Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/393

 ii s. xii. NOV. 13, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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their " coal-black " horses that they " were as silent, hoof and limb, as if they had been cut out of marble." (See also Scott's ' Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,' letter 5.)

Then mention is made by Axon of the legend of Dun^tanburgh Castle, with a reference to the ballad of ' Sir Guy the Seeker,' by Monk (Matthew Gregory) Lewis. In this legend it appears that there were " a hundred coal-black steeds, and sleeping by their sides a hundred marble knights."

I have not verified all the above references. There are several other legends given, Welsh, Irish, &c., references.

There are two metrical versions of the legend of Alder ley Edge in ' Ballads & Legends of Cheshire,' collected by, and many written by, Egerton Leigh, 1867. The first, p. 102, ' The Iron Gates : a Legend of Alderley,' is from ' The Guide to Alderley ' ; the second with the same title, p. 280, is by J. Roscoe. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

SONGS WANTED (11 S. xii. 301, 347). 2. The words of the song, or round, inquired for by MR. JACOB, were, as nearly as I can recall, the following :

If I were a cobbler, I 'd make it my pride

The best of all cobblers to be ;

If I were a tinker, no tinker beside

Should mend an old kettle like me.

But whether a tinker or whether a lord,

Whatever my portion may be,

In the school I will aim for the top of the class,

In the field for the top of the tree ;

Let who will be second,

The first I'm determined to be.

It was sung to the same tune as " In the snug little field " (Ferrari),W. Hills' s' Rounds and Canons,' Part I., No. 13.

JOHN LIVESEY.

THE SPLIT INFINITIVE (11 S. xii. 198, 251, 310, 350). lam not intimidated by OXFORD GRADUATE'S denunciation of all who differ from him as " foolish and ignorant pedants " and " dunderheads," nor shall I borrow from his vocabulary in reply. If his ear apprises him of no preferential difference between " to consider carefully " (or " carefully to consider") and " to carefully consider," we shall not convince him. He cites three ex- amples of the split infinitive from good writers, just as he might collect false quantities from the Latin poets or faulty rimes from the English ; but the very rarity of these instances (that from Shakespeare is a passive infinitive) surely indicates what has been and remains the usage of masters of English literature.

OXFORD GRADUATE recognizes no distinc- tion between compound verbs andsimple ones.

Setting aside " to case-harden " as a tech- nical term of handicraft which could only occur in literature in a figurative sense,. " to reconsider " is one of a very large class of verbs compounded with the Latin prefix re-, such as " remember," " refer," " relate," &c. To give these as examples of the split infinitive is to go wide of the mark. Perhaps we may compromise by allowing that the split infinitive is an offence against good usage rather than against correct syntax ; to be avoided as, perhaps not corrupt, but inelegant, English. HERBERT MAXWELL. Monreith.

This artificial grievance is quite modern^ The late Mr. Andrew Lang began it in Longman's Magazine, I think, some twenty years ago or more. Since then every second-rate journalist who is ready to pose as a purist has fallen foul of the split infini- tive. There is nothing absolutely wrong about this locution, although, perhaps, it is inelegant, and the matter may well be left to the pedants. It probably arises from a French idiom. The French are more accustomed than ourselves to put a tonic force upon an adjective or adverb that is placed before an active verb. Hence their very frequent use of the split infinitive when writing English. For example, Du Maurier :

" The only way to keenly appreciate and tho- roughly enjoy the priceless gifts." " To suddenly find himself at dusk." " Works that she grew to thoroughly master.''

The tonic force I allude to occurs in

" His eyes quiveringly glittered/' " While he surreptitiously read," '* A power of immediately inspiring affection."

by the same clever and really elegant writer.,

EDWARD SMITH. Wandsworth.

TAVERN SIGNS : " MOTHER HUFF CAP " (11 S. xii. 279, 346)." Mother Huff Cap " = "Old Mother Huff Cap" = "(Old) Mother Damnable," &c. For some weeks " Mother Huff Cap " has been on the tapis of ' N. & Q.,' Yet no one has shown the above equ- ation.

This old lady, however named, was a contemporary of Henry VIII., and is mentioned by the laureate Skelton (1460- 1529), whose is also ' The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng,' re Leatherhead.

She was a witch and murderess, having one or more avatars during the Stuart dynasty as well as under the Second Tudor. Indeed,, the holders of her name became so celebrated as to give her appellation to a Hampstead