Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/263

 n s. in. APRIL i, mi.] NOTES AND QU ERIES.

257

alliance between this thought and that of a fina.1 purification by the passage, in faith, of I the cold stream of death. R. H.

Stamford Hill.

Does not the prominence given to the work

t of St. John Baptist in the Gospels, together

with the wonders attending the story of the

i baptism of Jesus, bear materially upon this

, subject ? It is a familiar fact that water

\ brought from the river is much sought after

i for baptismal purposes by Christians in

many parts of the world.

I have looked from the battlements of j Tabor, Bohemia, founded by the blind general Jan Zizka, upon the large Hussite baptismal pond styled "Jordan," in accord- ance with the prevailing fondness for Scriptural appellations. Near by is the pretty valley where the misguided Adamites attempted to establish a " garden of Eden."

FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. Streatham Common.

" No GREAT SHAKES "(US. iii. 129, 173). The following is from James Smith's

Comic Miscellanies,' 1840, vol. i.) :
 * Next-Door Neighbours ' ( ' Memoirs and

" Who are the comers next to Blakes ? "

"At Number Four ?'*- " Yes." " No great shakes,

Sad junketings and wastings. I saw the play in ' Days of Yore,' He acted Hasting^ in ' Jane Shore,' And she Jane Shore in ' Hastings.' "

Smith, who died in 1839, appears to have been an industrious collector of " Ame- ricanisms," to judge from his satire entitled


 * The Land of Promise.'

R. L. MORETON.

Barrere and Leland (' Dictionary of Slang,' vol. ii. p. 213) have a long note on the probable origin of " no great shakes." Quoting from Dr. A. Smythe Palmer, the note says :

" It is probable that shakes here is identical with the provincial word shake, to brag, which must be of ancient usage, as we find ' schakare, or cracker, or boost maker, jactator, philo-compus' in the

'Promptorium Parvulorum, about 1440 Thus

no oreat shaken would mean nothing to make a noise or brag about. Otherwise we may look for it in the provincial shakes, a bargain, comparing Danish skakkre, to peddle, or huxter ; Icelandic skakka, to balance."

The note goes on to state :

"It has also been suggested that no great shakes may possibly be attributed to the expression to tt&ge the elbow, i.e.., to play at dice, thus, no great shakes, a bad throw."

The references adduced for the use of the phrase in the dictionary are all of them modern. T. S. R. W.

MEG DODS AND ' THE COOK AND HOUSE- WIFE'S MANUAL' (11 S. iii. 209). The writer of this cookery book was Mrs. Christian Isobel Johnstoiie (1781-1857), whose bio- graphy is to be found in the 'D.N.B.' Her husband was proprietor of The Inverness Courier, and the book was " originally written at Inverness, chiefly to keep The Inverness Courier press going." It was much the most popular of her works, and went through several editions in her lifetime.

M. A. M. MACALISTER.

" Mistress Margaret Dods of the Cleikum Inn " was the pseudonym of Mrs. Christian Isobel Johnstone, novelist, the wife of John Johnstone, who for a time, with her assis- tance, edited The Inverness Courier. See Halkett and Laing (who call her " Christina Jane Johnstone"); Anderson's 'Scottish Nation,' vol. iii., Supplement ; and a characteristic note in Scott's ' Journal,' edited by Mr. David Douglas, p. 344. Sir Walter had nothing to do with ' The Cook

and Housewife's Manual.'

W. SCOTT.

Halkett and Laing state that the authoress was Mrs. Christina Jane Johnstone, but the ' D.N.B.' gives her name as Mrs. Christian Isobel Johnstone. The ' Manual ' was pub- lished in 1826. R. A. POTTS. [MR, W. E. A. AXON also thanked for reply.]

" STICK-IN-THE-MUD " (11 S. iii. 106, 175) This expression is also quite common in Ireland, meaning a dullard or slow-coach. I fancy that the meaning of a number of these old expressions could be better solved in Ireland than even in England, owing to the fact that the former is still an agricul- tural country and goes slower.

DUNMURRY.

[The Aihenceum has recently on one or two occasions, when reviewing books dealing with the English used in different parts of Ireland, called attention to the survival of old English words and phrases in the language of the Irish peasants of to-day. But we think the phrase in question is in use everywhere in England.]

[MR. N. W. HILL is thanked for reply.]

" ROYAL BLUE" OMNIBUSES (11 S.iii. 189). It appears that the " Royal Blues " were originally called the " Eagles," and were painted green. They ran from the "Com- passes " at Pimlico to Blackwall, via Picca- dilly, and were owned by a Mr. John Clark. According to Moore's ' Omnibuses and Cabs' (1902), p. 48, the owner was driving one of his omnibuses by Hyde Park Corner when suddenly Queen Victoria approached