against which a shore abuts," are derived from; produces a shock, and is, in reality, no other than what cleading "a polling board," originally means the famous Leyden experiment varied in the and is derived from; and when was squanchion apparatus. What was the subject and size of the applied to the bevelled side of a chimney opening? picture; and is it preserved in any of the museums G. AITCHISON. in France? GEORGE ELLIS. "AS SHARP AS BOTTLED PORRIDGE."-I have looked through the five volumes of the General Index of 'N. & Q., and I believe that the above saying is not recorded among the "Proverbs and Phrases" that have been published in these pages. It denotes mental briskness-as of a clever boy in school-"That lad is as sharp as bottled porridge." But whence the meaning? CUTHBERT BEDE. DULCARNON.-Pythagoras, the reputed discoverer of the propositions (a) that the triangle inscribed in a semicircle is right angled; (b) that the square on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the sides (vide Smith's Classical Dict.,' abridged, 8vo.). "Dulcarnon.-'A_certain proposition found out by Pythagoras; upon which he offered an ox in sacrifice to the Gods, in token of thankfulness, and called it Dulcarnon. Whence the Word is taken by Chaucer, and other old English writers, for any hard knotty question or point.'-Kesey's Phillips,' ed. 1706" (vide appendix to "Glossary," vol. i., Chaucer, 6 vols., " Aldine Poets," Bell & Sons). 1. I would ask, Does "Dulcarnon" refer to one or both of the propositions instanced? 2. What other old English writers make use of "Dulcarnon"? 3. What does Kesey's 'Phillips' mainly treat of? Its title is strange to me. 4. Can any one give quotations of its use in Elizabethan or modern English literature, 66 Augustan" (Anne) or Victorian? Chaucer has it in Troy. and Crys.,' bk. iii. stanza cxxvi. : : But, whether that ye dwel, or for hym go, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury. LUMLEY.-Can any reader of N. & Q.' tell me of what family and in which regiment was Capt. Hugh Lumley, who married between 1736 and 1757 Mary, eldest daughter of Sir Christopher Musgrave, Bart., of Edenhall, co. Cumberland? This lady married, secondly, in St. Ann's, Dublin, by licence granted June 29, 1759, Col. John Pigott, of Prospect and Brockley, Queen's County. PIGOTT-LUMLEY. FRANKLIN'S MAGIC PICTURE.-If the report of the proceedings of the Royal Academy of Paris, 1759, is correct, the picture was the precursor of what is now known as photography, as it was produced by means of a square pane of glass covered in part with leaves of metal, with a print over them, which, when electrified and properly touched, St. John's Wood, LADY BOUNTIFUL.-Seeking a few years ago ('N. & Q.,' 6th S. iv. 228) for information regarding a child's book of the eighteenth century entitled 'Peter Pippin,' I was kindly referred by two of your correspondents to an evidently emasculated version of later years. The reverend nonagenarian for whom I sought the information has since taken his passport for Eōthen, and if there he comes across the rejuvenated person of Master Oliver Goldsmith, pathos if the work in question was by him delivered my friend can ask the great master of playful to the order of Mr. Francis Newberry, printer, of Paternoster Row. Mean time it may interest many trious acquaintance, my Lady Bountiful, was first of your readers to be informed whether our illusintroduced to us through the pages of this book. It seems as if no one less than Goldsmith should be accredited as her sponsor. ALNWICK. A PROPHECY.-What is the historical meaning of the following serio-comic prophecy, which I extract from the North Briton, No. 41, March, 1763? When Andrew shall unite with James When England's lost and Britain wins, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W. where? Haverstock Hill. C. A. WARD. "AS PLEASED AS PUNCH."-One of the com-Diary' is interesting. I cannot see it has ever monest sayings met with is this, and it is used been printed. Is it in MS. still; and, if so, as a mode of conveying an idea of the pleasure which some one has shown when something good has unexpectedly been given or told. "He looked as pleased as Punch about it" is frequently heard. How far back can the expression be traced? THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop. ROBERT BALE, RECORDER OF LONDON.-Richard Arnold ('Customs of London,' Fras. Douce, 1811) mentions this recorder as of the reign of Henry IV., referring at the same time to a work by him, supposed to be lost. I find his name in no printed nor manuscript list of recorders. Can any one help me to a reference? JOHN J. STOCKEN. 3, Heathfield Road, Acton, W. ALTARAGE.-In Ripon account rolls of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries I find frequent mention "de panno altaragio," or, "de pannis altarag," and I should be glad to see a satisfactory explanation of the term. Bp. Hatfield's Hall, Durham, J. T. F. RELIGIONS AND SAUCES IN ENGLAND.-Can any of your readers tell me who first accused the English of being a people with a hundred religions and only one sauce? I have an impression it was Voltaire; but I have heard the saying attributed to Talleyrand. CHARLES SWEET. WALKING-STICK.-A stick has recently come into my possession having carved or scratched on it a representation of a manor house with outbuildings in a kind of park-garden with well defined roads and paths. Underneath this house is the following quaint inscription :— John Alcock is my name 1644. Can any of your readers inform me as to John Alcock of Marham? He would appear to have been a man of substance in the year 1644, when the battle of Marston Moor was fought. I have looked into the books of reference relating to Norfolk, but cannot find John Alcock; but have found Bishop Alkok in the time of Henry VII. J. C. PARKINSON. 23, Great George Street, Westminster. STRYPE-J. P. Malcolm, in his 'Lives of Topographers and Antiquaries,' says that John Strype's AUTHORSHIP OF SONGS WANTED.-I shall be obliged by information respecting the authorship of the song beginning When the kine had giv'n a pail full, the other in vol. iii. p. 203, beginning- New York, U.S. FRANK E. BLISS. BISHOP SPARROW'S RATIONALE.'-To some editions of this book is appended the form for the consecration of a church or chapel drawn up by Bishop Andrewes. In which edition of Sparrow's work does this form first appear ? T. LEWIS O. DAVIES. Pear Tree Vicarage, Southampton, Replies. LORD MAYOR'S DAY. (7th S. iii. 497.) The date of the installation of the Lord Mayor was changed from "the morrow of the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude" (Oct. 29) to Nov. 9 by statutory enactment in the Act of Parliament entitled "An Act for the abbreviation of Michaelmas Term," 24 Geo. II. cap. 48 (1751), sect. 11, which came into operation after the Feast of St. Michael, 1752. The provisions of the preceding statute effecting the well-known alteration in the style, 23 Geo. II. cap. 23 (1751), which by sect. 1 was ordered to operate from Jan. 1, 1752, rendered a change in the date of holding the term-which had theretofore commenced three weeks earlier in the autumn than the date proposed to be adopted -imperative for many reasons. Nov. 3 was the opening day decided upon. It was advisable that the Lord Mayor should be sworn in before the judges in session during term time on ordinary occasions, though provision existed for another mode of imposing the obligation on the occurrence of extraordinary-say accidental - emergencies. The first four days of term were appropriated to various technical matters of imminence; a Sunday must be allowed for as coming within the first seven working days; therefore it was thought more convenient to fix the annually recurring civic ceremony on the sixth day from the commencement of term. A similar change was made by sect. 12 in the day for nominating sheriffs generally throughout viros cum armis et quibusque pretiosis sepelire the kingdom in the Court of Exchequer. This solebant. Moris enim fuerat,' inquit Servius in was changed from "the morrow of All Souls"Eneid,' x. ut cum his rebus sepelirentur, quos (Nov. 3), which under the old system would have delexirant vivi"" (Comment.,' t. xii. p. 731). been well on in Michaelmas term, to "the morrow The mound of Patroclus exactly represents the of St. Martin" (Nov. 12) which by the new circular barrow, with its enclosure of stones, and calendar would be about midway through the earth upon them :— same term, or, as it is phrased, “ in full term.” The date of the first day of Michaelmas term was thrown back one day by statute 1 Will. IV., cap. 60 (1830), operative since 1831. The date of the ordinary annual recognition of the Lord Mayor remained unaltered. Until the recent judicature arrangements, practically abolishing terms, the ceremony was performed on the day week of the commencement of Michaelmas Term, i.e. (2+7=) Nov. 9, and that at present continues to be the date statutorily ordained. Temple. NEMO. AN URN BURIAL NEAR SHEFFIELD (7th S. iii. 421).-MR. S. O. ADDY, in his notice of the custom of the burial of weapons with departed warriors, has not mentioned the addition to the Hebrew in the Septuagint version of the Book of Joshua, at xxiv. 30:—čkεî Oŋkav μet' avToû eis τὸ μνῆμα, εἰς ὃ ἔθαψαν αυτὸν ἐκεῖ, τὰς μαχαίρας τὰς πετρίνας, ἐν αἷς περιέτεμε τοὺς ὑιοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ev Taλyáλois (Oxon., 1848). So, in like manner, there is at Ezekiel xxxii. 27,-"And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell, with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads” (ἔθηκαν τὰς μαχαίρας αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀυτῶν); on which there is the following foot-note in my edition of Cornelius a Lapide (Paris, 1866):-" Alludit Propheta ad usum fere universalem apud veteres, qui bellatores τορνώσαντο δὲ σῆμα, θεμείλιά τε προβάλοντο is 66 ED. MARSHALL. BALIOL (7th S. iii. 496).-Alexander Baliol died in 1278. His death is reported on the Fines Roll (6 Edw. I.) on Nov. 13, and on the Close Roll (7 Edw. I.) on the 29th, in that year. The regnal year ended Nov. 20. He does not appear to have left issue, since his brother John was returned his beir. His widow, Alianora "de Genoure, the king's cousin," daughter of Pierre de Geneville, married secondly Robert de Stuteville; and the news of her death is entered on the Fines Roll, Sept. 8, 1310. John Baliol was Seigneur de Bailleul and Hélicourt, which are probably the estates meant. He died in 1314, but I do not know where he was buried. HERMENTRUde. BURNING QUESTION (7th S. iii. 495).-Instances of the use in 1856 and 1863 are given in 'N. & Q.,' 5th S. viii. 387; iv. 407, in both which this modern phrase occurs as a translation from the German. Are there earlier known instances than that in 1856? Not a single one was given in reply. There is a parallel use of the term burning which may well come into connexion with this. Longfellow, in his 'Village Blacksmith,' has the expression burning deed and thought' good sense. For the poem closes with these lines : 66 " in a Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, Our fortunes must be wrought; ED. MARSHALL. DR. MURRAY omits Italian from his list of uses of this word; but both questione scottante and questione ardente (chiefly the former) have come into modern journalistic use, just as in the lan-English, are styled Allemands by the French, and guages named by him. It appears certainly, how-speak of themselves as Deutsche. As regards ever, not to have originated in Italy, for a great Hellenes being a foreign " word, your correItalian authority supports me in the assertion that spondent may be pleasantly surprised when, by it would not be found nei classici, though scottare, turning to any good dictionary, he discovers that in a different turn of phrase, is a good classic equi- the English tongue is richer than he fancied by valent of burning in its metaphorical use. An such words as Hellas, Hellene, Hellenic, Hellenism, important discussion of the expression questione Hellenist, Hellenistic, Hellenize, &c. ardente may be found in an article by Enrico AN HELLENE. Nencioni (one of the most esteemed Tuscan writers of the day) in Fanfulla della Domenica for Aug. 19, 1883. I think my late humble attempt (7th S. iii. 208, 255) to dissipate the mythical account of Savonarola's execution, considering the strong feeling on the subject, is an undeniable instance of a "burning question." But it is difficult (as was lately shown in N. & Q.") "to make a lie die"; and this one of Savonarola having been burnt alive was brought forward again, and quite gratuitously, in the account of the sale of Lord Crawford's was very NAME OF AUTHOR WANTED (7th S. iv. 28).- A slanting ray of evening light ACROMEROSTICH (7th S. iii. 167).—These lines.The Squire's Pew' has been esteemed by good may be by Fr. James Dardeius. He turned the judges-Mr. Browning, I think, among the numfour books of the Imitation of Christ,' by Thomas ber-as one of the most perfect poems of its class à Kempis, into hexameters. Each chapter conin the language; and it may, I think, claim to tains five stanzas of five lines each, and there is a ISAAC TAYLOR. rank as an English classic. cruciform Jesus in the centre of each pentastich; but there is no instance of the name Jesus in the initial or terminal letters throughout the book. It was printed by Christian Ouwerx, at Liège, in A.D. 1633. EDMUND WATERTON. KING GEORGE OF GREECE (7th S. iv. 28).-The inquiry of your correspondent M. HENRI DE LOSSIGEL has been repeatedly answered before this. When the present king was elected to the throne of Greece he was acclaimed by the nation as king, not of Greece, but of the GreeksΒασιλεὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων. This title was justified by the undivided allegiance which Greeks in all parts of the world own, in their heart of hearts, to the sovereign of the free portion of their fatherland. The Great Powers admitted this title; but out of consideration for the susceptibilities of the so-called Sublime Porte, they adopted for official purposes the style of King of the Hellenes, as distinguished from the Greeks still under Turkish rule. In Greek no difference is made, as l'paikoi is considered an objectionable foreign appellation. In like manner the Germans, so called by the PRE-EXISTENCE (7th S. iv. 8).-For the benefit of present readers, it may be useful to state that this interesting subject was very fully discussed in the earlier volumes of N. & Q.,' viz., 2nd S. ii., iii., iv., v., vii., xi.; 3rd S. xi. ROBERT F. GARDINER. DR. ROUTH (7th S. iii. 452).—With respect to the story told in the Globe of March 23, 1887, I venture to assert that there was not the slightest tincture of sarcasm in the mind of the kind old President of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr. Routh, and he was about the last person to make such an observation; but some fifty years ago I heard the same anecdote told of Dr. Shuttleworth, then Warden of New College, afterwards Bishop of Chichester. Whether it was true of him I know not; but I am anxious to vindicate the memory of one whom I knew well and greatly respected. SENEX. There is one inaccuracy which gives the story an appearance of improbability. The fee paid to university preachers, in Dr. Routh's time and for some years after, was not five pounds, but four guineas. The fee was raised to five guineas about fifteen years ago, when a good many sermons were abolished, and only the two on Sundays in full EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. term retained. The Library, Claremont, Hastings. ARMS OF SCOTT (7th S. iii. 67, 159). In reply to TABLE-TALK, who has asked for the addresses of families bearing the armorials assigned to that MS. JOURNAL OF F. WHITE: 'LA TIGE DÉof Scott, I beg to state that a few years ago there TACHÉE' AND 'LA VIE HUMAINE' (7th S. iii. 513). was a family of Scott of Ravenscourt Park, Middle--I hope I may be allowed to submit what I have sex, which branched off at the end of the eighteenth to say on the question of La Tige Détachée' under century from the Rotherfield Scotts. The Scotts its own appropriate heading, and save that "pauvre (Bart.) of Lyttchet Minster are members of another feuille," which "points the lesson" of our lives so branch, their shield being changed from sable to poetically from being buried under that of "Jourpean. Another family of Scott is that of Hadham nal of F. White," where none of the readers of and Bishop's Stortford, co. Herts, which is a branch N. & Q.' in the ages to come could ever think of the Essex family, thrown off about the year of looking for it. 1600. Many years ago the (then) representative of that family kindly permitted me to inspect his armorials. The shield bore the date of 1604, and the emblazonment was as follows: Arms: Per pale indented gules and or, a saltier counterchanged. Crest From a crown vallery, ppr. a dexter cubit arm erect, vested gules, cuffed or, holding in the hand bend sinisterwise a roll of paper of the first. Motto: "In bona fide et veritate.' G. A. DIXON. CURFEW (7th S. iii. 427).-Refer to Chambers's 'Book of Days,' vol. ii. p. 333, as showing it is erroneous to assume that the origin of the curfew was by William the Conqueror or royal edict, either in England or Scotland, and that it was apparently a municipal, not a state institution. So writes a good friend near Abernethy, with whom I have oft listened there to the curfew when strolling on the beautiful banks of the Earn and the Tay. HANDFORD. HUBBUB (7th S. iii. 472).—MR. BAXTER'S idea of the derivation of this word may be right or may be wrong; but until he has brought forward more evidence than that of a single quotation bearing date 1634, I think we may be satisfied with assuming that Messrs. Skeat, Wedgwood, &c., have given the right derivation of the word. A coincidence in form, and even meaning, with respect to words does not necessarily imply that the words are identical. What we want to know is when hubbub first appears in English. I have met with it in Spenser's Faerie Queene,' 1590: Now, when amid the thickest woodes they were, Bk. iii, canto x. § 43. Perhaps some of your numerous readers can give an earlier quotation than the above. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY. The following is from Spelman's 'Relation of Virginia' (1613): "And they that kill most of their enimies are heald the cheafest men amonge them; Drums and Trumpetts they haue none, but when they will gather themselues togither they haue a kind of Howlinge or Howbabub so differinge in sounde one from the other as both part may uery aesely be distinguished." C. C. B. This pathetic, home-speaking little poem has and Rossetti gave it as a translation from Leo- Dove vai tu? Dal faggio Là dov' io nacqui, mi divise il vento. Dal bosco alla campagna, Dalla valle mi porta alla montagna Vo pellegrino, e tutto l'altro ignoro. E la foglia d'alloro. The following terser and more concettoso version, current in Italy, of the other little poem MRS. LAMONT quotes, I give from memory: Il passato non è, ma se lo pinge Il futuro non è, ma se lo finge Il presente è;-ma in un punto Dunque la vita è appunto Una memoria, una speranza, un punto! 16, Montagu Street, Portman Square. The lines "De la tige détachée" are found in a |