Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/436

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. NOV. 28,

with the care of his three little boys, who now began to be entertaining company : and tho' the eldest of them was but just turned of ten years old, yet he had already destined him and his two brothers, to their several professions, without con- sulting either their genius or their inclinations.

"The eldest he proposed to enter under an eminent solicitor in Chancery; a man full of business, and where consequently his son would be constantly employed. The second he intended to put an apprentice to a tradesman in Man- chester, who was his relation ; with a view of getting him in partner to a very busy, flourishing manufacture. The third he determined to bind for seven years to a very celebrated man in one of the most populous clothing towns in the west ; who had united in his own person the several professions of apothecary, surgeon, man-midwife, bone-setter, tooth-drawer, hop-dealer, and brandy- merchant. And by these several occupations Columella flattered himself that his sons would be secured from that tedium and disgust of life which he experienced, and which he had brought upon himself by a life of indolence and inactivity. Vol. ii. pp. 208-10.

The book contains many interesting topographical allusions, and it refers to a visit to the " Bear Inn " at Devizes, tnen kept by Sir Thomas Lawrence's father. It also contains descriptions of Stourhead and the neighbouring house Maiden Bradley (Duke of Somerset's).

Jane Austen had began ' Sense and Sensibility ' at Steventon (Hants) in Novem- ber, 1797. Between 1801-9 she was living at Xo. 24, Sydney Terrace, Bath, and afterwards at Green Park Buildings. The book was pre- pared for the press at Chawton in 1809 (in a small house at the corner of the Alresford Road, about two miles from Alton), and the book was issued in 1811. I mention these facts to show that Richard Graves, the author of ' Columella,' was probably a well- known figure to Jane Austen when living at Bath. Graves then lived at Claverton, close by, and on the verge of 90 he would walk into Bath with almost the briskness of youth.

Of the axithor of ' Columella,' I will add that he was born at Mickleton (Glos), 4 May, 1715 ; educated at the Grammar School, Abingdon ; Pembroke College, Oxon, matric. 7 Nov., 1732 ; private chaplain to William Fitzherbert (friend of Dr. Johnson) at Tissington Hall, Derbyshire ; and curate of Aldworth, near Reading, but, the parsonage house being out of repair, he lived with a farmer named Bartholomew at Dunworth. He fell in love with Lucy Bartholomew, the daughter, aged 16. She was beautiful, but illiterate. He married her some time be- tween 1744 and 1748, and sent her to London to acquire manners and education. He alienated his family by this marriage. He

was Rector of Claverton, near Bath, from 1748 until his death, 23 Nov., 1804. His wife died 1777, aged 46. He had five sons and one daug iter. His portrait was painted 1 > \ - ( ! ;> insborough, and engraved by Basire ar Gainsborough Dupont. Another portrait bj Northcote was engraved by S. W. Reynolds, 1800. Graves was the author of twenty- two different works, including ' The Spiritual Quixote.' He was an intimate friend of Shenstone, and it has been asserted that the character of Columella in the book we are discussing was a picture of Shenstone. It is much more likely to be a picture of Graves himself. Shenstone never married, and, as we have seen, Graves did; and Colu- mella's matrimonial affairs correspond rather closely to Graves's own. The book wa.s issued two years after his wife's death, being probably withheld during her lifetime, so as not to hurt her feelings.

A. L. HUMPHREYS. 187, Piccadilly, W.

DIDO'S PURCHASE OF LAND (11 S. ix. 47, 353,474; x. 17). Another Chinese version of this tradition runs as follows :

" When the red-haired barbarians [the Dutch] first arrived in a Chinese territory, they were not allowed to land on account of their great number. Then they importuned its governor to grant them a ground just as wide as a carpet. He considered their want a mere trifle and granted it. Upon this they brought on the shore a carpet, which, when unfurled, seated only two men on it. They drew it out a little further, and four or five of them sat thereon. But as they proceeded in this doing, the carpet went on expanding so immensely that after a while several hundreds of them de- barked upon it. And all of a sudden they un- sheathed their sabres, and went off, after pillaging over several leagues in its vicinity." Pu Sung- ling, ' Liu-chai-chi-i ' (written in the eighteenth century), torn. xii.

KUMAGUSU MlXAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

"DATJD " = GEORGE (11 S. x. 386). In Scotland at the present time "Dod," a probable variant of "Daud," is quite commonly used as a familiar substitute for " George." Any explanation of the form that one has heard is that it represents a childish experiment at pronouncing the baptismal name. Be that as it may, " Dod " has its place with " Bob," " Xed," and others, and when used surprises nobody. In one family circle of last generation an uncle and a nephew, only narrowly separated in years, were known respectively as " Big Dod " and " Little Dod," and the distinction sufficed and received general recognition. THOMAS BAYNE.