Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/428

 354 NOTES AND QUERIES. no- 8. iv. OCT. 28, isx*. tender, joyous" (Hall, 'Anglo-Saxon Diet.,' 1894, p. 290). And J. M. Kemble has told us of its affinity to an old German Zeiz and to an old Norse Teitr, adjectives denoting Jiilaris, jucundtis, eximius (' Names of the Anglo-Saxons,' 1846, p. 15). May it not be that the modern surname is, after all, a survival of the indigenous word by which Englishmen of the seventh century acclaimed their jocund queen? R. OLIVER HESLOP. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The surnames Tait, Tate, and the un- common Titt, are from the Icel. Teitr=brisk, quick. See Prof. Peile's 'Primer of Philology,' •wherein he comments on the well - known lines of Qawain Douglas, "On lyssowris and leasowes," <tc., and notes, s.v. 'Tayt,' that a late Archbishop of Canterbury owes his name to a Scandinavian, possibly pirate, ancestor. Titt and sket are very common in the Early English metrical romances as= quick, quickly. Sket is, of course, now repre- sented by the name of a well-known con- tributor to these pages. H. P. L. AMERICAN CIVIL WAR VERSES (10th S. iv. 229, 296).—An American correspondent of mine sent me some years ago some verses issued during the war between North and South. I forward you a transcript of one of them. It was probably printed at Baltimore, and mine may well be the only copy in this country:— "The War-Christian's Thanksgiving. Respect- fully dedicated to the War-Clergy of the United (States, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. " Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.—Jeremiah xlviii. 10. Oh God of Battles ! once again, With banner, trump, and drum, And garments in Thy wine-press dyed, To give Thee thanks, we come ! No goats or bullocks garlanded Unto Thine altars go— With brothers' blood, by brothers shed, Our glad libations flow. From pest-house and from dungeon foul. Where, maimed and torn, they die ; From gory trench and charnel-house, Where heap on heap they lie; In every groan that yields a soul, Each shriek a heart that rends— With every breath of tainted air— Our homage, Lord, ascends. We thank Thee for the sabre's gash, The cannon's havoc wild; We bless Thee for the widow's tears, The want that starves her child. We give Thee praise that Thou hast lit The torch and fanned the flame; That lust and rapine hunt their prey, Kind Father, in Thy name ; That from the songs of idle joy False angels sang of yore, Thou sendest War on Earth, 111 Will To Men for ever more. We know that wisdom, truth, and right To us and ours are given— That Thou hast clothed us with Thy wrath To do the work of Heaven. We know that plains and cities waste Are pleasant in Thine eyes ; Thou lov'st a hearthstone desolate, Thou lov'st a mourner's cries. Let not our weakness fall below The measure of Thy will, And while the press hath wine to bleed, Oh tread it with us still! Teach us to hate—as Jesus taught Fond fools, of yore, to love— Grant us Thy vengeance as our own. Thy Pity hide above. Teach us to turn, with reeking hand*, The pages of Thy word And hail the blessed curses there On them that sheathe the sword. Where'er we tread, may deserts spring Till none are left to slay, And when the last red drop is shed, We '11 kneel again—and pray !" A note in manuscript says that the above is by S. T. Wallis. Its savageness is terrible, but not worse than some of the ditties issued during our own Civil War when the Royalist cause was becoming desperate, and it is not nearly so atrocious as some things issued during the Terror in France. If you find a place for Mr. Wallis's effusion I will send yon another " copy of verses" issued about the same time, but inspired by far different feelings. K. P. D. E. The verses asked for by J. E. H. were written by Mrs. Ethelinda Eliot Beers, then resident in a small town of New York, and first appeared in Harper's Weekly on 30 November, 1861, under the title of 'The Picket Guard.' The first line, All quiet along the Potomac to-night, enclosed in quotation marks, was, in sub- stance, a frequent heading of the war new of the day. I do not know whether any instance of a sentry on duty being shot h»d happened, or whether such an occurrence existed only as a possibility in the mind of the writer; but certainly any incident of » sentry found shot with these verses, of his composition, in his pocket, is an imaginary accretion. M. C. L New York. " BELAPPIT " (10th S. iv. 305).—This is one more melancholy example of what happens when an editor fails to consult the 'New