Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/342

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. iv. OCT. 21, 1911.

the former " dungaree duck," from its likeness when in strips to the cloth material, just as they were wont to allude to hard salt junk as " mahogany." As the bummelo, too, was plentiful around Bombay, the alter- native appellation of "Bombay duck" is sufficiently accounted for ; but in any case the word " duck " in the Anglo-Indian vocabulary must havehad reference primarily to the dress material, to which the dried fish bore so striking a resemblance, and not to the aquatic bird, as has often been assumed. That it should have afterwards come to be a popular term for the nether garments of the uniform of soldiers in the Bombay presidency, who wore this species of khaki ; and finally become a nickname for the sepoy troops themselves, the original signification being lost sight of, is only a com- monplace occurrence in philology.

I trust the ' N.E.LV may be led to adopt this solution of the matter, which to me appears incontrovertible. N. W. HILL.

FIRE OF LONDON: FRENCH CHURCH IN THREADNEEDLE STREET (11 S. iv. 9). Although myself unable to answer MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS'S question, it may facili- tate a reply from others to remind them that the French Church stood on the site of the Hall of Commerce, a venture of Mr. Moxhay's (see 10 S. iii. 307, &c.), and now replaced by a bank and some stockbrokers' offices. There is a fine frieze and group of figures on the walls, well worth attention. But few seem to glance at them in this busy quarter. CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athenaeum Club.

WATCHMAKERS' SONS (11 S. iv. 269).

Beaumarchais, too, was the son of a watch- maker, and during his earlier years was apprenticed to the trade of his father, which he afterwards forsook for literature. In connexion with him it may not be out of place to repeat the story of the French nobleman who, in the days of Beaumar- chais' s elevation and popularity, wished to insult him by reminding him of his obscure origin and former humble trade. The noble- man handed Beaumarchais his watch, asking him to put it right. The ex- watchmaker, quite equal to the occasion, protesting he was very clumsy, but would do his best, took the watch and deliberately dropped it on the ground. GURNER P. JONES.

Augustus Caron de Beaumarchais (1732- 1799) was the son of a watchmaker, and according to Jean Fleury (' Histoire elemen- taire de la Litterature francaise,' p. 263),

" il exerga quelque temps la profession deson pere, et inventa meme un perfectionne- ment dans le mecanisme des montres."

The following extract from ' Beeton's Book of Anecdotes ' may interest the querist :

" Beaumarchais, the author of ' The Marriage of Figaro,' was the son of a Paris watchmaker, but raised himself to fame, wealth, and rank by the force of his talents. An insolent young nobleman undertook to wound his pride by an. allusion to his humble origin, and, handing him his watch, said, ' Examine it, sir ; it does not keep time well. Pray ascertain the cause.' Beaumarchais extended his hand awkwardly, as if to receive the watch, but contrived to let it fall on the pavement. ' You see, my dear sir,' replied he, ' you have applied to the wrong person ; my father always declared that I was too awk- ward to be a watchmaker.' "

J. F. BENSE.

Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818) was the son of a London jeweller, who not improbably was also a maker of watches. William Ward, ancestor of Lord Dudley, was jeweller to Queen Henrietta Maria (see ' Burke' s Peer- age '). Sir Edward Clarke, K.C., is the son of a jeweller (see ' Who's Who '). M.

HENRY FIELDING AND THE CIVIL POWER (US. iii. 486 ; iv. 58, 277). It seems that in ' Sixty-Eight Years of the Stage ' Mrs. Charles Calvert, speaking of a condemned- cell ballad she learnt in her childhood, explains the line

There Fielding's gang did we pursue by " Fielding, it may be mentioned, was the celebrated Bow Street detective." This The Morning Post emends by " ' Magistrate ' would be nearer the mark, the re- ference doubtless being to Sir John Fielding the novelist's blind half-brother who in the middle of the eighteenth century put into practice the system suggested by Henry for ridding London of dangerous characters."

Now The Times says the Fielding referred to was " surely not a ' Bow Street detective' but a much greater man the magistrate and novelist."

Somebody must be wrong : who is right ?

ST. SWITHIN.

"TEA AND TURN OUT" (11 S. iv. 170, 235) I am obliged by MR. HODSON'S remarks, but what I wished to know was not the meaning, which is pretty obvious but the origin, at some date before 1823. That is, what was displaced by the change of fashion ? In those days people in general did not dine at an hour which we consider late, and tea was probably served after dinner not before. DIEGO.