Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/303

 10"' S.I. MARCH 26, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

247

Sous 1'astral flambeau que portent ses anges

La belle Vierge va Triomphalement aux accords e'tranges

De celeste viva.

Sainte Notre-Dame a la-haut son trone

Sur notre Mont-Royal, Et de la son ceil subjugue le Faune

De 1'abime infernal. Car elle a dicte " Qu'un Ange protege

De son arme de feu Ma ville d'argent au collier de neige,"

La Dame du ciel bleu.

Rather whimsically' expressed these verses, I think, but very pretty. I want now to find out when Mr. Kipling first used the ex- pression, and when Nelligan performed the "historical feat of flourishing," as Dickens expressed it. Who started this pretty ex- pression "Notre Dame desNeiges"? Perhaps it is much older than both authors, as seems highly probable. OXONIENSIS.

W. MILLER, ENGRAVER. I am endeavour- ing to perfect a catalogue of the works of William Miller, line engraver, which I com- piled in 1886 ; and amongst other engravings of his about which I should be thankful for information are the two mentioned below.

The first is a vignette engraving (about 4 in. by 4ia. ?) representing a figure like a Roman soldier standing steering an open boat, his eye fixed on a star, and the following lines (or something like them) underneath : Faith is the Christian's guiding star

O'er life's tempestuous sea, By which the soul can gain from far A glimpse, God, of Thee.

Can it have been engraved as a title-page for 'The Pilot,' A. C. Baynes, Liverpool, 1831, or for ' Christian Vespers,' C. Hutche- son, Glasgow, 1832 1 I could not find either publication in the British Museum.

In what publication is to be found a line engraving (probably about 6 in. by 4 in. ?) of Hornby Castle, after Pickersgill, engraved for Fisher, Son & Co., London, 1832, by William Miller ? W. F. MILLER.

Summerfield, Winscombe, Somerset.

COSAS DE ESPAXA. 1. Can any one give me the history of a very striking memorial to Christopher Columbus which now adorns Seville Cathedral? I find no mention of it in a book so recent as Mr. Gallichan's ' Story of Seville ' (" Mediaeval Towns"), which bears the date of 1903. I have been told that the monument was brought from Havana, but the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' seems to know nothing of it or of its transference. Whose noble conception is embodied in the design ? I judged that the grand figures of four kings, Castillo, Aragon, Leon, and

Navarre, bearing the bier of the discoverer, were of coloured stone, but a lady who had presumed to touch one of them informed me that they were of " tin," which I cannot for a moment believe.

2. At the feet of the venerated image of El Santo Cristo at Burgos are three oval objects which are probably ostriches' eggs. Does anybody know when and why they were placed there? I should imagine they were a votive offering ; and perhaps they may have some connexion with a flock of ostriches belonging to the Crown which is referred to in ' Spanish Life in Town and Country,' pp. 81, 82. The birds were (and perhaps may be still) kept in a royal park near Madrid. " No one," says the author, " seemed to know anything about them nor how long they had been there." The Christ at Bergos is designated de los huevos.

3. Is there any legend to account for the unusual tenuity and length of Spaniards' feet? ST. SWITHIN.

"I EXPECT TO PASS THROUGH." Who IS

the author of the following ?

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let rne do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

It is ascribed to Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon ; to Etienne Grellet, a French Quaker ; and to Sir Rowland Hill. I shall be greatly obliged for any information about the writer's name and life. J. A. S.

[This saying was discussed 7 th S. ix. 429 ; 8 th S. ix. 169, 239, 378; xi. 118; but the author was not identified.]

N PRONOUNCED NG. Why is the letter n always sounded as ng before k, c or ch (pro- nounced ask), and x ? The following are examples of what I believe to be a universal rule : Anchor pronounced angchor ; bank, bangk ; Jenkins, Jengkins ; link, lirigk ; monk, mongk ; uncle, ungcle ; bunk, bungk ; anxiety, angxiety ; minx, mingx ; lynx, lyngx.

It seems to me that this fact throws some light on recent correspondence concerning the so-called duplication of the sound in some words ending in ng. as angle, tingle, &c.

W. S. B. H.

SHULBREDE : DERIVATION OF THE NAME. Shulbrede Priory, near Linchmere, in Sussex, was founded in the reign of King John. There is no village or other place of the name, which is confined to the Priory. The name has been spelt in various ways, amongst others "Shilbred" and "Silebrede." It was