Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/49

 ii s. in. JAN. 21, ion.] NOTP:S AND QUERIES.

beginning of ' The Merchant of Venice,' who, when they do speak, seem to say,

I am Sir Oracle,

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark. The 'N.E.D.' gives a quotation of 1854 which repeats this characterization of John- son, but not the passage itself.

Now the mention of a big dog who silenced his companions or took a dignified lead in barking would give this meaning more clearly, and I find Scott in his pleasant way thus, perhaps, recalling the remark on John- son. He says ('Journal,' vol. i. p. 61, ed. 1890) concerning the merits of some verses he wrote in 1825 to the tune of * Bonnie Dundee ' :

" I wonder if they are good. Ah ! poor Will Krskine ! thou couldst and wouldst have told me. I must consult J. B., who is as honest as was W. E. But then, though he has good taste too, there is a little of Big Bow-wow about it."

Again (i. 155), Scott praises Jane Austen's ' Pride and Prejudice,' and adds :

" That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going ; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me."

The first of these references seems to indicate pretentious or loud assurance ; the second the Grand Style. One would expect to find " bow-wow " in the writings of a master of the vernacular like Shake- speare, and it occurs in ' The Tempest.'

WINKIE.

PRINCE OF MONACO'S MEMOIR.

(See 10 S. vii. 125,244; viii. 83; 11 S. i. 362.)

THE following is a translation of another inedited prison paper of the Prince of Monaco in my possession, and is well written, without any erasures :

Memoir sent 26 Thermidor [August] to the Com- mittee of General Safety, and addressed to the Representatives of the People, composing the Committee of General Safety.

Citizens, A decree given the 18th of this month has charged you to set at liberty the citizens detained as suspects for reasons which are not designated by the law of 17 September, Old Style.

The declaration above delivered by the Revo" lutionary Committee of Vigilance, of the section of the Ked Cap, gives the reason for my detention to be the emigration of one of my children. I thought I had proved by the different Memoirs that I have addressed to the National Conven-

tion and to its Committees, especially by the- observations expressed on 14 Pluvidse [March],, of which I here give an example, that my son cannot be considered as an e'migre'. Besides, my absent son is 31 years old, out of my power by the laws, and has not dwelt with me since his marriage in 1781 ; he did not tell me of his departure, and I have not received news of him, nor have I written to him.

But if my son ever could be called an Emigre, the law of 17 October, 1793, Old Style, cannot be applied to me, as it implies that only those former nobles shall be deemed suspects who are the fathers of Emigres who have not constantly manifested their attachment to the Revolution ; for, first in the quality of Prince of Monaco, and then in that of a private person, I have always shown my devotion and my zeal for the happiness of the French people and the prosperity of France.

In reality, not satisfied with not having spared trouble or expense to provide for the victualling and necessary subsistence of the troops of France in garrison in the Place de Monaco, and those of the armies of Italy, sent in detachments into the said Principality and its environs, I have besides- borrowed a large sum at Genoa, which I still owe,, and which I have employed for the same use. I have several times advanced my own money for the payment of the French garrison, with the view of preventing any contingencies that might retard it. The deeds deposited in the Registers of the Treasury of the former Principality of Monaco are now at the disposal of the administrators of the Department of the Maritime Alps, and among the letters of the Minister of War' who has been informed of them.

Protected by the same sentiments, I have always addressed the strongest representations and solicitations to the different Ministers of War to procure for the French troops in garrison at Monaco things necessary for them, and to make them preserve exactly the military discipline and laws decreed by the National Assembly, which is shown by my letters, that ought to be found in the War Office.

The proofs of my constant attachment to the French Republic, as a private person, are no less real, and although they are contained in the different Memorials that" I have presented, I will recall them :

The voluntary gift that I have made of several horses.

That of 24 guns, or of their equivalent.

That of 4 pieces of bronze cannon which be- longed to me, to the Commune of Thorigny, Department of La Manche.

That of the first Tree of Liberty which has been placed in the same Commune.

The assistance of bread and money that I have not ceased to give to the poor of the Communes where I have possessions. The money that 1 have given to the Section of the Red Cap.

Finally, the prompt and exact payment of all the ordinary and extraordinary contributions which have been levied on me up to this day.

To all these proofs of my attachment I could also add my unbroken residence in France from. the commencement of the year 1790.