Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/444

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. NOV. 25, MIL

after it an accusative. An accusative, yes ; a direct object, no. The double accusative is due to the fact that certain verbs in- terrogo, flagito, doceo, celo, &c. bear a double meaning. Interrogo Ciceronem means, " I question Cicero " ; interrogo sententiam, " I solicit or demand his opinion " ; it is really a double sentence with a zeugma in the verb. Transformed into the passive, interrogo Ciceronem becomes " interrogatus Cicero " ; interrogo sententiam becomes " interrogata sententia " : in each case the accusative belonging to the other meaning of the verb is by the Latin idiom retained, but retained indirectly or elliptically, not as a direct object. The only English word, I think, which holds this double meaning is " ask " ; but " I asked him his opinion," " I asked him a guinea for the book," are colloquial, not pure English, and to no other of the words cited by DR. KRUEGER afford, give, offer, &c. does the Latin analogy apply.

ORBILIUS.

' SWALE," "SWEAL" : ITS AMERICAN AND ENGLISH MEANINGS (US. iv. 67, 114, 175, 351). When a boy I did a good deal of candle - holding for my father and others whilst they were working on winter evenings. Thus I often heard this word used. The nearest spelling that I can get to the pro- nunciation is sweeul or sweeal. The word was applied indifferently to the flame being blown aside, and to the guttering produced thereby, or when the candle was held out of the perpendicular. Thus it seems to me that the two ways of using the word given at the last reference may have a close con- nexion in origin. ABM. NEWELL.

Longfield Road, Todmorden.

C. F. LAWLER (11 S. iv. 349). A very full notice of Dr. Wolcot in the anonymous ' Dictionary of Living Authors ' (by F. Shoberl and W. Upcott), published in 1816, ends with the following mention of Lawler :

" Latterly the name of Peter Pindar has been un- warrantably assumed by one Lawler, a poetaster of little or no wit, merely to deceive the public and to bring some profit to the writer and his bookseller.''

W. D. MACRAY.

NOEL, COOK TO FREDERICK THE GREAT (11 S. iv. 269). It may be that MR. SCHLOESSER might get some information if he were to write to the proprietor of the Cafe Noel-Peters, Passage des Princes, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris. The Passage runs from the Boulevard into the Rue de Richelieu. This well-known restaurant was, I believe, founded many years ago by one

Peters, an Englishman. " Sandwiches," &c. r used to be engraved on the windows, and probably are there still.

According to what I heard perhaps thirty years ago, Mr. Peters having died, his widow married M. Noel. Perhaps he was a de- scendant of Frederick the Great's Noel.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

BAKED PE ARS = " WARD ENS " (11 S iv. 309, 371). In answer to J. F. R. (p. 372), Chrustumium is evidently a variant of the " Crustumia pira " of Virg., ' Geo.,' ii. 88. They are also mentioned by Columella (v. x. 18 andxii. x. 4). H. K. ST. J. S.

PEARS : " DOYENNE DTI COMICE " (11 S. iv. 309, 372). This pear was also called "poire de la St. Michel," from being in season from Michaelmas. " Les cornices agricoles " were agricultural unions started in the sixteenth century in France for the improvement of the cultivation of land. They took their names from the Roman comitium or assembly of voters. Doyenne (through doyen, eccles. Lat. decanum) indi- cated the superior position held by this fruit in the estimation of its producers, and is short, I suppose, for "poire de Doyenne." A. E. P. RAYMUND DOWLING.

LlONS MODELLED BY ALFRED STEVENS

(11 S. iv. 349). The lions on the railing in front of the Law Institution in Chancery Lane date only from March, 1904, when the new wing at the corner of Carey Street was opened. They were then newly made from Steven s's model to the order of the Law Society, and did not come from the British Museum.

Some similar lions used formerly to adorn the railings outside the British Museum, but about twenty years ago, when Great Russell Street was being widened, the railing on which they stood was removed, as it encroached somewhat on the public foot- path ; and since then the lions themselves have been distributed among the galleries inside the building, and may be seen there at any time. ALAN STEWART.

[MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS also thanked for reply.]

REV. JOHN M 'BRIDE OF BELFAST (11 S. iv. 307). A letter of 1710 of this once con- spicuous divine appears in the ' Wodrow Correspondence,' 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1843, followed by later contemporary mentions of his strikingly named fiery polemic tract and the turmoil it set in motion at the period. J. G.. CUPPLES.

Brookline, Massachusetts.