man, and told me many interesting and circumstantial almost certainly from the Latin vola, the palm of anecdotes relative to that day;-one, that a gunner told the hand, hence a handful-every trick. The book King James, that at that very precise moment his gun is an exquisite piece of typography. was so pointed, he could, in a twinkle, end the dispute for the three crowns; but James forbade him, and the nephew and son-in-law were thus saved." I have heard that King James's words were "No! do not leave my daughter a widow." W. J. FITZPATRICK. Garrick Club. How different this "saying and doing" of the Great Duke to that of Napoleon Bonaparte, who seems not to have held human life as of the slightest value. M. Thiers, in his 'History of the Consulate and the Empire,' gives us an instance of this at the Battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805 :"Standing on the slopes of the plateau of Pratzen overlooking the ponds, Napoleon perceives the disaster that he had so ably prepared. He orders a battery of the guard to open a fire of balls on the parts of the ice which stand firm and completes the destruction of the flying wretches upon it. Nearly 2,000 men found a grave beneath this broken ice."-Redhead's Translation, vol. i. p. 589, JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. COGERS' HALL (8th S. iii. 346).-To the names of Keogh, O'Connell, and Curran, who spoke at Cogers' Hall, may be added (on the authority of Mr. Brady, C.E., of Galway, to whom he told his experience) the Dominican preacher Father Tom Burke. See also 'Life of Very Rev. Thomas Burke, O.P.' (London, Kegan Paul & Trench, 1884, vol. ii. p. 263). JUVERNA. "TELEPATHIC OBSESSION (8th S. iii. 384).I would suggest that L.'s letter has nothing whatever to do with any tendency to a belief in witchcraft, although, no doubt, there is still a survival of that in some country districts. L. clearly belongs to the class of mentally afflicted persons who suffer from hallucinations of hearing, and, in consequence, believe that conspiracies are being formed against them, and that magnetic machines and other devices are being secretly employed to act upon them. There is a singular book by John Haslam (a lunatic), entitled 'Illustrations of Madness: with a Description of the Torture experienced by Bombbursting, Lobster-cracking, and Lengthening of the Brain,' London, 1810, 8vo. This book is embellished with a curious plate, and is thoroughly typical of L.'s case. NE QUID NIMIS. East Hyde. VOLE (8th S. iii. 187, 274, 294).-While protesting against arguing etymology from probability, unsupported by literary evidence, I have myself fallen into the snare. I was rash enough to assume that a vole at écarté signified and was derived from vol, a robbery. Mr. Hucks Gibbs, in his pretty little volume on the 'Game of Ombre' (privately printed, London, 1878), has shown (p. 39, note) that it is HERBERT MAXWELL. "ALE-DAGGER" (8th S. iii. 387, 436).-When the N. E. D.' shows that "ale-dagger" is not mere slang or raillery, but the properly descriptive name of a well-known weapon of the time, it is another proof how greatly we are indebted to that learned and profound work. It may now safely be supposed that a man might talk in this way:— "Boy! I go to drink ale at the tavern, so give me my 'ale-dagger, the light and handy one with two or three pounds of iron in the hilt.' Thou wilt find it on the shelf by the side of the 'Pap-Hatchet.' There can be very little doubt that these two instruments would generally be found in the same place. R. R. Boston, Lincolnshire. " COMMENCED M.A." (8th S. iii. 8, 57, 155, 252). -Dr. Fitzed ward Hall, replying in his Recent Exemplifications of False Philology' to Mr. Grant White's objection to such phrases as "he comin a foot-note (p. 40):menced poet," 39.66 commenced politician," &c., says "To commence M.A.,' &c., meaning 'to take the degree of M.A.,' &c., has been a recognized phrase for some three centuries at least. 'Thei were able to have commenced maisters of arte.' Barnabe Riche, Farewell to Militarie Profession,' p. 45. This application of commence probably originated in an imitation of incipere, which, in modern Latin, has long been used to denote the object of college-commencements; and it is not at all unlikely that it suggested the extension of employment which the term has obtained in ordinary discourse. See Mr. B. H. Hall's 'College Words and Customs (second edition), p. 85." C. C. B. See Bp. Patrick's 'Autobiography,' 1839, p. 58, "sent to Cambridge for a certificate of my commencing bachelor of divinity." A surviving application of the same phrase to ordinary use was to be, and perhaps still may be, seen over the chimneypiece of the "Cheshire Cheese," out of Fleet Street, in an inscription in honour of one who commenced waiter there on such a date. It may have been this inscription that suggested to Shirley Brooks an idea, in his 'Silver Cord.' A frugal couple, having to make a wedding present, purchased a second-hand salver, which, being well scoured on reaching its destination, reveals the fact that it had been presented to some one who similarly commenced waiter." KILLIGREW. brated the third week in July, nearly half way Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. CARLO ALBACINI (8th S. iii. 369).-For a brief account of the life of this Roman sculptor, who was one of the executors of Angelica Kauffman, see theBiographical Dictionary" of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, London, 1842. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. but a crest. So the older of the two called at a local This word has been used as a transitive verb in the game of croquet for at least thirty years. It "PRACTICAL POLITICS" (8th S. iii. 347, 395).—means to strike the ball you are playing so as This expression was in use nearly twenty years to hit another ball and drive it forward. James before 1887. Soon after the disestablishment of the Heath, in his 'Complete Croquet Player,' 1875, Irish Church, Mr. Gladstone, in a speech in Lanca- p. 32, says:shire (I think), said that the explosion at Clerkenwell Prison (which took place on Dec. 13, 1867), called the attention of the people of England to Irish questions, and brought the disestablishment (in 1869), within the range of practical politics. THORNFIELD. SAMUEL EVANS, RECTOR OF BROWN CANDOVER, HANTS (8th S. iii. 405). He matriculated from New College, Oxford, March 11, 1624/5, then aged eighteen, as the son of the Rev. David Evans, vicar (1596-1624) of Bierton, Bucks, and graduated B.C.L. on Oct. 11, 1632, in which degree he was incorporated at Cambridge in 1635. He was instituted to the rectory of Syresham, co. Northampton, in 1637. (Foster's 'Alumni Oxonienses,' 1500-1714, ii. 472.) DANIEL HIPWELL. 17, Hilldrop Crescent, N. NOVEL NOTIONS OF HERALDRY (8th S. iii. 366, 437).-Judging by a recent squabble between authors of rival text-books on heraldry, about the copyright of a certain anecdote, heraldic yarns are scarce. The following was related to me a few years ago. There were two brothers in a country town in England who got on in the world, and nothing else lacked them to complete their happiness "The object of the rush, or rushing roquet, is generally to drive the roqueted or object ball to some spot where it will be more convenient to the striker to take the croquet." The word is used in this sense in Whitmore's 'Croquet Tactics,' published ten or twelve years earlier. R. C. A. PRIOR. UNLUCKY HOUSES (8th S. iii. 224, 278).—When at Bishop Burton, near Beverley, some six years ago, I was informed that at least three of the vicars had committed suicide. the spot where they were buried; but one would also like to know if they are in any way commemorated above ground. JOHN T. PAGE. Holmby House, Forest Gate. "YEARN" (8th S. iii. 266).-For a good example of transitive use of this word see Gesta Romanorum' (Roxburghe Club), p. 397, "Wise men are but scornede, and wedowes be sore yernede." It is curious to note that in Spenser yearne usually means to earn, whilst earne generally means to long for; in one instance ("Faerie Queene,' book iii. chap. x. p. 21) to grieve. Yerne also meant to run; see 'The Ayenbite of Inwyt' (E.E.T.S.), glossary; also Halliwell. E. S. A. in our house. In the village of Hamsterley, near Bishop Auckland, a public house has the sign of a spinning wheel. In the 'Sketch of the Life of Georgiana, Lady of Richmond, who gave the celebrated ball at de Ros,' who died 1891, daughter of the Duchess Brussels on the evening before Waterloo, it is stated that, among her other acccomplishments, she used to spin flax on a spinning-wheel presented to her by the Queen. She was the last survivor of that famous ball, and seems to be the last also who used the spinning-wheel. E. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP. KINGSLEY'S LAST LINES: "Barùm, Barùm, BAREE” (7th S. xi. 387, 479; 8th S. iii. 372).— Another instance of the use of "Broum, broum,' by a French novelist is in chapter xiii. of Balzac's Père Goriot,' where the incomparable scoundrel Vautrin sings, O Richard, ô mon roi ! with the addition Broum! broum! broum! broum! broum! May I be allowed to suggest that Shakspere uses the word given as yearn in two senses, as may be seen by referring to the folio of 1623? In 'Henry V.,' II. (not III. as stated) sc. i., Pistol says: "Let us condole the Knight, for Lambkins we will live" (11. 133-4); the idea is purely selfish. Then in scene iii., Pistol again: "My manly heart doth erne" (ll. 5, 6, Folio); and "Falstaff he is dead, and we must erne......let us to France ......to suck, to suck" (ll. 56, 57). So he is think-The Mill on the Floss' (book vi. chap. vii.), ing of his own means of subsistence; he yearns over the lost master, but has still to earn his own living. A. HALL. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (8th S. iii. 88, 173).— The Earl of Sunderland, writing to the Earl of Rutland, Feb. 17, 1684/5, says : 66 wherein it is observed that Stephen Guest, when preparing to sing in a duet, gave a foretaste of the tune in his deep 'brum-brum,' very pleasant to hear." It may, of course, be noted that in Dr. Murray's New English Dictionary," "brum" is defined as "to murmur, hum," with the reference to Black"His Majesty......not doubting but you will......em- wood in 1844, "Now this is the strangest well! ploy all your interest that good members may be chosen......always humming and brumming." for the approaching parliament." The Marquis of Granby to the Duke of Rutland, April 12, 1719, says: "I am told several members have talked of bringing a pan of charcoals into the House to burn it [the Peerage Bill], others sending for pairs of shears to cut it, and 'tis certain there are precedents of both being done." Sir Thomas Hussey, Bart., to Sir Thomas Williamson, Bart., May 1, 1679, in declining to stand for election (at Grantham ?), says : "I neither do nor ever did feed any distastes between Sr Robt Car, and myselfe, and much lesse between the rest of the members of Parliament and me, however my actions have been represented to you." ALFRED F. ROBBINS. SECOND SIGHT (8th S. iii. 307, 412).-Second sight, by which is meant throwing aside spectacles in old age, occurs to those who were short sighted in youth, and proceeds from the like cause that requires persons with normal sight to use them, viz., the flattening of the eye in the one case requiring to be corrected with magnifying glasses, while in the other case the same flattening of the eye brings it into its normal state. E. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP. I have not Dr. Holmes's delightful books at hand for the reference, but somewhere, in the 'Autocrat' or the 'Professor,' he tells of an elderly gentleman of his acquaintance, who bullied his failing eyes into vigorous renewal of their EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. powers. Hastings. 66 E. S. N. This word was invented some fifty years ago, to describe the usual way in which mattins and evensong were rendered in our churches, as a duologue between parson and clerk, the congregation remaining silent. Sometimes it was described as a parson and clerk duet." Happily, now a thing of the past. E. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP. AUSTRIAN FLAG AT ACRE (8th S. iii. 427).– Almanack' that I can find just at the moment is Your correspondent will have considerable difficulty that for 1885. On p. 69 is a list of new pieces in procuring an authentic copy" of this flag. produced at London theatres; and under the headHowever, he may try his luck by consulting G.ing of "Court" is "My Milliner's Bill, duologue, Koehler's or Boeheim's book on early war materials. by G. W. Godfrey, March 6" (1884). The former is in the British Museum, if not the latter. The duke whose flag Richard L. outraged at Ptolemais was Leopold V., who was Duke of Austria from 1177 to 1194. I believe the oldest known representation of a coat of arms borne by a Duke of Austria occurs on a seal affixed to a deed of 1202, and shows the lion of Styria, which Leopold VI. bore as duke of that country. The earliest known representation of the well-known Austrian, or rather Babenberg, escutcheon-Gules, a fess argent-is shown on a seal to a deed of 1234, if I remember rightly. Cf. Sava, 'Die Siegel der oester Regenten' (Vienna, 1871). Old Siebmacher has, I believe, a legend about the origin of this device. L. L. K. HAWISIA DE FERRERS (8th S. iii. 429).-The additional name of Havisa, wife of Robert, first Earl of Derby, was De Vitri. Probably further information may be given in Antiquities of Lacock Abbey,' by W. L. Bowles and J. C. Nicholls, p. 264. RADCLIFFE. I have somewhere met with the statement that she was a De Vitré. If so, she was probably daughter of André de Vitré by Agnes, daughter of Robert, Comte de Mortain. André's grandson Robert (the second) died in 1174. THOS. WILLIAMS. DUOLOGUE (8th S. iii. 406).—The word and the entertainment indicated by it are not of such recent date as DR. CHANCE seems to suppose, though it is quite true that dictionaries are silent on this head, even Cassell's edition of 1892 omitting it. The following two quotations may show (1) that some five years ago duologues took their rise in drawing-room entertainments, and (2) of what nature this kind of recitation is: "Her taste for recitations and drawing-room duologues is growing rapidly" (Punch, 1888, i. p. 229); "It reminds me of one of those duologue entertainments, where the lady comes on the stage first, and does her speech and solo; then exit she,' and enter on the other side 'he,' and immediately gives his speech, his solo; then exit 'he.' Re-enter 'she'; to her enter 'he': dialogue, duet, dance, and exit one of them, and so on, until the final duet, and curtain (Punch, 1888, i. p. 185). The two quotations prove one thing more-viz., that the word may be used both as a substantive and as an adjective. K. TEN BRUGGENCATE. Leeuwarden, Holland. I believe this word is a good deal older than DR. CHANCE thinks. I have known it for a long time, though I cannot say how long. The earliest Era "DUMBLE" (8th S. iii. 447). -Why not a variant of "dimble" (a form cognate with "dimple "), a depression, hollow, or valley? Compare the name Dumbleton, in Gloucestershire. The word is used by Ben Jonson : Within a bushy dimble she doth dwell. CHAS. JAS. FERET. CHARLES II., THE FISH, AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY (8 S. ii. 526; iii. 234, 377).—Mr. W. WEBB seems to have studied the problem of Archimedes imperfectly, or he would not have fallen in water" would displace a bulk of water equal to into the error of supposing that a body immersed its own weight." 73x in water, it displaces a quantity of water equal Suppose a mass of gold to weigh 77x in air, and to its own bulk, weighing 4x. If the weight in air be divided by the loss of weight in water, that is, 77 by 4, we get 19 as the specific gravity of is 19 times heavier than its own bulk of pure gold, that of water being 1. In other words, gold water at 60° F. Archimedes had to solve. A known weight of It may be useful to restate the problem that gold was delivered to an artist for conversion into a votive crown for Hieron, King of Syracuse (or, delivered was of the proper weight, but a suspicion as some say, for his son Galon). The crown as somehow arose that a fraud had been perpetrated. examination, but, as it had some artistic value, be The crown was accordingly sent to Archimedes for was not allowed to melt it down into some simple geometrical figure, so as to be able to compare it and measure it with a similar figure in pure gold. If the crown were an alloy of gold and of some less dense metal, and yet of the same weight as one of pure gold, the alloy would be of larger dimensions than that of the noble metal. While meditating on the subject Archimedes went one day to bathe, and the bath happening to be quite full, he saw that a quantity of water overflowed precisely equal to his own immersed bulk. The idea flashed upon him that the crown lowered into a vessel quite full of water would, if of pure gold, displace and cause to overflow a quantity of water equal to that which would be displaced by a mass of gold of any shape, but of the same weight as the crown. If, however, the crown were an alloy, it would displace a larger volume of water than would be displaced by a crown of gold. In fact, it appeared that Hieron's crown was an alloy of gold and silver, let us suppose in the proportion of 20 to 7 by weight. Now suppose, for the sake of avoiding decimals, we take water, the standard of comparison, to be 100. Then, The weight of a cubic inch of water equals The weight of 20 cubic inches of gold ... ... ... ... ... ... Wars of the Jews,' cap. xxv., under the name of "Baaras-root." Perhaps these works will throw light on the origin of the superstition he is desirous of tracing. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road, In the latter half of your correspondent's quotation there is an obvious allusion to the shriek uttered by the mandrake when it was subjected to violence: I last night lay all alone On the ground to hear the mandrake groan. Ben Jonson, Masque of Queens,' Sown next the vines, the mandrake might give warning of the presence of depredators. What says the context? F. ADAMS. INSCRIPTION ON BRASS, OXTED CHURCH, SURREY (8th S. iii. 387).—The following inscription upon a slab-now placed vertically-in the 100 north aisle of the church of Lanivet, near Bodmin, 1,925 is interesting, as not only recording the "last 1,053 words" but also the 'Cause of Death' (8th S. ii. 428, 533; iii. 76, 154, 275, 355):— 38.500 7,371 45,871 1,698 The weight of 27 cubic inches of the alloy The weight of a cubic inch of the alloy Hence the specific gravity of the alloy is 1,698, that of water being 100; but if the crown had been of pure gold its specific gravity would have been 1,925. The overflow method devised by Archimedes has long been superseded by the hydrostatic balance (which gives far more accurate results) and various forms of hydrometer, an instrument said to have been invented by Hypatia, a learned Greek lady of Constantinople. C. TOMLINSON, F.R.S. Highgate, N. HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY REGIMENT (8th S. iii. 367).—This regiment has on its colours twentyeight battles. The 60th Royal Rifle Corps has a record of thirty battles, but cannot show them on its colours, as rifle regiments do not carry colours. F. C. K. MANDRAGORA (8th S. iii. 429).—The various speculations respecting the mandrage, its properties, strange fables, legendary lore, is an endless subject. If J. E. S. wishes to go deeply into the ridiculous tales told of this plant he should refer to Gerarde's 'Herbal' (1597); Rev. A. Dyce's 'Glossary to Shakespeare's Works'; 'Folk-lore of Plants,' by Rev. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer; 'Folk Etymology,' by Rev. A. S. Palmer; Mystic Trees and Flowers,' by Moncure D. Conway; Fraser's Magazine, 1870, ii. 705; Timbs's Things not Generally Known,' p. 103; All the Year Round, second series, x. 520, xxxvi. 371, 413; 'Dictionary of the Natural History of the Bible,' by Dr. Harris ; Nares's 'Glossary'; and Josephus's "In memory of Ann the only child of John Pasco and Dorothy his wife of this Psh, who was buried the 27th day of April, 1724, in the 14th year of her age. "She was very Religious from her Infancy And much given to Prayer and Especially in her Death bed, where she sung y 84th Psalm and said yo following verse. Farewell Parents dear, Father and Mother. Few of her years so vertuously inclin'd. The thought of "fountains flowing" was no doubt "heavenly" to this girl upon her bed of fever. Č. E. GILDERSOME-DICKINSON. |