Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/337

 s. i. APRIL 2, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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small eel ; an old cant term for a farthing ; and in Somerset, verbally, to pinch. "As merry as a pismire" (i e., an ant) occurs pro- verbially for the same animalculine reasons. "A merry grig" (Cotgraye. 'Diet.,' 1611). '' 1 grew as merry as a grig, and laughed at every word that was spoken " (Goldsmith, 'Essays,' vi., 17G5). One cannot help think- ing that "Greek" is a corruption of "grig" through ignorance of the latter's dialectal signification, especially as a Greek is no merrier, or more pleasantly situated with regard to climate, than he of several other nationalities. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.

"AN AUSTRIAN ARMY" (10 th S. i. 148, 211, 258). According to Mr. Alaric Alfred Watts ' The Siege of Belgrade ' was published by his father " in the Literary Gazette, 1820, and never by him reprinted." "These verses," he adds, "having been published many years after in a London magazine, with somebody else's initials, I am induced now to claim them for their writer for the little they are worth " ('Alaric Watts, a Narrative of his Life,' 1884, vol. i. p. 118). It is to be observed that the editors of the Trifler make no claim to the authorship, and expressly state that this " curious speci- men of poetry ' was "presented to us by a friend " (p. 233). G. F. R. B.

FOSCARINUS (10 th S. i. 127, 198). The name Foscarinus was probably suggested by that of the distinguished Foscari family of Italy (cp. Litta's ' Famiglie Celebri Italiane,' vol. ix.). Francesco Foscari was Doge of Venice from 1423 to 1457. The tragic history of his son Jacopo has been poetically treated, as, for example, in Byron's 'The Two Foscari.' CHARLES BUNDY WILSON.

The State University of Iowa, Iowa City.

" HE WHO KNOWS NOT " (10 th S. i. 167, 235). The versions given at these references seem to me wanting in the rhythm and pith of the following, copied from the Spectator of 11 August, 1894 (p. 176) : Men are Four. The man who knows nob that he knows not aught,

He is a fool ; no light shall ever reach him. Who knows he knows not, and would fain be taught,

He is but simple ; take thou him and teach him. But whoso knowing, knows not that he knows,

He is asleep ; go thou to him and wake him. The truly wise both knows, and knows he knows ;

Cleave thou to him, and never more forsake him.

G. L.

FRANCO- GERMAN WAR (10 th S. i. 226). The landed property of the Frenchmen of Alsace .and Lorraine who refused to accept German

rule was neither confiscated nor sold to land speculators. Scheurer-Kestner, Senator, kept bis property at Thann, Mathieu Dreyfus his property at Mulhausen, Edmond About at Savern, tkc. J. R.

BOER WAR OF 1881 (10 th S. i. 226). MAJOR MITCHELL will, I think, find all he requires in Mr. Thomas Fortescue Carter's ' A Narra- tive of the Boer War of 1880-1,' published by Mr. Macqueen. Mr. Carter was, I believe, a war correspondent for the Natal Mercury, and was present with the troops on Majuba, a most graphic account of which he gives in his book. He is one of the leading advo- cates in Natal, and was, when I knew him in 1899, practising in Ladysmith.

S. BUTTERWORTH, Major R.A.M. Corps.

The Castle, Carlisle.

' The Complete Story of the Transvaal from the "Great Trek" to the Convention of London,' by John Nixon (Sampson Low, 1885), written by an eyewitness of the 1881 war, gives a lot of detailed information. FRANCIS J. A. SKEET, Capt. 4 R.D.F.

The best account of the war in Natal, ending with Majuba, is in thelast four chapters of Lieut.-General Sir Wm. Butler's ' Life of Sir George Porneroy-Colley.' 'A Narra- tive of the Boer War,' by Thos. Fortescue Carter the only war correspondent on Majuba covers the same ground, but adds chapters on the isolated struggles, the sieges of Standerton, Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Ley- denburg, and Wakkerstroom. I think MAJOR MITCHELL will find that there was no siege of Pietersburg. C. S. WARD.

MESS DRESS : SERGEANTS' SASHES (10 th S. i. 168, 238,\ Col. Clifford Walton, in his ' History of the British Standing Army, 1660-1700,' says :

"The sash was worn by all officers, from the General down to the Serjeant, whether of Horse, Foot, or Dragoons. The material was generally similar to that still in vogue, the fringes, however, being, in the case of Commissioned officers, of gold or silver. In this, as in most other details, con- siderable licence prevailed prior to the Revolution, some officers preferring silver network, others gold ; while others, again, favoured the plain crimson silk ; but by degrees greater uniformity was ensured, and the use of gold and silver network became confined to the highest officers, as is the case to this day. The sashes of officers of Horse were exceedingly handsome, having rich fringes two, three, or even four deep round the waist, and very deep fringes at the ends. The Private Troopers of Horse also wore sashes, the only excep- tion to the general colour being the Fourth Dragoon Guards, whose sashes were white. Pikemen in Foot regiments were similarly distinguished by sashes, but of white worsted with a coloured fringe. In