Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/276

 226

NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. VHI. SEPT. 21, 1907.

August 16th.

Expences of travelling, 21. 16s. 4d. Horse hire, 11.

Sept. 8th.

Dinner at Sinclair's, 10s. 6d. Powder & shot, 5s.

Oct. 13th.

Paid for pointer dog, 11. 10s. Nov. 25th.

Servants at Cradle Hall, 12s. Do. in the family, 14s.

Jan. 1st, 1799.

Paid for a shawl for M R., 11. Is. Gunsmith for repairing arms, 21. 2s. 6d. Wright for targit for Company, 11. 18s. For sending for ammunition, 12s. Shoemaker for boys shoes, 21. 10s. 6d. Taylor for Drums & Fyfes cloathes, 21. 14s. 9rf.

Jan. 20th.

To lodging, eating, & sundry expences at Edin from the 17th Jan., 1799, till the 13th March, 99 the day I left Edin r for London, 39/. Travelling expences to London, 111. Expences at London till the 1st Aprill, 1799, 101. ^Expence of living in London from 1st Aprill, 1799, & of all incidents till my arrival at Inver- ness the 16th of Jully, 1799, including travelling expences, 125/.

Various incidents from the 1st Jan. till the 16th Jully, 1799, 18/.

Jully 20th.

Sundries at Inverness on account of the Company per vouchers delivered by M r Ettles, 12/. Sundries on my own account, 9. 17s. 6d. Do. travelling expences & sundries in the country, 41. 9s.

A game licence, 31. 4s.

Expence of horse maintenance, 31. 5s. 6d.

Oct. 25th.

Expence attending the Northern Meeting, 6/. 6s. Expence of travelling to Edin r, 51.

Nov. loth. Expence at Edin r, U. 4s.

Nov. 18th.

Do. for lodging, eating, &c., 31. 3s. Washing & [hair] dressing, 4s. Chairmen & porters, &c., 2s. 6d.

Dec. 20th. Expences of living, &c., '31. 3s.

Jan. 1st, 1800.

Expences of living, &c., at Edin r up to this date, 21. 2s.

New Year's gifts to servants, 11. Is. Stamps, 3s. 3d.

Parliament House Papers, 12s. Incidents, 11. 6s. Qd.

Jan. 18th. Coach and chair hire, 5*'. 6d.

In the ' List of the Volunteer Forces ' for 1804 the Inches Volunteers appear under the head of " Culloden Volunteers." Several other Inverness companies forming part of the force encamped on the historic moor which witnessed the defeat of the Jacobite army in 1746. In 1814 the Inches Volun- teers were disbanded.

CHARLES DAI/TON.

" BALZO," ' PURGATORIO,' iv. 47 ; ix. 50, 68. What is the meaning and what is the etymology of the word balzo, which occurs at least three tunes in Dante's ' Purgatorio ' ? The word is used by Dante in " questa cantica seconda " in a very definite sense. This definite meaning is not clearly appre- hended or set forth by commentators on the ' Purgatorio,' Italian or non-Italian. The best account of the term is to be found in Dr. Toynbee's invaluable ' Dante Diction- ary,' under the article ' Purgatorio.' Dante uses the word balzo to express one of the seven concentric terraces of Purgatory. They are each about seventeen feet wide, and rise in succession, with diminished circuit as they approach the summit, where is situated the Terrestrial Paradise. These terraces are connected by steep and narrow stairways, the steps of which become successively less steep as each terrace is surmounted. Besides balzi, Dante employs other terms to indicate these concentric terraces, namely, cerchi, cerchie, cinghi, cornici, giri, gironi, piani. From this accurate description of the balzi of Pur- gatory, and from the other words used by Dante as synonyms of the same, it is quite plain that the essential meaning of the word balzo in the ' Purgatorio ' is a circle or girdle. If this be remembered, the etymo- logy of the word becomes perfectly simple and obvious. The original meaning of balzo is a girdle or belt. In fact, balzo is formally the precise equivalent of " belt," both words being derived from the Latin batteits. The Latin word meant not only a girdle or belt, but anything which surrounds like a girdle ; for instance, it was used for the vacant space or border between the seats in the amphitheatre.

It is possible that the word balzo in the 'Inferno' (xi. 115), which is generally explained to mean a precipitous cliff, is a different word, for which Diez can propose no better etymology than " Gr. /3aAAiiv, liiipfen, springen, tanzen " a later ety- mologist going so far afield for a derivation as Gr. 7raAis, a parapet !

A. L. MAYHEW. Oxford.

LONDON REMAINS. The Daily Telegraph of 22 August contained the following para- graph :

" The utilization of some of the old stones which r ormed part of Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street, n the new river wall which is being constructed at Dagenham, is a reminder (writes a correspondent) that other London landmarks have been preserved n similar ways after removal from their original