Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/70

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s. i. JAN. 10, 1904.

Dragoons, being in Spain on active service, the following letter was addressed to hi father by General Sir George Anson (see ' Diary of a Cavalry Officer,' p. 161) :

" 19 March, 1812. Sir, I am happy to inform you that your son is gazetted to a Company in the 00th Foot, for which he has paid 1,3001. The differ- ence to be paid for his exchange to Cavalry is 1,650/.

It will be necessary for you to lodge the 1,365

which, added to the 2851. now in Collyers' hands, will make the regulated difference of I,6a0f. I have desired Messrs. Collyers to send you the necessary papers for the exchange, for your signature on the

part of your son I confess myself very anxious

to secure your son's return to the 16th Light Dragoons."

Under the word 'Honour' in James's of declarations on the sale and exchange of commissions ; and under the word ' Docu- ment' a reference is given to his 'Regimental Companion,' sixth edition, vol. iv. p. 263. Possibly the phrase " to send in one's papers " may be found there ; but I have no copy of the work, and I believe the sixth edition is now rare. W. S.
 * Military Dictionary,' 1816, mention is made

" CHAPERONED BY HER FATHER " (9 th S. xii. 245, 370, 431). Far from straying from the point or points raised by MR. CECIL CLARKE, I think that he has failed to see the point of my remarks. I have no wish to " chaperone " the word chaperone, but I object to its being labelled as more un-English than escort. The one word is as foreign as the other, and in point of length of domicile there is little to choose between them. If MR. CLARKE objects to the "French ring" about the word chaperone, I declare that machine has just as much or even more of a French ring about it, and, to be consistent, MR. CLARKE should object to it on the same score and try to find a "more English-sounding substitute" for it. (Perhaps apparatus?). The 'N.E.D.' does not say that the verb chaperon is affected ; it merely records a quotation from the year 1818, according to which somebody then thought it affected. If MR. CLARKE knew a little more of the history of language he would know that many a word which has been at one time dubbed "affected" has succeeded later in acquiring a very homely reputation, and perhaps what he himself to-day considers affected will in the next generation be in use by everybody. As soon as any word is used by the majority, in any spelling and in any sense whatever, it has the full rights of citizenship, however bravely MR. CLARKE or anybody else may stick to his guns and try to ostracize it. Possibly there are no ladies amongst the members of the Authors' Club, but (I must beg to ask another

question) would MR. CLARKE taboo the use of the word author as applied to a lady ? This was, perhaps, once thought " affected'' or " inaccurate," but it is often so used ; and as songster has been permanently transferred from the feminine to the masculine gender, why should not chaperon have a similar fate, if the majority so wills it ?

My remarks, which MR. CLARKE appa- rently failed to understand, were meant to be a protest against his unscientific (I will not say "affected," but certainly "inaccurate") way of looking at a linguistic question. Who wishes to pronounce judgment upon words must know something of their history. If MR. CLARKE can find followers enough to help him kill the word chaperon or chaperone, well and good perhaps nobody will be sorry, and future historical dictionaries will duly record its life and death ; but unless he is sure of his success as chaperon-killer, he had better wait to see how much health there is in the word, which must be decided by time, not by any personal opinion of the present day. Being already alive in 1818, it has passed the days of childhood, and to my mind the two words chaperone and escort, as used by supposed inaccurate or affected people, are not exactly synonymous, and if each supplies a real want, one may perhaps humbly venture to prophesy, in the light of past word -history, that each will attain a respectable and healthy old age. But it all depends whether the majority of us are of the same mind, and even then we can never tell what future fate may bring. We have many foreigners among our words as among our citizens. Those that behave well and prove their healthiness by making them- selves really useful we are happy to keep and naturalize at least that has been the custom hitherto. If chaperone proves to be useless or offensive to the majority, kick it out, it is "only a pauper that nobody owns." Till then let it try its luck with the other foreigners, but do not treat it unfairly.

SIMPLICISSIMUS.

FICTITIOUS LATIN PLURALS (9 th S. xii. 345, 518). Macaulay's use of " candelabras " as a plural is countenanced by the ' N.E.D.,' which gives quotations of the same form trom the Edinburgh Review and Scott's Ivanhoe.' J. DORMER.

" O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL " (10 th S. i. 10).

John Julian, in his 'Dictionary of Hymno- ogy,' states that as early as 1797 the tune ,' Portuguese Hymn ') was sung at the chapel of the Portuguese Embassy, of which Vincent tfovello was organist, and the tune became