurs in the ' Herbarium,' a work of the fourth
