Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/479

 n s. vi. KOV. 16, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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103rd year of his age. The treatise is made up of four discourses, the first written at the age of 83, followed by three others written at the ages of 86, .91, and 95 respectively. The first edition of ' La Vita Sobria ' was published at Padua in the year 1558. Addison in The Spectator, 13 Oct., 1711, mentions an English translation under the title of ' A Sure and Certain Method of attaining a Long and Healthy Life,' which went through numerous editions.

Another old treatise is an essav by Sir William Temple (1628-90), entitled* ' Health and Long Life.'

E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G.

In reply to the query at the above reference by VIVAX relating to works on longevity, I would mention that there is a book called ' Quelques Conseils pour Vivre Vieux,' by the French savant Dr. Meurice de Fleury. H. G. W. HERRON.

COCQCIGRUES (11 S. vi. 249). There are various ways of spelling this word, but I have not found the above. The word occurs twice in Rabelais, viz., i. 49 and iv. 32.

In the faulty 1663 edition, attributed to the Elseviers, it appears as " coquecigrues " and " coquecigrues de mer." In the edi- tion published by Ledentu, 1835 and 1837, the spelling in both cases is " cocquecigrues." In the Glossary " Cocquecigrue " is de- scribed as " Animal et mets imaginaire, chose de nulle valeur. A la venue des cocquecigrues, c'est-a-dire jamais." It is supposed to be formed of cocq, cygne, and grue. At the second reference " cocque- cigrues de mer" means apparently "shells of sea-urchins."

Landais in his ' Grand Dictionnaire,' 14th ed., gives " Coccigrue " and " Coquecigrue," and mentions the form " Coquesigrue." Under ' Coccigrue ' he derives the word from the Latin coccigria ("fruit as big as a lentil "). I have failed to trace this Latin word.

Urquhart and Motteux give " Cockli- cranes " at the first reference, and " sea cockle-shells " at the second. W. F. Smith in his translation substitutes " cockicranes " for " cocklicranes." In Bohn's edition of the Urquhart and Motteux translation there is an interesting note at the first reference.

Under ' Coquecigrues ' in the ' Diction- naire Comique,' &c., of P. J. Leroux, edi- tions of 1718 and 1786, we find that the word was much in use in Paris. If any one asked for anything, one replied, " Vous

aurez des coquecigrues." If any one asked, " What have you there ? " one answered, " J'ai des coquecigrues." It was com- monly used as a retort for indiscreet curio- sity, and it was considered a stinging re- proach to an over-curious questioner if one said, " Voyez le plaisant coquecigrue." ROBERT PIERPOINT.

MILTON'S LYCIDAS ' (11 S. vi. 328). Perhaps the following note from Bishop Newton's edition of Milton (1777) will answer TRIN. COLL. CAMB.'S inquiry as to " the unexpressive nuptial song." Newton says :

" In the manuscript it was at first Listening the unexpressive, &c. This is the song in the Revela- tion, ichicJi no man could learn but they tcho were not defiled with icomen, and were virgins : Rev. xiv. 3, 4. The author had used the word unexpressive in the same manner before in his ' Hymn on the Nativity,' st. 11 : Harping in loud and solemn quire With unexpressive notes to Heav'n's newborn heir. Xor are parallel instances wanting in Shakespear. ' As You Like It,' Act III. sc. ii. :

The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she. And in like manner insupprcasive is used for not to be suppressed, ' Julius Ctesar,' Act II. sc. i. : Xor th' insuppressii-e mettle of our spirits."

I may add that in ' Sabrinse Corolla ' the passage is translated into hexameters by R. B. (Robert Burn of Trinity, Cambridge), who renders " unexpressive " by the words " non enarrabile." B. B.

When, as a schoolboy, I had to commit ' Lycidas ' to memory, I was taught that the line in question referred to the " mystical union betwixt Christ and His Church," and that Milton had in mind verses 14-16 of Psalm xlv. (see p. 80 of 'The People's Psalter,' by the Bishop of Edinburgh). Isaiah xxv. 8, and Revelation xiv. 3, xix. 6-8, and xxi. 2. A. C. C.

Prof. J. W. Hales's note on this line is as follows :

" 176. unexpressive, ' Hymn Xat.' 116. So ' inenarrabile carmen,' in his poem ' Ad Patrem.^ Comp. ' ins oppressive,' Shakspere, ' Julius Caesar, II. i. 134.

" yuptiall song. See Revelation xxu. 11.

A. R. BAYLEY.

In 1. 176

And hears the unexpressive nuptial song the allusion, undoubtedly, is to Revelation xix., the subject of which is " the marriage of the Lamb " :

" And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia :