Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/255

 us. VIIL SEPT. 27, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

249

" FAIRY-TALES." In his interesting book on { The English Language ' (" Home Uni- versity Library ") Mr. L. P. Smith states that the word " fairy-tales " must apparently be ascribed to Tennyson. He has probably been misled by the ' Oxford Dictionary,' which quotes from ' Aylmer's Field ' : " He had. . . .told her fairy-tales." But the word occurs twice in Lockhart's ' Scott ' (cc. xliii., xlvii.), which appeared nearly thirty years before Tennyson's poem. Can any reader give a still earlier reference ?

W. ADDIS MILLER.

Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh.

QUOTATION WANTED.

Whatever passes like a cloud between The mental eye of faith and things unseen, Causing that brighter world to disappear, Or seem less lovely, and its hopes less dear That is thy world, thine idol, though it wear Affection's impress or devotion's air.

I thought this was by Cowper, but cannot find it. OLNEY.

GRAHAM'S ' LAST LINKS WITH BYRON, SHELLEY, AND KEATS.' At the end of his Introduction to * Last Links with Byron, Shelley, and Keats ' (published by Leonard Smithers & Co., 1898), William Graham writes :

" Under the promise I gave Miss Clairmont, I am precluded from writing more in connection with

the confidences until 1901 Until 1901, therefore,

my pen must be idle on the subject [Shelley's rela- tions with his sister-in-law, Miss Clairmont], and then, when all restrictions are removed, and on the dawn of a new century, I shall have my final word to say."

Has the author said his " final word " ? If so, what is the title of the book ?

H. LONSDALE.

Sutton, Surrey.

[See ante, p. 228.]

'CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST.' This book was published anonymously in London in 1858, and the reviewer in The Athenceum could not make up his mind whether it was a bona fide autobiography or a hideous nightmare. Has the author's name ever been disclosed ? A name has been suggested to me, but I have not been able to verify it. L. L. K.

' GADARA.' I should be pleased if, through your valuable paper, you would kindly let me know the name and particulars of the author of a poem called ' Gadara,' which was published by Saunders & Otley, Conduit Street, London (1853).

A. S. WHTTFIELD.

" ATJKENDALE." In a Lancashire Diary for 1730 this word several times occurs :

"14 aukendales of potatoes at 3%d. per auken- dale."

" I ordered him to as many groats cut up as would be half an aukendale."

What does this measure represent ? I cannot find the word in ' N.E.D.,' nor in the ' Dialect Dictionary.'

HENRY FISHWICK.

[Is not aukendale another form of haiighendole, aghendole, &c. ? See MR. STRACHAN'S reply, ante, p. 77.]

" QUEEN'S TRUMPETER." I believe that at the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 there was present a " Queen's Trumpeter." I should feel very grateful if any of your readers could give me any information as to (1) the identity of this particular trum- peter, and (2) where I could find any account of the office of Queen's Trumpeter and of its holders. J. G. LAITHWAITE. Trinity College, Oxford.

THE OLDEST LIVING RAILWAY TRAVEL- LER. In the last volume of ' N. & Q.' appeared several communications relating the experiences of early railway travellers. I mentioned some of these to Mr. Daniel Yenning, a hale and active octogenarian now residing at Bude, and full of informa- tion regarding its history. For many years he occupied one of the largest farms in the neighbourhood. He surprised me by saying that, when a boy at school at Bodmin in 1834, he travelled thence by railway to a picnic at Wenver Bridge. The railway was generally used for mineral traffic, but passengers were conveyed on special occasions, such as that just mentioned, the trucks being cleaned and provided with benches. The engines were named Camel and Elephant. Is there any one else still living who can rival Mr. Venning's ex- perience ? J. R.

" SLAV SCHOLAR." As there was the other day a discussion in ' N. & Q.' about a peculiarity of the English tongue "a friend of my father's," to wit I wish to broach another one, which was suggested to me by an expression in MR. MARCHANT'S interesting communication about the Uskoks (ante, p. 165), namely, "Slav scholar." He means, of course, a scholar expert in the Slav languages, not one of Slav nationality. I know that in spite of its ambiguity it is good English that a Chinese correspondent may be a person corresponding from China, not necessarily a Chinese ; but how far