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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. JUNE 30, iwe.

Roberton, Lanark. Both parties were then described as of Roberton, though I have some reason to think that John Arkle was afterwards a merchant of Leith.

I should be glad if any of your readers can give me information respecting the parentage of either of the above parties. The Roberton registers begin only in 1690, and are therefore of no use. Please reply direct. A. H. ARKLE.

Elmhurst, Oxbon, Birkenhead.

ARISTOPHANES'S 'WASPS ; ' The following saying : u>s eyw TroAAwv d/covov, Erasmus of Rotterdam translates as " Thriorum ego strepitum audivi com- plurium.'' What are the corresponding proverbs in modern Western tongues ?

L. L. K.

BURNEY FAMILY. I should be very glad of any information respecting the parentage of Dr. William Burney, founder of the Royal Naval and Military Academy, Gosport, born 1762, died February, 1832, author of * Naval Heroes 3 and similar works. What relation (if any) was he to the celebrated Dr. Charles Burney, author of the 'History of Music' (1726-1814)? I believe the former had five sons, the fifth being the Rev. Edward Burney, head master of the Academy (vide Foster's 'Alumni Oxonienses '), who died August, 1888, and the eldest Capt. James Burney, R.N., who died at Teddington, 30 October, 1884, aged ninety-one. Who were the other three sons? J. A. N.

AMERICA v. UNITED STATES. I observe that The Times and The Daily Telegraph speak of the "United States Ambassador." Can any reader inform me when the phrase was substituted for " American Ambassador"? There is a tradition that the calling cards of the late John Hay bore the inscription " the American Ambassador" a phrase for the use of which he was much criticized. But the use in this way of the word American is English in its origin. Dr. Johnson's pamphlet is entitled ' Taxation no Tyranny : a Reply to the Address and Resolutions of the American Congress.' I do not defend the word, but the history of the growth of and change in the usage ought to be put on record. DBWITT MILLER.

Philadelphia.

[The substitution was "the other way." The envoy of "the United States of America" was until recently officially called " the Minister of the United States " or "the United States Minister.' Recently the United States took diplomatic action to substitute the name "America for "United States of North America." There is strong Canadian

objection to the new term, but it has had official recognition in this country, and we now can, if we please, say without impropriety "the American Ambassador." See also 9 th S. x. 110, 266.]

" MINORITY WAITER." What is the mean-

g of this expression in the following quotation ?

" I told Thomas that your Honour had already inlisted five disbanded chairmen, seven minority waiters, and thirteen billiard-markers." Sheridan, ' Rivals,' II. i.

Two suggestions have been offered in 'N. & Q.' (6 th S. xi. 56, 391): first, that " minority waiters" are waiters out of place, the expression being derived from the House of Commons ; and, second, that the term designates the " extraordinary tide-waiters," who received no salary, but only 3s. a day when employed. I cannot see that either of these explanations is probable : on either supposition the use of the word minority appears arbitrary. HENRY BRADLEY.

Clarendon Press, Oxford.

SANTORIN AND ST. IRENE. (10 th S. v. 468.)

SEE Husenbeth's 'Emblems of Saints,' third edition (1882), edited by Dr. Jessopp :

"St. Irene of Portugal, Virgin Martyr. Her day is 20 Oct., A D. 653. Represented as stabbed with a dagger (Castrier).

" St. Irene, Virgin Martyr. Her day is 5 April, and she lived in the first century. Represented with idols at her feet ('Ikonographie'), with a horse near her ('Attrib. der Heil.'). Holding a sword (t'6.)."

In Baring-Gould's 'Lives of the Saints (1873), under * 4 SS. Agape, Chionia, and Irene, Virgin Martyrs, 3 ' we find that their united day was 3 April, although Irene had a special feast day of her own upon 5 April. This authority gives the date of their exist- ence as A.D. 290, and devotes three and a half pages to this trio of sisters, of whom Irene was "the youngest, fairest, and frailest." The maidens are said to have lived at Aquileia during the reign of Diocletian, who threw them into prison. Its governor, Dul- cetius, fell in love with all three, and one night, after a banquet, when drunk, he visited them, wickedly intent. The girls could be heard singing psalms, but, it being very dark, he could not see them. So he groped about, and, at last, thinking he had caught one, kissed her( u Ollasco3pit amplecti et sartagines deosculari : in quibus ludifi- catus diu : donee niger totus et cacabatua