Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/478

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. x. DEC. 12, 1914.

occurrence, is nothing more than a second form of " nix," a derivative made by adding the very common suffix ie. It is extremely likely that " nix " is an attempt to render in English characters the German word nichts. W. A. MCLAUGHLIN.

Ann Arbor, Michigan.

" WE ABIE VEBIE MEANES " : 'As You LIKE IT,' II. vii. 70-73 (11 S. x. 385). MB. CUNINGHAM suggests that in " a perfect modern text "1. 73 should read

Till that the bravery wearer's means do ebb. This does not seem to me to run very smoothly, and in producing it MB. CUNING- HAM has, I think, forgotten a sound principle in emendation, viz., not to alter the original more than is absolutely necessary. To obtain " bravery wearer's means " he has had, besides inserting a syllable, to trans- pose the position of " verie." If we sub- stitute " wearer's " for " wearie," and leave " verie " where it stands in the Folio, the line will run

Till that the wearer's very means do ebb, which involves the alteration of only two letters of the original, and to my ear runs more smoothly than MB. CUNINGHAM'S emended line. J. B. THOBNE.

FIEE AND NEW-BIBTH (US. viii. 325, 376* 418, 454 ; ix. 14, 113). In this connexion the following quotation from Anne Pratt's ' Flowering Plants,' vol. i. p. 54, may be worth recalling to your readers :

" London Rocket, which is still very common about our metropolis, first appeared there after the Great Fire of London. In the spring succeed- ing that calamity, the young plants were seen everywhere rising up among the ruins, and in the summer the crop was so luxuriant, that it was supposed the whole of Europe did not contain so many specimens of the rocket as were then crowded over the surface of London. It was at that time a great marvel to observing men ; and after all that has been written on the subject of the sudden appearance of plants in particular spots, it is a marvel still."

The fact is well known, but not accounted for, that a layer of quicklime thrown over a soil will at once produce white clover plants in abundance, when they had not before grown on the spot ; and so, too, the burning of rubbish leaves ashes favourable to the growth of the rocket.

Baxter, in his ' British Flowering Plants,' mentions a circumstance analogous to that which succeeded the Fire of London as having occurred near Oxford Botanic Garden :

" During the time [says this writer] that the alterations were going on in the Garden, last year, 1834, the rubbish was removed to a piece of

ground on the outside of the walls. This rubbish as it accumulated was set fire to from time to- time, and was frequently burning for two or three days together, so that in the course of the season a considerable quantity of ashes was produced. Having received in the spring of the present year, 1835, a valuable collection of cuttings of nearly all the species of British willows. . . .this was the only piece of ground which we could appropriate to a Salicetum ; and in order to prepare it for the reception of the cuttings, the ashes were spread regularly over the surface, and the whole of it was trenched over ; in a short time the very spot on which the rubbish was burnt produced an abundant crop of Sisymbrium irio (London rocket), and on that part of the garden where I never remember seeing it before."

BENIBA.

SIB JOHN LADE : " MB. B CK " AND "BLACK D " (11 S. x. 269, 316,357,394). Black D would certainly appear to be Black Davies or Davis. In The Bon Ton Magazine for May, 1792 (vol. ii. p. 116) we read :

"The principal winners at Epsom races were black Davies and Sir John Lade ; but neither to any considerable amount."

That his name too was William is indicated by a contemporary pamphlet called ' The Minor Jockey Club,' printed for B. Farham (1794), where he is described as B-ll-y D-v-s, pp. 35-41. There also is a refer- ence to the account of him in Charles Pigott's ' Jockey Club,' which shows it is the same person. HOBACE BLEACKLEY.

'BOBS' (11 S. x. 429). The poem by Budyard Kipling with this heading, illus- trated by Aby Alston, first appeared in the Christmas number of The Pall Mall Magazine of 1893, at that time jointly edited by Lord Frederic Hamilton, M.P., and the late Sir Douglas Straight. In an obituary notice of the gallant officer which appeared in The Observer of 15 Nov. the writer alluded to it as follows :

" It has been said that Lord Roberts was njV- really known to the great mass of the people tilt Mr. Kipling's ' Bobs ' was in every one's ears possibly a proof of the line in it that ' he doesn't advertise.' The verses came out in a magazine, but you will not find them in any book by Mr. Kipling. Either from a hint of Ixjrd Roberts' opinion of them, or from Mr. Kipling's own second thoughts, there apparently came a decision that they had better be allowed to die."

It would be interesting if Mr. Kipling could be induced to inform your readers of the true reason why those spirited lines have never reappeared in any of his books or collected verses. It may be difficult now to obtain the magazine, a copy of which I fortunately preserved.

WIIXOUGHBY MAYCOCK.