(To be continued.)

FIELD MARSHALS IN THE ARMY. - I have not yet had an opportunity of seeing Sir Herbert Maxwell's 'Life of Wellington,' though I hope to do so soon, as I gather from the reviews that I have read that it affords the most lifelike portrait of the Great Duke that has yet been depicted. A passage

my

in one of these reviews has arrested attention. It occurs in the Athenæum for 16 December, 1899, and in order that there may be no mistake, I will quote it in full:"For the battle of Vittoria Wellington was created Field-Marshal. The author in a foot-note is guilty of an inaccuracy with regard to this promotion which by a little care he might have avoided. He says that there was no precedent for promotion to the rank of Field-Marshal in the British service later than that of the Duke of Cumberland fifty years before.' He is in error: the then Commanderin-Chief, the Duke of York, had been made FieldMarshal some seventeen or eighteen years previously."

Now, if this criticism means anything, it means that no officer was promoted to the rank of Field-Marshal in the British army between the Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of York. But, as a matter of fact, many officers attained that position in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Duke of Cumberland, strictly speaking, was never a Field-Marshal. He was promoted on 7 March, 1745, to the high dignity of Captain-General, a position which he was the last to enjoy, and in which he had been preceded only by the Dukes of Marlborough and Ormond. After that date the following officers were promoted to the rank of Field-Marshal :-Sir Robert Rich, Bart., 28 Nov., 1757; Richard, Viscount Molesworth, 29 Nov., 1757; John, Earl Ligonier, K.B., 30 Nov., 1757; James, Lord Tyrawley, 10 June, 1763; Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, 12 Oct., 1793; H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester, 12 Oct., 1793; Sir George Howard, K.B., 12 Oct., 1793; H.R.H. the Duke of York, 10 Feb., 1795. The following officers were promoted subsequently, and were, of course, senior to the Duke of Wellington :-John, Duke of Argyle, 30 July, 1796;* Jeffery, Lord *This was not the only Duke of Argyle who rose to the rank of Field-Marshal. His collateral

Amherst, K.B., 30 July, 1796; John, Lord Howard of Walden, K.B., 30 July, 1796; Studholm Hodgson, 30 July, 1796; George, Marquis Townshend, 30 July, 1796; Lord Frederick Cavendish, 30 July, 1796; Charles, Duke of Richmond, K.G., 30 July, 1796; and H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, 7 Sept., 1805. It will thus be seen that the reviewer, in correcting Sir Herbert Maxwell, has fallen into a similar error himself: an error which by a little care, such as a reference to Beatson's 'Political Index' or any other work of that class, might W. F. PRIDEAUX. have been avoided.

COWPER.-There are very original lines in Cowper's first published poems; but without doubt he is less happy in his sombre satires mock-heroics of 'The Task. I think that than in the representations of nature and the Cowper is never happier than when he is describing objects exactly, but ludicrously. The description of the shadow of his own legs in 'The Winter Morning Walk 'furnishes an example of this style of writing. Phillips of 'The Splendid Shilling' seems to be his original when he writes after this fashion. Thomson also in 'The Seasons,' and Somerville in The Chase,' now and then copy Phillips, who was always either an imitator or a parodist of Milton. I dare say that the likeness which exists in the two following passages has been observed, but the original and its parody are so excellent that I take a pleasure in comparing them :— Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the Sun, His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, When first on this delightful land he spreads Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile Earth After soft showers; and sweet the coming on Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon, And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train: But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon, Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet. The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick, Whom snoring she disturbs. As sweetly he, Who quits the coach-box at the midnight hour, To sleep within the carriage more secure, His legs depending at the open door. Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk, The tedious rector drawling o'er his head; And sweet the clerk below. But neither sleep Of lazy nurse, who snores the sick man dead;"

'Paradise Lost,' Book iv.

ancestor, John, Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, a distinguished figure in history, but better known to the general reader as the patron of Jeanie Deans, was raised to that dignity on 14 Jan., 1736,

Nor his, who quits the box at midnight hour,
To slumber in his carriage more secure;
Nor sleep enjoyed by curate in his desk;
Nor yet the dozings of the clerk are sweet,
Compared with the repose the sofa yields.

'The Sofa.' Wordsworth has an idea similar to one of Cowper :

Then crouch no more on suppliant knee,
But scorn with scorn out-brave;
A Briton, even in love, should be
A subject, not a slave!

Cowper has written thus:

Woman indeed, a gift he would bestow
When he designed a Paradise below,
The richest earthly boon his hands afford,
Deserves to be beloved, but not adored.
'Retirement.'

At the head of one of his chapters in 'The Pirate' Sir Walter Scott quotes these lines :

Oaths fly like pistol-shots, and vengeful words
Clash with each other like conflicting swords.
They remind me of a couplet by Cowper :-
The clash of arguments and jar of words,
Worse than the mortal brunt of rival swords.
'Conversation.'
Cowper was a scholar, but his memory
could not have served him very well when
he wrote the following lines :-

Would I had fallen upon those happier days
That poets celebrate; those golden times,
And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings.

can we think that he has an intimate acquaintance with Dickens's characters who is ignorant of the names of many of them?

Pp. 77, 91, 92. The author makes a point of remembering the surname of the girl Alice in 'Dombey and Son,' and mentions it five times (more times than Dickens himself), "Alice Marlow." The name is not of the slightest consequence, but it was "Marwood." P. 96. "The man called Monk," in 'Oliver Twist.' His name was "Monks."

P. 98. The firm was "Spenlow and Jorkins," not "Jorkins and Spenlow."

P. 147. "Sophy Whackles, from whom Mr. Swiveller had so narrow and so fortunate an escape." Her name was "Wackles."

P. 164. The child bequeathed a kiss to "the booful lady." No; it was "the boofer lady." P. 166. "The Tuggs at Ramsgate." Dickens wrote "Tuggs's."

P. 172. For "Kenwig's" read "Kenwigs's." P. 172. For "Smallwood" read "Smallweed."

P. 172. It was Guppy, not Smallweed, who gave Jobling a dinner.

P. 182. For "Gill's" read "Gills's."

Sir Walter Besant, in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia,' 1895, iii. 800, says that Dickens died "after fifty-eight years of continuous work," but he was only fifty-eight when he died. Mr. Leslie Stephen, in the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' xv. 25, 28, 29, gives contradictory dates about some of Dickens's children. W. C. B.

MISQUOTATION.-In the Jubilee Number of 'N. & Q.,' p. 362, it is thus written :-"You the editor of Notes and Queries!' spoken with flattering wonder, say those who marvel 'how one small brain could carry all he' was supposed to know." Where does this come from? What Goldsmith wrote in 'The Deserted Village' is as follows:

Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; While words of learned length and thundering sound And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew That one small head should carry all he knew. "Head" is so much better than "brain" that such a misquotation ought not to go uncorrected. H. B. P.

lein, sub voce). Like quagga, gnu is a Xosa word. It will be duly found on p. 149 of the 'Dictionary of the Kaffir Language,' by the Rev. W. J. Davis (London, 1872). Davis spells it ngu, or, with the nominal prefix of Bleek's ninth class, in-nqu. His q represents the palatal click, which is pronounced "by placing the tongue against the roof of the mouth and suddenly withdrawing it." The Kaffir clicks are all sounded simultaneously with the nasal or other consonant which accompanies them, as I have myself observed from the pronunciation of a young Xosa; hence although Davis writes the nasal first and the click second, the order might just as well be reversed, which seems to account for our gnu instead of nqu.

JAMES PLATT, Jun.

1900 AND THE "STYLES."-There is one interesting fact connected with the year 1900 which I have not, so far, seen commented upon. This being the hundredth year of a century not divisible by four, February has only twenty-eight days; but in Russia, where the Julian calendar is still in operation, it will, as a fourth year, have twenty-nine days. As a consequence, from and after 13 March (29 February, O.S.) the difference between the Russian calendar and ours will be thirteen days, in place of twelve as now. The "lost" eleven days over which such a commotion was raised when the Gregorian calendar was adopted by our legislature in 1752 became twelve in 1800, through the omission of a leap year, and after the date above named they will be raised to thirteen. Christmas Day in Russia now falls on 6 January and New Year's Day on 13 January; in future the dates will be 7 and 14 January respectively. There will be no further dislocation of the calendars for two hundred years, by which time Russia will probably have brought itself into line with the rest of the European nations.

Barnsley.

ALEXANDER PATERSON.

SEASONABLE MISPRINT.-The Standard of 23 December, 1899 (p. 2), has a paragraph stating that

"the Queen sent to Viscountess Duncannon for a box of her Garryhill work from which to choose Christmas presents, and Her Majesty purchased several dozen of dollies [sic], handkerchiefs, teacloths, &c., all beautiful Irish hand-made cottage work, for which the school founded by Lady Dun

cannon has become famous."

Is not "dollies" a misprint for doilies, the small napkins used at dessert? Dolls at the above date would have constituted a most opportune purchase as Christmas-tree gifts

for the little ones, but a sober newspaper notice would hardly have mentioned them by the childish diminutive, nor does it seem probable that dolls or other toys are among the articles for which Lady Duncannon's Irish school has happily become fanous. Apropos of dolls, I have seen none prettier than those in the St. Petersburg toyshops, dressed in the picturesque and graceful old national costume, including sarafan and kokoshnik, still worn by the ladies at Court, but generally eschewed by the peasants, who now appear to much less advantage in the humdrum plain-looking frocks of Western Europe. Twenty-five years ago it was no uncommon thing for women from the country to retain the national attire after entering service here, but now the only ones who do so are the mamki (wet-nurses), some of whom are very gorgeously apparelled (in red if their nurslings are girls, in blue if boys), the cynosures of numerous eyes. Η. Ε. Μ. St. Petersburg.

"COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS." (See 9th S. iv. 534.)-This saying, it is there observed, is “ as old as Don Quixote." The 'Oxford Dictionary' shows it to be as old as Lydgate; and, not improbably, it is still older. The next authority for it, after Lydgate, given in the 'O.D.,' is Lyly (1579). But he was preceded by W. P. (? 1550) in 'Pasquine in a Traunce (1566), fol. 4; by Lodowich Lloyd (1573) in The Marrow of History' (1653), p. 19; and by Gabriell Harvey (1592) in 'Four Letters' (Archaica,' vol. ii. p. 23). Occurrences of the proverb but little later than these are abundant. The 'O.D.'s' quotation for it from Donne should be dated 1619, not 1635. F. H. Marlesford.

A "SUNDAY" HARE.-Although an old sportsman, I heard the above expression, a Sunday" hare, for the first time a few days ago. On asking the meaning, my friend, married to a Yorkshire lady, said it was a Yorkshire expression for a hare coursed by lurchers on a Sunday, and that these hares were considered very tender. C. R. T.

A short memoir of her previous career is given and its successes.

Yet even Norma' did not escape being travestied, for I can remember huge posters on the hoarding of the new Royal Exchange, then in building, which represented Paul Bedford in the character of Norma, dressed in female clothes and enacting the part. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. [Oxberry's burlesque of Norma,' with Bedford as the heroine, Wright as Adelgisa, and Mrs. Grattan as Pollio, was given at the Adelphi, November, 1841.]

Queries.

WE must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

"HIPPIN."-In the 'Nidderdale Almanac' for 1874 this word occurs for some kind of cake. I should be glad to hear from some person who has made it or eaten it what a hippin" precisely is. In the Bavarian dialect hippen is used for a wafer-shaped cake (see Schmeller; cp. also Lexer's Middle High German and Schiller-Lübben's Middle Low German dictionaries). In 'E.D.D.' material the above is the only evidence for the word in an English dialect. A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford.

FRANCIS MERCER was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, from Westminster School in 1618. I should be glad to have further information about him. G. F. R. B. NICHOLAS HEMINGTON is said to have been elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, from Westminster School in 1619. I should be glad to receive any information about him. G. F. R. B. SIDBURY, DEVON.-The Earl of Clare was created in September, 1799, Baron Fitzgibbon, of the above place, in the peerage of Great Britain. Can any correspondent inform me why the parish of Sidbury was selected for this honour? A. R. BAYLEY.

St. Margaret's, Malvern.

ARMY RANK.-In what record and on what date is mention made of the ranks of colonel and of lieutenant-colonel in the English army? SENEX.

EDWARD CAREY, M.P. FOR WESTMINSTER IN 1656-58.-He is not mentioned in the Blue-book list of members of Parliament, but clear evidence exists of his return. He

served on most of the principal committees of Cromwell's third Parliament and was a very active member. There can be no doubt that he was the Edward Carey, "Counsellor for the State," who was appointed Examiner and Treasurer to the Committee for Advance of Money, and who is repeatedly named in the calendar of the proceedings of that committee. In one place allusion is made to a John Carey as his deputy, who possibly was his brother. I have failed so far to find him a place in any of the wellknown Carey pedigrees, and should be obliged to any correspondent for aid in discovering his parentage. His position as Counsellor to the State would seem to denote that he was a member of one of the Inns of Court. W. D. PINK.

Leigh, Lancashire.

GREEN FAIRIES: WOOLPIT GREEN CHILDREN. -Woolpit (fossa luporum), in Suffolk, about eight miles from Bury St. Edmunds, is a considerable village, possessing a Lady's Well, near the site of an old chapel, but deservedly celebrated in the annals of fairy mythology. The story "De quodam puero et puella de terra emergentibus," told by William of Newbury and by Ralph of Coggeshall, is exceedingly curious. It describes two children, a boy and a girl, coming out of the trenches (or Wolf pits) one harvest time, both having green bodies and dresses of an unknown stuff. When they were caught they would eat nothing but beans, and soon lost their green colour; when they had learnt English they said that they came from the land of St. Martin, and as they were watching their father's sheep they heard a sound as of bells, and then suddenly found themselves among the reapers at Woolpit. The boy lived but a short time; the girl survived and married a man of Lynn. Keightley relates this quaint tale in his Fairy Mythology' (p. 281), while Burton refers to those two greene children, which Nubirgensis speakes of in his time, that fell from heaven," and suggests that they may have dropped from the sun. Is there any parallel to this strange history in the folk-tales of any other country? There is an odd touch of reality in the statement that the green girl married a man of Lynn. Can any significance be attached to the children's statement that they came from the "land of St. Martin "? Martinmas was the slaying time, the time of death. JAMES HOOPER. Norwich.

"VINE" A FLEXIBLE SHOOT. - When did vine first acquire this meaning? The word is used both in Great Britain and in North