Chapter C: W. G

[A friend, who is extremely well versed in early records, and to
whom we referred this Query, observes, "I have never met with the
word, nor can I find a trace of it anywhere. I suspect that the
querist has misread his MS., and that, in the original, it is
_payned_, for _paned_. In the slovenly writing of that period many
a form of _pa_ might be mistaken for _w_. The upstroke of the _p_
is often driven high. I have seen many a _pa_ like this
instance."]

_Cromwell Family._--Two leaves, paged from 243 to 246, cuttings from an old magazine, seemingly having dates down to 1772, entitled "Account of the Male Descendants of Oliver Cromwell. By the Rev. Mr. Hewling Luson, of Lowestoft, in Suffolk. In a Letter to Dr. Brooke." [Concluded from our last, page 197.] The next article commencing, "On the Knowledge of Mankind. From Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son," having lately come into my hands, I shall feel greatly obliged by being informed through "N. & Q.," or otherwise, where may I meet with the previous part of such account of the Cromwell family, or the title and date of such magazine?

W. P. A.

[Mr. Luson's letter to Dr. Brooke, referred to by our
correspondent, will be found in Hughes's _Letters_, edited by
Duncombe, vol. ii. Appendix, p. xxxii. edit. 1773.]

_Beholden._--Is the word "beholden" a corruption of the Dutch "gehouden," or is it a past participle from the verb "to behold?" If the latter, how comes it from signifying "seen," to denote "indebted"?

A. F. S.

[If our correspondent had referred to Richardson's _Dictionary_,
his difficulty would have been removed on reading this derivation
and definition:

"_Angl.-Saxon_, Be-healdan, Be-haldan, Healdan. _Dutch_, Behouden,
tenere, servare, observare. To keep or hold (_sc._ the eye fixed
upon any object), to look at it, to observe, to consider."]

_Men of Kent and Kentish Men._--The natives of Kent are often spoken of in these different terms. Will you be so good as to inform me what is the difference between these most undoubtedly distinctive people?

B. M.

[A very old man, in our younger days, whose informant lived temp.
Jac. II., used to explain it thus:--When the Conqueror marched
from Dover towards London, he was stopped at Swansconope, by
Stigand, at the head of the "Men of Kent," with oak boughs "all on
their brawny shoulders," as emblems of peace, on condition of his
preserving inviolate the Saxon laws and customs of Kent; else they
were ready to fight unto the death for them. The Conqueror chose
the first alternative: hence we retain our Law of Gavelkind, &c.,
and hence the inhabitants of the part of Kent lying between
Rochester and London, being "invicti," have ever since been
designated as "Men of Kent," while those to the eastward, through
whose district the Conqueror marched unopposed, are only "Kentish
Men." This is hardly a satisfactory account; but we give it as we
had it.

We suspect the _real_ origin of the terms to have been, a mode of
distinguishing any man whose family had been long settled in the
county (from time immemorial, it may be), from new settlers; the
former being genuine "Men of Kent," the latter only "Kentish." The
monosyllabic name of the county probably led to this play upon the
word, which could not have been achieved in the "shires."]

_Bee-Park._--This term is used in Cornish title-deeds. What species of inclosure does it express? Do any such exist now?