Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/506

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAY 22, 1909.

The bodies of the decapitated were taken away and buried indiscriminately in huge excavations in the cemeteries ; and it is difficult to see how any one could possibly find an opportunity, between the decapita- tion and the burial, for taking a cast of the features. This would be specially difficult for a woman, and still more for one who had been connected with the royal family, and was therefore liable to suspicion. The description of the mask also does not agree with the contemporary account of the Queen being " so emaciated," which would be natural, if not certain, in the circumstances.

D. J.

SHIPS' PERIODICALS (10 S. xi. 328, 376). I have seen a number of these productions in Colonial public libraries, and there are a few in the British Museum. In these days of rapid voyages it is hardly worth while starting a maritime periodical, but in the fifties and sixties, when it took three months and sometimes longer to get from England to Australia, the weekly manuscript journal helped materially to lessen the tedium and diversify the monotony of the voyage. On arrival at Sydney or Melbourne, the whole journal was occasionally printed in book form, each passenger subscribing for a copy as a souvenir. J. F. HOGAN.

Royal Colonial Institute,

Northumberland Avenue.

"To PEIPON" (10 S. xi. 328). The right reading, TO IIPEnON (TO Trpibrov), makes it more intelligible. This inn-sign has been thrice mentioned already : at 1 S. ix. 324 ; 4 S. vi. 409 ; 5 S. ii. 17. W. C. B.

SPANISH STORIES IN IRISH (10 S. xi. 368). The Spanish originals of the three stories referred to by DR. ABBOTT will be found in a volume by Juan Perez de Montalban, which appeared in 1633. The title of the work, as I find it in my copy of the Madrid edition of 1681, is : " Para Todos : Exem- plos Morales, Humanos y Divinos, en que se tratan diversas Ciencias, Materias, y Facul- tades, repartidos en los siete Dias de la Semana."

In addition to the manuscript H. 1. 10 in Trinity College, Dublin (which is, presum- ably, the MS. to which DR. ABBOTT refers), the Irish versions of the tales are found in two MSS. of earlier date which are now in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, and which were written in or about the year 1706 by "an sagart Maghnus O Domhnaill " (Anglice Father Manus O'Donnell), an Ulster priest who probably

received his clerical education in Spain. All the evidence goes to show that this O'Donnell was not only the scribe, but also the translator, of the stories.

I may add that I have been for some time- at work on these Irish texts with a view to their publication, which I hope will not be long delayed. THOMAS F. O'RAHILLY. 66, Botanic Road, Dublin.

" HIGH LIFE " IN MODERN GREEK (10 S. xi. 305). The English words " high life " have been adopted not only in French and Greek, but also in Spanish. I recently met with the following phrase in a comic opera, ' La Gran Via,' by F. Perez :

A mis salones se dispiitan por veriir

Lo mas seleto de la igili.

The last line means " the most select of the high life." The librettist has made it a feminine, following his own vida, and evidently was hard put to it to represent the sound in Spanish orthography. Iqili would be pronounced " ee-hee-lee," with the stress on the final syllable.

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

"ABRACADABRA" (10 S. ix. 467; x. 35, 54, 156). The quotations at these references, dealing with the first four letters of the word, must be somewhat beside the point if a good authority, Col. C. R. Conder, is correct in transliterating the word in the Hebrew Abrak-ha-dabra, " I bless the deed " ('The Rise of Man,' 1908, p. 314). It was inscribed on amulets of the Gnostics.

H. P. L.

COLLAR OF SS, IRELAND (10 S. xi. 310). Considerable difference exists in the form and pattern of this decoration. See Cussans's ' Handbook of Heraldry,' p. 255, where the several forms are noted and some illustra- tions are given. R. L. MORETON.

T. TRUMAN, BOOKSELLER, 1746 (10 S. xi. 347). I note a reference to T. Trueman, bookseller, Strand, corner of Burleigh Street, 1774, in Nichols's ' Literary Anecdotes,' iii. 665. This may or may not be the individual inquired for. R. A. PEDDIE.

(St. Bride Foundation, E.G.

" SCROYLES " (10 S. xi. 290). The com- mentators on ' King John,' II. i. 373 (" these scroyles of Angiers "), 'Every Man in his Humour,' I. i., and ' The Poetaster,' IV. i., derive the word from the French escrouelles* " scabby, scrofulous fellows."

A. R. BAYLEY. [MR TOM JONES also thanked for reply.]