Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/551

12 s. viii. JUNE 4, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 453 ness in my eyes insomuch that I cannot read, there is a mist that conies over them so that I cannot discern one letter, which makes me think that it is only a weakness which may be cured for 'my eyes viceable (sic) seem very strong and never water. I am a Student of the Law and I am ashamed to wear spectacles in an open Court. If you would doe me the honour to favour me with your opinion in a letter it .will be ever acknow- ledged by, Sir, your most humble servant. PETER CATMELL. Please direct me at Mr. Gibbons, Stationer, i near the Cloysters in the Temple. At the end is noted in Sir Hans's own writing as a direction for his secretary : | Cannot give any opinion unless he sees the j person in a clear day about one o'clock. Helmholtz, the great physicist, remarks in one of his lectures that it has never been sufficiently recognized that the study of; optics has enabled many to lead useful lives who would otherwise have been a burden to themselves and to society. J. P. DE C. " MAGDALEN " OR " MAWDLEN " ( 12 S. viii. 366, 417). Here is a still earlier case of the second form. In Henry VI. 's Patent Roll (1448, 26 Henry VI.) for the founda- tion of Magdalen College, Oxford (p. 5 of the printed 1853 text), we read : Aula beatae Mariae Magdalenae, vulgaritor dictum Maudaleyne Hall in Universitate Oxoniae. The Latin Statutes of 1479 give only : Seynte Mary Magdalen College in the Uni- versite of Oxford (p. 5 of same text). W. A. B. COOLIDGE, Senior Ft How of St. Mary Magdalen College. CLUB MEMBERSHIP LONGEVITY (12 S. viii. 410). Mr. Berkeley Portman's record of 70 years at the United University was surpassed by the late Lord Wemyss, who was elected to the Carlton Club in 1840 and remained a member until his death in 1914 a period of 74 years. GERALD LODER. THE CAVEAC TAVERN (12 S. vi. 170, 216, 279). -Possibly the following advertisement from The Daily Courant of Saturday, Nov. 19, 1720, will bring MR. CECIL CLARKE a step or two nearer to his journey's end : given on Tuesday next at the Loyal Coffee- house in Spread Eagle Court against the Angel and Crown Tavern next Caviack's, to dispatch the affairs concerning the said Patent. J. P. DE C. "BEADS OF CASTLEDOWNE" (12 S. viii. . I am much obliged to DR. MAGRATH for calling attention to this, which should have been explained at the time. The | word " pair," as the ' N.E.D.' shows by i examples dating from 1377 to as recently 1 as 1853, has frequently been applied to a series or succession of similar things, e.g., a string of beads or a pack of cards. In bequests of rosaries or paternosters it was frequently specified that these consisted of ten beads. The following are examples (12 S. viii. 331, 376, 417, 435). In Norfolk the smallest pig of a litter is called the " pitman." In Staffordshire it is " ritling." This seems akin to " reckling," referred to as the Lincolnshire synonym. J. FOSTER PALMER. 3, Oakley Street, S.W. In the hill villages around Princes Ris- borough, Bucks, the smallest pig of a litter is called a " diddling." R. McC. JOHN WITTY (12S.M- 1 3, ]7 7). Absence in Africa has prevented my seeing these two replies to my query in 12. S. vi. 13, for both of which I am very grateful. The John Witty who wrote to Ralph Thoresby, Jan. 20, 1709/10, is the man I want to trace. He was, as MR. T. C. DALE states, the nephew of the Rector of Cocking ton. L. S. >. A pair of beads ten stones cassideas (Inv. in Ann. Beg., 1768). 1534. Item, ten bedes of ambre and ij cas- sildens with a stryng of silk (' Eng. Church Furni- ture,' 1866, p. 195). The word " castledowne " is a corruption of chalcedony, another form of which is " cassidoine," a term applied to a great variety of semi-transparent stones such as agate, cornelian or onyx, much used for the beads of rosaries. Thus in the will of Both, 1503 (Somerset House), "A peyre of bedes of Casyldon " is mentioned, whilst the same phrase, " A paire of beads of Cassaydown," occurs in the will of Dame M. Kingston, 1548. An interesting parallel to " castledowne," derived from " chal- cedony," is " cast-me-down," a corrupt form of " cassidony " (Lavendulastoechas), of which Gerard in his 'Herbal,' 1597, tells us, " Some simple people imitating the said name doe call it Castle me downe " (Op. tit., ii. clxxx. 470). JOHN A. KNOWLES.