Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/359

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i2s.viLQcT.9,i92o.j NOTES AND QUERIES.


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.25 Ibs. The floral and scroll ornament ir "3-elief was most ornate, indeed almos "loud," and Velonged to the period of earh nineteenth century.

W. JAGGARD, Capt.

A few years ago there was, and doubtles there still is, a fine specimen at Hedlestor Hall, Derbyshire.

S. A. GRUNDY-NEWMAN, F. S.A.Scot.

Walsall.

"HEIGHTEM, TIGHTEM AND SCRUB " (12 S vii. 248) were, I think, strangers to me ; bu when I came to consider them I fancied the} '/bore a likeness to : Eighty, taghty paradighty clothed in green, with which begins a riddle on the holly-tree ^that is to be found in HalliweH's 'Nursery Rhymes,' at p. 133, and that I seem to aremember as having seen . elsewhere in thi -form :

Hightum, tightum, paraditum dressed all in green " Hoity-toity " and " highty-tighty " differ -only as regards the value of the vowels, presume it was the humour of Miss L. M. ANSTEY'S cousin's great-grandfather that caused him to make two wigs out of v jhoity-toity by ignoring the hyphen, and ^substituting a comma. ST. SWITHIN.

Cornwall seems to be responsible for this phrase, and the spelling as recorded by Wright's 'Dialect Dictionary' is the same .as that used by E. F. Benson, the following ^examples being given :

tflitem, She'm some gay she do wear hitem to the tea fight, and hitem when she do trapesy but law if you see'd her working in her Scrubbs you'd know what a slut her really es (From T. C. Peter's MS. Collection of Cornish Words).

^Titem A costume for wear when neither visiting

nor working. ^Scrubbs Working clothes.

I fail to find any other record of this expression elsewhere.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

In my childhood, during the "seventies," 1 continually heard the expression " Hoity, Toity, and Scrub." The above variant is quite new to me.

KATHLEEN A. N. WARD. Cairnbinn, Whitehouse, co. Antrim.

Two definitions in N. Bailey's ' Dictionary '

s(lst ed., 1721, latest 1802), throw light on my

-.query : "Scrubbed, ?;. (scrabber, Dan.),

-worn out, also slovenly, mean habited."

" Tight, a. (in dress), not slovenly. " Hence,


it was easy to evolve " heighten! " for the well- dressed, "tightem" for the neatly-dressed, and " scrub" for the slatternly person, and thence to transfer the terms to the garments worn by such individuals. L. M. ANSTEY.

NOVELS OF THE NORTH WOODS (12 S. vii. 231). MR. E. COLBY will find that by far the majority of Mr. Ridgwell Cullum's novels have a locale in the regions he names. Most of his books are published by Chapman & Hall, London I have read several, and with one exception. 'The Compact,' the localities were within the sphere named by him. 'The Blazed Trail,' 'The Riverman ' and 'The Hooded Man,' by Mr. Stewart Edward White are tales of the North Woods, the two first named being descriptive of the "logging" business. "The Prey of the Strongest " is a contribution by Mr. Morley Roberts to the literature of the North- West timber trade in B.C. Mr. Hulbert Footner in ' Jack Chanty, ' writes a story of Whabasca ; and others of his are 'The Sealed Valley ' and 'The Fur Bringers.' The two last I have not read, but I think they will be found to deal with the localities. Mr. Bertram S. Sinclair is another writer who, writes of this locality. His ' North of Fifty- five ' and 'Big Timber ' exploit the timber industry. He has written many fine stories of the North- West generally. A few other writers whose geographical selection appears to favour the North- West, are R. W. Service 'The Trail of '98 '), Peter B. Kyne, H. H. Knibbs, Dane Coolidge, and the Rev. Virginia E. Roo ; probably MR. COLBY may know son" . of these writers already. But they a"<J mentioned in case he may not know them.

C. P. HALF.

DOMESTIC HISTORY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (12 S. vii. 191, 216, ?r/7). I havo ecently met with a much earlier reference x> the custom of afternoon tea than that given at the last reference, which may be allowed to speak for itself, since it amounts x> a virtual claim for this domestic intro- duction. In ' Many Memories of Manv 'eople,' by Mrs. M. 0. M. Simpson, tho Laughter of Nassau William Senior, tho mthoress writes :

" Ours was one of the first houses where afternoon a, was an institution. It Avas the custom to ide all through the spring and summer from .ve to seven, and when my father came home to 3tch me in the afternoon, he used to find me rinking a cup of servants' tea brought to me hv iv maid. He very soon joined in this agreeable abit, and tea was served regularly at four o'clock.