Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/469

10ᵗʰ S. I. 14, 1904.] carrying a musket in the ranks of the Republican army. Never attaining any higher grade, nor known by any other title, than that of "Premier Grenadier de la France," conferred upon him by the great Napoleon himself, he lived among his comrades the life of a simple soldier, fell fighting, and was buried on the field of battle with his face to the enemy. The following particulars of the recent burial of the heart of the hero, from the Daily Telegraph, 30 March, deserve, I venture to think, preservation in 'N. & Q.':—

The Morning Post of Maundy Thursday gave an account of the presentation to the French nation of the urn containing the heart of La Tour d'Auvergne. It is probable that there are not many of your younger readers who ever read a poem relating to him, called 'Le Premier Grenadier des Armées de la République.' It was written by J. E. Inman, author of 'Sir Orfeo,' but not published until after his death, when it appeared in La Belle Assemblée for September, 1844. Inman's verse, I have understood, was highly thought of by Rogers. The poem I mention would, I have no doubt, be appreciated in France—if, indeed, it has not been made known there already.

—Writing to John Newton on 5 November, 1785, Cowper speaks thus, inter alia, of what must have been an unchastened form of a game that has recently become exceedingly popular:—

Apparently actual mud-slinging had been a feature of the amusement, for the poet continues:—

The whole description may, of course, simply be a satirical way of saying that the game was played in the public streets when they were in a very sloppy condition; but it was hardly worth the writer's while to elaborate such a little jest as he does in this passage, especially when his correspondent was Newton.

—It may perhaps be worth recording and explaining several distinguishing names given to those torpedo-boats which, among others, accompanied the Russian cruiser Petro-Pavlovsky on its terribly fatal excursion off Port Arthur (13 April); for instance, Strásny=Fearful, Bezstrásny=Fearless, Smêly=Bold, Bezúmny =Inconsiderate or Rash. We may readily