Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/321

 ii s. x. OCT. 17, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES,

315

My acquaintance with him began on his referring to nw his article on Siena, and, strange to say, I found he had omitted, by a curious oversight, any description what- ever of the grand institute in that city devoted to the instruction, by means of the oral system, of the deaf and dumb. 1 may as well recall here that I hold a warm letter of thanks from Lord Egerton of Tatton for my services as interpreter to the Boyal Commission appointed by our Govern- ment to examine the system. Of course, Mr. Pullen hastened to correct so impor- tant a shortcoming I think, before the guide-book got into print. I remember to have written a few lines to The Times on the death of the pious founder of the institu- tion, Padre Pendola, in 1883, and to Tfie Western Daily Press, 12 July, 1900, on the observance in Siena of the centenary of his birth.

In appearance Mr. Pullen was tall, with carelessly tousled hair, and he might always be easily recognized by a crowd of small boys following in his footsteps wherever he went. I have known htm to take a group of urchins to see some spectacle at the theatre or circus, and he never seemed happier than when he was thus occupied.

lis abhorrence of the smell of tobacco fumes was extraordinary, and if he called on me,

'. was prepared to encounter his vigorous counterblast.

Mr. Pullen's death broke for me yet another of the links binding me to Italy, and again I had to repeat the haunting words of the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli : Oh ! sad it is to wander in the shade Alone ! and last. ..

WILLIAM MERCER.

HUNDRED OF MANHOOD (11 S. x. 229). The Selsey peninsula, to the south of Chi- hester, appears to have been known as he Hundred, or Peninsula, of Manhood, rom the " main wood " or forest tract of vhich most of it formerly consisted. I am

little pu/zled as to the term "Hundred," .s the county divisions generally so named Isewhere are, in Sussex, denominated 'Rapes"; but the "Manhood Hundred" viy be a conventional name only.

"JOLLY BOBBINS" (11 S. x. 249). loly Robin " is found in Chaucer's 'Troy- is ' (c. 1374), and in Langland's ' Romaunt f the Rose ' (c. 1400). An old lady who ied in 1902, aged over 90, was accustomed i use " high jolly robin " as a conversa- onal phrase expressive of cheerfulness and igh spirits. W. B. H.

MEDALLIC LEGENDS (US. x. 28, 48, 68 89, 109).

26. Cum sole et astris.

This looks like an adaptation of Ovid, ' Arnores,' I. xv. 16 :

Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.

44. Gratum quo sospite caelum. From Martial, V. i. 8, with the pagan element eliminated :

Sospite quo gratum credimus esse lovem.

106. Quid miscere iuvat vires ? Lucan, i. 88.

108. Regit imperiis et fulmine. See Virgil, ' ^Eneid,'|i. 229-30:

O qui res hominumque deumque ^Eternis regis imperiis et fulmine terres.

123. Secura duabus [ancoris]. The phrase appears to be based on the proverb ri Svoiv op/wi, cited by Apostolius, vii. 61, with the explanatory comment SrjXovoTi dyKvpatv. See "Duabus ancoris fultus" in Erasmus's ' Adagia.'

Most likely several of the legends in SLEUTH-HOUND'S list were concocted for the special occasion. One gets a little suspicious of modern Latin devices. I. was once consulted by the representative of an Australian literary society as to the Latin for some phrase of Kipling's. Finding that what was wanted was that I should trans- late his words into Latin, to serve as the society's motto, I urged them to be content with the author's own English !

LOWELL'S 'FIRESIDE TRAVELS' (11 S. x. 147, 197, 274).

6. " raised it, like the Prophet's breeches,

into a banner."

Assuming that Lowell indulged in a certain latitude, the allusion is, I think, to be explained by the following extracts :

" stout old Gao, the Persian Blacksmith,

' whose Apron, now indeed hidden under jewels, because raised in revolt which proved successful, is still the royal standard of that country-' " Carlyle, ' Sartor Resartus,' bk. i. chap. vi.

"The Saracens confess a loss of seven thousand five hundred men ; and the battle of Cadesia is justly described by the epithets of obstinate and atrocious. The standard of the monarchy was over- thrown and captured in the field a leathern apron of a blacksmith who in ancient times had arisen the deliverer of Persia ; but this badge of heroic poverty was disguised and almost concealed by a profusion of precious gems." Gibbon, ' Decline and Fall,' chap. li.

The battle of Cadesia is dated 636-7. Gib- bon refers for the standard to D'Herbelot, ' Bibliotheque Orientale,' pp. 297, 348, "an agreeable miscellany, which must gratify every taste." EDWARD BENSLY.