Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/271

 ii s. i. APR. 2, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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(for he was naked) and cast himself into the sea." The correspondent quoted from the Douay version, and suggested that in some pre-Reformation version the word might be ''doublet" instead of "coat."

This is far-fetched, and is capable of a much more simple explanation, even if " doublet " could be found. The Wycliffite versions of 1380 give " girte him with a coote." Tindale in 1534 translates "he gyrde his man tell to him " ; while in 1539 Cranmer has "he gyrde his coate to him." The Geneva version of 1557 has "he gyrde his coate to him." The Rheims version of 1582 is "he girded his coate vnto him." The Authorized Version of 1611 has "he girt his fishers coat vnto him " ; but the Revised Version goes back to the older form with " he girt his coat about him."

Turning to the ' N.E.D.,' we learn that a Peter boat was the name on the Thames for a small decked fishing-boat, and a Peter - rnan was a fisherman, alluding to the occupation of St. Peter. We know that all signs have local associations. In rural districts we have "The Plough, " "The Wheatsheaf," "The Green Gate," and such like ; while in waterside places we have "The Anchor," "The Ship Ashore," "The Shipwright's Arms," &c. ; so that a Peter boat was natural for a London Bridge sign.

On consulting Boyne's * Tradesmen's Tokens issued in the Seventeenth Century,' we find no known token with that device issued at London Bridge. There was, how- ever, a boat on tokens issued at Barrow-on- Humber, Dover, and Sandwich ; also at St. Katherine's Wharf, and Pickleherring Stairs, near Tooley Street ; while a curious and interesting specimen was issued bearing the

motto AT YE NEXT BOAT AT PAULS WHARF.

One Joseph Brocke issued a halfpenny token bearing on the obverse COATE SELER NEAR RATCLIF CROS, and on the reverse a man's eoat between his initials.

"Doublet" has had various meanings; we know what a "singlet" is, and it is natural to surmise that a doublet in this case was a thick woollen garment for use in cold or wet weather similar to the garment used by navvies to-day known as a " donkey," and the sleeves would be short so as not to interfere with the men's work.

A token issued in Londonderry bore on the obverse EXCH. FOR FISHING. AND. with the device of a boat, and on the reverse CLOATHING. IN. L. DERRY, with the device of a spinning-wheel.

My references (pp. 661-2, 696, 707, 1404) are to the second edition. A. RHODES.

ARISTOTLE AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. Sufficient attention has been called to the fact that -Bacon ('Adv. of Learning,' II. xxii. 13) and Shakespeare (' Troilus and Cressida,' II. ii.), when referring to Aristotle's dictum that young men are not fit auditors of political science (' Eth. Nic.,' I. iii. 5), have substituted "moral" for "political" philosophy. An equal degree of notoriety has not attended the fact that " this sup- posed erroneous interpretation of Aristotle's, language is common among sixteenth and seventeenth-century writers." See 10 S. i. 405, where reference is made to Mr. Sidney Lee's ' Life of Shakespeare ' and an instance quoted from Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Valentinian,' I. i. The following examples from Renaissance writers of Latin may help to drive the point home :

" Itaque, quod editum erat, repurgavi ; deinde adieci, quse moribus etiam formandis conducerent, velut irrepens in animos adolescentium, quos recte scripsit Aristoteles inidoneos auditores Ethicce Philosophice, dumtaxat eius, quae seriis praeceptis traditur." Erasmus, ' De Utilitate Colloquiorum r (ad init.), p. 768 of the 1729 ' Variorum ' ed. of the ' Colloquia.'

" Videas in eis pueros iam magistros, qui paedagogo adhuc indigeant, & quos Aristoteles tan- quam inidoneos auditores de schola expellit moralis discipline, turn hanc turn alias omnes non prsestant quidem, profitentur tamen." Vives ' De Causis Corruptarum Artium,' Lib. I. p. 65- (about three pages from the end of the book) in the 1536 (Cologne) edition of his ' De Disciplinis Libri xx.'

See also ' Pedantius,' 1. 327, in Prof. Moore Smith's edition, ' ' Tu non es idoneus auditor moralis philosophise," in the course of his note on which the editor remarks : "The translation of VoAtri/oJs by moralis has been considered an error, but, as Dr_ Henry Jackson has pointed out to me, it is. fairly correct." EDWARD BENSLY.

Aberystwyth.

LADY HAMILTON AND HAYLEY'S ' TRI- UMPHS OF TEMPER.' The following letter relating to William Hayley's once popular ' Triumphs of Temper ' appears in the Eighth Report of the Historical MSS. Com- mission. I have not noticed it as having been quoted in connexion with either Lady Hamilton or Hayley. The writer is Emma, Lady Hamilton (wife of Sir William Hamil- ton), chiefly known from her portraits by Romney and her association with Nelson.

Writing from Naples, under date 20 Dec., 1791, to one whose name is unknown, she says :

" Tell Mr. Hayley I am always reading his ' Triumphs of Temper.' It was that that made me Lady H. For God knows I had for 5 years