Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/147

 ii s. vi. AUG. 10, Mia.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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parallelized fibres of textile material, ready for roving or slubbing, which " slabbing " is the drawing or twisting in preparation for spinning ; a " slur " is a piece of mechanism in a knitting machine ; " smalls " are parcels of little weight ; " smalt " is glass, coloured blue, and pulverized for use as a pigment : to " smeech " is said of the escape, in little jets, of fumes from a kiln ; " smift " is a kind of slow match used in blasting ; to "smit" is to ruddle; to "snail" is a clock- maker's word for constructing in spiral form, and also for finishing off with curved eccentric lines. "Snail" or ' snailing " was the name once used for what milliners now call" chenille." There is an embroiderer's word for a well-known stitch, " snail-trail," which does not appear here. "Slip," "slot," '-sling," and especially "slew," are articles very instructive from a technical point of view, and many interesting words of a like nature will be found in the paragraphs headed " Special combs."

" Slow," adj ., furnishes a long article which begins with explaining the word as applied to the in- telligence, " not quick or clever in apprehending or understanding a thing." This seems to us rather a poor definition, nor* is it the only one of the kind we have observed. Perhaps the most unsatisfactory is that given for "smile," sb.," an act of smiling ; a slight and more or less in- voluntary movement of the countenance ex- pressive of pleasure, amusement, affection, &c." Under " smile," v., we get nothing better. A reference to any book on physiology, or to Darwin's ' Expression of the Emotions, might have suggested something more precise and scientific than this.

Some of the articles struck us as not very happily divided into sections, and, again, in one or two of the quotations there seemed some want of sense. Thus to illustrate " sleep " as " lying in death," it was not to the point to quote " A

person is said to be dead to us though he only

sleeps unto God " ; and a separate heading under i; smother." " c. a wild profusion of flowers," is illustrated by a single quotation from the Daily News '"the smother of roses along the river fronts" which seems hardly worth while. In general it may be said that the compilers have given somewhat excessive attention to The Daily Neics. On the other hand, there are one or two remarkable omissions. Thus under " Smithfield " there is no quotation referring to the burning of the Protestants ; under "sneeze" none which properly illustrates the well-known superstitions connected with sneezing : and under " slow- worm " none illustrating its use for ' dragon " in legends.

On common words one of the best articles is " small," which runs to ten columns, excellently arranged. In the way of rare words or words with a peculiar history, the most curious are perhaps " snickersnee," " snaphance," " sleeve and "sleeveless," "sleuth" and its congeners, " smoke - farthing " the Whitsuntide offering made by the householders of a diocese to the cathedral church and " smoulder," an expressive word rekindled -by Scott.

An interesting feature is the frequent occur- rence in this group of words of variants from one root, whether alike or unlike in use, and also of homonyms from diverse sources and carrying correspondingly diverse meanings.

OUR readers will find many things to interest them in the August Nineteenth Century. Mr. Arthur E. P. B. Weigall, in ' The Morality of Excavation,' attacks a very nice question of morals, and himself, in acknowledging that to many readers his argu- ments are likely to appear those of a casuist, expresses our opinion upon them. But while the first part of the article, dealing with the justifia- bility of excavation in general, struck us as weak, the second part, on the proper methods and pre- cautions to be employed, is as sound and interesting as it is vigorously written, and we hope that it will be widely read and productive of effect. Mr. W. S. Roberta's ' Recent Art Sales ' is a useful summary of recent developments in the distribution and valua- tion of the art treasures of Europe and amusing, too, to read, in spite of the fact that there is always something depressing about the direct connexion of great art with money. Mr. Heathcote Statham, continuing his championship of oratorio, contri- butes a very instructive criticism of the Handel Festival, and includes with it some good notes on Handel's borrowings from other composers to be found in ' Israel.' Mrs. Katharine Loudon gives the first instalment of some unpublished letters of Chesterfield's written to Baron Torck of Rosendael, for the most part after Chesterfield's return from his mission to the Hague, where he had formed a friend- ship with Torck. Without adding anything special to our knowledge of Chesterfield, these letters show him in an amiable light, and, of co_urse, constitute- a valuable literary "rind." On political and social matters we would mention as well worth con- sideration the two articles on the ' Small Owner- ship ' and ' Small Holdings ' question, by Sir Gilbert Parker and Mr. S. L. Bensusan respectively, and Mr. W. S. Lilly's ' Criminals and the Criminal Class.' Mr. Armit's ' Vivisection and the Central Nervous System ' is well worked out, and diners commendably from most papers dealing with general subjects by the absence of a lengthy intro- duction composed of commonplaces.

Ix the new Burlington Magazine Mr. Willy P. Storck begins a series of papers on 'Aspects of Death in English Art and Poetry,' and treats of 'Le dit des trois morts et des trois yifs,' giving very interesting illustrations and a virtually ex- haustive account of M-here pictorial representations of the legend are to be found. Sir Martin Conwav is also beginning a series on ' The Treasury of S. Maurice D'Agaune,' and this first instalment struck us as forming a particularly good article. Mr. Daltpn contributes a note on a new acquisition by Mr. Pierpont Morgan : a twelfth- or thirteenth- century Byzantine medallion of our Lord, with a Slavonic inscription, of which a coloured illus- tration is given : and following on this we have a delightful and illuminating "Appreciation" by the Editor of the Swenigorodskoi enamels. Sir Claude Phillips has come to the conclusion that the ' Temperance ; in the Diploma Gallery at the Royal Academy is Palma Vecchip's, and here sets forth his reasons for the attribution. Herr Klein- berger, who, it will be remembered, has just acquired ' The Old Woman plucking a Fowl ' from the Levaigneur sale for 19.800/., writes to vindicate the attribution of it to Rembrandt, in opposition to Dr. Bredius in the June number of The Burlington, and in the course of his letter gives a useful sketch of the history of the picture. We have also from Dr. Bredius himself a note on the