Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/232

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. SEPT. 5,

" Strenau," perhaps by a mere misprint, (3) " Rickhersch," between Fulda and Marksuhl. (4) " Hauswalde," near Dresden.

I should be glad also of any topographical elucidation of a later entry, 22 June, 1783, when he was at Amsterdam :

" After dinner in a coach to the Mere, and

thence round the country to Zeeburg From

Amsterdam to Meer is all a train of gardens. Turning upon the left, you then open upon the Texel, which spreads into a sea. Zeeburg itself is a little house built upon the edge of it, which commands both a land and sea prospect." The italicized words will probably be per- fectly clear to local knowledge.

H. J. FOSTER.

Southport.

ANATOLE FRANCE : ' THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS.'

" Qu'un Dieu serait miserable a ma place Un

dieu, ma bieri-aimee, ne pourrait souffrir, ne pourrait mourir pour toi ! "P. 65, French edition.

This sentiment is said by the author to be derived from an English poet. Who is he ?

NEL MEZZO.

" PLUS JE CONNAIS LES HOMMES," &C.

Which of the subjoined forms of quotation is correct " Plus je connais les hommes,

Elus j'aime les chiens," or " Plus je connais 5S hommes, plus j' admire les chiens " ? I have seen it given both ways. The saying is, I believe, attributed to Madame Roland.

FRANCES BURMESTER. Wrentham Lodge, Bournemouth.

[Mr. Francis King gives it, in the form " Plus je rois les hommes, plus j'admire les chiens," among the ' Adespota,' or quotations which he has failed to trace to their authors, at the end of the 1904 edition of his 'Classical and Foreign Quotations.']

TAINE : " TENIR UNE QUEUE DE VACHE A LA MAIN." What is the meaning of the following expression in Taine's ' Vie et Correspondance,' i. 296 ?

" Je me repete tous les jours que quand on meurt u Surate il taut tenir une queue de vache & la main."

LAWRENCE PHILLIPS.

" FIT AS A FIDDLE." I should be very glad to learn the origin of the expression " Fit as a fiddle."

(Miss) K. L. CANNON.

[We presume the reference is to the fact that a fiddle is strung up to the adequate pitch before it is used.]

SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND THE CAT. A child's book was published about fifty years ago containing a picture of Sir Isaac Newton with a saw in his hand, gazing at the holes which he had cut in the door of

his workroom to admit his cat and her kitten. Would a reader indicate where the book or (better) the original w r oodcut can be procured ? BERTRAM BLOUNT. St. Stephen's Club, Westminster.

SILESIAIST TOOTH. Is anything known of the young Silesian alluded to in the following passage from Naude's ' Apologie pour les grands personnages soup9onnez, de Magie,' and his curious tooth ?

"II n'y auroit aussi nulle raison de prendre cette- cuisse [he is speaking of the golden thigh of Pytha- goras] k la lettre, et de croire qu'elle ait este d'or massif, comme la dent du jeune garcon de Silesie qui vivoit il n'y a pas trerite ans." Chap. x. p. 230,. ed. 1653.

FRANK W. HACQUOIL.

Penarth.

[Some notes on persons with extraordinary teeth will be found at 9 S. xi. 488 ; xii. 71 ; 10 S. ix. 326 ; x. 75.]

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. Mazzini, in a letter upon definitions of poetry, quotes with some approbation the lines :

A poet's art

Lies in tolerating wholly, and accounting for in part By his own heart's subtle workings, those of every

other heart.

I should be glad to be informed of the author of these lines. I have made some research,, but hitherto in vain.

W. T. MALLESON. Great Tew, Oxon.

Sir Walter Scott, in a letter to Lord Montague, written from Edinburgh, 20 Feb.,. 1823, quotes the lines,

Lord, what will all the people say ! Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor !

Who is their author ? JOHN ADDISON. Primrose House, Wednesbury.

TOLLGATE HOUSES. Can you tell me of a book or map describing and stating the spots where the old tollgate houses stand ?

TURNPIKE.

DOWRY SQUARE, CLIFTON. Can any reader tell me the origin of Dowry, which gives its name to this eighteenth-century square ? I cannot find the explanation of it in any of the books on Bristol and|it street nomenclature which I have consulted,, and inquiries on the spot have been equally unsuccessful.

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

" OFFICER OF THE PIPE." What are the nature and duties of this Government post ? Mr. G. W. E. Russell says of it in his gossipy