Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/496

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. NOV. 21, 1908.

the river Wyre between Poulton and th site of Fleetwood. Can any one tell me the meaning? and origin of this name, or indicate any likely source of information ? G. M. TAYLOR. Rossall School.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. In Washington Irving' s * Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' at the end of paragraph 12 (begin- ning with the words, " That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons "). we find the words : " like the lion bold which whilom so magnarii mously the lamb did hold."

From what poet or poem are these words quoted ? PROF. DR. F. MEYER.

Herderplatz 5 A, Liibeck.

When was the expression " music of the spheres " first mentioned, or on what occa- sions previous to Shakespeare's use of it ? H. H. STEWART. [It occurs in Sir Thomas Browne's 'Religio Medici,' Part II. sect, ix.]

1. Nature, the kind old nurse, Took the child then on her knee.

2. And he wandered away, away With Nature, the kind old nurse,

Into regions yet untrod, And read what is still unread In the manuscript of God.

Lucis.

" SHIBBOLETH." The story in Judges xii. of the failure of the Ephraimites to pronounce this word correctly is exceedingly familiar. Sismondi in his account of the Sicilian Vespers ('Italian Republics,' chap, iv.) relates a similar test :

"The French were attacked furiously on all sides. Those who attempted to defend themselves were soon overpowered ; others, who endeavoured to pass for Italians, were known by their pronun- ciation of two words, which they were made to repeat ceci and ciceri, and were, on their mispro- nunciation, immediately put to death. In a few hours more than 4,000 weltered in their blood."

Are there any other historical instances of the sort ? WM. H. PEET.

BRUGES : ITS PRONUNCIATION. What is the right pronunciation of this word ? It is usually pronounced by English people as if it were French, with a soft (sibilant) <y, and in one syllable. Is there any justifica- tion for this ? In the first place, why is it not anglicized, like " Waterloo " ? And if not English, why French ? Why not Flemish ? In Bruges itself you do not hear the French pronunciation. It is the Flemish " Bru-ya." Ask at the station

if this is Bruges (a la franaise), and they will hardly understand you. They will say, and also in ' The Belfry of Bruges,' the word has two syllables. Is this intended to be read with the Flemish pronunciation (Bru- ya), or in English fashion (to rime, say, with " subterfuges ") ? It cannot be the French. It may be said that an American poet is no rule for English people ; but the word also occurs, I believe, in one of Browning's poems (I cannot remember which) with two syllables. J. FOSTER PALMER.
 * It is Bru-ya." In Longfellow's ' Carillon,'

8, Royal Avenue.

'THE SHUTES OF SHEFFIELD.' Can any of the readers of ' N. & Q.' inform me in what magazine and in what year the above- named story appeared ?

EDITH WOTHERSPOON.

" BEHOLD THIS RUIN ! 'TWAS A SKULL." The mother of the author gave me a copy of this well-known poem, arid for that reason I know that the authorship is correct. It was written by John D. Godman, a celebrated surgeon, who spent the major part of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died about eighty years ago. He married a daughter of Eembrandt Peale, the great American artist.

Have any other poems by the same master hand been published ?

E. W. B. TAYLOR.

46, Summer Street, Haverhill, Mass.

[Our Massachusetts correspondent has apparently riot seen ' N. & Q.' for 18 April last. In that issue MR. W.E. A. AXON printed the poem as it appeared in The European Magazine for November, 1816, with the signature of V. He further stated that in a recent communication to the Royal Society of Literature he had shown that V. was the signature used by Miss Anna Jane Vardill, afterwards Mrs. James Niven. The lady also wrote ' Christpbell,' a sequel to ' Christabel ' which puzzled the critics.]

THE DISOBEDIENT SON. Twan Ching- Shih's ' Yu-yang-tsah-tsu,' written in the ninth century, Second Series, torn, iv., has this passage :

' There stands in the Kun-ming Lake an artificial mound popularly called Kun-tsze. Tradition has it jhat, in a remote past, an inhabitant thereabout lad a son with this name, who always behaved contrary to his parent's behest ; should he be >rdered to proceed east, he would move only west- yard ; should he be commanded to fetch water, he woiild bring fire invariably. So on his death-bed, entirely dissembling his earnest desire to be buried n a cemetery on a hill, the father entreated the on not to fail to inter his corpse amidst the water. /Vhen the old man was dead, the son said, weep- ng, * This time I will not neglect my father's will ; and causing this mound to be raised in the lake, he " uried the deceased in it."