Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/429

 10 s. XIL OCT. so, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians, who were known as the " four regular orders," as distinct from the smaller bodies of mendicants, who received no sanction from this Council, and, not being allowed to admit new members, soon came to an end.

The phrase could not be in use, with this application, at the time of the events related in ' Ivanhoe ' ; but, as has been said by Mr. NEWMAN, Sir Walter Scott is not always exact in such matters, e.g., the mendicants are not monks, but he does not always distinguish between " monk " and " friar."

S. T. P.

THE BONASSUS (10 S. ix. 365, 451 ; x. 90, 138, 318, 392 ; xi. 356 ; xii. 175). One of the editors of the translation of Pliny published in " Bonn's Classical Library " notes (vol. ii. bk. viii. p. 264) that "Pliny's account is from Aristotle, 'Hist. Anira.,' b. iv. c. 45, but, as is often the case, with con- siderable exaggerations. Aristotle says that these animals eject their excrements to a distance of four feet, and that it [sic] is of so acrid a nature, as to cause the hair of the dog to fall off." Now Pliny is made responsible for :

"In Paeonia, it is said, there is a wild animal known as the bonasus ; it has the mane of the horse, but is in other respects like the bull, with horns, however, so much Dent inwards upon each other, as to be of no use for the purpose ot combat. It has therefore to depend upon its flight, and while in the act of flying, it sends forth its excre- ments, sometimes to the length of three jugera, the contact of which burns those who pursue the animal, just like a kind of fire."

ST. SWITHIN.

The horrid method of defence cited from Otes by MB. THORNTON was attempted by the Dragon of Wantley against the gallant More of More Hall. Vide Percy and other accounts. Note also the unusual fatal blow struck by More. FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.

Streatham Common.

THE " STRAWBERRY HILL " CATALOGUE (10 S. vii. 461, 517; xii. 216, 294). My authority for the recataloguing statement at the last reference was, I have just dis- covered, the printed ' Names of Purchasers and the Prices ' to which I referred in my reply. It occurs on p. 18, seventh day's sale. It was first intended to sell the books and collections of portraits, prints, and drawings at Strawberry Hill in two days, the seventh and eighth ; but the whole of the contents of these two days was with- drawn, and recatalogued, and extended to a ten days' sale 13 to 23 March. I have a copy of the catalogue of this sale, which,

by the way, was held at Robins' s rooms in Covent Garden, and not on the premises at Strawberry Hill, as was the case with the other portions of the collection.

W. ROBERTS.

Miss CRAWFORD, CANADIAN POET (10 S. xii. 310). A portrait and biographical sketch of this lady, Miss Isabella Valancy Crawford, are given on p. 64 of the first volume of ' Types of Canadian Women,' by Henry J. Morgan, published by William Briggs, Toronto, in 1903. She was born near Dublin, and as a child of five accom- panied her parents to Canada. She died in Toronto on 12 Feb., 1887, at the age of thirty-six. In 1884 she published in Toronto a volume of her verses, and a second edition was issued in 1899. An eminent critic is quoted as saying :

"No Canadian woman has yet appeared quite equal to her in poetic endowment. Her gift was eminently lyrical, full of music, colour, and origin- ality."

J. F. HOGAN.

Royal Colonial Institute,

Northumberland Avenue.

The lines,

Bite deep and wide, axe, the tree ; What doth thy bold voice promise me ?

occur in ' Malcolm's Katie,' by Isabella Valancy Crawford, first published in a volume called ' Old Spookses Pass, Malcolm's Katie, and other Poems,' entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada 1884, but with no printer's or publisher's names.

I take this from a collection of her poems edited by I. W. Garvin, B.A., and pub- lished at Toronto by William Briggs, 1905. CHAS. G. SMITHERS.

47, Darnley Road, N.E.

" ROAN " : ITS ETYMOLOGY (10 S. v. 425 ; vi. 14). The derivation of Span. roano, sorrel, roan, from Span, rodano, Port, raudano, cited at the first reference, may be correct ; but, all the same, I doubt if it is the source of our English word. There are, however, other terms in Spanish having the same connotation : thus rodado, dappled, roan, derived from Lat. rotare, rositlo, reddish ; and ruano, which means grey, white, and bay, also prancing when applied to horses, from Span, ruar, to roll in a carriage, to prance, also to court women ; but none of these seems to be immediately connected with English " roan," which, as MR. MAYHEW maintains, is almost certainly of Spanish provenance, on account of its suffix -an. My belief is that there is less of mystery in the word's origin than has been