_Rotten Row_ (Vol. i., p. 441.; Vol. ii., p. 235.).--May I be allowed to
re-open the question as to the origin of this name, by suggesting that
it may arise from the woollen stuff called _rateen_? A "Rateenrowe"
occurs in 1437 in Bury St. Edmund's, which was the great cloth mart of
the north-eastern parts of the kingdom; and where, at the same time,
were a number of rows named after trades, as "Lyndraper Row," "Mercer's
Row," "Skynner Rowe," "Spycer's Rowe," &c. What is the earliest known
instance of the word?