Chapter II: Moke

(See the said _Three Treatises_, pages cxxxvii, and Notes, pages
ccxx. ccxxiii-iv.)

Wyckliffe using the possessive "_their moke_," not the mere "a," as we would say, I would not give "a pin," "a button," &c., together with the evidence of the Irish _muc_, and the obsolete German _Mocke_, which has been defined "Sus foeminea, quæ ob foetus alitur," hardly leaves a doubt that he means that animal, which may be traced also in the words _muck_, _mucky_, &c. The reader may judge for himself by the following passage:--

"Crist gave his life for hise brether, and so rewled hise shepe;
thei wolen not _gyue her moke_ to help _here_ nedy brethern, but
leten _here shep_ perishen, and taken of hem."

In allusion to their not feeding their flock, but suffering their sheep to perish, he prefers to mention an eatable object.

N. L. BENMOHEL, A.M.

2. Trinity College, Dublin.

[MR. BENMOHEL is wrong in supposing the word _Beghard_ to signify
_bekehrt_, conversus, and to be a name given to the Fratres
Conversi of monasteries, who, by the way, were not "secular
begging monks," nor necessarily monks at all. Any person, by a
donation to a convent, could be enrolled amongst its _fratres_ or
_sorores_, entitled to the prayers of the monks, and to a share of
their superabundant merits; and, being clothed at his death in the
habit of the order, was a _frater conversus_. Another class of
_conversi_ were lay monks (not necessarily _begging_ monks), who
attended on the other monks, and performed certain lay duties in
monasteries. MR. BENMOHEL will see some account of them in Dr.
Todd's _Introduction to the Book of Obits and Martyrol. of
Christ's Church Cathedral, Dublin_, p. xxvii.

The _Beghards_, on the other hand, were not, properly speaking,
monks at all, inasmuch as they were not under any monastic vow.
They professed poverty, and lived on alms generally; but in other
respects their mode of life was various, and their orthodoxy and
morality very doubtful. They are generally denounced by the
ecclesiastical authorities; and, except in some few places and
under certain regulations, were never recognised by the Church.
The best account of them will be found in Mosheim's posthumous and
unfinished treatise, _De Beghardis et Beguinis_. The name is
evidently, as Mosheim shows, a compound of _beg_ (from the old
Saxon _beggen_, mendicare) and _hard_, or _hart_, a servant,
famulus, servus: the same word which we still use in the
composition of such words as shepherd, cow-herd, swine-herd. So
that _Beghard_ is not otherwise different from our word _beggar_,
than in so far as it was formerly applied to a religious sect.

MR. BENMOHEL'S explanation of _Rehetour_ is very ingenious, and
may very possibly be true. His interpretation of _Muck_ is not so
satisfactory.]

PLAGUE STONES.

(Vol. v., p. 226.)

At the bottom of a street leading from Bury St. Edmunds to the Newmarket road, stands an octagonal stone of Petworth marble with a hole in it, which is said to have been filled with water or vinegar in the time of the small-pox in 1677, for people to dip their money in on leaving the market. What truth may attach to the traditionary use of the stone I know not; but the stone is the base of a cross called St. Peter's Cross, and the hole is the socket for the shaft.

BURIENSIS.

Are the stones mentioned by your correspondent J. J. S. as plague stones anything more than the "holy stones" common at the meeting of old cross roads in Lancashire, and perhaps other counties? The square hole in them is surely nothing more than the socket in which the way-side cross was formerly placed. Perhaps, however, he is speaking of a different and less common kind of stone, in which case, if a list is made, it must be by some competent person, able to distinguish the one from the other.

P. P.

In compliance with the suggestion of J. J. S., I may note that what I suppose (since reading his communication in "N. & Q.") to be a "plague stone" is to be seen close to Gresford in Denbighshire. I met with it last summer, and could not then imagine what it could be. It is a large hexagonal (I think) stone, with a round cavity on the top, which certainly was full of water when I passed it. This cavity is pretty deep, and the stone must be nearly three feet high, by from two to three across. I regret I made no measurements of it. It is situated about a quarter of a mile from the town on the road to Wrexham, under a wide-spreading tree, on an open space where three roads meet. Should this be seen by any Gresfordite, perhaps he would send you a more accurate description of this stone, with any legend that may be attached to it.

G. J. R. G.

RHYMES ON PLACES.

(Vol. v., p. 293.)

Notwithstanding his name, which appears to indicate northern origin, your correspondent W. FRASER may possibly be unacquainted with Robert Chambers's amusing work, entitled _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, which contains numerous verses on both places and families, besides other curious matter.

E. N.

The following doggrel I have heard in Surrey:

"Sutton for good mutton,
Cheam for juicy beef,
Croydon for a pretty girl,
And Mitcham for a thief"

A. A. D.

I beg to contribute the inclosed, which I have heard from a former incumbent of the parish of Sutton Long in Somersetshire.

"Sutton Long, Sutton Long, at every door a tump of dung.
Some two; some three; it's the dirtiest place that ever you see."

It was an ancient saying in the parish, and I believe the word _tump_ is Somersetshire for heap.

A village in Essex, called Ugley, possesses the unfortunate saying:

"Ugly church, ugly steeple;
Ugly parson, ugly people."

The first line is literally true; to give an opinion on the second would descend too much into personalities.

METAQUO.

A particularly appropriate rhyme is that of

"Stow on the Wold (Would?)
Where the wind blows cold."

S. L. P.

Oxford and Cambridge Club.

ARCHAIC AND PROVINCIAL WORDS.

(Vol. v., pp. 173. 196. 250.)

_Provincial Words._--Though the Rev. Wm. Barnes has almost perfectionated the catalogue of Dorset provincialisms in the Glossary to his beautiful poems in the Dorset dialect, I still sometimes meet with a stray omission, viz.:

_Blasty._ To feed a fire with the dust of furze, &c.

_Clean-sheaf._ Altogether, _e.g._ "I've clean-sheaf vargot."

_Crudelee._ To crow, as a baby does.

_Eickered._ Blotchy.

_Giblets._ The smaller pieces of a shirt.

_Scousse._ To barter.

_Snyche._ Eager; ready to snap at.

_Squeapity._ To squeak, as an ungreased wheel.

_Stump._ Disturbance.

_Treaden._ The sole of the foot.