352
NOTES AND QUERIES. 0* s. xn. OCT. 31, 1903.
tea and coffee in their turns, which, coming
but once in four or five weeks, amounted to
a trifle." This was given as disposing of an
assertion in Chambers 's Journal for 20 Nov.
1875, that "afternoon tea is a product o
advanced civilization." The * Century Die
tionary,' it is to be noted, has no quotation:
illustrative of the meaning of tea as a mea
from any earlier work than Nathaniel Haw
thorne's * House of the Seven Gables.'
ALFRED F. ROBBINS.
" PANIER (9 th S. xii. 247). My dictionary (Bescherelle's) says, inter alia :
" Anc. art milit. Espece de bouclier fait d'osier et creux en dedans. Endroit de la corde de Parbalete oi\ se plagait le projectile que Ton voulai lancer. Panier d'armement. Panier qui servaiu a contenir les objets necessaires a la manceuvre des obusiers et des mortiers. Panier a feu. Especc de machine qu'on lancait avec des mortiers."
Most English people, and a great manj French people, I know pin their faith tc Littre, but on various occasions no dis- respect to Littre I have found information in Bescherelle that is not in Littre, whereas there seems to be very little in Littre' that is not contained in Bescherelle. At all events, I suggest that Dr. Murray should add Besche- relle's to the other dictionaries named ; I think he will find it a useful work: of refer- ence.
The * Diet, de Trevoux' (1771) says : "A 1'armee on fait des retranchemens & des defenses avec des paniers pleins de terre, qu'on
appeile autrement gabions Panier, se dit aussi
de la partie de larbalete faite en petite bourse, au milieu de la corde, ou se met la balle, on le iallet quand on veut tirer. Citta. Panier a Feu Espece de machine dont on se sert k la guerre, & que Ion jette avec des mortiers. Ciata pyraustica Jetter des paniers a feu"
The second (and earlier) authority does not seem to corroborate the first named, and where Bescherelle obtains his information I do not know.
Larous.se says: "Art milit. Sorte de boucher d osier, en usage au moyen age."
I know that these notes do not answer the precise question raised, but they may be
U8eful E. LATHAM.
Panier in German signifies a banner ; baniere bamer m Middle Age German ; from the French ^ banmere, out of the Italian bandiera. 1 he initial letter is found in monogram form combined with others such as j\ V and * on with an s. Hence F.s.P. = Franconia sei's Panier" (or, as we should say Let Franconia's banner live"), to designate on pipe -head, beer -mug, cap -badge, & CM the German student's corps "Franconia- or
when combined with a F, meaning the corps
Vandalia. For many quotations in which
Panier = a banner, consult Heyne's * Deutsches
Worterbuch.' ALDOBRAND OLDENBUCK.
"MACARONI TOOLS" (9 th S. xii. 289). A macaroni tool for wood -carving resembles a carpenter's gouge, from which it differs by having the groove three-sided and rectangular instead of curved. J. DORMER.
" CRYING DOWN CREDIT " (9 th S. xii. 29, 138, 213, 257). This ancient custom was observed in Norwich on Thursday, 6 November, 1902. I quote from the Eastern Daily Press of the following day :
"A couple of the Dragoon Guards stationed at the Barracks rode through the streets, one sounding a bugle, and the other reading the proclamation, warning citizens against contracting debts with the private soldiers of the 3rd and 4th Dragoon Guards. The custom is undoubtedly new to many of the citizens, who listened with interest to the pro-
clamation.'
Norwich.
JAMES HOOPER.
DE MESMES AND MEMES FAMILIES (9 th S.
xii. 228). There is a property of Memis or
Memus in Forfarshire, near Brechin. It be-
longed during the greater part of the eigh-
teenth century to a family of Allardice,
merchants in Brechin.
R. BARCLAY-ALLARDICE.
Lostwithiel.
PRIORY OF AUSTIN FRIARS, STANDON (9 th S. xii. 248). There is a farm near Well Pond Green, in _the parish of Standon, called Standon Friars. The farmhouse is compara- tively modern, but I have been told on good authority that the present stock-yard was the burial-ground of the Friary, and that skeletons have been frequently discovered close to the surface. W. B. GERISH.
m topographical books there. Surely im-
portant histories of Herts would give the
squired information, or one of the clergy at
Braughing or Standon, or perhaps Little
Hadham. JOHN A. RANDOLPH.
FRENCH PHRASE (9 th S. xi. 128, 255, 337). MR. RANDOLPH (p. 255) gives the phrase as I lave heard it. He says that he has known t since the " seventies," when at school, and thinks that it was an allusion to a ashionable lady trying to get into shoes everal sizes too small for her feet.
I best remember it some twenty years betore then, when, as a child, I used to admire
