Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/27

 US. V. JAK.6, 1912.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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CASAXOVIANA : EDWARD TIRETTA (US. iv. 461). That excellent book ' Calcutta Old and New,' by H. E. A. Cotton (Calcutta, W. Xewman & Co., 1907), gives a little more information about Casanova's Paris friend Tiretta:

" Tireita Bazar Street.... It is now the pro- perty of the Maharajah of Burdwan, but the name it bears is that of a. Venetian named Ed- ward Tiretta. Mr. Long has put the date of its establishment in 1788, but it is described in Wood's map in 1781 as ' Tiretta's Bazar,' and it is probably much older. In a prospectus of a lottery issued in 1788 and advertised in The Calcutta Gazette of that year, the ' First Prize ' is represented to be ' that large and spacious Pucka Bazar or market belonging to Mr. Tiretta, situated in the north central part of the town of Calcutta.' . . . The lucky winner of the ' first- prize ' was Charles Weston .... Other properties are also set out in the advertisement, and are valued in the prospectus at Rs. 3.20,000 : from which it would appear that Mr. Tiretta had divers avenues of emolument open to him besides his official appointment of ' Superintendent of Streets and Houses ' under the Municipal Committee. He appears to have continued to reside in Cal- cutta after the drawing of the lottery in 1791, but seems not to have died there."

On p. 566 of the same book it is mentioned that Tiretta' s wife was " daughter of the Count de Carrion."

A. FRANCIS STEUART. 79, Great King Street, Edinburgh.

on

The Chilterns and the Vale. By G. Eland.

(Longmans & Co.)

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE has an exceptional amount of history to boast of, and remains as yet largely unspoilt, though the railway has brought it nearer London than it was. Mr. Eland has at- tempted to collect some notes which will give an idea of the wealth of interest outside the towns, and he has succeeded, we think, in his aims, though he will hardly escape the accusation of being " scrappy " which his Introduction fore- shadows. He gives references at the foot of his pages, and addresses himself, he says, to "the more tolerant general reader." We find nothing to raise the ire of the expert except the mention of some foolish etymologies which ought to have been left in obscurity. What is the use of working at philology, as many patient scholars do, if popular writers go on repeating rejected theories and absurdities ? On rural industries and pleasures, the beech-woods, and many a piece of legend and tradition we read our author with real pleasure.

The six illustrations in colour by E. Sanders give attractive and typical views of the county. They include a 'church and a manor-house, a local trade, ' The Bodger's Workshop,' and those fine stretches of country which are so pleasing to the eye accustomed to the comparative flatness of the Thames valley near London.

Studies on Denominative Verbs in English. By Vilhelm Bladin. (Upsala, Almqvist & Wik- sell. )

WE have received from Sweden an elaborate monograph, written as an inaugural dissertation, and in English, on the formation of verbs from English nouns. The author has consulted our chief standard works on philology, attaching himself particularly to the ' X.E.D." ; and he quotes from our writers, ancient and modern, illustrious and otherwise, with a copiousness that argues both sympathy and familiarity. We think that it is something of a mistake to give as much space and attention as he does to the words coined, on the spur of the moment, by newspaper writers. He himself remarks that English " ap- proaches the simplicity which we are wont to attribute to Chinese, ' ' and certainly the principle of our formation of " nonce "-words is so extremely simple that it needs no more than the briefest illus- tration, with a hint to the reader to be on the look-out for instances. In ' N. & Q.' M. Bladin has found some twenty-five examples of this and other vagaries.

The work is divided into two parts, (a) General and (6) Special, of which the former is by a good deal the more interesting ; and of its sections, perhaps IV., ' Influence of Analogy on Denomi- native Formation,' and X., ' " Backfonned " Denominatives,' will afford the curious reader the best entertainment. The work is likely to be especially useful for comparative study to be read, that is, alongside of similar books upon the derivation of verbs from nouns in other lan- guages.

Whitaker's Almanack, 1912. (Whitaker & Sons.) Whitaker's Peerage, 1913. (Same publishers.) MANY happy New Years to both these useful publications ! We cannot imagine the loss we should feel if they were not on our writing-table. For forty-four years we have now enjoyed our ' Whitaker's Almanack,' although it seems nothing like that time since its founder showed us one of the first copies of its first issue. Well we remember how rightly proud he was of it, and how his always bright, open face beamed with pleasure as he challenged criticism, and every search for errors difficult then, as now, to find, for the editorship of the son is as accurate as that of the father.

The first 'Almanack ' was published on the 10th of December, 1868, and contained 362 pages, with an index of 2,000 references. The present volume contains 856 pages, and an index of 7,000 references.

' W T hitaker's Peerage ' is prepared with the same care as the ' Almanack,' and we congratulate the editor that, while the shower of Coronation honours has increased its pages by twenty-five, he has not had to make room for five hundred new creations, as at one time seemed likely. The editor gratefully thanks the recipients of new honours for the information they readily furnished, but some new knights seem as bashful as ladies about giving information of the date of their birth. A full account of the Coronation is supplied from official sources, and we are glad to see that space has been saved " by eliminating altogether from the alphabetical list'the title ' Esq.,' always invidious when strict accuracy is sought in fhe face of but scanty information."