258
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. vn. MARCH so, 1901.
18. Wafereres ; see note, v. 277. It does not
mean "wayfarers," but "waferwomea," a
term explained by Nares.
19. Vitremite ; see note, v. 237.
20. Coif ox ; see note, v. 255. It is perfectly obvious that neither my edition nor the
- H.E.D.' has been consulted.
WALTER W. SKEAT.
The difference between "chark" and "chirk" is noticeable in the speech of pro- vincial Scotland. The former, from O.E. cearcian, gets the form " jirk," and indicates a rasping, disagreeable noise, such as that pro- duced bv the grinding of the teeth during sleep, while the latter is pronounced as " chyrk " or " cheerik," and applies to a light and piping sound. A woman with a thin, tremulous voice, or a man similarly endowed especially if, in addition, either is not fully trusted is summarily dismissed as a " cheeri- kin peaseweep o' a creatur'." It would be difficult to get further than the supreme con- tempt implied in that description.
THOMAS BAYNE.
Glasgow.
"THE SPOTTED NEGKO BOY" (9 th S. V. 456,
505 ; vi. 55). This was probably the skin disease called in Spanish carate. It is quite common in the Republic of Colombia (S.A.), and is, I am told, an affection of the colouring pigments of the skin. The outer surface is smooth, and there is no pain nor irritation. Black people show the results more than brown or white ones, but they are all liable to get it, as also are some animals. They look speckled or piebald the black part blacker than it naturally would be, and the white much whiter also. IBAGUE\
"PUT A SPOKE IN THE WHEEL" (9 th S. Vli.
128). The allusion is to the pin or spoke used to lock wheels in machinery ; hence, to put an impediment in one's way, to act the "spoil-sport," to interfere unwarrantably or indiscreetly. See Brewer's 'Diet, of Phrase and Fable,' 1895.
J. HOLDEN MAcMlCHAEL.
Certainly this is accepted as meaning to do another an injury "to put another nail in his coffin," in fact. HARRY HEMS.
Fair Park, Exeter.
GUN REPORTS (9 th S. vii. 207). These were fully explained and accounted for at the time by some correspondents of one of the newspapers I cannot recollect which, but I believe the Morning Post. The configuration of the country was the chief element I believe, B ALPH THOMAS.
MANUSCRIPTS AT PARIS (9 th S. vii. 189).
There is an elaborate photographic studio
attached to the Bibliotheque Nationale, so
that, so far as that institution is concerned,
there would be no difficulty in obtaining fac-
similes. As to other places in Paris, SEIRIOL
might write to M. Leopold Delisle at the Bib.
Nat. and ask to be put in communication
with the official photographer.
W. ROBERTS.
47, Lansdowne Gardens, S.W.
SENECA AND GALEN : TRANSLATIONS WANTED (9 th S. vi. 387 ; vii. 132). There is no translation of Galen into English, but there is a French translation, " (Euyres Ana- tomiques, Physiologiques et Medicales de
Galien, traduites par le Dr. Ch. Darem-
berg, 2 vols., Paris, J. B. Balliere, 1854-6." W. R. B. PRIDEAUX.
Royal College of Physicians.
" ROUEN " AND " SUCCEDANEUM " (9 th S. vii. 149, 214). An earlier instance of rouen than any hitherto quoted occurs in Sir Thomas Elyot's 'Castel of Helth ' (1534), bk. iii. chap. xii. : " As mylke hot from the udder, or at the lest new milked, ruen cheese, sweete almondes," &c. In the edition of 1561 it is "ruen chese," in that of 1580 "sweteRuen cheese." R. D. WILSON.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
East London. By Walter Besant, M.A. (Chatto
& Windus.)
INDEFATIGABLE in his explorations of London, Sir Walter Besant has now begun afresh his labours by describing what at present and for a few years longer may be described as its easternmost portion. The district with which he deals is that to the north of the Thames which stretches from Bishopsgate Street to East Ham, and includes the once-suburban villages of Hackney, Clapton, Stoke Newington, Old Ford, Stepney, B9W, and Stratford. A region less familiar to the resident in Central and Western London cannot easily be found. We ourselves in days gone by have explored the greater part of the district, and have even trudged to the country beyond so far as Romford. What a few years ago even were green fields or marshy tracts are now covered with houses, mostly of indescribable ugli- ness and squalor, and on the entire part with which Sir Walter is concerned is now settled a population of two millions. Little enough is there in the shape of architectural beauty or historical association on which Sir Walter can exercise his practised pen. Only one piece of description is furnished in which we recognize the author of 'South London.' This is called "The Wall"; not London Wall, as is carefully explained, but that long wall of unknown origin which runs along the north bank of the Thames and is carried round the marshy Essex shores and " round
