Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/178

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NOTES AND QUERIES. ins. XL *EB. 27,1915.

Liberty, the white Equality, and the blue Fraternity. This would square very well with the Trinitarian origin : red for the Holy Ghost (the colour for Whitsuntide, " ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas," 2 Cor. iii. 17) ; the white for our equality in the sight of the All -Father ; the blue for Our Lady, through whom we claim Fraternity with God made man.

Has any book been published on the origin and history of national flags ?

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT.

[The tricolour flag of France has been much dis- cussed in ' N. & Q.' It was first noticed in the eighth volume of the Second Series. Later refer- ences are : 7 S. ix. 384, 415 ; x. 157, 174, 210, 314 ; 8 S. v. 165, 231 ; 10 S. ii. 247, 290, 312.J

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

STARS IN LISTS OF INDIA STOCKHOLDERS. In Disraeli's ' Sybil,' bk. iv. chap, xi., Mr. Ormsby says : " The only stars I have got are four stars in India stock." Simi- larly Thackeray in ' Vanity Fair,' chap, xx., lias : " She was reported 'to have. . . .three stars to her name in the East India stock- holders' list." It is evident that the asterisks attached to the name of a stock- holder denoted the amount of stock held by him, but what was their precise signifi- cance ? HENRY BRADLEY.

Oxford.

PRONUNCIATION OF "CHOPIN." With reference to Dr. Ehrlich's note (see ante, p. 1 21) on the pronunciation of Polish, may I inquire the correct way of pronouncing the name of this Polish composer ? Without any knowledge of the subject, it lias always seemed to me that the method based upon, no doubt, the French pronunciation (Sho- pain) must be quite inadmissible.

It now appears that Polish ch is pronounced as in loch, but not so gutturally ; and that i is generally equivalent to the vowel in deer. Consequently, the correct pronunciation of "Chopin" would be represented, for us, by Kopeen or Kopin. Is this so ?

P. D. V.

SOLOMON'S ADVICE TO HIS SON. " Be- ware of the fury of a patient man." Mr. Blatchford, according to The Daily Mail of 25 Jan., 1915, quotes this. Where can I find ^ ? M.A.OXON.

MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. (See 11 S. v. 475.) In a communication signed D. J. it is stated that

bronze medals to commemorate the Massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, 1572, are still struck at the Papal Mint at the Vatican, and sold there ; and when in Rome a few years ago I procured one,, which I still possess."

A correspondent of The Northern Whig (Belfast, 15 Feb.) absolutely denies the above statement. He does so on the ground

" that the Papal Mint ceased to exist almost half a century ago, i.e., in 1870, on the union of Italy under Victor Emmanuel." He goes further, and says :

" I do not admit the issuing of the medals, even when the Papal State had its own mint, prior to 1870."

I can hardly think that D. J. made such a circumstantial statement without any foundation whatever. Will D. J. (if ho still subscribes to ' N. & Q.') or some other contributor kindly say if medals to com- memorate the Massacre of St. Bartholomew were sold as lately as 1912? If so, where were they sold, and who issued them ? I sincerely hope that a reply will be forth- coming to these questions. A.

SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE 1776. Can any one say where in London there is a map of South Carolina, before the Declaration of Independence, giving the counties ?

B. C. S.

AUTHORS WANTED. Can any reader tell me the source of the following quotation, which I hope I give correctly ? ^

I will remember while the light is yet, And in the darkness I will not forget.

J. A.

Who was it who said that no woman over thirty was worth looking at, and that no woman under thirty was worth talking to ? A. GWYTHER.

Windham Club, St. James's Square, S.W.

PIDGEON EPITAPH. Who wrote the " In- scription for the tomb of Mrs. Elizabeth Pidgeon, who died suddenly," published on p. 101 of ' The Wiccamical Chaplet,' edited by George Huddesford (London, 1804) ? Weep, Reader, the sad tidings here announc'd I Death, that fell Kite, on Betty Pidgeon pounc'd : Yet, tho' her sudden flight our grief demands, Her's is the Pidgeon-house not made with hands ; For in her life the Serpent's wisdom shone, And the Dove's innocency was her own. Then, till Heay'n wakes to happiness thy soul, Best, gentle Pidgeon, in this Pidgeon-hole.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.