Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/25

 io- s. in. .TAX. 7, 190-1] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Periodicals of 1892,'^ p. 147, has " Penny Provident Fund of Xew York." ' Index to the Periodicals of 189"),' p. 158, has Penny Dreadfuls"; also "Penny Provident Fund of America/' 'Index to the Periodicals of 1899,' p. 169, has "Penny in the Slot Machines." 'Index to the Periodicals of 1900,' p. 171, has " Penny and its Story/' "Penny Meals, " Penny Patriotism." "Penny Toys," ' Penny for your Thoughts." ' Index to the Periodicals of 1901, : p. 182, has "Penny and its Value in 1693." Gatty's ' Hunter's Hallamshire,' 1869, p. 168, has "Fuller's penny knife." ' Index to the Periodicals of 1896,' p. 154, has ''Penniless Poor."' 'Index to the Periodicals of 1897,' p. 162, has 41 Pennies : Tricks with Pennies." H. J. B.

What are "Garden Pennies"? In Mait- land's 'History of London' (vol. ii. book viii. p. 1354) occurs the following paragraph :

"This [Stepney] being at present a Rectory im- propriate, the Principal and Scholars aforesaid [King's Hall and College of Brazen-nose in Oxford] receive the Great Tithes ; an 1 the Incumbent, for his Support, the small, Easter Offerings, Garden Pennies, and Surplice Fees; which are very con- siderable."

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Xorthamptonshire.

I find a note made in 1866 that Penny Readings were commenced in 1859 by Messrs. Sulley and Cowing at Ipswich.

R. J. FYXMORE.

Sandgate.

SPLIT INFINITIVE (10 th S. ii. 40f>). I am glad that MR. EDWARD SMITH has intro- duced the split infinitive to these columns, because we may now hope to have an authori- tative pronouncement on the subject. It has been observed at the first reference that " the two leading novelists of the English world, Mr. Meredith and Mr. Hardy, both tolerate this usage." It may be added that it was frequently employed by Robert Browning. In the face of these authorities, one would like to know on what foundation the objec- tion to the usage is based. Is it grammatical, logical, or historical ? But first of all the organic structure of the infinitive must be explained, because it is on this, if on any- thing, that valid objection can be taken. To feegin with. What part of speech is the to of the infinitive It is obviously quite a dif- ferent thing from the preposition to, indicat- ing direction :

To be, or not to be, that is the question.

To err is human : to forgive, divine. It is plain that the to in these lines is entirely distinct from the to in such a sentence as " I

am going to London." But our pundits ay you may not qualify a verb by inserting ail adverb between this to and the verb. As a matter of fact, a number of verbs have actually been qualified by an affix. We have, for instance, to outrun, to foresee, to misquote, to counteract, and many others. Why is it right to say " to outrun/' but wrong to say " to quickly run " ? Why may we say " to misquote," but nob " to wrongly quote " ? All this seems to me to require working out, and I, for one, demand something more than the i/)se dint of a reviewer. I do not think, with MR. EDWARD SMITH, that our increasing acquaintance with French literature and fuller intercourse with the French people have anything to do with the growth of the locution. Our intercourse with literary France was closer in the days of Horace Wai pole. I believe the usage has arisen solely from a desire to emphasize more clearly the qualifications of the verbs we employ.

Macaulay (and indeed every writer) con- stantly employs the split infinitive in the passive voice of the verb. Is "to be tho- roughly spoilt" right, and "to thoroughly spoil : ' wrong ? And on what ground is it justifiable to split the auxiliary and the verb } I read in to-day's paper that A has publicly asked for something and has been publicly congratulated, and that B will shortly formulate certain terms. Does the splitting of the auxiliary and the verb stand on a different footing from the splitting of the mysterious to and the verb? and, if so, why? W T . F. PRIDEAUX.

EXCAVATIONS AT RICHBOROUGIT (10 th S. ii. 289, 373). Other works on this subject are :

" Battely (A.), Antiquities of Richborongh and Reculver. abridged from the Latin, map and plate, p. Svo (1774)." Priced iu a recent second-hand catalogue at &*.

" Smith (C. Roach), Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver, and Limne, illusts. sq. Svo (18o<))." Priced in the same catalogue at 10.. (xl. and lii--. Two copies, apparently the same edition.

H. W. UNDERDO WN.

PARISH CLERK (10 th S. ii. 12 215, 373). Much information on this subject will be found in the thirty-sixth volume of the Trant'tctions of the Devonshire Association, just issued, in a paper by the Rev. J. T. Chanter, entitled ' The Parish Clerks of Barnstaple, 1500-1900. With a Survey of the Origin and Development of the Order of Parish Clerks and their Status at Different Periods' (pp. 390-414).

T. X. BRUSHFIELD, M.D.

Salterton, Devon.