112
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* a. XL FEB. 7, IMS.
monly called the " Axe," and referred to, says
Cunningham, in a document of the 23rd of
Henry vTIL This yard is now covered by
Government offices.
J, HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL. 161, Hammersmith Road.
"ANT " AND " EMMET " (9 th S. xi. 89). The
emmet is the male or winged ant. Twenty-
eight or twenty-nine years ago London was
one day completely covered with them. This
"plague of ants" consisted exclusively of
emmets. D.
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE (9 th S. xi. 8, 94). In reference to the mention of "public disap- proval " by one of your correspondents, and " the strange story as to the princess having been poisoned by Queen Charlotte " by two others, I ought to say that I have letters of the time between my grandfather and great- grandfather which show that the common talk of the populace, ridiculed by my grand- father, was that the princess had been poisoned by the king. D.
"WARTH" (9 th S. x. 409, 476; xi. 16).-It would, I think, be well if in queries as to the meaning of words used in old deeds, <fec., some indication were given of the locality to which the document relates. Very possibly in the present case the editorial suggestion garth may be correct, but in Somerset and in other counties (see Sir G. C. Lewis's ' Glos- sary of Provincial Words used in Hereford- shire ) warth is a well-known word meaning unenclosed land along the sea-shore, or along the bank of a river I think always a tidal
n? r ; MV S r the A '" S - waro * < see Stratmann,
Diet. O.E. Lang.,' s.v. ivar]>}. The word has
been sometimes confused with the entirely
distinct wath ? a ford = A.-S. wffi, Latin vadum
wnP D wellj ' Prov ' Dict >' s - v - wart ^ and U.D.b., B. 16, 8 .v. wath, where Prof. Skeat's note supplies the correction). W. F. R.
R ,o REPRINT OF LEigARRAGA's
BO ,K? th S. xi. 64).-There are two or three
itions and corrections I should like to
ake with reference to ray article on the
i e J?r nfc n f ^he B u askish New Testament of
1571 Dr. bchuchardt's article appeared in
IQAO ^. Linfjuistique for 15 January,
i3u 19 l ; On p - 65 ' coL ! lin e 33, "loan"
hould have been printed in italics; and in
sh uld have
reprint launean ; fol. 294 verso, v. 22, orig.
etnortecoric, reprint ethorthecoric.
E. S. DODGSON. Oxford.
OLD CONDUITS OF LONDON (9 th S. x. 421 : xi. 73). Those who are interested in the old wooden water-pipes of London may like to know that examples are to be seen at the Museum of the Botanic Society, Regent's Park. W. GOWERS.
"LE GRAND PEUT-ETRE" (9 th S. xi. 28, 72). The last words of Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679) are said to have been "I am going to take a great leap into obscurity."
The following allusion to this occurs in Sir John Vanbrugh's play ' The Provok'd Wife,' Act V. sc. vi. (1896, "The Mermaid Series," pp. 306-7) :
"Heartfree. 'Tis enough; I '11 not fail. (Aside.) So, now, I am in for Hobbes' Voyage ; a great leap in the dark."
According to the 'Annual Register,' 1820 (p. 952), James Ings, one of the Cato Street conspirators (executed 1 May, 1820, with Thistlewood and others), said, at the door of the gaol, to one of the turnkeys, "Well, Mr. Davis, I am going to find out this grand secret," and then, springing upon the scaffold, exclaimed, "Good-bye, gentlemen! Here goes the remains of an unfortunate man."
The above particulars are taken from my ' Dictionary of Historic and Memorable Sayings,' now in the press and shortly to be published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. It will contain a selection of famous sayings in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Latin. Probably the first part of the title will be 'Who Said That?'
EDWARD LATHAM.
61, Friends' Road, East Croydon.
AMY ROBSART (9 th S. x. 507). So much has been written respecting Amy Robsart, the unacknowledged wife of the Earl of Leicester, that it is scarcely possible for any new information to be hoped for. The most recent published works bearing on this subject are 'Amye Robsart and the Earl of Leycester : a Critical Inquiry into the Authenticity of the various State- ments in relation to the Death of Amye Robsart, and of the Libels on the Earl of Lycester,' &c., by George Adlard (J. Russell Smith, 1870); the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, May, 1877; Blomefield's 'History of Norfolk'; 'Norfolk Archaeology,' viii. 231;
- Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany,' iii. 251 ;
'Sir John Robsart and his Daughter Amy,' Archaeological Journal, vol. xlix., 1892 ; ' Amy
