New-York tribune., 1905-12-24
NOTES ON "SIR NIGEL" "
Terms Used an This Week's install
ment Explained.

The following notes explanatory of this weeks
fnstalment of "Sir Nigel" in the Sunday Maga-
zine section may serve to aid and interest the
reader who happens not to have access to
good reference library Hereafter they will ap-
pear In the magazine in more condensed form at
the end of each instalment.
The term hundred as applied to a collection
of individuals is of ancient origin. Blackstone
explains it thus: "As ten families of freehold
ers made up town tithing. ten fittings
composed superior division, called hundred,
consisting of ten times ten families.
Rape is from an old Morse word meaning
share or allotment Sussex. England is divided
into six rapes. or districts. intermediate be-
tween the ancient hundred and shire
Pardieu, an expletive which appears fire.
uuently in "Sir Nigel" is a minced OATH which
was as common in olden days as Dieu is in
French to-day Meaning, literally, "By God" it
was not used with the intensified meaning
which those two words have in English to-day
la bonne heure is, literally "At the good
hour'-that is opportunely- The French word
for happiness is a simplifcation of this phrase
into ''bonheur"
ouarterings implements, lozenges and aug
nentations are heraldic terms denoting the
marshalIing or disposal of two or more escutch
ances of one family with the heresses of others,
or as in the case of augmentation" an addf-
tonal charge to coat armor granted as mark
Of honor.
Fire powder is plainly gunpowder- 1t may
surprise the reader that gunpowder was in use
at so early age, but Sir Conan Doyle is cor
roborated by nearly all the authorities. The
Century Dictionary says: "The invention OF
gunpowder in Europe has been ascribed to Roger
Bacon (about 1214-'94) and to German monk
named Schwarz .(about 1920. but it was prob
ably introduced into Europe through the medium
of the Moors early in the fourteenth century,
Its common use in warfare dates from the six
teenth century"
Vernice is the same as TTeronica, or, rather.
veronicula, and the vernicle worn by pilgrims
was COPY of the handkerchief of ST Veronica.
which was miraculousy impressed with the
features of our Lord. The vernicle of st.
Thomas has reference to similar emblens car
ried by the pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas
Beckett Archbishop of Canterbury. who was
barbarously murdered in the great cathedral at
the foot of the altar Of st Benedict December
20, ITO. Two years later he was canonlzeo oy
the Pope and in 1920 his bones were removed to
Trinity Chapel where, for several centuries
they were the object Of pilgrimages from all
parts of Christendom. and as many as 1OO,-
eco pilgrims were registered at time IN
Canterbury The Pilgrims Way was the great
highway leading to this shrine, and. as the
author states elsewhere, this highway ignored
London, the great mecca of the modern ana
more commercial pilgrim
Ampullae were In ancient Rome bottles with
harrow necks and more or less globular bodies
Those of the Middle Ages were small TASKS OF
xlass lead or pewter 1t was the custom at St
Thomas's shrine as at Others to give or sell to
the pilgrims small objects as evidence of their
visit Sometimes it was medal, an ampula OF
sheII bearing the name Of monastery, church or
shrine scallop or cookie shell was an emblem
that the bearer had visited the Holy Land, and
one of the scallops Is known as ST James's shell
from this circumstance. Even In modern times
the pilgrims shell is carved pearl smell such
a. those brought by travellers from the Holy
Land
The ale stake was stake having a garland or
bush of twigs at the top of 1t, set up as sign
before an alehouse ~