Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/186

148 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2 s.ix. AUG. 20, 1921. the English examples are supposed to have come. That in Winchester Cathedral may be regarded as the type. There is a similar one in Lincoln Minster, and another at Thornton Curtis in Lincolnshire. The others occur mostly in Hampshire ; as may be expected, they are found also in the neigh- bourhood of Tournay. All are within easy distances of seaports or navigable rivers. The bowls are externally square, resting on central pillars, "with smaller pillars under the four angles. Dean Kitchin described all that were then known in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, i. 1. They are sculptured on the four sides with historical or symbolical representations, all of which have been carefully chipped off the Boulge font, having doubtless been objected to as superstitious or otherwise unsuitable. This font, though large enough, is much smaller than any others of the kind that I have seen. I do not remember whether it has had corner pillars or not, but there are some remains of foliage still to be seen. As it is now unpolished, it presents a grey appearance quite different from the polished black surface of other fonts which it resembles in general character. J. T. F. Winterton, Lines. THOMAS CHATTEBTON. At 12. S. viii. 108, I made a suggestion that a memorial tablet should be placed on No. 39, Brooke Street, Holborn, which now occupies the site of the house in which Chatterton died. I have discovered since that in * N. &. Q.,' 10 S. vii. 506, of June 29, 1907, MB. FBEDEBICK T. HIBGAME anticipated me in this suggestion. May I say that although MB. H IB GAME'S re- commendation was not acted upon by the authorities, I should not have repeated it as my original idea had I been aware at the time that lie had been before me. I hope this note will catch the eye of MB. HIBGAME. At 12 S. viii. 114, W. B. H. (answering my query at 12 S. viii. 31) writes that Hewitt's account of Chatterton corroborates the statement of the ' D.N.B.' to the effect that Chatterton " was greatly overworked." The ' D.N.B.,' however unfortunately for W. B. H.'s assertion states the exact con- trary, in the following words : " His duties . . . engaged him on an average no more than two hours every day." That Sir Sidney Lee's charge against Lambert of having " greatly overworked " Chatterton is chimerical, can be proved by the following < facts : Chattertojvs sister Mary, in her 1 letter to Sir Herbert Croft dated Sept. 22, j 1778, writes : He had little of his master's business to do, j sometimes not two hours in a day, which gave I him an opportunity to pursue his genius. In a letter to his mother written from i London on May 14, 1770, Chatterton j says : " . . . as an apprentice, none had I greater liberties. This is first-hand evidence. If more were needed, it could be found in his large literary output during his apprenticeship with Lambert. G. W. WBIGHT. Brixton. THE QUEEX IN EASTERN GAMES OF j CHESS. MB. J. SHAKESPEAB tells us (12 S- , ix. 95) that in the Manipuri game of i chess the piece corresponding to our queen I is called " Senapati," that is, " Commander - in-Chief." This reminds me that some i years ago I had to act as go-between 1 and keeper of the peace- while two I Yankees were playing chess with members i of the suite of the late Sultan of Lahedj. The Arabs called the queen " vizier " and explained that Mahomedans would not tolerate a woman on the chess board and would certainly not give her powers in excess of those of the Shah. The Arabs and the Yankees played the game accord- ing to oxu* rules except that the Orientals for a long time would not accept the double | move of a pawn when starting from the, ! home position. L. L. K. WELSH RABBIT. MB. WALLACE, in his query about Shakespeare's cheese-loving Welshman (12 S. ix. 110), writes : " Toasted cheese was a rare bit in Wales now indicated by the degenerated term a ' Welsh rabbit.' " I may perhaps draw attention to what the late' Professor Skeat wrote in his diction- ary s.r. Welsh : Welsh-rabbit, a Welsh dainty, i.e., not a rabbit, but toasted cheese ; this is a mild joke, just as a Norfolk-capon is not a capon at all, but a red- herring (Halliwell). Those who cannot see the joke pretend that rabbit is a corruption of rare bit, which is as pointless and stupid as it is incapable of proof. Hi This is put in Skeat 's well-known style. See 7 S. x. 9 ; 9 S. xii. 469 ; 10 S. i. 70. At the last reference is a quotation from Annan- dale's ' Imperial Dictionary,' which says that " Welsh rabbit is a genuine slang term." There are many words like " Welsh rabbit," e.g.. Farmer and Henley, in ' Slang