Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/514

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vn. JUNE 29, 1901.


lington occupied the heights of Kirie Eleison (Napier, vi. 158). There is a small place between Durham and Finchale known locally as " Pity Me." W. 0. B.

" GALLOGLASS." Spenser's statement 'View of State of Ireland,' in ' Works ' (Globe), p. 640 that " gallogla signifyes an English servitour or yeoman," on which doubt is cast by the 'H.E.D.,' is apparently finally disposed of by two fiants in the Dublin Record Office. In No. 132 of Philip and Mary, dated 2 April, 1557 (9th D.K.R.I., 72), mention is made of "bonaght for 80 Scottici, commonly called galloglasses, for one quarter of the year." And in No. 917 of Elizabeth, dated 17 July, 1566 (llth D.K.R.L, 136), Hugh O'Madden "is to find 80 scottici or galloglasses for four weeks each year." I leave to others the thorny question of the connotation of scottici.

ROBT. J. WHITWELL.

Oxford.

AN EXETER THEATRE IN 1348. The atten- tion of any intending historian of the Eng- lish stage should be drawn to two very striking records given in Prebendary Hin- geston - Randolph's * Register of John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter (1327-69).' The first is " Litera pro iniqua fraternitate de Brothelyngham," issued by the bishop in 1348, and vigorously denouncing some wicked men who had secured the use of the Exeter " Theatre," under the pretence that they were performing a play. The other is a document of 1352, wherein the bishop forbids the per- formance of an injurious and scandalous play "in Theatro nostre Civitatis." Such very early theatrical records should have their parallels elsewhere. ALFRED F. BOBBINS.

"GODLING." The editors of the 'H.E.D.' appear not to have exhausted the meanings of this word. It has sometimes been used to signify a treasure in the possession of a private owner. Dr. Adam Clarke, in a letter to Mr. Lewis, 23 March, 1826 ('Works,' vol. xiii. p. 241), says: "If I could get a thorough girl, that would serve one for love, and take proper care of my books, godlings, curiosities, &c., I should delight in her, and she will meet with every kindness." An earlier instance ought to be found.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

JOSEPH LAVINGTON, DIED 1709. Notwith- standing the statement to the contrary in the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.,' vol. xxxii. p. 213, Joseph Lavington (father of George Laving-


ton, Bishop of Exeter) was rector of Newton- Longville, Bucks. He acquired this living in 1680 by an exchange which gave the living of Upham, Hants, to Edward Young, after- wards Dean of Salisbury, the father of Edward Young, author of 'Night Thoughts.' See Lipscomb's 'Hist, of Bucks,' vol. iv. p. 266 ; and cf. Foster's 'Alumni Oxon. 1500- 1714,' p. 886, No. 32. The parish registers of Newton-Longville show that the ' Dictionary ' is in error in stating that a John Lavington was rector there. H. C.

" MERE MAN." Madame Sarah Grand has been giving a lecture on this favourite topic of hers at St. George's Hall, and the question has arisen as to the introduction of the epithet. Madame Grand confessed she her- self knew naught of its origin. "A Scotch Doctor " writes to the Daily Mail (27 May) to the following effect :

" The earliest use of the phrase known to me is in the ' Shorter Catechism,' where it is said that 'no mere man, since the Fall, is able, in this life, perfectly to keep the Commandments.' The phrase ' caught on ' in Scotland, and was probably brought to England shortly after the Union. The only difficulty in the way of this theory is that it allows barely two centuries for the English mind to see the joke."

Give due value to the context, and as an Irishman I would respectfully ask, Where does the " joke " come in 1 S. J. A. F.

"LAKE," A PRECIOUS STONE. On p. 93 of 4 The History of Persia,' by Capt, John Stevens, 1715 (translated from the Spanish of Pedro Teixeira\ are enumerated certain precious stones produced in "the kingdom of Camlaya" in India, among them being " lake." The original Spanish has laquequa, and Stevens (who further on, where the word occurs again, omits it entirely) seems to have invented this word "lake" to repre- sent it. What kind of a stone a laquequa is I am not quite sure. Domingos Vieira's Portuguese dictionary says that laqueca is a " terrno da Asia," and explains it as a "lustrous stone, white -opaline, or of an orange vermilion. Articles of jewellery made with this stone form a branch of commerce between Asia and Africa." Evidently one of the " Cambay stones," that used not many years ago to be sold in Bombay in the form of studs and sleeve-links, is meant.

DONALD FERGUSON.

Croydon.

" SAME STREAM." Young, in his ' Night Thoughts' (Night V.), writes, "In the same brook none ever bathed him twice." The whole passage of which this is the character-