Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/24

16 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. JULY 3, 1920. regiment invariably six times in all as "the Blues " (W. E. Manners 'Life of the Right Hon. John Manners, Marquis of Granby,' Macmillan, 1899, pp. 245-6). Whilst I was watching a procession many years ago, I heard an elderly man inform his daughters that the Horse Guards were the "Royal Life Guards Blue." G. H. WHITE. 23 Weighton Eoad, Anerley. The replies printed answer the question as it stands ; but since sending the query my attention has been drawn to the follow- ing in Toone's ' Chronological Record,' 1834, and I should welcome the further explica- tion required by a nearly identical sobriquet as applied apparently to a Regiment of Cavalry of the Line, uniformed in a differing shade of blue : "1795. Nov. 3. A riot happened amongst the colliers at Ludlow [Salop ?] for the purpose of destroying the mill and imposing their own terms upon the market. The Oxford Light Blues turned out for the protection of the town, about a mile and a half from which they met 400 men the dragoons charged and completely dis- persed them, wounding some and taking many prisoners." W. B. H. MARRIAGE OF COUSINS (12 S. vi. 312). In civil law cousins german or first cousins, being in the fourth degree of collaterals, may marry. Canon Law forbade marriage even to the seventh degree ; but a Papal dispensation might be obtained in certain cases. In the Civil Law the degree of rela- tionship between collaterals is counted by the number of steps up from one of them to the common ancestor and thence down to ahe other ; according to the Canon Law by hhe number of steps from the common ancestor to the party more remote from him ; uncle and niece are according to the lormer related in the third, according to the latter in the second degree. A. R. BAYLEY. MR. ACKERMANN will find a great deal of historical information on this subject in the article on ' Consanguinity ' in the ' Catholic Encyclopaedia' from the pen of Mffr Richard L. Burtsell, Ph.D., S.T.D. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. There appears to be a superstition that second cousins cannot marry, In a rather long note on ' Marriage of First Cousins ' <XT /r^o is ' Notabiiia >' quotes from 3T, & Q. 3 S. x. 199 (200) to the effect that he believed " a popular mistake is still prevalent in some quarters, that though, marriages between first cousins are lawful, those between second cousins are not." I have heard this myself ; but have not heard any good grounds for the belief. It must no doubt be relegated to^the field of popular errors. C. P. HALE^ South Hackney, N.E." OLD CHINA (12 S. vi/294,319). Your cor- respondent V. R. is correct in his surmise that " old China " is a piece .of rhyming'slang,, but, as he fears, his hazard of "old "forty- niner " as a solution is " far off." The- great majority of rhyming slang terms are used in an abbreviated form, the word or words deleted being the basis of the rhyme j, and it is this fact which constitutes tile' puzzle to the uninitiated. The original of the expression under notice, with, as stated by V. R., its meaning of- " mate," is- " old, China Plate," which in usage becomes-" old China." The following examples will make the explanation clear : " Old Pot " meaning " old man," (husband) comes- from " old Pot and Pan." " Plates " meaning feet comes front. " Plates of meat," " Tiddley "- meaning a drink comes from " Tiddley-wink," and so on. R.fS. FARROW, 8 Alma Road, S.W.18. SIGN PAINTING (12;S.. vi. 226, 310, 342). On this subject the following is worth noting.. Charles Cut-ton, R,A. (born at Norwich, 1728, died in London, 1798), was' one of the first forty Royal Academicians, According to the 'D.N.B,' he was a successful coach painter in London. Amongst other works - one is at St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich he 1 painted a full length portrait of Shakespeare' as a sign. It hung near the corner of Little- Russell Street, Drury Lane. It had figures- on both sides and was much admired. When the Act for new paving in London came into force this "sign " was removed, and stood faded, dirty, and broken, exposed for sale at a broker's shop in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. Was this merely a fancy portrait, or a copy of an older picture ? and is any-* thing known of its ultimate fate ? J. E. HARTING.. "Ox" IN PLACE-NAMES (12 S. vi. 333). The places mentioned do not appear to be villages ; are they farms or fields ? I suggest that the syllable in question is not really ox, but oc',9 or ock's. Caradoc is a