Page images
PDF
EPUB

honore Sancti Cuthberti dedicate." The list itself smothered with long pages of "skip matter" most was transcribed, if I mistake not, by Dr. Christo-wearisome; and he has wholly failed to fathom the pher Hunter, of Durham, in his Ancient Rites secret philosophy of the break-down of the French and Monuments of the Church of Durham,' 1733. system and fall of Napoleon. Such words as I have not seen this work, but J. T. F. has pro- Dantesque, Patavinity, Shakesperian, Miltonic, bably access to it in one or other of the Durham and so on, are worth preserving; but the works of libraries. OSWALD, O.S.B. Zola add nothing to standard literature, and can only serve to show to what a depth of impurity novels can descend, and what a prurient taste had to be catered for in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. If Zolaesque means anything, it can only mean licentious exaggeration of the grossest and foulest Holywell Street literature. E. COBHAM Brewer.

Fort Augustus, N.B.

[ocr errors]

EARLY HOURS FOR HUNTING (8th S. ii. 483).When Tennyson uses "offset" to denote the daughter of Henry VIII., does he not employ a most uncommon expression? Has any author before his time so used the word? According to the Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum, et Botanicum,' 1726, "offsets" are young shoots that spring and grow from roots that are round, tuberous, or bulbous; also the loose, outward brown skins in tulips, onions, &c. I suppose that Tennyson has used the word on the analogy of offspring" and "offshoot." The latter word has been used by Barham in 'The Spectre of Tapping ton,' sub fin.: "Some years have since rolled on; the union has been crowned with two or three tidy little off-shoots from the family tree."

66

66

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS (8th S. ii. 509; iii. 36).-In Famous Regiments of the British Army' (pp. 225-6), by W. H. Davenport Adams, THORNFIELD will find Claverhouse's own account of the fight at Drumclog. In it he calls his horse a rone," and distinguishes between his own troupe" and the dragoons. In those days roan was a certain Colour in Horses, a bay, black, or Sorrel Colour, intermixed all over with white or grey Hairs" (Bailey). J. F. MANSERGH. Liverpool.

[ocr errors]

66

"ZOLAESQUE" (8th S. ii. 468; iii. 54).-I am quite of KILLIGREW's opinion that this word is not required, and if introduced would be most misleading. Zola is best known for that disgusting lock-and-key literature which every father of a family keeps out of general sight; and in his last book, the Débâcle,' the true Zolaesque part is a chapter of the same unsavoury kind. If the word were introduced into our language it would be associated with the novels which have made the name of Zola synonymous with licentious realism of the grossest character. I lived in Paris for many years, and saw what is called "life"; I mixed with all sorts of people, and lived at times in private French families. Although, no doubt, I saw much which shocked my English sensibilities, and much that was commercially dishonest, impure, and licentious, I cannot but think that Zola has most grossly caricatured his countrymen, and that his Zolaesquism cannot fail to be ephemeral. His 'Débâcle' touches on a very sore subject, and bas certain "purple patches" of considerable power,

a

In addition to the Zola derivatives supplied to the editor of the 'N. E. D.,' with their respective authorities, let me suggest some other varieties. Why not Zolaese, Zolaitic, Zolaitical, or Zolastic? Then we might have the Zolaphil or Zolaphilist, and Zolaphilisms; or, perhaps, philo-Zolaites, philo-Zolaisms, &c. As we are all authorities nowadays, ignorant as well as learned, there seems little doubt that in our strainings after originality these and many other varieties, bad as they may be, will spring into existence with authority sufficient for inclusion in our standard work. "O tempora! O mores!" A. Z.

MR. RANDALL deserves our thanks for his note.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

Any one who applies a reductio ad absurdum to the system under which the N. E. D.' is now edited will be applauded by those who, like myself, think that the Dictionary is labouring collector becomes the editor as little as its collecunder too heavy a burden. The office of rubbish tion adorns his great undertaking.

HOLCOMBE INGLEBY.

TRANSLATORS=COBBLERS (8th S. iii. 25).—In connexion with the note of H. H. S. on this subject, it may be useful to remember that Mr. R. Roberts, of Boston, Lincs., gave, in No. 3126 of the Athenæum, an interesting example of the use of the word translator as an equivalent for cobbler. The illustration was quoted from Brathwaite's Drunken Barnabee's Journal ':—

To the Translator.

That paltry patcher is a bald translater,
Whose aule bores at the words but not the matter:
But this Translator makes good use of lether,
By stitching ryme and reason both together.

G. YARROW BALDOCK.

The

ALDINE SWIFT,' 1833 (8th S. iii. 28).-I possess complete set of the "Aldine Series of the British Poets," published by Bell & Daldy, about 1870, being, I believe, the third edition. pagination 128-134 in vol. ii. of Swift is wanting, while the poems contained therein are accurately described and paged in the table of contents. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

the North of England, I fancy, would generally be
called an "apple pie." It is to be made in a pie-
dish, without a bottom crust; an apple tart
would not be made in a pie-dish, would have a
bottom crust, and be usually ornamented with
strips of paste on the top crossing one another
diagonally. The above would probably apply to
all pies or tarts made of fruit.
J. F. MANSERGH.

66

PIE: TART (8th S. ii 527).-There are, I believe, two principal theories in respect to this burning AMBROSE GWINETT (8th S. ii. 447, 535; iii. 56).— question. The first holds that a pie contains meat, The story was dramatized under the title "Ambrose and a tart fruit, whether fresh or preserved. The Gwinett, a Sea-side Story: a Melo-Drama, in Three second asserts that either may be contained in pie Acts. By Douglas Jerrold." It is in French's (late or tart; but that a pie is closed by a top crust, while Lacy's) Acting Edition, No. 1285, with the usual a tart is open. I am an uncompromising advocate Engraving, and remarks by D. G." It was reof the latter view; and I notice that the 'Com-vived and acted a few years ago at the little theatre pleat Cook,' printed for Obadiah Blagrave, at the attached to the Royal Marines Barracks at Walmer. sign of the Black Bear, in St. Paul's Churchyard, I also possess a copy of the original book (not just 1683, speaks of an Olive Pye and a Partridge now accessible). The title and frontispiece agree, Tart. It was an apple pie-not a tart-which AI believe, with MR. J. R. BROWN's description, ate, B bit, and C cut, when I assisted at the process and there is no date; but I have hitherto attriin my nursery. HERMENTRUde. buted the publication to quite the early part of the eighteenth century. J. L. R. Walmer.

The late Lord Dudley had no notion of a dinner without apple pie. "God bless my soul! No apple pie," he was heard to mutter at Prince Esterhazy's. Hayward says that this noble amateur insisted on calling his favourite viand a "pie," contending that tart" was applicable only to open pastry. Lord Alvanley would have an apricot tart on his sideboard all the year round, and with him it was always an apricot tart.

[ocr errors]

66

But all tarts are pies, though all pies are not tarts. Pastry is the generic term for all culinary preparations that are served on layers, or in cases, open or closed, of farinaceous paste; and "pie" is the contraction of this generic term. Tart," though, is paste twisted-torta-into fancy shapes. A pie, open or closed, may be called a tart when any portion of its paste has been twisted or fancifully manipulated by the maker. So that pies may consist of flesh or fish and yet be tarts; and tarts may be of fruit and yet be pies.

W. F. WALLer.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

REEDS (8th S. ii. 327, 433, 517; iii. 52).—The text of my English Church Furniture' (published in 1866) was written by me with reed pens of my own making. The notes were, so far as I remember, written with ordinary quill pens. My reason for using reed pens on this occasion was that they are harder than quills, and will at the same time make a broad line. This was an advantage when preparing copy for what had to be printed in what is known as record-type. EDWARD PEACOCK.

SIR STANDISH HARTSTONGE (8th S. ii. 367, 492).-In Burke's 'Extinct Baronetage' (second edition, 1844, p. 608) nothing at all is said about the marriage of Sir Standish, on whom a baronetcy was conferred in 1681. R. F. S.

WATER-MILL (8th S. iii. 7).—I am unable to refer your correspondent to the poem of which he state that the refrain which he quotes is simply is in quest; but perhaps I may be permitted to the English proverb, "The mill cannot grind with the water that is past." This proverb is in Ray's collection, and also in G. Herbert's 'Outlandish Proverbs,' 1640.

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

[ocr errors]

"The mill will never grind [again] with the of Practical Quotations' to 'The Water-mill' of water that is past" is assigned in the Cyclopædia "MacCallum"; but I remember that some other answer traced the words to a German source, which I cannot now recall, ESTE.

[See 7th S. iii. 209, 299; x. 508; xi. 79, 139.] MEDIEVAL DIPTYCHS OF THE DECALOGUE (8th S. iii. 8). —I have among my notes a memorandum

of the Ten Commandments being exhibited in an English church in 1488. Unfortunately I have not noted in what church they were. The reference is Archæologia, vol. xlv. p. 119. I cannot, of course, be certain, but it is probable that this copy of the Ten Commandments was in the form of a diptych. ASTARTE.

TOOTH-BRUSHES (7th S. vi. 247, 292, 354; vii. 29, 291, 414; ix. 37; xii. 96).—The antiquity of the tooth-brush has been much discussed in 'N. & Q. I think 1739 furnished the earliest record of the article, unless the "Turkish tooth brush" which MR. ALFRED NEWTON found mentioned among the "utensils" in the Museum Tredescantianum' (London, 1656) were a real brush, and not a stick to serve the purpose of one. 'Memoirs of the Verney Family' gives us a glimpse of the article a few years earlier. The author says (vol. ii. pp. 234, 235):

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

PAINTING OF ELAINE' BY WALLIS (8th S. iii. 47). Mr. Henry Wallis's picture of the knights taking the dead Elaine from the barge in which she had drifted down to Camelot is, or was quite lately, in the collection of Mr. Holbrook Gaskell, of Allerton, Liverpool. It was sold at Mr. Plint's (not Flint's) sale in 1862, and again with Mr. Pender's pictures in 1873. F. G. S.

"TO BONE" (8th S. ii. 190, 312, 456; iii. 32). -If DR. BREWER wants a quotation from a later and a lesser poet, he cannot do better than take Hood's lines:

You thought I was buried deep,
Quite decent-like and chary,
But from her grave in Mary-bone,
They've come and boned your Mary.
'Mary's Ghost.'
EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.

Hastings.

COL. CHARTERS (8th S. ii. 428; iii. 34).-There is a long and interesting account in Caulfield's 'Remarkable Persons,' vol. iii. pp. 170, 188, of this licentious man. He was a native of Scotland, and married the daughter of Mr. Pencaitland, one of the lords of sessions, by whom he had one daughter, who was married in 1720 to the fourth Earl of Wemyss. He led a most profligate life, and was convicted of rape, and sentenced to death at the Old Bailey in February, 1729, but by the influence of his son-in-law obtained a pardon. He did not long survive this disgrace, but died

Feb. 24, 1732, aged fifty-six years. He left the bulk of his large estate to his grandson, the second son of the Earl of Wemyss. JAS. B. MORRIS. Eastbourne.

CHURCH BRASSES (8th S. iii. 26).—If it is necessary for the vicar to go to the north side of the altar-a necessity which I cannot quite see-surely the best course to adopt, in order to save the brasses from further injury, is his second proposition of placing the slab upright against the wall. And I would suggest the insertion of a small brass plate on the floor recording what had been done. This would relieve J. W. from any charge of vandalism. A. V.

Might I suggest to J. W. that he should keep the brass in its present position, but place a bit of carpet over it to protect it from damage by the vicar's boots? It would be none the less accessible for inspection. J. H. M.

[ocr errors]

NAT. LEE'S ALEXANDER THE GREAT' (8th S. iii. 66).—Mr. Sidney Lee is in error. The "fulsome dedication to the Duchess of Portsmouth" is prefixed to Nat. Lee's 'Gloriana in the Court of Augustus Caesar,' and not to 'The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great.' What a dedication it was, too! "Your Grace, who as You are the Brightest, are likewise the Noblest Object in the World"! There is only one dedication to The Rival Queens,' 1677, and that is "to the Right Honourable John, Earl of Mulgrave."

F. W. ROBINSON.

With respect to the dedication of this play, I find that I should have written John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, instead of "the Duchess of Portsmouth." Lord Mulgrave was subsequently created Marquis of Normanby and Duke of Buckinghamshire. He died in 1720. SIDNEY LEE.

In a valuable collection of old plays in the Penzance Library are two separate copies of the above play, quarto, one dated 1677, the other 1690. Both contain the epistle dedicatory complete from which MR. BLACK quotes, which is addressed to John, Earl of Mulgrave." The "fulsome dedication to the Duchess of Portsmouth " is prefixed to two copies of Lee's 'Sophonisba,' dated 1697 and 1704. S. C.

66

Penzance Library.

MORANT'S HISTORY OF ESSEX (8th S. ii. 143, 234, 293, 418, 536; iii. 59).—I think there can be little doubt but that Peter Muilman was the author, to a certain extent, and patron of this work. In his signed preface he says: "In the Writing Part I have very little contributed, except in my own Parishes of the Hedinghams and the Yeldhams, where my Property lies." The question remains Who did write it, or who was the editor, as he calls himself? I believe it was Henry Bate, later Sir

Henry Bate Dudley, whose father was rector of
North Fambridge, in this county, and resided at
Chelmsford. As the REV. CECIL DEEDES says, I
shall hope to go more fully into this question in an
early number of the Essex Review, and shall be
very glad of any information that can be contri-
buted through your pages or privately.
EDWARD A. FITCH.

Maldon, Essex,

THE FURYE FAMILY (8th S. iii. 68). In the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-uponTyne, near the burial-place of the Ellisons, is a tablet bearing the following inscription: "Near this Place lies the Body of Mary Furye, who died March 17th, 1792, aged 24 Years." Burke's 'Commoners,' 1833, vol. iv. p. 39, under the heading Lowe, of Bromsgrove," names Mrs. Ellison's sister "Elizabeth," not "Mary": "The Rev. Thomas Lowe, rector of Chelsea, married Elizabetb, daughter and coheir (with her sister Mrs. Ellison) of Col. Furye, of Fernham, in Berkshire, and of Norbiton House, Surrey," &c.

[blocks in formation]

PICTURE OF THE HOLY TRINITY (8h S. ii. 89, 152, 395; iii. 53).—I am much obliged to O. for his note on this subject. But I venture to remind him that Didron lays it down that after about the middle of the fourteenth century the mode of portraying the Holy Trinity was entirely given up. Therefore the fifteenth century instance, quoted by me, of the First and Second Persons having features quite alike and both youthful, is noteworthy and uncommon. H. J. MOULE. Dorchester.

name written in old Welsh "Ieuan," but pronounced Evan, in the same way that the similar word "Ieuanc," differing from the above by the addition of one letter, was shown by Henry Sweet to be popularly pronounced "Evanc" in his study of the 'Spoken North Welsh' about ten years ago. J. PLATT, Jun.

The following quotation from Richards's 'Welsh and English Dictionary' (1839) answers your correspondent's question: "Ieuan, s.m. John. Hence some families of the name of Evans, retaining the old orthography, write Ievans." May we not have here the source of the names Jevons, Jeavons? F. ADAMS.

"THE LAST PEPPERCORN BREAKS THE CAMEL'S

BACK" (8th S. iii. 48).—I have always understood
the words of the proverb to be "It is the last straw
which breaks the camel's back," and the phrase in
this form will be found, with its meaning explained,
in Dixon's 'Dictionary of Idiomatic English
Phrases' (1891, p. 319), where two modern
instances of its use are given. The REV. Ed.
MARSHALL inserted a query in 'N. & Q.' (5th S.
x. 289), respecting two old forms of the proverb,
viz., "It is the last feather which breaks the
horse's back," and "The last ounce which breaks
the camel's back."
J. F. MANSERGH.

[blocks in formation]

I have never heard "peppercorn" used in the above proverbial expression, but "straw." The use of the proverb in English seems to be modern. I cannot find the proverb in Hazlitt's collection. The following form of it occurs in Fuller's Gnomologia,' 1732: "Tis the last feather that breaks the horse's back." Bohn's Handbook of Proverbs' has "'Tis the last straw that breaks the

CESAR'S SWORD (8th S. ii. 208, 352).-E. A. H. having had his question answered by MR. Bos-horse's back." Has some would-be wit added the WELL-STONE, Would perhaps like also to know peppercorn? One is constantly meeting with some that Wace (Roman de Brut,' 4217), Layamon familiar quotation, expression, or proverb garbled ('Brut,' i. 326, 1. 12). and Robert of Brunne to suit the writer's fancy. (Story of England,' Rolls ed., 1. 4488) mention the sword by its Latin name, each stating that this was inscribed on the hilt. Robert of Gloucester (Chron.,' Rolls ed., 1. 1142) gives us only the translation of the name, "it was rede dep icluped."

F. ADAMS.

EVAN (8th S. ii. 529).-In reply to your correspondent, there can be no doubt that the above is the English phonetic rendering of the Christian

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

There are many other variants of this proverb. For instance, "The last feather which breaks the horse's back," "The last ounce which breaks the camel's back." The REV. E. MARSHALL in 'N. & Q.' (5th S. x. 289) supplied an extract from Archbishop Bramhall's Vindication of True Liberty against Mr. Hobbes,' showing that the latter expression was written by Bramhall in 1645

[blocks in formation]

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Eighteenth Century Vignettes. By Austin Dobson. (Chatto & Windus.)

MR. AUSTIN DOBSON holds the English eighteenth century "in fee." His works upon Steele. Hogarth, and other celebrities are as authoritative as they are delightful. His latest volume consists of a reprint of short papers, most of them contributed to American magazines, and previously unprinted in London. They constitute enchanting reading, and the volume which contains them may be turned to at any moment with a certainty of instruction and enjoyment. Among the subjects, twenty in all, are Prior's Kitty,' 'Fielding's Voyage to Lisbon, Bewick's Tailpieces, Hanway's Travels, Gray's Library,' and 'A Day at Strawberry Hill.' Genial, erudite, picturesque, brilliant, the papers cannot easily be overpraised. What is best and most characteristic in the last century can scarcely be presented to us in a more vivacious, more lifelike, or more agreeable form.

[ocr errors]

Science in Arcady. By Grant Allen.
Bullen.)

(Lawrence &

MR. GRANT ALLEN will none of London. To the grey
and gloomy haunts of the cab-horse and the stock-
broker he prefers the fields. It is open to him so
to do. In this, as in other things, men are divided
into two camps. He pleads eloquently in defence of his
own views, and will convince all who agreed with him
from the outset. We, at least, are not going to express
any dissent, and we will own that he turns his residence
in pastoral Surrey to good account. His latest volume
-if it is still the latest, for one doth "tread upon
another's heels"-consists of reprints from Longman's,
the Cornhill, and the Gentleman's, and constitutes an
important contribution to the science of natural history.
The articles, indeed, deserve, and will repay, careful
study. Many are the results of exploration of more or
less remote countries. One is a dim recollection of old
Jamaican experiences, a second is a result of a visit to
Luxor, a third was sketched in situ in Florence by a
window that looked across the valley to Fiesole. Where-
Boever obtained, they are all worth reading, and the
volume that contains them will be a source of unending
delight to the naturalist.

Robert Browning's Prose Life of Strafford. With an
Introduction by C. H. Firth and Forewords by F. J.
Furnivall. (Kegan Paul & Co.)

If we look at this volume simply as a contribution to
the expository literature of the seventeenth century, we
cannot give it a high place. Much has been discovered
since Browning wrote, and we are all of us able to take
less prejudiced views than we were years ago. The
motive for this reissue has not been to add to our dis-
tinctness of view as to the troubled days of Charles I.,
but to throw light on the character of its author. From
this point of view it is valuable, as it shows that Brown-
ing, although a great poet, was, nevertheless, an indus-
trious worker. Here and there we come upon distinctly
poetical touches, such as none but one possessed of the
faculty of "vision" could have written; but by far the

greater part of the volume gives the reader the idea
an industrious compilation, and little more. As helping
to complete the works of one of the greatest of our con-
temporaries, it must ever have a certain value, which it
cannot possess as an addition to biographical literature.

From a notice contained in the volume before us we gather that Browning's Essay on Shelley,' which was written as an introduction to the spurious letters, is shortly to be reissued. Our memory of it is but dim, as we have not read it since that clever forgery (which deluded many others as well as Browning) startled the world. If our recollection does not mislead us, Brown

ing's contribution was of a high order of merit.

A Short Historical English Grammar. By Henry
Sweet, LL.D. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.)
IT is not many months ago since we welcomed in these
columns Dr. Sweet's excellent New English Grammar."
For the benefit of younger students he has been at the
pains to abridge his larger work in the volume before us,
at least so much of it, pp. 211-499. as seemed to him
most essential for the beginner. Testing it here and
there, we observe that a few corrections suggested in
our previous notice have been adopted in the com-
pendium. We can commend it as a thoroughly scientific
introduction to English grammar.

AMIDST much political matter in the Fortnightly appear three articles respectively of literary, artistic, and antiquarian interest. That to which most people will first turn is Mr. Addington Symonds's account of 'Venetian Melancholy.' This is a fine piece of descriptive writing, and exhibits some striking pictures of Venice in the autumn. Mr. Symonds shows that he can rhapsodize with Mr. Ruskin, Mr. Swinburne, or the best. Stray Notes on Artistic Japan' shows the kind of change that is coming over Japan owing to the familiarity recently acquired with Western methods. In what the author calls the moderate Conservative school of Japan his hopes are built. Of this Mr. Hashimolo Gaho is one of the leaders. Dr. Robert Munro's paper on Prehistoric Trepanning and Cranial Amulets' is equally interesting to the surgeon, the folk-lorist, and the antiquary. Prof. Sayce's Discovery of an Etruscan Book' has great value, and holds forth pleasant prospects of enlarging our knowledge of the Etruscan language. The opening essay on Uganda is by Sir Charles Dilke.-But a small amount of the contents of the Nineteenth Century comes within the grasp of N. & Q. Under the head Aspects of Tennyson, Miss Agnes Lambert depicts "The Real Thomas Becket." Very high is her estimate of her hero; her indignation against Henry VIII. for the wrong done him is warm, and her praise is eloquent. Is she not, however, taking a narrow view of the mission of poetry and drama when she says, "Lord Tennyson's 'Becket' is his noblest work; for [the italics are ours] it will reinstate a great Englishman in the affections of a great people"? St. George Mivart sticks to his guns with regard to 'The Happiness in Hell.' Views such as he propounds are not often heard from Catholic sources, and his repudiation of a God such as is depicted by extremists is as complete as that of Mill. The dovecotes will be further fluttered. Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake writes on Medical Women in Fiction,' and Miss Ada Heather Bigg on

What is Fashion ?" Mr. George Somes Layard foretells the disappearance of the domestic cook, and, under the title The Revival of Witchcraft,' Mr. Ernest Hart deals with hypnotism, very many of the developments of which he shows to be fraudulent.-In the New Review, M. Alexandre Dumas, Archdeacon Farrar, and Mr. H. A. Jones deal with The Bible on the Stage.' The Archdeacon is wholly opposed to any connexion between the Bible and the stage. Such objection as Mr. Jones raises is in the

« EelmineJätka »