Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/67

 s. xi. JAN. 16,1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

57

Catherine was born on 6 July, 1708 ; his daughter Ursula on 3 October, 1709; and his third and most distinguished daughter, Sarah, on 17 Nov., 1710, it may be assumed that at this period he had retired from active foreign service, although these dates do not absolutely preclude Col. Edmund Fielding's presence at Malplaquet in Sep- tember, 1709. There is also clear evidence that either in 1709 or early in 1710 the colonel was engaged in farming operations at East Stower, Dorset. J. PAUL DE CASTRO. 1, Essex Court, Temple.

THE PYRAMID IN LONDON (11 S. x. 510). I am reading the letters of M. Cesar de Saussure, a Swiss gentleman who visited England in 1725, translated, under the title ' A Foreign View of England in the Beigns of George I. and George II.,' by Madame Van Muyden. At p. 81 he says :

" Let us visit the Monument, which is not far off. This is a pyramid, or more properly a column, raised by order of Parliament at the exact spot where the terrible fire of 1666 broke out, by which about two-thirds of the City was destroyed."

This is probably what Sir William Temple meant. A. D. JONES.

Oxford.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (11 S. x. 468, 515 ; xi. 17). ' Over the Hills and Far Away.' Among the ' Jacobite Songs and Ballads,' edited by G. S. Macquoid, there is one on p. 36, the chorus of which is : -

He 's o'er the seas and far awa, He 's o'er the seas and far awa ; Yet of no man we '11 stand in awe, But drink his health that 's far awa.

Another, on p. 77, has this chorus : Over the seas and far awa, Over the seas and far awa,

O weel may we maen for the day that 's gane, And the lad that 's banished far awa.

Were these songs sung to the tune of "Over the Hills and Far Away,' and where can the tune be found ?

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

ALPHABETICAL NONSENSE : ALLITERATIVE JINGLES (US. x. 468 ; xi. 13). I should be grateful for information as to the period and meaning of one of these fireside pastimes which was evidently of political meaning, and was published in book -form, with coloured illustrations, some hundred years ago. Direc- tions for the game were given, and a print of si Georgian family seated round a fire, like the Primroses in ' Wakefield,' solemnly handing a toy dog from one to another of the circle, and saying, " Take this." Answer, " What's this ? " After which opening,

the reply, repeated after every rime, " A frisking, barking lady's lapdcg," led up through the usual sequence of twelve numbers. Since my childhood, sixty years ago, when the book, which belonged to an earlier generation, was loved for its pictures, I have wanted to understand the allusions in the following lines :

Two princes lost in a fog.

Seven patriots, to our cost,

In a chest of gold were lost.

Eight sheep, including one that steers,

Who went with Exmouth to Algiers. Can any reader enlighten me ? And does any one know of this quaint old jingle ?

Y. T.

I offer you quite a variation from those you have recorded. It contains alliteration to the extent of the first two or even three letters.

One onager pnsetting only on onions.

Two twittering twins twirling twisted twine.

Three threatening thieves thrusting through thorn thickets.

Four foolish fops fondling foreign foes.

Five fine fiddlers fingering fishes' fins.

Six sick sinners sitting simply silent.

Seven sea-serpents seizing senile seals.

Eight eerie eagles eagerly eyeing eels.

Nine niggardly nihilists nightly nibbling nickel nibs.

Ten teetotal teachers tearfully tending tents.

Eleven elegant elephants eliminating electrical elements.

Twelve tweeded tweenies tweedling twenty tweezers.

H. D. ELLIS.

Conservative Club, St. James's Street, S.W.

[This seems to be a modern exercise, for which we suspect our correspondent himself is re- sponsible.]

" THE PlR^US MISTAKEN FOR A MAN "

(US. xi. 9). This, which I now learn is also an English saying, is quite familiar in France "Prendre le Piree pour un homme " and takes its origin from La Fontaine's Fable VII. of Book IV., 'Le Singe et le Dauphin,' itself an^ imitation of ^Esop's Fable LXXXVIIL, H-i6r)KO<s /cat AeA</KS.

A dolphin, which animal is supposed to be very friendly to human beings, has saved, by receiving him on its back, a ship- wrecked monkey, with whom it enters into conversation, and inquires whether he is from Athens, to which the monkey replies that he is well known there, and he offers the dolphin his services and influence if ever it should have occasion for them. The dolphin goes on to inquire whether he also knows Piraeus, to which the monkey replies that he sees him every day, he is his