346
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIL MAY 4, 1901.
sionists contending that so far from his being
entitled to tribute as the 48th Inafy there
were only 12 Inams." The Arabic in' dm
means "a present, gratuity." The wore
intended is Imam, "a spiritual guide" (see
Yule-Burnell, * Hobson- Jobson,' s.v. ' Imaum ')
W. CROOKE. Langton House, Charlton Kings.
LOTUS FLOWERS AND LOTAHS. I suppose most of your readers have heard of the mysterious circulation of cakes of meal and of brass "lotahs" (little dishes or plates?) before the Indian Mutiny. It is about time that we knew what these last-named articles precisely were. By many they have been supposed to be the " lotus," or Egyptian water- lily. In his ' Competition Wallah ' Sir George Trevelyan tells of a representation of the ' Siege of Delhi ' at Astley's, in which a person like a cross between a Druid and a Jew pedlar was handing about lotus flowers as a signal for revolt. "This slight verbal error," he says, "of lotus flowers for brass lotahs was pardonable, shared as it was by the most imaginative and Oriental of England's states- men." I see that these same flowers are still being handed about in a most unpardonable manner in the ' Dictionary of National Bio- graphy ' (' Canning,' vol. viii. p. 416), " Lotus flowers sent from regiment to regiment." The initials K.C.S.I. at the end of the author's name suggest an acquaintance with India difficult to reconcile with such a slatternly error as the above. JOHN WILLCOCK.
Lerwick.
MRS. PENNY'S ' FORT ST. GEORGE.' I shall be greatly obliged if you will allow me to make in ' N. & Q.' the following corrections of errors in the ' History of Fort St. George ' :
P. 66, note. The Madras European Regiment was the second regiment in the Company's service. The Bombay Regiment was the first. There is no authority for the statement that Bernadotte was a private in the regiment.
P. 79, note, 1. 5, for "circa" read aged. A more generally received account of St. George's, Blooms- bury, is that it was dedicated to God in honour of the king.
P. 112, 1. 10, for " privates" read pirate*.
P. 127, 1. 13 from bottom, for " to * read we.
P. 132, last line, for " rendition" read surrender
P. 147, last line of note, for " 1750" read ./>".#/.
In the map facing p. 152, for "Church Street" read James Street.
P. 162, 1. 2 from bottom, and p. 163, 1 13 for "1759 "read 1758.
P. 183, 1. 8, for " 1750" read 175S-!).
P. 193, 1. 7 from bottom, for "Bowney" read Powney.
P. 194, 1. 14 from bottom, for "Heriod" read Heriot.
P. 197, 1. 1, for " de " read and.
P. 199, 1. 6 from bottom, for "Chaplain" read
Captain.
P. 212, 1. 22, for " 1778" read 1770.
P. 214, after "Ross" insert Roxburgh W., sou of Dr. W. Roxburgh, died 27th September, 1781, aged 4 months and 20 days.
P. 215, 1. 20, for " 1789 " read 1798.
P. 219, omit the paragraph about Col. Harris ; he was not buried in the church.
P. 221, 1. 17, for " 1834" read 1844.
P. 223, 1. 14 from bottom, for " 1735" read 1785.
P. 225, 1. 18, for " M.E.I. C." read H.E.I.Go.
P. 226, after 1. 25, insert these words : F. G. S. Neill, C.B. and A.D.C. to the Queen. Lieutenant- Colonel F. S. Then comes the word Stephenson. For " Renard" read Renaux, and for " Croon" read Groom.
P. 231. Elihu Yale was the son of David, the eldest son of David and Ann Yale ; this Ann was the daughter of a Bishop of Durham, but not of Bishop Morton. Elihu Yale married only once, viz., Mrs. Catherine Hynmers at St. Mary's, Fort St. George. The Portuguese lady mentioned was an acquaintance of his later years. The story of Yale's violent temper, and of the manslaughter of his groom, is without historical foundation. It rests solely upon the statement made by Hamilton, the interloper, who was deeply prejudiced against the Company and its servants. The reader is referred to Anderson's ' English in Siam ' for fur- ther information regarding this notable Governor.
P. 235, 1. 11, for " 1755" read 173V. On his return to England George Pigot purchased an Irish peerage in the manner then in vogue.
On the same page, 1. 27, for "Guindy" read St. Thomas's Mount.
FRANK PENNY.
Fort St. George.
" CRONG." I find this word in the catalogue of a sale at Tollesbury Farm, Stebbing, Essex, in 1842. Lot 5 consists of "Pitch bar and dung crong." The following lot includes Pitchfork, 2 short ditto and dung ditto." Evidently " crong " and " fork " stand for different implements. In the 'H.E.D.' the word " cronge " is stated to be obsolete and rare. The definition, " A hilt or handle," is borrowed from Halliwell. Only a single instance of the actual use of the word was mown to the editor. It is taken from Har- 4son's 'England ' (1577), and runs as follows :
'The people go into their fens and marises
with long spits, which they dash here and
- here vp to the verie cronge into the ground."
D robably some of your readers acquainted h farming in the Eastern counties can tell us precisely what a crong is, and whether the vord is used in more than one sense.
JOHN T. KEMP.
CORONATION OF QUEEN VICTORIA. I can ust remember a little book in square 12mo,
published in 1838, giving an account of this eremony. There were in it some whole-page
engravings, printed in colours, representing
- he Queen going from the robing-room in
