Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/547

12 s. vm. JUNE 4, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 449 rences may have suggested the other it is not needful to inquire ; but the repetition, with circumstantial alteration of details, is a little curious, if it be repetition .only, ! as seems possible. W. B. H. AMERICAN ENGLISH. In the Presidential Address of Mr. Harding to the joint Session j of Congress, on April 12, 1921, I find, (1) p. 3, ' "We were so illy prepared." Though the - word is in the ' N.E.D.' I diffidently suggest j that it is a misunderstanding of English ! adverbs. (2) p. 8, " The United States means to establish." N.B. the singular. H. C N. New Court, Temple. WE must request correspondents desiring in- j formation on family matters of only private interest i to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct, j WINDOW TAX AND DAIRIES. A corre- spondent in.'N. & Q.' (1851) states that j a tax was laid on glass windows in 1695. In the House Tax Act of Geo. III. in 1808, (48 Geo. III., c. 55) Schedule A gave rules for charging windows or lights, the tax being graduated according to the number of windows. Between 1695 and 1808 did windows escape taxation ? I understand the window tax was con- verted into the inhabited house duty in 1851. (14/15 Vic., c. 36) and the correspon- ! dent in * N. & Q.' under date June 7, 1851, ! writes, " the window duties have of late | provoked much discussion," but the window j tax does not seem to have been repealed i till 1872 by the Statute Law Revision Act | (35/36 Vic., c. 97). Were windows still j taxable in some form or other between 1851 and 1872 ? Under the window tax the window of a dairy or cheese room was exempt, and I ! have read that to satisfy the inspector | under the tax the " Window Peeper " a board or wooden label marked " Dairy," " Cheese Room," " Cheese Chamber," &c., had to be affixed to the windows for which | exemption was claimed. Do any of these boards still exist or are there any references to indicate what windows could be, and were, so marked ? Were the windows in a cow-house exempt ? I have a note, unfortu- natelv without reference, that in towns, over "pantry" windows, wooden labels marked " Cheese Room " or "Dairy " used to be displayed. I shall be obliged for any references. R. HEDGER WALLACE. HENRY CLAY. I am anxious to know between what dates Henry Clay, papier mache manufacturer (who was in Birming- ham about 1772), had a shop in King Street. Covent Garden. V. H. COLLINS. CORKER (CoRCOR). The answers I have seen given to correspondents in ' N". &. Q.' encourage me to inquire whether anti- quaries of Yorkshire or Lincolnshire have met the name Corker or Corcor in documents, or otherwise in their researches. I possess some interesting data which it is needless to refer to Jiere. Perhaps some corre- spondents would be so kind as to write to me, to the Junior United Service Club, Charles Street, London. T. M. CORKER (Maj.-Gen. Ret.). ROBERT JOHNSON. Governor of South Carolina, died May 3, 1735. There is a monument, I understand, to his memory in St. Philip's Church, Charleston. Did he die at Charleston ? Was he married, and if so, when and to whom ? What was the name of his mother ? G. F. R. B. Louis MASQTJERIER. A goldsmith in Coventry Street, Haymarket, at the be- ginning of the eighteenth century. I should be glad to learn what family Masquerier left, and if any child of his succeeded to the business. His widow, whose maiden name was Madeleine Touchet, married Reynolds Grignion, the engraver. G. F. R, B. ACID TEST. Who is responsible for the currency of this expression in its figurative sense ? E. W. " HOWLERS." The reason for the use of this expression has been recently sought, apparently in vain. It would be interesting to have the views of ' N. & Q.' readers thereon. Although a couple of humorous examples were given (see 10 S. vi. 486), the origin of the word has not been dis- cussed in these pages. I have heard people say of some particularly mirth-provoking joke, " it was enough to make a dog howl with laughter." So, maybe, the canine world is responsible for the saying. CECIL CLARKE. Junior Athenaeum Club.