Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/280

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NOTES AND QUERIES. ins. vi. SEPT. 21, 1912,

part of an apostrophe by the poet to Darius after his defeat, the reference being to his fleeing from Alexander only to fall a victim to his own followers.

EDWARD BENSLY.

KERSEY'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY. " John Kersey, Philobibl.," published his ' Dic- tionarium Anglo -Britannicum ; or, A General .English Dictionary,' in the year 1708. It seems to be little more than a boiling down of Phillips's ' World of Words.'

" But [says the author] if any are for making a more strict Search into the inmost Recesses of this Imperial Mine, they need only have Recourse to the Last Edition of Phillips's Dictionary, set

forth by us, An. 1706; where they'll find

the various Sorts of rich Oar amply display'd in their natural Order and Position."

The process of abridgment was occasionally severe. I add a dozen examples, taken from the second (1715) edition :

Beech, a sort of Tree.

Beer, a well-known Drink.

Copper, a Metal.

Cribbage, a Game at Cards.

Fallow-smiter, a Bird.

Plix-weed, an Herb.

Glow-worm, an Insect.

Glue, a well known Composition.

The London- Mercury, a sort of Newspaper.

Puke, a sort of Colour.

Pump, a well known Engine.

Whist or Whisk, a well known Game at Cards. The " Assayanick " is a flying squirrel, a little creature in America. A beetle is an insect, also a fish. A magical lanthorn is a small optical instrument, " that shews by a gloomy light upon a white Wall Hob- goblins and Monsters so hideous, that those who are ignorant of the Secret believe it to be performed by Magick Art." A murnival (usually understood to be four kings, queens, &c.) is a quaternary, or four cards of the same suit, especially at the game of Gleek, and that is " a game at Cards so call'd." RICHARD H. THORNTON.

" W. SHAKESPARE." Among the con- tributors to a " benevolence " demanded by Henry VIII. in 1544-5 occurs the name of William Shakespare of " Walton super (W)olde," Leicestershire, He gave 8*. See Lay Subsidies, 133/147. J. B.

" TOUCHING FOR A LOAN." I do not find in Farmer and Henley's ' Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English ' or in Camden Hotten's ' Slang Dictionary ' the word " touch " in the sense of obtaining a loan, as used in such a colloquial expression as ' I touch'd him for half-a-crown." Yet it appears to have been employed in this way

for two centuries, as, in a letter " to the Author " of The British Journal, published 30 April, 1726, it was ironically told of Philip, Duke of Wharton, then in exile, that " he has touch'd the Duke de Ripperda for three thousand Pistoles, i' Gad I wonder how he brought it about without City Security." ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

Ugxwrus.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries,, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

" LET SEVERELY ALONE." Who intro- duced this phrase ? The earliest instance known to me is quoted in Cassell's ' Encyclo- paedic Dictionary ' from The Referee of 20 June, 1886 ; but I cannot help thinking that the expression was familiar to me long before that date. Any early examples would be welcome. HENRY BRADLEY.

Oxford.

JOSEPH FTJSSELL. (See ante, p. 145.) What relation, if any, was this Joseph Fussell to the Joseph Fussell who, in 1826, drew three pictures for Hone's ' E very-Day Book,' viz., ' Pretorium of the Roman Camp near Pentonville,' ' The Old Well in the Fosse,' and ' The White Conduit ' ? See 'The E very-Day Book,' ii., cols. 1199- 1202.

Hone speaks of him as living within sight of this Conduit, adding that his neighbour Mr. Henry White engraved " the three, as they now present themselves to the reader's eye " (col. 1201).

Mr. Wheatley in his ' London Past and Present,' s.v. ' Brill (The), Somers Town,' calls this Joseph Fussell " an excellent artist in his way." He gives the date of the drawings as 1827, though Hone says " September, 1826 " ; also the reference "p. 1119," instead of col. 1199.

Perhaps these three drawings are not the only ones by Joseph Fussell in ' The Every - Day Book.' The second has a monogram J r, the third has F. At cols. 993-4 is a drawing of ' A Summer Scene in the Pot- teries, signed I. F. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

NAPPER TANDY. In tho interest of a ' History of Hamburg ' which is being written by a near relative of mine, I am very anxious to know if anything has been published or written lately (i.e., in our own time) regarding the doings of the Irishman