J. E. HODGKIN.

else the claim must be false, as I believe it to be. The Dutch is throughout correctly enough printed, but the mistakes in the English are quite ludicrous.

The book begins with an essay (in Dutch) on the English language, which certainly must have been written by a foreigner. Difficulties of pronunciation are evaded in a most amusing way by saying that the vowels a, e, i, o, u, have so similar a sound in the two languages that it is The letter o needless to remark upon them. being really the only one alike in both English

and Dutch.

"S. May it pleas you to give me leave to go out?— M. Whither?-S. Home.-M. How is it that you goe so often home?-S. My mother commanded that I and my brother should come to her this day.-M. For what cause?-S. That our mayd may beat out our clothes.M. What is that to say? Are you louzie?-S. Yea, very louzie."

There are about a hundred pages of proverbs in Dutch and English. JAYDEE. BONAPARTE'S COACHMANSHIP (4th S. viii. 7.)— In Sir Walter Scott's very partial and defective

of Mr. Collier's reprint), we have

"To French and Scots so fayr a taell I tolde,

That they beleeved whyt chalk and chees was oen." And in An Antidote against Melancholy, 1660 (p. 92 of Mr. Collier's reprint)— "What! dost thou think her knows not chalk from

cheese? "

X.

DUTCH-ENGLISH PHRASE-BOOK (4th S. vii. 339.) If MR. BAXTER examines the little volume, The English Schole-Master, from which he quotes the form of a bill of lading, he will find some more curious passages. The title-page, dated 1663, gives no notice of this being other than a first edition, but there must, I think, have been an earlier one, as in the quaint dedication the author speaks of the connection between the Netherlands and England having "bin of late confirmed and made more sure (as we hope) by the marriage of the eldest son of his highnes Frederick Henry by the grace of Godt prince of Orange, &c., with the eldest daughter of our Soveraigne Charles by the grace of Godt Kingh of Englandt," &c. The examples of letters, &c., at the end of the volume are dated 1646. The compiler of the work claims to be an Englishman, but either during his long stay in Holland he must have impaired his English, in spite of being a professed teacher of it, or

emperor's brother, Louis Comte de St. Leu, wrote a refutation, and said, not inappropriately, speaking of the celebrated novelist as an historianmier." In this life is the account of Napoleon's "Tel brille au second rang qui s'éclipse au premishap inquired after by your worthy correspondent F. C. H. (chap. Iv.):

"While on the subject of Napoleon's exercises, we may mention another danger which he incurred by following an amusement more common in England than in France. He chose at one time to undertake the task of driving a carriage, which he overturned, and had a severe and dangerous fall. Josephine and others were in the vehicle. lar accident happened to Cromwell, who, because, as the The English reader cannot fail to recollect that a simihistorian says, he could manage three nations, took upon him to suppose that he could drive six fiery horses, of which he had just received a present; and being as unsuccessful as Napoleon in later days, overturned the carriage, to the great damage of the Secretary Thurloe, whom he had placed inside (or taken in), and to his own double risk both from the fall and from the explosion of a pistol which he carried privately about his person. Buonaparte's sole observation was-I believe every man should confine himself to his own trade.'

Napoleon was not more fortunate whilst out shooting. Having one day honoured the Prince of Wagram and Neufchatel with his company at Grosbois, a stray shot from the imperial fowlingpiece struck the eye of Massena, Prince of Essling, who, smarting under the blow, exclaimed, "Oh,

mihi!" Berthier, who was at the time standing near the emperor, very gallantly took to his own account this unfortunate stroke, which cannot precisely be called "un manque à toucher," only it was evidently not "the right shot in the right place."

The above-mentioned Life of Napoleon, which no one thinks of reading now, was at once severely judged even in England. I recollect seeing in London at the time it appeared, simultaneously with Tom Moore's Epicurean, a very spirited caricature representing the small light figure and smiling face of the author of the Irish Melodies holding up his small single volume, on which was written "The Epicurean," and having much greater weight in "the scale of public opinion" than the tall heavy figure, sorrowful countenance, and bushy eyebrows of Sir Walter groaning under his ten ponderous volumes.

P. A. L.

LADIES ON HORSEBACK (4th S. viii. 8.)-In Anglo-Saxon MSS. ladies are often represented riding sideways, but always on the right-hand side of the horse. This explodes the statement usually given that side saddles were introduced by Anne of Bohemia, queen of Richard II.

Mr. Thomas Wright, in his Womankind in Western Europe, observes that the staid dames of the feudal period rode their horses sideways, and the faster ones astride. He says that in all illuminated MSS. older than the sixteenth century with which he is acquainted the lady when riding sideways always sits with her legs on the right side of the horse, with her left-hand towards its head. One example to the contrary he knows in a late fifteenth century Life of S. Edmund by Lydgate, but in this a lady deprived of her hands and feet has been placed on a horse in a knight's saddle to go to a shrine to be cured, and therefore is she not strictly speaking riding. Mr. Wright thinks that about the time of Henry VIII. ladies began to ride more spirited horses, and then changed their position to the left side. In confirmation of this he engraves the great seals of Mary and Elizabeth, in both of which they are represented on their horses on the left side as at present. JOHN PIGGOT, Jun.

I do not know when the present custom was introduced, but I know that the former one was not extinct fifteen years ago, as I was then in the north of Brazil, and met many ladies riding, who all sat on the right-hand side of their horses. If my memory be correct, wheeled vehicles and horsemen kept the right-hand side of the road when passing one another. Perhaps the one practice leads to the other. GORT.

CEREMONY (4th S. viii. 7.)-Cerimonia by its termination leads one to connect it with a verb root, and entirely to deny its connection with Care or with Ceres. As alimonia, querimonia,

parcimonia come from alo, queror, parco, so ceremonia is, I believe, from curo, the old spelling of which was cœro. Jos. Scaliger derives it from cerus, an obsolete word in the Carmen Saliare, variously interpreted. The late Dr. Donaldson fancifully refers ceremonia along with carmen to the Sanskrit root "to make." I repeat that the derivation from curo seems the most probable. J. H. I. OAKLEY.

In 1841 and 1842 I studied modern Greek

(Romaic) in the Island of Paxo. I asked my the Italian word ceremonia, which I had not been master (a Greek priest) the Greek translation of To this I objected, saying it was an Italicism, or able to find in the dictionary. He said τζερεμονία. at best a Romaic barbarism. Next morning my master came into my room in high glee, and stroking his long black beard with both hands, said eupna. He then told me the Greek equivalent for ceremonia was xeipovouía. (Anglicè hand-rubership, or rather an indication by the motion of the hand as to what is fit to be done or received.) I think he was right, and that the word ceremony is derived from xeip, hand, and νόμος, law.

M. U. OBERT.

SWALLOWS FORMERLY USED IN MEDICINE (4th S. viii. 5.)—MR. CORDEAUX will find many instances of swallows used in medicine. Not to go further back, here is one from Mr. Cockayne's translation of an Anglo-Saxon Leech-Book :—

"For cheek disease, take the whorl, with which a woman spinneth, bind on the man's neck with a woollen thread, and swill him on the inside with hot goat's milk; it will be well with him. For jowl pain, delve up waybord before the rising of the sun, bind upon the man's neck. Again, burn a swallow to dust and mingle him with field bees' honey; give the man that to eat frequently."Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft, ii, 313.

An Anglo-Saxon receipt-book in the same collection contains the following cure for an erysipelatous swelling :

"Take a swallow's nest and break all up together, and burn it with sharn alltogether, and rub to dust and

mingle with vinegar, and smear therewith."-iii. 45.

Nicholas Culpeper, gent., "Student of Physick and Astrology," informs us that

"Swallows being eaten, cleer the sight, the ashes of them (being burnt) eaten, preserves from drunkennesse, helps sore throats being applied to them, and inflamations."-Pharmacopœia Lond. 1654, p. 64.

Several books of popular medicine, published since Culpeper's time, contain similar information. It is highly probable that if inquiry were made in the right quarters we should find that the supposed curative properties of swallows are not yet forgotten or disregarded.

Bottesford Manor, Brigg.

EDWARD PEACOCK.

PLANXTY (4th S. vi. 300, 512; vii. 42, 173.)—I doubt much whether this word is derived, as

HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS LOWE (4th S. viii. 27.)-Sir Thomas Lowe was knighted July 26, 1603; was Lord Mayor of London in 1604; and M.P. for London in 1614 and 1621. L. L. H.

WHAT'S HIS NAME? (4th S. viii. 25.)-The incidents of the anecdote of Sheridan Knowles will be found in an article called "A Child of Nature," which appeared in the Cornhill Magazine, ix. 487. I have always been curious to identify the Mr. T. whose peculiarities are there described, and shall be glad if this should serve to elicit the

information.

C. W. M.

"THOLE AND THINK-ON" (4th S. viii. 10.)Thole is a common old word, meaning to suffer, occurring in Chaucer, Langland, &c.; from the A.-S. polian, to suffer; cf. Lat. tolerare. To think-on is a provincialism for, to exercise forethought; I have heard it frequently in Shropshire. "Thole and think-on" is, therefore, "Suffer and be careful"; in other words, "Endure adversity and be prudent for the future." WALTER W. SKEAT. 1, Cintra Terrace, Cambridge.

66

K. W. S.'s query recalls the ludicrous misconception of the late Dr. Clelland, who, in noticing the figure of the Paschal Lamb (with its flag and nimbus) underwritten with the inscription ORA PRO NOBIS, set this down in his Annals of Glasgow as A holy lamb, or a Pronobis"!* "Thole and thinkon" should be read "Thole and think on "; that is, "Think, and continue to think your own thoughts, only submit and endure without complaint" a kind of prudential or time-serving motto, kindred in significance to the Scotch proverb: "Jouk an' lat the jaw† gae by," viz. " Don't oppose yourself to the force of the wave, but stoop and allow it to pass over you." I lately picked up at a bookseller's stall a copy of Pinkerton's Enquiry, &c., within the boards of which, as it so happens, is a book-plate bearing the name "John Newman Tweedy," and engraven with the arms, Argent, a saltire engrailed gules, on a chief azure in middle point, a martlet, apparently for difference; crest, a lapwing (vanellus) rising, with the motto "Thole and think on." Possibly the arms contained on the stained glass in Brafferton church are those of the name of Tweedy. The word thole in the dialect of the North of England, and vernacular of the Scottish Lowlands, means, to bear with, not to oppose, to endure, to tolerate, to exercise patience under suf

fering, &c. It is the Icelandic word thol, patientia. An example of its use is found in "The Twa Dogs" of Burns:

"Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash,

How they maun thole a factor's snash." What follows shows what, in the view of the poet, is meant by the expression "To thole :"He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear, He'll apprehend them, poind their gear; While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble, An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble!"

SINE NOMINE.

a

"ROUGH" (4th S. vii. 431, 551.)—Like JAYDEE I was puzzled by Elizabeth's rough, until I saw that it could be pronounced as, and was foreigner's misspelled attempt at, rogue. Rogue commends itself as a most Elizabethan and Elizabeth-like word; and it is to be remembered that one of its meanings, and probably its primary one, was tramp or vagrant, and thence. a low fellow generally. In this sense Hamlet, the king's son, exclaims

"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I,"

and so Shakespeare elsewhere, and other writers.

Thus read, the account agrees with that given by other authorities. Lingard, the only one I can at present refer to, says that the Lord Admiral reminded her of what she had said to him at Whitehall, that her throne was the throne of kings, and asked her regarding the succession, to which she replied: "I will have no rascal to suc

ceed me.

Who should succeed me but a king?”

B. N. GNATS versus MOSQUITOES (4th S. vii. 352, 416, 505.)-It may be as well to note that the worst place in Europe for mosquitoes is Salo on the Lago di Garda, and the best protection against

them is Eau de Bully. Gray's Inn.

R. S. CHARNOCK.

THE PIANO (4th S. vii. 143; viii. 11.)—It is certain that the piano was not invented early enough to admit of one being possessed by Queen Christina of Sweden, who died in 1689. The Italians claim the invention for Bartollomeo Cristofali of Padua, who made one in 1710, thus described by Scipione Maffei :

"Signor Bartollomeo Cristofali of Padua, harpsichord player of the most Serene Prince of Tuscany, has already made three harpsichords, in which the production of more or less sound depends upon the force the player uses in pressing on the keys; by regulating which, not only are the piano and the forte heard, but also the degrees of tone, as in the violoncello."

*This is an actual fact. The unfortunate Doctor was

which his book was reviewed.

Jaw means a wave. It also means coarse raillery jerked out as water.

son of an organist, who says in 1717, when eighteen years of age:

condition.

MRS. HARRIET CLARKE, AGED 106 (4th S. vii. 511; viii. 32.)-Much about the time this lady is supposed to have been born, or a little earlier say in 1739-T. Hudson painted a portrait (of which I have a good mezzotinto engraving by J. Faber, at the Golden Head in Bloomsbury Square) of a Mr. Henry Clarke, standing apparently at a window, with a cocked-hat under his left arm, and the right hand stretched out. I should like to know if he was a man of any note (the engraving was on sale), and whether there was any family connection between him and Mrs. Harriet Clarke. P. A. L. "CLIBBOR NE SCEAM" (4th S. viii. 9.)-This motto clearly means 66 a burden shames not," i. e. what is laid upon a man by the hand of God is no shame to him. Clibbor is not, as your correspondent supposes, a Saxon adjective, but a rare substantive, meaning load or burden. Lye refers to the Menologia, or Saxon martyrology. The motto is very interesting, inasmuch as it must have been chosen by one who was well versed in the Saxon tongue, and perhaps has come down from Saxon times. J. N. T.

THE DONCASTER MAYOR (4th S. viii. 26.) A. O. V. P. will find the song he requires, and of which the verse quoted by him is the second, in

The Syren, No. CCCLXXXIV. p. 322. The chorus to each verse is as follows:

"With hei the toe bent, and hei the toe bent,

Sir Piercy is under the line.

God save the Earl of Shrewsbury,

For he's a good friend of mine."

There are eleven verses in all; and if we may judge from the first line

"In Lancashire where I was born,❞—

and from other allusions, it would seem to be a Lancashire or Cheshire song; and I should think composed about the time of Queen Anne. Sir Walter Scott, unless my memory deceives me, has quoted one or two verses of it in one of his novels. E. A. D. Shillingstone.

EDGE OF HORTON (4th S. viii. 24.)—There are various scattered notices of this family in the History of Leek (Russell Smith, 8vo, 1862); notably at pp. 190-1, where occurs one Timothy Edge, a Parliamentary Commissioner. The only other entries I found, in the Leek old register, were the marriages of James Edge and Elizabeth Ashton on Sept. 18, 1639; and of William Lanslete and Mary Edge, Feb. 13, 1653.

Pennine chain hereabouts, is common enough, e. g. Edge, as applied to the ridges or crests of the Froggatt-edge, Longsdon-edge, More-edge, &c. JOHN SLEIGH. Thornbridge, Bakewell.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English Translation of John Trevisa, and of an unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century. Edited by the Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, M.A., &c. Vol. III. (Longmans.)

The Annals of Loch Ce: a Chronicle of Irish Affairs from A.D. 1014 to A.D. 1590. With a Translation by William M. Hennessy, M.R.I.A. In Two Volumes. (Longmans.)

The work, which at the wise suggestion of the late Sir George Lewis, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Treasury thought fit to entrust to the Master of the Rolls, Lord Romilly, is carrying on with great judgment and success. We have now to call attention to three new volumes of The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages. The first of these is a new volume (the third) of Ralph Higden's well-known Polychronicon, with the two curious early English versions: one made in the fourteenth, and the other in the fifteenth century. The present volume, which contains Higden's second and third books, is produced by the Rev. J. R. Lumby, who has succeeded Professor Babington in the editorship. The second work is a very important contribution to Irish history, the importance of which is clearly pointed out in the long and interesting Introduction which Mr. Hennessy has prefixed to it, in which he not only gives us a history and eminent Irish antiquaries, but points out the relation it description of the Chronicles as described by the most bears to the Annals of the Four Masters, and the new