Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

nexion with the same "gros-là." In the sequel to 'Consuelo,' 'La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, Consuelo, in her journal, which she had to write secretly when in the state prison of Spandau, in speaking of the new prison adjutant, M. Mayer,

says:

"Je ne pouvais plus le méconnaître; sauf qu'il a pris encore plus d'embonpoint, c'est le même homme, avec son air avenant, sans façon, son regard faux, sa perfide bonhomie, et son broum, broum éternel, comme s'il faisait une étude de trompette avec sa bouche." Chap. xix.

JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

RODGER'S-BLAST (8th S. iii. 106).-Is not this word connected with Roger, the name for a bull a word into whose applications research is undesirable? E. H. M.

THE DOVER SLAVE TRADE (8th S. iii. 109, 253).-The form of receipt, which I copy from one in my possession, on the part of the Royal African Company of England, may perhaps be of interest: "No. 13. On the 26th day of July, 1685. Received of Mr. Robt Woolly for Tho. Barnes the sum of Two hundred pounds, on acct of Lot 23:30, sold to him on the 17th day of this Inst. By the Royal African Company of England for whose use I receive the same. For my Mr. Rob Williamson, Treasurer. Jos. White. (£200.)" ED. MARSHALL.

J. P. E. is certainly wrong in referring that slave trade to America. America had nothing to do with it. It was an English trade, and I leave it to Englishmen to enlighten their ignorant brethren in regard to it. AN AMERICAN.

[ocr errors]

449, and vol. i. p. 390. There were Adamses at Writtle (vol. ii. p. 64) early in the last century, and about then a Thomas Adams married Mary Rebow, of Layer-Breton (vol. i. p. 410); but there is nothing mentioned by Morant to show that these Adamses were related to the baronets, or that they were descendants of either Robert and Simon Adams, who presented to the living of Pardon in 1558, or of Theophilus Adams, who held some property at White Colne in 1592. It might be worth while referring to 'The Visitations of Essex,' printed by the Harleian Society. The second volume contains sundry miscellaneous pedigrees as well as Berry's pedigrees and a full general index. H. G. GRIFFINHOOFE.

34, St. Petersburg Place, W.

"THE ZOO": TRAM (8th S. iii. 96). The etymology of tram has been often dealt with in your columns, and so far back as 1861 (2nd S. xii. 276) a correspondent, J. N., quoted some words, as if from an Act of Parliament of 1794, to prove that the derivation of the word from Outram is a chronological absurdity. His note runs :

"In 1794 Mr. Homfrary [sic] obtained an Act of Parliament for the construction of an 'iron dram-road, tram-road, or rail-way' between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydvil."

This is not satisfactory. The writer does not tell us how he acquired his information, and his good faith is brought into suspicion by the fact that the same statement is made in Rees's 'Cyclopædia,' vol. vi., second page of Y, art. "Canal":

"About the year 1794......Mr. Samuel Homfray, and others, obtained an act of parliament for constructing POWELL OF CAER-HOWELL (8th S. iii. 268).— an iron dram-road, tram-road, or rail-way, between CarThere can be no doubt that the Powells so called diff and Merthyr Tidvill in South Wales were a branch of the same family as the Powells of a statement which does not prove any more than Park. The arms have different tinctures, but J. N.'s with its artful quotation-marks that the both show descent from Simeon Sfell, a base scion words "iron dram-road," &c., are in the "act of of the princely stock of Powis. He bore Party parliament." But the 'Cyclopedia' proceeds— per fess sa., arg., a lion rampant, party per fess" that should be free for any persons to use, with drams counterchanged. I suspect Caer-Howell should be or trams of the specified construction, on paying certain Cae-howel. This latter place belonged to the tonnage or rates per mile to the proprietors." Kynastons about 1400. THOS. WILLIAMS. Whether this is the language of an Act of Parliament a few years before, or of the cyclopædist a few years after, Outram took in hand the construction of "iron rail-ways," is of no importance. It stifles all doubt as to the meaning of dram-road or tram-road. This was a road for the waggon called "dram" or "tram" to travel on; and what had Outram to do with that vehicle?

ADAMS FAMILY OF ESSEX (8th S. iii. 288).The manor and estate of Elsenham was purchased by

"Sir Thomas Adams, Alderman and mercer, of London, created a baronet, 18th of June, 1660. He died in 1668. His son and heir, Sir William Adams, married Jane...... that died, in an advanced age, the 15th of January, 1727. By her he had several sons. He himself departed this life in 1688. His eldest son, William, was dead before him; eaving an only daughter, Jane, married to Sir Erasmus Norwich. Sir Thomas, the second son, succeeded his father, but died in August, 1690, unmarried; whereupon, the title came to Sir Charles, the sixth son; who dying 12th August, 1726, had for successor, his brother, Sir Robert, the eighth son."

This family had lands at Broxted and Tolleshunt. Vide Morant's Essex,' vol. ii. pp. 571,

I commend these remarks to the consideration of MR. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON, who asks at the above reference if he may not adduce tram as an instance of word-clipping-" the only one I can recall which springs from the clipping or cutting down of a surname.'

F. ADAMS.

105, Albany Road, S.E. The derivation of tram from Outram is quite wrong. The word, both in its present meaning

[blocks in formation]

JOHN LISTON (DIED 1846), Actor (8th S. iii. 143, 216, 252).-There are some interesting reminiscences of this celebrated comedian to be found in the Life of Charles J. Mathews,' by Charles Dickens. Liston years before had induced Mathews to adopt the stage as a profession. In 1813, when a boy of ten years of age, Mathews mentions his going behind the scenes at Covent Garden Theatre "to see Mr. Liston in the character of Moll Flaggon." May I ask in what play she is represented? The name reminds one very much of a landlady or hostess. Was Liston accustomed to personate female characters? His name is usually associated with Paul Pry. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

following extract from J. T. Smith's 'A Book for a Rainy Day,' edit. 1845, p. 234, may be considered to have some relevance to the subject:

"The term busby, now sometimes used when a large bushy wig is spoken of, most probably originated from events, we are not satisfied that the term busby could the wig denominated a buzz, frizzled and bushy. At all have arisen, as many persons believe, from Doctor Busby, Master of Westminster School, as all his portraits either represent him with a close cap, or with a cap and hat."

It seems not improbable that the Hungarian fur cap, on its first introduction into England as a headdress for the recently formed Hussar regiments, resemblance to the bushy wig of that name, of was probably termed a busby on account of its which the use was then dying out.

[merged small][ocr errors]

W. F. PRIDeaux.

"CROSS-PURPOSES" (8th S. iii. 27, 71, 275).— The game of " cross questions and crooked answers is described in Mrs. Valentine's 'Games for Family Parties and Children,' 1869, p. 82. J. F. MANSERGH.

Liverpool.

THE DRAMA AND THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL

(8th S. iii. 268).—It is not unusual in Italy for a known instance being that of San Carlo in Naples. theatre to be dedicated to some saint, the best F. W. G.

[ocr errors]

VACCINATION (8th S. ii. 364; iii. 277).-In connexion with this it may be of interest to note that in Adamnan's 'Life of St. Columba' (c. 695), book ii. chap. iv., cow-pox and small-pox appear to be identified. Adamnan states that while Columba was living in Iona (563-597) he saw in the north a dense rainy cloud, and said to a companion that it would be very baleful to man and beast, and that after passing over a great part of Ireland it would discharge a pestilential rain, 'quæ gravia et purulenta humanis in corporibus, et in pecorum uberibus, nasci faciet, ulcera, quibus homines morbidi et pecudes, illa venenosa gravitudine usque ad mortem molestati, laborabunt." Which in due course came to pass; but both man and beast were healed by being sprinkled with water in which blessed bread had been dipped. We need not attach too much weight to the statement that the cattle were brought to the point of death, unless, indeed, there was at the same time some cattle plague of a more severe kind than that of cow-pox. The story could hardly have arisen "unless the writer had been acquainted, either personally or through his informants, with some epidemic of severe and "purulent" ulcers on the bodies of men and on the udders of cows.

SIEGE OF BUNRATTY (8th S. ii. 468; iii. 113). — MR. GARRETT'S query still remains unanswered; and though I am unable to supply much information, I think he will find a description of the siege and general history of the castle in Lenehan's 'History of Limerick.' There is a copy of this useful work in the Picton Reading Room, Liverpool, but none, I regret, in our otherwise excellent Manchester Free Reference Library. I know the castle well, and have pleasant remembrances of a delightful row one summer afternoon down the Shannon from the "City of the Violated Treaty to picnic beneath its picturesque ruins.

Manchester.

J. B. S.

BUSBY (8th S. ii. 468, 491; iii. 31, 171).— The references quoted by MR. E. H. COLEMAN show that inquiries about the origin of this word are among the hardy perennials of N. & Q.' The

J. T. F.

Bishop Hatfield's Hall, Durham, "HOSPITALE CONVERSORUM ET PUERORUM" (8th S. iii. 209, 316).—It was while looking up

the story of Bermondsey Abbey in a comparatively after this passage was written, under circumstances small copy of Dugdale's 'Monasticon' in English to which I need not more particularly refer. I see at the Guildhall Library that I came upon these no reason, however, to doubt the accuracy of the words. One reader of ' N. & Q.' was good enough passages which I am about to quote, as, even if to write personally to me and explain that "Con- supplied by Mr. Shapira, they are probably taken versorum meant converts from the world, and from Maimonides. was applied to monks. But this scarcely seemed to fit in.

[ocr errors]

The foundation of St. Thomas's Hospital is generally believed to be entirely the work of the Canons of St. Mary Overies. But apparently the hospitium or inn belonging to St. Mary's and the Hospitale Conversorum, &c., of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey, stood close together in St. Thomas's Street. Both houses were dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket, they were united by Peter des Roches and gradually grew into a refuge for the sick and wounded.

I wrote down my notes from Dugdale in the library at Guildhall, and have them now before me. PRECENTOR VENABLES will, I think, have no difficulty in finding the passage in the account of Bermondsey Abbey. I am much obliged by the notice taken of my query, and particularly desire to thank my unknown correspondent.

St. Saviour's.

CHARLOTTE G. BOGER.

Stow writes of the Hospital of St. Thomas, "Hee [Richard, Prior of Bermondsey] named it the Almerie, or house of Almes, for convarts and poore children "('Survey,' p. 339, ed. 1598). EDWARD H. Marshall, M.A. Hastings.

REEDS (8th S. ii. 327, 433, 517; iii. 52, 116, 311).-Reed pens, cut in the usual form, are extremely useful for directing large parcels, and I have known them used for writing out extracts, &c., in very large letters for the use of a venerable student whose literary interests long survived the clearness of his eyesight. The reeds I knew grew in ditches in Winterton Carrs, Lincolnshire.

Bp. Hatfield's Hall, Durham.

J. T. F.

At the last reference the REV. JOHN PICKFORD notes that before writing the most holy name of the Deity a Jewish scribe cleanses his reed pen. In Unexplored Syria,' by Richard F. Burton and Charles F. Tyrwhitt Drake (2 vols. 8vo., London, 1872), is a very interesting excursus, "On Writing a Roll of the Law. The Rules prescribed by Maimonides and other Hebrew Authorities." Vol. i. pp. 294-332. The writer acknowledges that he has received most valuable assistance" in compiling this paper "from Mr. Shapira, a German-speaking Jew by birth, thoroughly read in the Talmud and traditional lore of the Hebrews, and now a member of the Protestant community at Jerusalem." Mr. Shapira's name became somewhat notorious in the literary world some years

According to this authority, the following five rules were to be observed by a scribe when transcribing a book of Holy Scripture :

"1. A Scribe must say before writing a Holy Name of God, I am ready to write the Name of the Lord with mind and understanding. If he omit this formula even once, the roll is made unlawful.

dipped pen, for fear of making a blot, but must fill his "2. He must not write the Name of God with a freshly pen when he has at least one letter to write before the Holy Name.

"3. He is not allowed to put a single letter of the Holy Name either out of, or between, the lines. "4. According to the Talmud, it is forbidden in Deut. xii. 3, 4, to scratch out, destroy, or blot out even a single letter of a Holy Name, in the words, Ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto incorrectly upon anything, whether an earthen or stone the Lord your God.' If a Holy Name be written vessel, or a sheet of parchment, that thing must be buried and replaced by a correct one.

"5. The scribe is not allowed to think of anything else, or to speak, while he writes the Holy Name, nor to give an answer even to the greeting of the King (see Jerusalem Talmud, tract Brachoth, ch. v.).

"Some of the cabalistic writers went so far as to wash their whole body in water before writing the Holy Name."

The whole essay is interesting, and is not, perhaps, so well known as it deserves to be.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON. DIBDIN'S SONGS (8th S. iii. 307). — 'True

Courage' was "produced at Leicester Place, 1798," being one of the songs in 'The Tour to the Land's End. See Dibdin's 'Songs,' &c., ed. 1842, vol. i. p. xxviii. EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M. A.

Hastings,

THOMAS, SECOND EARL OF ONSLOW (8th S. iii. 289). The lines on this nobleman, as I received them from my father, who lived in those days, were as follows:

What can Tommy Onslow do?
Drive a phaeton and two.
Can Tommy Onslow do no more?
Yes, drive a phaeton and four.

J. CARRICK MOORE.

ABBÉ OR ABBOT (7th S. xii. 449, 518; 8th S. i. 403).—I am afraid that it may be inferred from my note at the last reference that the Ital. abate (abbate) is now used in Italy as abbé is now used in France. But this is very far from being the case. A French curé (=our vicar) may, of course, be addressed as "Monsieur le curé," and a vicaire (=our curate) as "Monsieur le vicaire," but it is more common, I should say, to address them as

"Monsieur l'abbé." In Italian, on the contrary, they are, as a rule, never addressed as "Signor abate," but always as "Signor curato," "Signor vicecurato." The only exception is when a curato has a church which formerly belonged to an abbey, and then he may be given the title of abate.

But though the title of abate is very rarely given to priests in Italy, it is often made use of as a title, as is also the diminutive form abatino. Strictly speaking, no one who is not being educated for the priesthood is entitled to either of these titles, or the equivalent ones, chierico, chierichino, nor, indeed, any one who is being so educated until he has received the first tonsure. Only those seminarists, therefore, who intend to become priests (for some there are, it would seem, who do not), and have received the first tonsure (at what age is this usually given?) have really a claim to these titles. But, as a matter of fact, all those who (without being destined to the priesthood) wear any description of ecclesiastical dress, such as the acolytes who serve the mass and choristers, also get the title of abate or abatino, chierico or chierichino, according to their age and size. In Italy it seems that few boys sing in the choirs; the choristers are chiefly grown men, and hence, perhaps, in part arose the reprehensible mutilation which is said to have been formerly common in Italy.

Something similar will be found in Roquefort, who gives moiniot (properly "little monk ")= "enfant de chœur," and I believe that I have elsewhere seen moigneau in the same signification. When, therefore, Littré gave his second definition of abbé-viz., "Tout homme qui porte un habit ecclésiastique"-he exactly described the familiar use of abate in Italy at the present time, though, as I have said, the title in its diminutive form is there extended to boys also; but his definition does not apply quite so exactly to the abbés of the last century whom he intended to describe, for, though they were commonly not priests, they had evidently frequently taken the tonsure, and so done something more than wear an ecclesiastical dress; whilst, as applied to the time at which he wrote that is virtually the present day-his definition is altogether misleading.

As for Don, I was wrong in suggesting that it corresponds to the French abbé, for Don is never made use of in addressing an Italian priest. It is used when speaking of him only.

And finally, with regard to priests and religious orders, a Roman Catholic priest may, I believe, everywhere be a member of a religious order, but such priests are, I am told, much more common in England than in France and Italy, while missionary priests very commonly do belong to some order.

F. CHANCE.

CHARLES LAMB AS A RITUALIST (8th S. iii. 28, 76, 132, 176).—MR. ANGUS is not correct when he writes that the Armenian cope "is really a chasuble,

cut open in front for convenience." I have frequently attended an Armenian service in Constantinople, and can say positively that the cope is quite similar to that used in the West, and in no respect resembles a chasuble. It is sometimes so overloaded with gold and jewels as to be a severe burden in hot countries. E. LEATON-BLENKINSOPP.

TIPPINS (8th S. iii. 308).-Bardsley's 'Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature' derives the name from Tibbe (Theobald). Fairbairn (new edition) gives five families of Tipping as bearing crests, but none spelling the name without the final g.

Water Orton.

J. BAGNALL.

[blocks in formation]

BRIDGE AND CULVERT (8th S. iii._248).—The late Mr. Grover, in his book on 'Bridges and Calverts' (London, 1870), gives an example of a culvert having a span of twenty feet and substantial wing walls (plate 6). My experience is that county surveyors call many structures bridges which Great George Street men would classify as culverts. I well remember trying one day to find Moreby Bridge, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, on my way from Cawood to York. I had the Ordnance map by me, and could identify the exact spot; but still there was not a sign of a bridge visible. Here was a structure with all the attributes of a culvert. It was a long underground arched channel of brickwork and masonry for conducting water; it had no parapets; one of the culvert fronts was some scores of yards away from the road in a private field, the other front was at some depth below the level of the road in a wooded glen. And still the old county surveyor called it a 66 brigg." Its span is about seven feet, if I remember rightly. L. L. K.

include "Calvert," and therefore, so far as I know, Dr. Murray's 'Dictionary' does not at present we have no means of making out the history of the word. So far as I can call to mind, I have not met with any example of it earlier than about 1825. In the northern parts of Lincolnshire, culvert, or, as it is more commonly pronounced, culbert, is in constant use; and we know quite well the distinction between a culvert and a bridge; but it is one by no means easy to make clear. A culvert is a tunnel for carrying water under a "gatestead" or a road. Culverts are commonly narrow, and with level tops, that is, covered over with flat stones. I think, but am not quite sure,

that if the top of one of these was made by an arch formed of bricks, it would then be called a tunnel, not a culvert. The rough stone underdrains which were used in many places for carrying off dirty water from houses and the drainage from farmyards were called culverts. They were all of them, so far as I know, flat topped. Examples of these, we may hope, since the introduction of sanitary tubes, have become rare. These old, roughly made culverts neither confined their fluid nor their gaseous contents; and so unlevel and full of nooks and corners were their bottoms and sides, that it was impossible to remove the filth that lodged in them by any amount of flushing with water. EDWARD PEACOCK.

Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. What a theatre is to an amphitheatre, a bridge is to a culvert. A bridge is formed by an arch or other method of support, more or less semicircular, and having the water or ground bridged over as the chord of the arc. A bridge may carry one road ever another, but only liquid is intended to pass through a culvert, which is built more or less circular, as its common alternative name, barreldrain, implies. There is a special kind of bricks, called culvert-bricks, so contrived as to be capable of being laid continuously, with or without cement, and without the "centreing," i.e., the supporting framework necessary for the construction of the ordinary arch of greater size. Sewers are now mostly culverts, irrespective of dimensions.

If the bottom of the structure referred to by H. I. is flat, it is a bridge; if it has a bottom formed by an inverted arch, and in general construction is circular, it is a culvert. The wings are of no consequence. FRED. T. ELWORTHY.

Foxdown, Wellington,

[blocks in formation]

THE 33RD REGIMENT (8th S. iii. 267).-The 33rd was raised either in Kent or Yorkshire by George, Earl of Huntingdon (the nobleman who bore the sceptre at Queen Anne's coronation), in the year 1702. The colour of the facings is not, however, recorded to have been yellow at the period of Dettingen, but "white and red." As regards territorial distinction, the oldest army lists I have seen and they go back far-give it the title of the West Riding Regiment from the early part of this century, which it kept until after the Duke of Wellington's death, when the Queen

ordered that it should be called after him, and bear his crest and motto as its badge. It is also, it should be remarked, the only regiment named after a subject not of royal blood.

The old nickname of the 33rd was, according to Capt. Trimen's work on the subject of regimental nicknames, the "Havercake Lads," but there seems to be no record of its ever having been called "Johnson's Jolly Dogs"; while, since its facings were red and white at Dettingen, "The Yellow Boys" would not then have been appropriate, unless derived from some other cause.

Barnes Common.

JNO. BLOUNdelle-Burton.

If D. K. T. wishes any further information on the subject, may I suggest that he should apply to the officer commanding, 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, Bradford ? C. O.

SOCIETY (8th S. ii. 526; iii. 234).—It cannot be CHARLES II., THE FISH, AND THE ROYAL supposed that Archbishop Whately had any special knowledge on this subject when he stated positively that "the Royal Society were imposed on "; but he used such language to illustrate the practice of the skilful sophist, who "will avoid a direct assertion of what he means unduly to assume; because that might direct the reader's attention to the consideration of the question, whether it be true or not; since that which is indisputable does not so often need to be asserted."

In like manner, my old friend the late Prof. De Morgan, in his valuable and amusing chapter on "Fallacies," contained in his Formal Logic,' quotes a short story from Boccaccio, in illustration of the fallacia accidentis, or arguing a dicto simpliciter, ad dictum secundum quid.

have no connexion with the Royal Society, any If the fish story can be traced to James I., it can more than Cromwell's "fool's bauble." But to answer MR. HALL'S questions would be to reopen the whole subject. Some time ago Mr. St. John Hope wrote a long letter to the Times on the subject of the mace, which he supposed was new information. I replied to this in the Antiquary for March, 1892, giving particulars well known in the Royal Society, and which seem to me to settle all matters in dispute respecting the Society's mace.

Highgate, N.

C. TOMLINSON, F.R.S.

I have often thought that the question, as originally put, referred to an actual fact, viz., that if a live fish, i.e., one that swims, were put into a vessel full of water, the weight of the vessel would remain the same as before, because the fish would displace a bulk of water equal to its own weight. This would not be the same with a fish that sank to the bottom. It might displace less than its own weight, as, indeed a live fish would, by diminishing its volume, if it purposely sank.

« PoprzedniaDalej »