Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/356

 294 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. OCT. 7. IWR. possibly, by the same author, who, in that case, would be Dr. John Gauden, according to Anthony Wood. JOHN T. CURRY. AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10th S. iv. 168, 197, 237).—Most probably LORD ALDENHAM is correct in his emendation. I transcribed the duet " Could a man be secure," &c., from the 'Memoir of William Bullock' in Jordan's 'Men I have Known' <p. 80). Tom Moore in one of his lyrics has the «arne idea:— The best of all ways To lengthen your days la to steal a few hours from the night, my dear. Harold Skimpole (supposed to be Leigh Hunt), in ' Bleak House,' issued in 1852,quotes these lines. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. I possess a copy of the duet beginning, " Could a man be secure." The title is, " Could a man be secure: Duet, originally sung at the Je ne scais quoi Club; composed by Starling Goodwin ; with an express Accom- paniment for the Piano Forte. London; Printed and Sold by Bircliall and Co.,110, New Bond Street. Price Is. 6d." Undated. The words are :— Could a Man be secure That hia Life would endure, As of old, for a thousand, a thousand long years ; What arts might he know, What acts might he do, And all without hurry, all, all without hurry or care! But we that have but span-long, span-long Lives, The thicker must lay on the Pleasure ; And since Time will not. Time will not stay, We'll add the night, We'11 add the night unto the Day, And thus we'll fill, thus, thus we'll fill the Measure. Many a time have I heard nay father sustain the bass part in it. WALTER W. SKEAT. [MR. J. STERMIS is also thanked for a reply.] "CORRECT" (10th S. iv. 189).—If GYPSY will kindly refer to my note (ante, p. 66), he will see that the responsibility for the use of the expressions " more correct" or " less correct" rests not on me, but on the Secretary of State for India, or the " high authority" whom he consulted with regard to the trans- literation of the Amir of Afghanistan's name. Personally, I am of opinion that the adjective "correct" is not susceptible of degrees of comparison. I am therefore compelled to disagree with GYPSY in his tolerance of the use of " most" for the purpose of emphasis, though "perfectly" and "quite," having merely an expletive force, may be admissible. Nor can I be quite sure if it is allowable to employ the words "more nearly" or ''less nearly." A fact, or the expression of a fact, can only be correct in one way. An attempt at expression may be incorrect in a thousand ways. Suppose a class of boys is asked to spell a difficult word. A has one letter wrong, B has two letters wrong, and C has three letters wrong. May B be described as being " nearly correct," while A is " more nearly correct," and C is " less nearly correct" ! I should prefer to say that they are all in- correct, but A is less so than B, and C is more so. Or take a similar word—straight. D has a decidedly retroussJ nose. Politeness demands that we should call it " nearly straight," while in strict accuracy it is " slightly crooked." Logically, I do not think we can qualify adjectives of an absolute nature, although a strict adherence to this rule might curtail our power of expression. There is another common fault, of which writers with a high reputation for style are occasionally guilty. This morning I received a copy of Stevenson's ' Essays in the Art of Writing.' On cutting the pages I came across the following sentence in the essay on 'Tech- nical Elements of Style' (p. 33): " The two first [selections], one in prose, one in verse, I chose without previous analysis." Surely here we ought to read "the first two," and not " the two first." One selection precedes the other, and they are read in single file. There is, by the way, an unpardonable mis- print on p. 35, where " Xanadu " from Cole- ridge's 'Kubla Khan' is spelt " Xanady." W. F. PRIDEAUX. It would be foolish to say that the classical writers had not both judgment and taste; and if we follow the analogy of their syntax in regard to such a word as "correct," we shall see that it was their custom to compare the adjective " rectus." Horace has " Si quid novisti rectius istis." And Quintilian, the grammarian, uses the expression " rectissim* ratio." W. B. CUMBERLAND DIALECT (10lh S. iv. 169).—If I may guess, I should say that the translation would run, "Thy thigh tickles, what mast you do with it ?" " Scratch it." ST. SWTTHIN. Intending to cross the Spey by wading, I was told it would take me to the "thee," which I saw must mean thigh. This enables me to say that "Theau thee kittles, what mun ye do wi' it ? Scrat it," must be in English, " Thy thigh tickles, what must yoa do with it? Scratch it." I never heard "thou," "thine," "thee," or "thy" used in