Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/97

 s. i. JAN. 23, i9w.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Hebrew word rendered "prison" in Genesis xxxix. 20-23 and xl. 3, 5, is literally " round- house." It does not matter in the least whether the writer intended to imply that the building was circular in plan, and it is impossible for us to know. 0. T. F.

Winterton, l)oncaster.

SLEEPING KING ARTHUR (9 th S. xii. 502). Scott, in his appendix to the general preface to the Waverley Novels, tells much the same story. But in his story the feat is performed, though not successfully, and the words uttered are these : Woe to the coward that ever he was born, Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn.

In Scott's narrative the Eildon Hills on the Borders are the scene of Arthur's enchanted slumber ; but numerous are the places in which he is supposed to lie. Avilion is generally thought to be his resting-place. In a legend mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury it is said that King Arthur has resided in a delicious valley near Mount Etna ever since his supposed death, and that his wounds break out afresh every year.

E. YARDLEY.

LITTLE WILD STREET CHAPEL, DRTJRY LANE (9 th S. xi. 246). According to the vicar of St. Peter's, Upper Holloway, the Storm Sermon which was preached in this old chapel for nearly two hundred years "is still annually preached, and was preached on 29 November last by the Rev. H. Bright in the Olympic Theatre, which is now being used by the St. Giles Prison Mission during the rebuilding of the chapel by the L.C.C." FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

" RED RAG TO A BULL " (9 th S. xii. 309). People in this part believe that the red flag fascinates, they do not say enrages, the kaino- shika, the only antelope indigenous to Japan Hunters carry it with them, and spread it before the animal, so as to fix its attention and steps that it may be shot.

KUMAGUSU MlX AK ATA. Mount Nachi. Kii, Japan.

EUCHRE (9 th S. xii. 484 ; 10 th S. i. 13). At the first reference I proposed an imaginary origin for this word, founded (as it appears^ on false information. I am therefore glad to find that it was promptly knocked on the head. But I have now another suggestion to make, founded on the fact that the care called the joker is often used in the game, for which see 'Euchre' and 'Joker' in'H.KD. I think it likely that euchre is the D\i.jokker, -a joker. Hexham -explains Du. jokker by

jester, a jeerer, a mocker, a flouter" ; so that it is a fairly old word in Dutch,

The probability that the Du. jo- should have been rendered by E. eu- appears from bhe fact that the Du. jujf'rouw is spelt euphroe in English ; see ' H.E.D.' It is the result of our "scholarship," which teaches us Greek, but not Teutonic. The Du. ju- is turned into Gk. eu-, and the Du. ff and kk into Gk. ph and ch. It is a triumph of " learning " over practice and fact. WALTER W. SKEAT,

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

A History of Theatrical Art in Aticient and Modern Tinies. By Karl Mantzius. Authorized Trans- lation by Louise von Cossell. Vols. I. and II. (Duckworth & Co.)

USHERED in by an introduction by Mr. William Archer, this history of theatrical art by Dr. Mantzius is one of the most interesting and valu- able contributions that have been made in recent years to our knowledge of an important and a stimulating subject. Unlike almost all previous works, it is a history neither of the drama nor the stage, but of theatrical representations. The Eng- lish work most closely resembling it is ' The Attic Theatre' of Mr. A. E. Haigh, issued at the Claren- don Press in 1889, in which the use of some of the illustrations now employed is anticipated. As is indicated by the title, the book of Mr. Haigh is confined to the Athenian stage, while that of Dr. Mantzius extends beyond the limits hitherto recog- nized as theatrical.

That .the origin of all drama is religious is conceded. Not contented with tracing back to the Dionysiac cult to the sacrifice of the he- goat (tragos) the origin of tragedy, and to the rout (komos) of satyrs and ithyphalloi that of comedy Dr. Mantzius shows the development of the dra- niatic idea in most forms of primitive culture. It is natural that he should have been to some extent anticipated in his task by German scholars. He is careful, however, to acknowledge the extent as well as the nature of his indebtedness. Nowhere, in anything approaching to the same space, can we find a work giving in a form so trustworthy, so scientific, and at the same time so pop_ular, an equal amount of available and interesting informa- tion. We say this with a full knowledge of the encyclopaedic ' Geschichte des Dramas ' of J. L. Klein, a work, however, as widely different in scope as it is more elaborate in scheme and execution. Dr. Mantzius, it must be premised, is a leading actor on the Copenhagen stage, and is one of the few men of his occupation who have made a lasting contribution to the history of his profession. Many of our best dramatists, from ^Eschylus down- wards, have been actors. Those who, like Dr. Mantzius, Devrient. Colley Cibber, and Louis Riccoboni, have added to serious knowledge may be counted on the fingers. In the two volumes before us our author deals with the earliest times and with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A third volume for which, it is to be hoped, we shall not have long to wait is concerned with the drama of England in the time of Shakespeare.