Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/495

 10 s. VIL MAY 25, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

407

AKENSIDE'S BIRTH. (See ante, p. 260.) In the review of Northern Notes and Queries at the above reference the writer states that he believes the memoranda of the births and deaths of the Akenside family made by the poet's father are now printed for the first time. That this is not the case with respect to one important item will be found on reference to The Gentleman's Magazine for August, 1822. " Archseus " there states

"that the following notice of his [Akenside the poet s] birth and baptism was copied out of a book of Annotations on the Bible, from the handwriting of his father: 'My son Mark was born Novem- ber 9 th, 1721, about eight o'clock at night, and was baptized Nov. 30.'"

JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

" RAMSAMMY." When I was a young man in Launceston, now seventy years ago, I frequently heard what may be termed a drunken spree called a ramsammy. I am told this word does not appear in the slang dictionaries ; and it has been suggested to me that it may have been imported by some sailor or traveller, or have been manufactured like the more modern jamboree, which signifies much the same thing.

R. ROBBINS.

Two OLD PROVERBS. It is possible that ' N. & Q.' may extend its wonted liospitality to ideas that have struck me regarding a couple of well-known sayings.

1. Tou jours perdrix. The monotony im- plied by this proverb has been usually, but never with satisfactory references, inter- preted of a continuous partridge-diet ; though another solution may be offered in the monotonous cry of the bird kak-kek-kek that procured it the onomatopoeic name of Ka.KKa.ftif], and made its note a type of ceaseless, wearisome cackling auvoTpov TrepSiKos, Apost. Cent, iv., 6<2a.

2. Telling tales out of school. The English form of this extremely old proverb is so perverted and senseless that one can excuse the cheeky schoolboy who pleaded it in justification of having told tales in school, i.e., when up at form. If for " out of " we substitute " of the," the meaning is at once apparent, referring to the disciplina arcani of the old philosophies, which forbade their disciples to divulge the doctrines of the schools to the profane vulgus outside. I suppose that nowadays every Board-School infant is aware of this, but I must confess that until I turned the proverb up the other day in dear old Quitard, I never realized the sense of the words. FRANCIS KING.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

DANIEL ORME'S PORTRAIT. I shall be very much obliged if any reader of ' N. & Q.' can inform me whether there exists a por- trait of Daniel Orme, artist (vide * D.N.B.) ; and if so, where. F. A. SLACKE.

Little Chevremont, Darjiling.

' THE WRONG MAN.' Who was the author of this farce in two acts, produced 6 Nov., 1841, at Covent Garden during Madajne Vestris's management ? In it Charles Mathews played Beechwood. The piece had a short life of eleven nights.

ROBERT WALTERS.

ADMIRAL BEDFORD. Can any of your readers inform me whether Gilbert, in the 'Historical Survey of Cornwall,' 1820, was correct in saying that Admiral William Bedford, who died 1827, was the son of the Rev. William Bedford, and Dorothea Kemp and thus of the Cornish clerical family of Bedfords ? The ' D.N.B.' queries the date of his birth, and omits the name of his father. If Gilbert was right, it would have been easy for the editor to find the records of the Admiral's baptism and the name of his parents. My reason for asking is that I have information which points to his father having been of Yorkshire and Hertfordshire, and not the Rev. W. Bedford. Were there two Capt. W. Bedfords in the navy in 1804 ?

R. J. L. TINDALL. Common Room, Middle Temple, E.G.

COWPER'S JOHN GILPIN. The identity of John Gilpin " has been the subject of an^ and lengthy contributions to ' N. & Q.' It is, however, doubtful if it has been made clear, while in several instances the name itself has been supposed factitious ; the latter idea must of course be discarded, the urname being fairly common. Any addi- tional bits of information bearing on the subject will, I doubt not, be acceptable, even if they lead not to an absolute solution of the question. The statement that many cavalry men have earned the " nickname " of " Johnny Gilpin " seems valueless, unless it be that a bad horseman was designated a " Gilpin " from Cowper's Gilpin.

We have accounts of the death of several individuals who were stated to have been the original Gilpin of Cowper's lines : one who died at Bath in 1790, leaving 20,OOOZ.