Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/122

 98

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io*s.n. JOLT 30,190*.

been omitted with about half my accumula- tions to lessen the bulk of the volume. A certain knight, condemned for treason, was hanged and cut down alive. He was then propped up in a chair before a fire to see his entrails burnt. The executioner scoffingly offered him something to eat. u No, sir," he said; "you have taken away my appetite with my bowels." The real story is more piquant. Perhaps a reader, coming across it. will supply the reference.

H. H. DRAKE.

Leigh Hunt in 4 The Town ' gives the follow- ing account of the execution of Harrison the regicide :

"A ghastly story is related of Harrison, that after he was cut down alive, according to his sentence, and had his bowels removed and burnt before his face by the executioner, he rose up and gave the man a box on the ear."

ANDREW OLIVER.

BENNETT FAMILY OF LINCOLN (10 th S. ii. 9). MR. H. R. LEIGHTON may find some in- formation in the l Pedigree of Bennett ' pub- lished in Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeo- logical Society, vol. xxxvi. (1890), p. 160.

F. T. ELWORTHY.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Edited by Dr. James A. H. Murray. Vol. VIII. ReactivelyRee. By W. A. Craigie, M.A. (Ox- ford, University Press.)

Off Mr. Craigie's new instalment of vol. viii. of the great Dictionary a large percentage of the words are, as the reader will be prepared to find, formed with the prefix re. Though few in comparison, however, the words of native origin are of high interest. On the first page comes the verb read, be- longing to the reduplicating ablaut-class, the original senses of which are said to be those of giving or taking counsel or taking charge of a thing. Header for a proof-reader is first encountered in 1808 in Stower's 'Printers' Grammar,' while for the same word applied to a publisher's reader we have to wait until 1871 and the 'American Encyclopaedia of Printing.' The office of readers at one or other of the Inns of Court is found so early as 1517 ; that of reader of plays appears to be unmentioned. Under readiness we would have, from 'Hamlet,' " The readiness is all." A long and very interest- ing essay follows upon ready in its various signifi- cations. Ready-money is found so early as 1420. Reafforest appears in 1667-8, though in a sense different from that the word now bears. Real, in philosophy, belongs to 1701, but realist, as opposed to nominalist or idealist, is a few years earlier. Realm, in its earliest English form reaume, is found in the thirteenth century. Among the quotations supplied are Dryden's "Through all the realms of nonsense absolute" and Pope's " The ants' republic and the realm of bees." We should like, in addition, from the latter writer, "Great Anna, whom three

realms obey." In its various meanings, ream seems to be of obscure origin. In its verbal use, to stretch, ream seems, we fancy, to have some connexion with roam. Reap, in verbal and substantive form, is- very early. Who uses the phrase " the great reaper Death " ? ^ear=slightly cooked, now applied principally to underdone flesh, was at first used only of eggs. Rearmouse=b&t is in early use Reascend might have a pregnant quotation from
 * Paradise Lost ' :

For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heaven, can fail to re-ascend, Self-raised, and repossess their native seat ? A long and edifying history of reason will repay- close study. Rebeccaite brings to the minds of some recollections of the riots against tollgates in 1843-4. Two unfamiliar meanings are assigned rebeck in addition to the musical instrument so named. Rebelty is a curious substitute for rebellion. Rebuff is, of course, Miltonic. The precise origin of the application of the term rebus to the thing so named is doubtful. Recado=a, present, is said to be of un- certain origin, but is obviously from the Spanish. Howell spells the word recaudo. Under recapture we would fain have Browning's fine use of the word as a rime to rapture, not yet vulgarized. The his- tory of the development of receive is seen to be intricate. The earliest quotation for rechauffe is 1805, though rechaufe, to warm again, is three cen- turies earlier. In the quotations for rechauffe the sense is symbolical. In the title of D'Avenant's 'Siege of Rhodes,' 1656, are the words "Made a Representation by the Art of Prospective in Scenes, and the Story sung in Recitative Musick." This is an early, though not the earliest, use of recitative. In Wolfe's * Burial of Sir John Moore' is a pleasant and familiar use of reck. In the West Riding the weakest animal in a litter is called a grek. Is this allied with reckling, used in the same sense ? Many uses by Shakespeare of reckoning are advanced- None is, however, quite so good as the Ghost's No reckoning made, but sent to my account. Of to recreate, to create anew, Longfellow supplies a fine illustration :

The rest we cannot re-instate, Ourselves we cannot re-create. This may be useful for reinstate. Recreant is not found before the middle of the seventeenth century. Recusant begins, as was to be expected, in the middle of the sixteenth century. Among many instances of red given in an admirable article might be included

A smile that glowed Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue. There are some ridiculous words with the prefix re. These are chiefly of modern manufacture. It seems regrettable, though it is inevitable, that such should obtain the species of sanction which the Dictionary affords.

The Defence of Poesie. By Sir Philip Sidney, Knt.

(Cambridge, University Press.) SIDNEY'S ' Defence of Poesie ' constitutes the second issue of the lovely series of works in course of pub- lication printed at the Cambridge University Press with the " new type." The first volume consisted of the ' Microcosm ographie' of John Earle, Bishop of Salisbury, first issued in 1628. Of this work and of the series to which it belongs full notice was taken on the appearance of the reprint (see 10 th S.