and at all hours into daylight. When living near Epping Forest, my nursemaid, who had arrived the day before from the Black Country of Staffordshire, called us up about one o'clock, saying she "was certain some persons were about, for the birds were roused and singing so!" Either the linnet or the robin is certainly the earliest bird. I have heard that small note at daylight, distinct from the nightingale, and before the cuckoo. The lark seldom gets aloft to sing until man is in sight. H. W. In my note on "the earliest bird," at p. 110, I asked, "It was Theodore Hook, was it not, who," &c. I can now reply to my own query. Instead of "Theodore Hook" read "the Rev. T. Barham," better known as "Thomas Ingoldsby," the legendary rhymer. In his Life it is recorded of him that, when a student, he was taken to task by Mr. Hodson, afterwards Principal of Brasennose, for his continued absence from morning chapel. "The fact is, sir," urged his pupil, "you are too late for me.' "Too late!" repeated the tutor in astonishment. "Yes, sir; I cannot sit up till seven o'clock in the morning; I am a man of regular habits; and unless I get to bed by four or five at latest, I am really fit for nothing next day." CUTHBERT BEDE. "An Inquiry into the Structure and Animal Economy of the Horse, comprehending the Discases to which his Limbs and Feet are subject, with Directions for Shoeing, and pointing out a Method for ascertaining his Age until his Twelfth Year. To which is added an Attempt to explain the Laws of his Progressive Motion on Mechanical and Anatomical Principles. The Whole Illustrated by Eighteen Copper Plates. By Richard Lawrence, Veterinary Surgeon, Birmingham. Birmingham: Printed for the Author at T. A. Pearson's Printing Office, High Street, and Sold by Knott and Stond, Birmingham; J. Wallis, Paternoster Row; and G. Nicol, Pall Mall, London. MDCCCI." In chapter eleven, "On Progression," the author gives full details and references to the plates (without which his remarks would scarcely be intelligible), and he minutely describes the "action" in the "three paces - the walk, the trot, and the gallop." He observes that the motions are so transitory that they are difficult to discern separately and collectively; that the "horse may be considered as a machine supported by four perpendicular columns, each of which has its own centre vity: but during progression each of these columns must shift its centre, and obtain a new basis successively. The animal during the walk is always supported by a triangular position of three. legs-namely, two fore legs and one hind leg, or one fore leg and two hind legs alternately." In the trot he moves the "fore and hind leg diagonally, and thus passes over as much ground with two motions in the trot as he does in the walk with four." In the trot he is supported by two legs only, and is therefore more likely to fall than in the walk or the canter, in both of which he has always three legs on the ground at the same time. "In the canter the horse moves obliquely by advancing either his right or left shoulder in conformity with the leading leg." In the gallop the fore legs are nearly equal in extrusion, and the body is nearly horizontal; but none of the details can be fully given without the rather elaborate folding plates, drawn by the author, and engraved by "M. Haughton," an artist of more than local fame. Birmingham. ESTE. I inquired whether the natural action of all horses was the same, and have to thank your correspondents for their answers. Would you allow me to quote the opinion of Simon, the great authority on horses in ancient times, who lived at least before the age of Xenophon, B.c. 400? Xenophon refers to his work, Пepì inπins, but the passage which I quote is found in the Onomasticon of Pollux (lib. I. cap. xi. line 7, ed. Francofurti, 1608). Αμείνων δὲ ἵππος, ὁ μὴ ἐναλλάξ, ἀλλὰ διὰ διάστασιν ἔχει τῶν σκελῶν ὡς μεγίστην. ὑπάρξει γύρ πολλοῦ τὰ σκέλη διατιθεὶς καὶ διαφέρων κακὸς δέ, εἰ τὴν αὐτῷ, Σίμων λέγει, διὰ πλείστου τὰ σκέλη ῥίπτειν. Ι give the Latin version of Walther: "Melior vero equus est, qui non alternatim, sed per longius spacium pedes transponit et transfert; pessimus vero, si maximum tibiarum intervallum habeat. Prodest enim, ut Simon inquit, quam plurimo spacio trajicere tibias." The first clause seems to refer to the movement of the horse: "That is the better horse which moves not crosswise (èraxxáž), but advances lengthwise." Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to give us a clear explanation of Simon's meaning, if I have not caught it. CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE. GOLDSMITH'S EPITAPH. (4th S. ii. 34, 109.) I was never within the walls of Westminster Abbey but once in my life, and that was certainly five-and-twenty years ago; so that I cannot be supposed to have any very clear recollection of the true reading of Goldsmith's epitaph. It is remarkable, however, that the dean of the church, who has every facility for verifying inscriptions upon any of the monuments, should have perpetrated such a slovenly blunder as that of which, from the showing of certain correspondents to "N. & Q.," he is plainly convicted of being guilty. Of course the reading of the sentence, as given by ScHIN and T. C., places the question in a very different light, and I very much agree with both of them in their criticism upon it. It is not a little singular, however, that in my edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson (2 vols. 8vo), the word nihil does appear-the second clause of the passage being "Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit." On which there is this foot-note: "See his Epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson." As to the remark of BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM. on the Younger Pliny, that he is "not an author optimæ ætatis," I can only say that I should consider the authority of a contemporary of Tacitus and Juvenal for the use of any word, phrase, or grammatical construction, quite good enough for my own purpose, and quite conclusive as to the legitimacy of such use. But if, as authority, BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM. will have "aut Cæsarem aut nullum," let a mightier than Cæsar come to judgment. In De Officiis (lib. ii. c. 12) we find it written: "Leges sunt inventæ quæ cum omnibus una atque eadem voce loquerentur,"-a construction precisely similar to that of Pliny. As to the question itself, as thus far canvassed, I suppose we must be content to leave it thus: "Grammatici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est." EDMUND TEW, M.A. Dean Stanley, Professor Conington, and MR. EDMUND TEW Concur in the opinion that Johnson should have written "Nihil tetigit quod non ornaret," instead of "Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit." Had Johnson done so, he would have conveyed an idea at variance with his intention: for by putting the word embellish in the potential mood, ornaret, he would have conveyed the idea only that Goldsmith could embellish what he touched; whereas he asserts, by ornavit, that Goldsmith actually did so embellish.* Johnson is recorded by Boswell as saying: "Goldsmith's abridgment is better than that of Lucius Florus or Eutropius; and I will venture to say that, if you compare him with Vertot, in the same places of the Roman History, you will find that he excels Vertot. Sir, he has the art of compiling, and of saying everything he has to say in a pleasing manner. He is now writing a Natural History, and he will make it as entertaining as a Persian Tale."-Life, ch. xxi., 1773. And directly afterwards, Johnson and Goldsmith are represented as being in the Poets' Corner Quod, what, must not be confounded with quod for quo ad, ad quod, or propter quod, as far as, why, wherefore, with regard to, hence, which create the necessity for the conditional mood. "Dicere enim solebat Nullum esse librum tam ma lum, ut non aliquâ parte prodesset.' Super hanc, liber legebatur, annotabatur, et quidem cursim." Pliny, thus speaking of his uncle the historian from report, oratio obliqua, could only use the conditional (=subjunctive=potential) in the apodosis. But Johnson spoke more suo, in the positive (indicative) mood. The indicative mood, says Zumpt, is used in every proposition, the matter of which is declared absolutely and as a fact; the subjunctive is used when a proposition is stated not as a fact, but as conceived by the mind as possible, desirable, contingent, &c., sec. 75, 76. T. J. BUCKTON. PERVERSE PRONUNCIATION. (4th S. i. 11, 82, 603; ii. 22, 116.) One or two of the instances quoted under this head by MR. BARKLEY do not seem to be quite correctly described as perverse." Bangvenner for Bienvenu is a rough approximation to the true French sound carelessly pronounced; but Balew for Boileau, and Bewfort for Beaufort, are merely relics of antiquity, and, particularly the first, remarkably well preserved. The Norman pronunciation, it appears to me, thus exhibited in Balew, is a remarkable attestation of the antiquity of the family that bears the comparatively modern name of Boileau, but which appears in the Battle Abbey Rolls as Belew or Bellew. Boileau is evidently the equivalent of Drinkwater, and as a Norman word would have been written Beilewe or Bailewe, from beire or baire, to drink, and ewe (which we still hear in ewer, a water-jug), water. It is not then perverse, but simply conservative, to pronounce it Balew. Bewfort has its parallel in Bewsley for beaulieu, and we preserve the same sound in beauty, which in the fourteenth century (see "Alliterative Poems" of the E. E. T. S.) was written, doubtless in accordance with the pronunciation, bewté, or bewtee. But in that same century there existed the Norman form biauté (from the still older form bialté), the current pronunciation of which is probably represented pretty accurately by the English equivalent. This word bial, which we also see in Chaucer's Bialacoil Mod. Fr. bel accueil ("fair welcoming," as interpreted by himself) was, however, variously spelt, and thus we also find the forms bel, beal, Unquam is omitted by Schaefer. and beau. There is reason to believe that, as a general rule, the English of that day, and of days since as well, gave a cordial reception only to such strangers as conformed to the usages of the country, and therefore that they willingly represented the prominent sound bi as bee or bea, and hence against biau spelling beu we have to set the same elements spelling bee or bea. As William's host contained no doubt some thousands of Picardians and Frenchmen, as well as Normans, we can account for the dialectical difference in pronunciation which gives us both beu and bea to represent the same, or nearly the same, orthographical elements. One thing, however, is tolerably clear, that beau did not then, nor for long after, spell bō. Beufort or beafort would be ancient, bofort comparatively modern. The foregoing considerations will probably account for Beachy (biauchief) Head, Belvoir (or Norman biauveir) Castle, and Beauchamp (biauchamp) chapel, at Warwick. PASSAGE IN "LUCRETIUS." which has superseded the old reading retro, for mittam is clearly wrong: Lucretius does not for- "Et tamen hoc quoque uti concedam scire, at id ipsum Quæram," &c., The old compounds of the bel, bial, biau, &c. of the Normans and French, such as belamy (Bellamy) are many of them interesting to the philologist; but before I dismount from my hobby, I will refer to bele-chière, or cheer (Chaucer), good or jolly companionship, and which seems to have been corrupted in after times to belly-cheer, stuffing and guttling, and used in this sense by Udall, but follows it up by a reply in the next succeeding Milton, &c. I hope that those of your correspondents who can add to our knowledge of dialects by supplying more of such words as Balew, It seems which was quite new to me, will do so. more than probable that a good deal of Norman is yet to be dug out of our own provincialisms. Kildare Gardens. J. PAYNE. words in minute detail: "Invenies primis ab sensibus esse creatam а Here, however, is nothing to justify Montaigne in speaking of putting the bridle on the ass's tail, which is the reason, I suppose, that the German translator of Montaigne, who carefully specifies his classic authorities, and corrects Montaigne I may venture to supply some illustrations to this passage in Lucretius. As to the sense of when wrong in any of them, has omitted reference additional to those which have been adduced. this distich, Lucretius says that to contend with The members of the respectable family of Ballin- such an opponent is to fight a man who presents gall, in Scotland, are styled Munga by the vulgar. (vestigia* the soles of his feet where his head Everyone who rejoices in the family name of should be; that is, confessing himself vanquished Alexander must submit to being called Aleschander by the common people. The Haldane directed blow might be felt, and therefore the at starting; and conveying the idea that a wellfamily were styled Haden. The Buists, a respect-know-nothing philosopher would get to know able Fifeshire sept, have their name pronounced Beast. Names of localities are lamentably corrupted. Who would fancy that Simidores was the vulgar rendering of St. Madoes? The names of certain parishes in Fifeshire are pronounced as follows: Auchtermuchty is called Muchty; Anstruther, Anster; Ballingry, Bingry; Burntisland, Brentelan: Dalgety, Dagety; Dunfermline, Dunfarlan; Dunino, Nunny; Kilconquhar, Kinrichar; Kingsbarns, The Barns; St. Monance, The Minnins. To these many examples might be added. The Scottish peasantry, I have remarked, have succeeded in corrupting every proper name which happens to possess three or more syllables. CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D. something he did not know before. The only philosopher who held the doctrine, as stated by Lucretius, is Metrodorus of Chios. (Diog. Laert. ix. 58 [Bohn, p. 400]; Euseb. Præp. Evang. xiv. 19; Cicero, Acad. Quæst. ii. 23.) T. J. BUCKTON. The modern editors of Lucretius (Lachmann, Munro, Bernaysius) read the lines referred to as follows: "Hunc igitur contra mittam contendere causam, * See Scheller's Lex. where this line is quoted in illustration of such meaning of vestigia. No mention is made of the reading "retro." memory. I am glad to hear that there is one Munro in his explanatory notes, p. 541, 2nd ed., erected: you state in 1860. says, 66 The epitaph, differing from your version only Qui capite, &c. appears to be a proverb; but its pre- in the word "deceased," in place of "both born," cise force is not very clear; Gronov. explains it by qui was written by Mr. Thompson, an engineer of sibi non constat, qui se ipse evertit, qui cernuat.' This Truro, who was a student in the old Cornish would suit the context; but a man who tumbles on his head does not place his head where his feet were. Per-language, and only circulated in MS. It was as haps by a man putting his head where his feet should be follows:is meant that he assumes as his premiss that nothing can be known, which is the conclusion that ought to be, but cannot be proved by such a premiss: the man thus inverts himself in a manner.' FOLK-LORE (4th S. ii. 154.)- Another version of the song is, or was, current in Oxfordshire. I learned it from a servant who lived more than thirty years in my mother's family, and was my first instructress in folk-lore: "When shall we be married. My own dear Nickeldy Nod? Oh, we will be married on Sunday morn; Shan't we be married afore, My own dear Nickeldy Nod? What! would you be married on Saturday night? Who shall we ax to our wedding, Oh, we will ax uncles and cousins, My own dear Nickeldy Nod? What shall we have for dinner, My own dear Nickeldy Nod? What, would you have turkeys and pheasants? When shall we go to bed, My own dear Nickeldy Nod? Oh, we'll go to bed at sunset, I think it is wondrous good. Shan't we go to bed afore, My own dear Nickeldy Nod? What, would you go to bed in the middle of the day? I think the young wench is mad.” U. U. C. H. B. C. DOLLY PENTREATH (4th S. ii. 133.)-You have alluded to the epitaph on Dolly Pentreath in St. Paul's churchyard, near Penzance. I have not been there since 1841, up to which time there had been no monument ever erected to her "Coth Doll Pentreath cans ha deau; Na ed an Eglos, gan pobel brâs, It is no wonder a tombstone should not have been found which was never extant. Dolly Pentreath was in her eighty-seventh year, 1773, hale to the last, and died at one hundred and two. There were others since who understood the language, among whom was William Bodener, who could write both Cornish and English. Bodener died in 1794, it is said; but he was younger than Dolly Pentreath. You will find also that "tine," for light, is still used there, as by Shakspeare and Milton: "tan meaning fire; "commercing" for conversing, and the like. CYRUS REDDING. 66 LAST MOMENTS OF ADDISON (4th S. i. 508.)— The paper in the Temple Bar Magazine is properly characterised by a Constant Reader," but the version of the anecdote of Addison's last moments is not new. Horace Walpole, in a letter to Montagu, May, 1759 (Cunningham's edit., vol. iii. at p. 227), says: "Dr. Young has published a new book on purpose, he says himself, to have an opportunity of telling a story that he has known these forty years. Mr. Addison sent for the young Lord Warwick, as he was dying, to show him in what peace a Christian could die-unluckily he died of brandy-nothing makes a Christian die in peace like being maudlin! but don't say this in Gath, where you are." Chalmers, in his preface to The Spectator (edit. 1823, p. xxxvi.), says: "Dr. Johnson has mentioned this failing with moderation and delicacy: 'He [Addison] often sat late, and drank too much wine. In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and bashfulness for confidence. It is not unlikely that Addison was first seduced to excess by the manumission which he obtained from the servile timidity of his sober hours. He that feels oppression from the presence of those to whom he knows himself superior, will desire to set loose the powers of conversation; and who that ever asked succour from Bacchus was able to preserve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary?' The same fact has been related by others in coarser language, and with an apparent design to depreciate a character not easily assailable in other points. That Addison did, however, indulge too much in the pleasures of the tavern is reported with great confidence; and an excuse has been attempted, by attributing the vexations he thus endeavoured to alleviate to the capricious conduct of his wife. Johnson seems to consider Addison's propensity as an original habit, and this appears to me most consistent with probability. It was the vice of the day among the wits, and wits have seldom discovered that it is a vice." Ερνστ. Temple. KINGS OF SPAIN (4th S. ii. 131.)-Your correspondent A. E. seems to find it impossible to identify "several kings of Spain" mentioned in Longfellow's translation of the Coplas de Manrique. The first is Don Juan. This king is, no doubt, Don Juan II. of Castile, father of the illustrious Isabella the Catholic. The second is, probably, Henry IV. of Castile; his brother, Alfonso, usurped the sceptre of Castile." Spain's "haughty constable" is evidently the unfortunate Alvara de Luna, the favourite of Juan II. His tomb is still in a good state of preservation in the cathedral of Toledo. For particulars connected with the histories of Juan II., Henry IV., and Don Alvaro de Luna, see Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabel, Introduction, ed. London, 1849, vol. i. J. DALTON. The following extract from Moll's Geography, p. 308, identifies King Henry and his brother: "41. Henry IV. whom the Castilians deposed, and set up his brother Alonso, who dying during the intestine wars, Ferdinand, son of John II. King of Aragon, married Isabella, Henry's sister. Henry at last, after much ado, being reconciled to them, died in the year 1472, and was succeeded by Ferdinand and Isabella." S. L. SPIRAL STAIRCASE (4th S. ii. 132.)—Perhaps the following extract from Murray's useful Handbook of Switzerland, describing the Leiter at the baths of Leuk, may furnish E. A. D. with the information of which he is in search. R. C. "The principal curiosity of the neighbourhood is the Ladders (Leiter). A path through the woods, on the 1. or E. side of the Dala, 1 m., half an hour from the baths, leads to the foot of the precipice, which, as before observed, hems in the valley of Leuk on all sides, as with a colossal wall. Upon the sloping pasturages about a mile above the summit of this precipice, however, stands a village called Albinen; and the only mode by which its inhabitants can communicate directly with the baths is by a series of eight ladders placed nearly perpendicularly against the face of the cliff. It can hardly be called difficult to climb to the top, but it would not do for any of weak nerves and a dizzy head, as the ladders, which are pinned to the crevices of the rock by hooked sticks, are often awry, and rather unsteady, yet they are traversed at all seasons, day and night, by the inhabitants of the village above - by children as well as men and women, often with heavy burdens. The use of the ladders, which the nature of the sides of the valley renders indispensable, has given rise to a Blumerish modification of the dress of the female peasants. In climbing the mountains the petticoat is tucked up, and the wearers do not differ in appearance from boys. "N.B.-There is an easy sloping path from Albinen to Inden." LADY MOLINEUX (4th S. ii. 159.)-As Rector of Sephton, Lancashire, I have much pleasure in "1620. Dña Francisca uxor Richardi Molineux de Sefton militis et Baronetta senioris, nono die, ffebruaarij. "1622. Richardus Molineux de Sefton, Miles et Baronetta octauo die Martij." In the parish register books the place is sometimes spelt Sefton, and frequently Sephton. A family in the parish spelt their name Sephton till recently. In ecclesiastical documents the parish is spelt Sephton, and at the present date is so spelt in the parish registers. Can any of your correspondents decide whether it ought to be spelt Sephton or Sefton ? R. D. DAWSON-DUFFIELD, LL.D. ENAMELLING THE FACE (4th S. ii. 33, 166.) – The notice near Windmill Street was extant there much less than twenty-four years ago, and was in more amusing terms than DR. WILKINS has recorded. It was Any Lady or Gentleman having a black eye may have the same cured," &c. side of the little paved court leading_from WindIt was in a small shop window on the south mill Street to Berwick Street. LYTTELTON. LONGEVITY OF SIR JOHN PEYTON (4th S. ii. 158.)-Some years ago, when upon a casual visit to the island of Jersey, the present Lieut.-Bailiff, Mr. Jurat E. L. Bisson, furnished me from the public records a copy of the oath, in NormanFrench (which I now have in my possession), administered by Sir John Peyton to the States (the local parliament) upon the day he assumed office as governor-namely, September 2, 1603. His term of office commencing then was terminated twenty-five, not thirty years later, in 1628. The account, therefore, upon the monument of his granddaughter, Mrs. Lowe, in Christ Church, Oxford, that he was "Governor of Jersey above thirty years," is incorrect. The error may have arisen from confounding Sir John Peyton with his son and successor Sir John Peyton, who, upon his father's retirement from the island, was appointed Lieutenant-Governor, and filled the office about five years-from 1628 to 1633. It is possible-though of this I have no knowledge— that Sir John, the elder, may have, after returning to England, continued nominally to hold the office of governor while his son, as lieutenantgovernor, discharged its duties. If this be so, it accounts for the words on Mrs. Lowe's monument; and this view is strengthened by the fact that, at Sir John's great age in 1628, it is not probable he would have surrendered an employment in which he had been long engaged, and I may add, to the great satisfaction of the people of Jersey, for a new one. One of Sir John's daughters, Susannah Peyton, who married John Riches, Esq., died at the age of ninety, which is something towards |