Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/98

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vm. AUG. 2, 1913.

title in this diocese is "Dean of St. Paul's." In replying, is it justifiable to " accept the Dean of St. Paul's' s kind invitation " ? Of course the difficulty may be avoided by transposing the words, but assuming the order of words to be, for whatever reason, essential, is the double possessive gram- matically justifiable ? The word " Cathe- dral " is, of course, understood, but one conld hardly reply to " the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral's invitation."

J. FOSTER PALMER. 8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

One is always grateful to any one who is striving to preserve the purity of our language, but I should like to ask MR. J. T. CURRY whether he finds any ambiguity in such a phrase as "a friend of mine," and whether it could stand for anything but " a friend of [i.e., out of] my friends." If he does not object to the use of the pos- sessive pronoun " mine," I do not see on what ground he protests against the possessive case " Alfred's." The usage may be new, though I cannot remember the time when I did not meet with and (pace MR. CURRY) adopt it ; but I cannot detect any ambiguity. C. B. WHEELER. *

MR. JOHN T. CURRY complains of the 's in the modern sentence-form " Peter is a friend of Alfred's " ; " that sister of Char- lotte Bronte's." He takes these perhaps not seriously to be equivalent to " Peter is a friend *of Alfred's friend," and " that sister of the sister of Charlotte Bronte." I neither defend the form nor reject it ; that it is ambiguous cannot be denied. But the usual explanation is that the word understood is the plural of the noun pre- ceding of ; thus, " Peter is a friend of Alfred's friends," &c., meaning that Peter is one of them. There is something like a parallel in the Hebrew idiom always explicit, however "a corner of the corners of the room," i.e., one of the corners of the room. NEIL CONLEY.

[MR. J. FINCH also thanked for reply.]

' THE AMBULATOR ' (11 S. vii. 430 ; viii. 16). A complete set of this publication would be a valuable possession for a library, as it would show the various changes that were effected in the suburbs of London during a period of nearly forty years. I have amongst my books copies of the third edition, " Printed for J. Bew, in Pater-Noster-Row, 1787," and of the eleventh edition, 1811,

which was described by MR. THOMAS WM. HUCK at the second reference. The map attached to this copy is inscribed " Pub- lished as the Act directs July 1 : 1806 by Scatcherd & C. Avemaria Lane," so it w^as probably engraved for the tenth edition of 1806. The map of the third edition is dated " Sept r 3 rd 1787," and it probably did duty until it was superseded in 1806. I have not seen the maps, if any, which belonged to the first and second editions.

The descriptions of the various places mentioned in the book are written in the earlier editions in rather a florid style, which was subsequently toned down. For instance, Marble Hall (properly Marble Hill), at Twickenham, the seat of the Earl of Buck- inghamshire, w v as in 1787 a " house as white as snow," whereas in 1811 it is merely "a small white building." In 1787 the de- scription of Ranelagh extended to seven and a half pages, but by 1811 the gardens had ceased to exist. In the meantime other places of entertainment had sprung up. In 1787 Primrose Hill occupies only four lines, but the notice is much enlarged in 1811; and a description is given of Chalk Farm, where Col. Montgomery expired after fight- ing his duel with Capt. Macnamara in 1803. Chalk Farm, it is said, " was known a few years back as the rendezvous of the Corre- sponding Society, who first assembled in a discontented manner at Copenhagen House." The editor continues :

" Having, in our former editions, omitted to notice this well-known resort of Sunday smoakers and Monday skittle-players, we shall here remark that it deserves equally to be ranked with White- Conduit House and Bagnigge Wells."

Its career was, however, a short one.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

The first edition of ' The Ambulator ' is given in the Catalogue of New Publications in The Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1774, and priced 2s. Qd. A copy of " The Eighth Edition, Augmented and Improved," is in this library. The title follows that of the seventh edition (ante, p. 17), the imprint being " London : Printed for J. Scatcherd, Ave Maria Lane. 1796," and the price 4s. ROLAND AUSTIN.

Public Library, Gloucester.

I possess copies of ' The Ambulator * for 1800 and 1811. I also saw a copy bearing date 1805 a week or so ago. It was apparently succeeded by ' The Stranger's Guide ; or, New Ambulator,' published by T. Hughes, 35, Ludgate Street, and W. Cole, 10, Newgate Street.