Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/182

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NOTES AND QUERIES. rn s. v. F EB. -21, 1912.

literary confreres. Augustus Septimus May- hew (known to his Diogenes fellow- workers as the " Dear Child," in allusion to a way he had of addressing friends) claimed, as the " seventh son of a seventh son," to have the gift of curing ailments without having gone through the customary medical studies. Sometimes he would write out a prescription for an invalid friend, which prescription, on being shown to a " fully qualified " practitioner, was usually declared to contain " enough poison to kill a dozen people." But no doubt the medico who gave this crushing verdict knew, before .speaking, who had written the paper.

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

THOMAS ATKINS. Questions are some- times asked as to the origin of the expression " Tommy " or " Tommy Atkins," as applied to a soldier in generic form. Its origin dates from the year 1815, when the ' Soldier's Account Book ' was called into use by a War Office circular letter of 31 Aug., 1815. Sample forms of the said book (for cavalry and infantry) accompanied the circular letter, and in every one of them the name " Thomas Atkins " is used as a specimen name. Atkins evidently could not write, as in the several places where his signature occurs it is given as " Thomas Atkins x his mark." In the cavalry form the names of Trumpeter William Jones and Sergeant John Thomas are also introduced, but they did not use a " mark." This surely disproves the idea which has gained belief that " Thomas Atkins " was suggested by the Duke of Wellington in 1843 as being the name of an especially brave soldier in his own regiment the 33rd.

The name occurs again in specimen " Forms " in the King's Regulations for the Army of 1837, pp. 204 and 210, and in later books of Regulations. The ' Soldier's Ac- count Book ' is, of course, the " Small Book " of the present day, though " Thomas Atkins " no longer appears.

J. H. LESLIE. Sheffield.

THE MONOSCEROS-STONE. In the ' Liber Physico-Medicus Kiranidum Kirani,' printed in Leipsic in 1638, Elementum XVII. reads : " Rhinocerotis lapis est varius, cornatus lapis, de extremitate naris Rhinocerotis. Est enim ut cornu."

Here we have, I think, the ultimate source of the monosceros-stone, in Middle High

German literature. Isidore of Seville identi- fies the two animals. The occurrences are these :

" Di kununginne riche sante mir ouh ein tier, daz was edele unde her, daz den carbunkel treget und daz sich vor di magit leget. Monosceros ist iz genant : Lamprecht's ' Alexander ' 5578. Ein tier heizt inonizirus : . . . .wir namen den kar- funkelstein (if des selben tieres hirnbein, Der da wehset under sime horn : ' Parzifal ' 482. 24f. Vil manec guot stein, der da inne liget, die treit ein tier, Monocerus treit den til sime houbete under eime home: ' Wartburgkrieg '142."

This book has also been translated into English, ' The Magick of Kirani, King of Persia and of Harpocration,' London, 1685. ROBERT MAX GARRETT.

University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.

THE TOP-HAT IN SCULPTURE. A statue of Sir George Livesey, formerly chairman of the South Metropolitan Gas Company, has lately been erected near the works in the Old Kent Road. As far as I can make out in an illustration from a photograph, the figure holds a " top-hat " in its right hand. That will surely have the same effect as the lady's head-gear of which Albert Chevalier used to sing, which " knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road."

Perhaps this may be the first time that the " top-hat " has tempted the sculptor's chisel. I have remarked the " bowler " in a daring design which is in the famous cemetery at Genoa. ST. SWITHIN.

" KING RICHARD OF SCOTLAND." - " It is heartening to come on an altar in Verona to St. Remigio, ' apostle of the generous nation of the French ' ; to find Lucca Cathedral givon over to an Irish saint and honouring a Scotch king ('San Riccardo, Re di Scozia')," &c. "Italian Fantasies,' by Israel Zangwill, 1910, p. 101. Some one should give the authorities of Lucca Cathedral a hint that there never was a King Richard of Scotland. After visiting Lucca in September, 1904, I sent a note to ' N. & Q.' inquiring who could be meant by this fabulous " king." Interesting answers will be found at 10S. iii. 449. St. Richard was a remarkable man of his time, brother-in-law of St. Boniface, and father of SS. Willibald, Wunibald, and Walburga, but neither a Scot nor (probably) a king. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK.

Ramoyle, Dowanhill, Glasgow.

" POKER-WORK " IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I think it will be news to most people that there was ever a public exhibi- tion of " poker- pictures " in London. A Mrs. Nelson and her youngest daughter held one at 27, Pall Mall, in May and June, 1791.

W. ROBERTS.