Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/32

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [n s. vra. JULY 12, 1913. who were saved from it by their acquaintance with ancient and modern languages, in which such a form of speech has no place. Coming to modern times, I find that Charles Lamb is one of the earliest offenders. In his short story entitled 'Cupid's Revenge' he says:—

A little further on we read:—

If Lamb had remembered his Latin grammar, lie would not have written such " Boeotian " monsense as " this foible of the duke's ffoible], or "an unjust humour of the

duke's [unjust humour]." I am pleased that this charming author does not speak of " this son of the duke's," for, in that case, the would have been speaking, not of the -duke's son, but of the duke's grandson.

This possessive case has been much used in conversation, but it is now appearing in ^the works of notable writers. One cannot ay it is grammatically wrong, like the word italicized in the following sentence :

"As a philosopher he [Macaulay] had only two "thoughts ; and neither of -them are, correct." Mr. O. K.. Chesterton's ' The Victorian Age in Litera- ture,' p. 32.

If Mr. Chesterton had written " Both of them are untrue," his readers would not have found fault with his English, however much ^they might have dissented from his estimate -of Macaulay's philosophy. On pp. 112-13 of the volume just mentioned there is a striking example of the misleading possessive ~which I am discussing :

"It can be most clearly seen in that sister of Charlotte Bronte's, who has achieved the real feat -of remaining as a great woman rather than a great -writer."

'The words " that sister of Charlotte Bronte's " are equivalent to " that sister of the sister of Charlotte Bronte." Char- lotte had two sisters, Ann and Emily, and as we read on, we gather that the reference- is to the latter. How much more lucid the ^author would have been had he said : "It can be most clearly seen in Charlotte Bronte's ^sister Emily."

Another popular writer, Mr. Maurice Hewlett, in his romance entitled * Open Country ' (Macmillan & Co., 1912), supplies this strange information on p. 10, where he ays :

" There had been a Mauleverer creation by that sovereign [James I.] ; but it expired with the

patentee's son. Charles I. revived it in the person of a brother of the first baronet's."

This queer possessive suggests a number of questions which I leave to the consideration of the reader, not one of which would have arisen if the simple statement had been made that the baronetcy was revived " in the person of the first baronet's brother."

I hope that all those who value precision of language will condemn this possessive case both in colloquial and literary use.

JOHN T. CURRY.

FRUIT TREES, 1753. The following list of fruit trees, entered in the Register of Heysham (Lancashire) as planted in the Rectory garden in 1753, may be of interest :

Citern de Carmas Summer Pearmain

Jargonel Non-Parrel

Autumn Borgomot Golden Pippin

Gross Bussolet French Rennet

Cusa Madame Kentish Codling

Golden Pippin Green Soldier

Wheelers Russet Kentish Pippin

Green Gage Plumb Margaret Apple

Orleans Plumb The Cherry at the

May Dukes Cherry entrance of ye Garden. Jennetting Apple

HENRY BRIERLEY. Wigan.

[For many old names of apples see the General Index to the Tenth Series.]

OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S ' DESERTED VIL- LAGE.' Few lines are better known than the couplet,

The chest contriv'd a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day.

It may be suggestive of an origin, and is certainly worth noting as a coincidence, that in

" The Satires of Juvenal Paraphrastically Imi- tated, and adapted to the Times. With a Preface. London. Printed for J. Ridley, St. James's Street, MDCCLXIII.,"

whereof a large portion is directed against the Earl of Bute and his countrymen, the following occurs on p. 32 :

What if in Scotland's wilds we veil'd our head, Where tempests whistle round the sordid bed ; Where the Rug's two-fold use we might display, By night a blanket, and a plaid by day.

This imitation of Juvenal is attributed in the British Museum Catalogue to Edward Burnaby Greene, apparently because of the initials "E. B. G." at the end of the Preface in the Library copy, which is catalogued as dated 1764. The 1763 edition from which I quote has no initials appended to the Preface ; and the notice of Greene in the ' D.N.B.' omits ' Juvenal ' from its list of his Writings, which, however, does not