_Fiz-gig_ (Vol. ii, p. 120).--I had expected that your Querist C.B.
would have received an {238} immediate reply to his Query as to the
meaning of _fiz-gig_, because the word is in Johnson's _Dictionary_,
where he may also see the line from Sandys' _Job_, in which it caught
his attention.

You may as well, therefore, tell him two things,--that _fiz-gig_ means a
fish-cart and that Querists should abstain from soliciting your aid in
all cases where a common dictionary would give them the information they
want.

H.W.


_Guineas_ (Vol. ii., p. 10.).--The coin named in the document quoted by
A.J.H. is the _Guiennois_ a gold piece struck at Guienne by Edward III.,
and also by his son the Black Prince. It is not likely that the
Guiennois was the original of the name given to the new gold coin of
Charles II., because it could have had no claim to preference beyond the
_Mouton_, the _Chaise_, the _Pavillon_, or any other old Anglo-Gallic
coin. I think we may rest contented with the statement of Leake (who
wrote not much more than half a century after the event), and who says
that the _Guinea_ was so called from the gold of which it was made
having been brought from Guinea by the African Company, whose stamp of
an elephant was ordered to be impressed upon it.

J.C. Witton.