476
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. DEC. 13,
the origin of the phrase, it was probably in
this way. It was the custom formerly to
send a simple child, a green hand in a work-
shop, or a new hand on a farm, &c., on some
absurd errand, conveying a request, for in-
stance, " to fetch the rick-mould," when the
victim was sent back with a useless heavy
load of stones, with the possibility of ricking
his neck for his trouble. Broad-based stones,
supporting a wooden frame and called a rick-
staddle, are used for the foundation of a rick.
To send one for a " following-up tool " re-
sulted in the guileless messenger receiving
an unexpected drubbing, the attempt to
escape from which entailed a "following-up"
with a stick. A fool's errand of a request for
"hazel-oil," "oil of baston," "oil of whip,"
or " oil of holly," of course, terminated with a
beating from a hazel-stick, &c. In Berkshire
a child is sent to its mother to tell her " to
tie ugly up " (Lowsley's ' Berkshire Words and
Phrases'). So that it seems as if "layers-
over for meddlers" was also suggested by
such hoaxes, the phrase being intended to
allay suspicion as to the true nature of the
errand by conveying the impression that a
covering was needed to protect the medlars.
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
I well recollect an expression, " Leos for meddlers and shim-shams for fiddlers," used in a Leicestershire village in the very early fifties by worthy elderly ladies when pestered by irrelevant questions of childhood. I give it as it sounded ; the meaning I never knew, but I have since thought that possibly the right reading might be "jim-jams." W. B. H.
I have never heard this exactly as given by MR. DRURY, but I have known similar phrases all my life. " Lee ouers for meddlers " is one saying, and "Crutches for lame ducks" is another. "Lee ouers" or "ley owers," as I should write it is the dialect pronunciation of "leave over "= leave it alone, or be quiet, and mothers use it when children meddle with things and ask inconvenient questions about them : "Now, baw-baw ! that's a ley ower for meddlers ! " and the full meaning is obvious. I have never known " Crutches for lame ducks" in connexion with the other phrase; but in connexion with impossibilities it is used. For instance, when a child wants that which cannot be given to it, it is told that it cannot be until " they " provide " crutches for lame ducks." THOS. RATCLIFFE.
Worksop.
Many forms of this saying have been dis- cussed already in ' N. & Q.,' at 2 nd S. vi. 481 ; vii. 38, 138, 225 ; 4 th S. iv. 507 : v. 25, 257.
W. C. B.
" WARTH " (9 th S. x. 409). It appears from
Halliwell's 'Dictionary' that in Hereford-
shire "a flat meadow close to a stream "is
known as a wartti. The word also occurs in
my 'Sheffield Glossary' (E.D.S.) with a
similar meaning, and I quote a survey of the
early part of the seventeenth century in which
a piece of land is described as " The Warth
lying betweene Darwin Water east and the
Datchey lands west, and containing la. Ir.
27|p." This word is found in O.E. as
waro]>, or wear}, the shore. If, however, the
field mentioned by MR. GOSSELIN-GRIMSHAWE
does not adjoin a stream it may be the O.E.
wor]>, or wor]> ig, a close, or enclosure adjoin-
ing a house. Though the form weor]>ig is
also found in O.E. it is safer to derive warth
from the O.E. wear]>, the shore, if the local
evidence will admit it. We have the surname
Worth (not Warth) in Yorkshire.
S. O. ADDY.
THREE BISHOPS IN ONE TOMB AND OF ONE FAMILY (8 th S. x. 375). Another instance of this rare triplicity is to be found in Spain i.e., in the cloister of the Cathedral Church of Solsona, in the Provincia de Lerida, Cata- luna, accessible from the railway at Manresa. There one sees a sarcophagus fixed, in Spanish style, upon the wall above the heads of ordi- nary spectators, and bearing this inscription in rimes :
HII TRES PRELATI SUB EADEM STIRPE CREATI POST SORTEM FATI TUMULANTUR CONSOCIATI.
I omitted to copy the rest of this epitaph, but I think it is of about the year 1300.
E. S. DODGSON.
MASCULINE DRESS (9 th S. x. 228, 353). Though apparently the inquiry is for dealers in sketches, portraits, &c., it may be that the following reference will be of use :
" The Reminiscences and Recollections of Capt. Gronow 1810-1860, with Portrait, Four Wood- cuts, and Twenty Etched and Aquatint Illustra- tions from Contemporary Sources, by Joseph Grego. In two volumes. London, John C. Nimmo, 1889. '
Most of the illustrations belong to 1810-30.
" As Capt. Gronow's ' Reminiscences ' deal largely with eccentric personages, odd celebrities, and in- cidents somewhat out of the common order, it has been considered in keeping to select portraits and subjects, which are strongly characterised, though not precisely caricatures." Preface, p. xiv.
EGBERT PIERPOINT.
EXPERTS (9 th S. x. 270, 331). The case referred to by O. O. H. and correctly quoted by MR. QUARRELL is Keg. v. Silver-lock, decided by the late Lord Russell and Justices Mathew, Day, Williams, and Kennedy, in the
