Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/202

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. n. AUG. 27, im.

"Our narrator goes on to state that Caesar

1856, G. D. Brewerton, ' War in Kansas,' p. 63.
 * toted' the fellow into the Wakarusa camp."

" We had taken the wrong road, and the Indian

had lost us The Indian was greatly surprised

that we should have taken what he called a ' tow ' (i e tote or toting or supply) road, instead of a carry path." 1857, H.D. Thoreau, 'Maine Woods ' (1894), pp. 296-7.

" Will the Atlantic Club have Dom Pedro as its guest? It has occurred to me that he would like it better than being toted about, looking at Boston public buildings." 1876, J. G. Whittier, in ' Life and Letters ' (1894), ii. 621.

"'Tote' has long been regarded as a word of African origin, contined to certain regions where negroes abound. A few years ago Mr, C. A. Stephens, in a story, mentioned an 'old tote road' in Maine. I wrote to inquire, and he told me that certain old portage roads, now abandoned,

bore that name 'Tote' appears to have been a

well-understood English word in the seventeenth century. It meant then, as now, to bear. Burlesque writers who represent a negro as

In Virginia English, the negro ' carries ' the horse to water by making the horse 'tote 'him." 1894, E. Eggleston, in Century Magazine, xlviii. 874.
 * toting a horse to water ' betray their ignorance.

" * I 'd make it worth your while to bring it to us down here,' said Cecil. ' Humph ! ' returned the maker of beverages. ' I don't go totin' coffee all round the country.'" - 1900, D. D. Wells, 'His Lordship's Leopard,' p. 120.

In the New York Nation of 15 February, 1894, Mr. P. A. Bruce cited the 1677 passage, and remarked that the smallness of the 'negro population at that time " would render im- probable the supposition which has some- times been advanced that the word had its origin with the negro race in this country " (p. 121). In the same paper Mr. W. G. Brown asserted that the word was "used in Middle England, Southern Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, in exactly the same way that it is used in Eastern Virginia"; but neither Mr. Brown nor Dr. Eggleston gave proof of this assertion. The above extracts show that the word, though generally regarded as a Southernism, is by no means confined to the South, and that it was known in New Eng- land as early as 1769. In January, 1900, I received from a Boston firm an advertisement of "The Watson Tote Bag," which was de- clared to be the u best thing for hunting, tramping and fishing trips, for carrying coat, camera, blankets, lunch, &c.," and was de- scribed as " made of stout canvass with draw rope mouth, or entrance to bag, and with flap to protect contents from rain, and is to be carried on back same as knapsack."

ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER.

(See ante, pp. 1, 42, 82, 122.) Pp. 62-63 :

Letter 14.

11 * 01-y(01ney),July9, 1768.

It* is well for us, that having a gracious- Master, Who has no need of our services, He does- not dismiss us for insufficiency.! Though our very best performances fall so far short of what He is- entitled to, yet He accepts them, and does not rebuke us, even for the worst. The little sometimes we are enabled to render to Him, we first receive from Himself. The desire and the power are de- rived from Him ; yet He continues us in His family; treats us as His children rather than as servants; satisfies us with the fulness of His house, and clothes us with His own raiment, the righteousness of Jesus. Blessed and happy are they, that belong to this family ; they shall never hear, even of their wilful faults, except in a way of fatherly chastise- ment ; and in His own time their Master and Lord will make them heirs with His own most beloved- Son, of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away.

Yours, my dear Aunt, etc. etc.

On pp. 63-67 follow first Mrs. Cowper's- note printed below the text, then passages from letters, apparently Cowper's, and lastly a paragraph from Martin Madan.

Pp. 63-64 :

comes to town, I find, the 19th instant. Oh !'

that she might return to domestick happiness ! that is the wish of weak nature for a beloved child, but I check myself, when I reflect the love of God far exceeds even ours for ourselves, much more to one- another, and that love is guided by wisdom which cannot err, and indubitably knows what is best for us.

Every blessing attend you, blessings on the right and on the left hand, from the Ever Blest, be your happy portion in time and in eternity. Amen,' amen.

Pp. 64-65 :-{

We know that our gracious Lord can sanctify the most unpromising dispensations, to those that love and trust in Him : and will guide His own people with equal safety through the thorns and briars of this world, as He has done through the (flattering) "roses that once strewed our paths." Perhaps the ' danger is greatest where we are lulled into a pleasing state, and insensible of any. All that weans us from the world, and our strong attachments to creature comforts, if it brings us nearer to our God (assume whatever shape it may) is a blessing, with- out which perhaps our hearts might have remained entangled in these pleasing snares for ever.

letter was concerning a servant whom he had dis- missed for undertaking a place she was in every respect unfit for."
 * Mrs. Cowper's note : "The former part of this

f To this passage seems to refer Mrs. Cowper's note on p. 63 : " How beautifully does W. C. dress even sentiments relating to this world ! how new his expressions ! how naturally does every subject lead him to speak of the more important ones, that tend to light and immortality ! "

J In the margin, a few lines down: "Aug. 18th."'