Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/85

 ii B. vi. JCLY 27. MIS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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1717-55, or later. Its founder and main- stay. Maurice Johnson, died in 1755.

Stukeley corresponded with the Society, or with its founder. This would apparently be quite enough to make the commentator poke fun at the literati in his notes.

Stukeley's first ' Iter ' is addressed to "Maurice Johnson, jun., Esq. ; barrister-at- law of the inner-Temple" ; and among the prefatory poetry is an ode ' In Itinerarium Curiosum,' by " Maur. Johnson, J.C., inter- ioris templi Soc."

These somewhat diffuse particulars may help to identify the writer of the notes and fix their date approximately.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

THE ENGLISH PARTICIPLE PRESENT AND GERUND. It is not always easy to dis- tinguish between the English participle present and the gerund. There are, un- fortunately, from the grammarian's point of view, not a few cases where one must remain doubtful about the nature of a form in ing, because the sense of the construction lends itself to either conception. In " he continued writing," writing clearly is a gerund, its function being the object of the sentence ; but what about " he went on writing " ? To go on is intransitive only, .so that it cannot govern an object. What is it then ? Has a preposition been left out, so that it equals " he went on with writing " ? or is writing a real participle, so that the statement is to be analyzed as ' writing, he went on " ? I believe the former analysis to be the right one ; but how can one disprove the latter ? Does the disproof lie in the fact that the word-order cannot be changed ? as can be done in a case where a participle is undoubtedly in question, e.g.. " smiling she bowed," " she bowed smiling/ What is the feeling of educated English persons in such cases ? And what is it in similar ones, where there can be no doubt about the ellipsis of a preposition before an original gerund, such as " to be busy (in, with) doing a thing," " the temple was building " ?

I know well that Sprachgefiihl is not a safe guide. Ask well-bred Germans what is gehen in " ich werde gehen " ; ninety- nine out of a hundred will answer, " Of course the infinitive." Whereas it formerly was the p.pr. = "ich werde gehend " = I become going or walking. The other day I inquired of a teacher of English of academic training, a Briton born, whether in the phrase 'the survival of the fittest " he felt the last

word to be singular or plural ; to which he answered that, to his feeling, it was plural ; but a proof of his way of feeling he could not adduce.

How fine is the transition from one of the forms under discussion into the other may also be seen from a comparison of the following sentences : " There is some charm in the sound of bullets whistling " ; " So long as patriotism prevails in the members of the British Empire, no fear need be felt of any harmful consequences befalling it from their sense of independence " ; " Have you ever heard of a ship being so named ? Here " whistling," " befalling," " being." may be very well construed as participial, though closely approaching to the gerundial function. But only the latter can be ac- knowledged in " In a drag - hunt there is no fear of the schoolboys being overdone " ; " Can't you bring me the whisky without any one knowing it ? " " Canon Taylor proved the improbability of the Sioux Indians having been acquainted with the Spanish language." This interesting parti- cipial -gerundial construction deserves more attention than, as far as I know, it has been given by syntacticians. G. KRTJEGER.

Berlin.

THE REV. MATTHEW PILKINGTON. In the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' it is stated that the husband of Swift's friend Letitia Pilkington, after his separation from her, fell into " evil habits and obscurity.' and that he must be carefully distinguished from the author of the ' Gentleman's and Connoisseur's Dictionary of Painters,' who was Vicar of Donabate and Portrane in the diocese of Dublin. But from a reference in the vicar's will to Letitia's son, John Car- teret Pilkington, it is evident that the vicar was her husband, and consequently that that maligned person was the author of " this useful book." The will, which was proved in the Dublin Consistorial Court, and is preserved in the Public Record Office of Ireland, is not without interest, and shows that Letitia's husband married a second time, no doubt after her death, which occurred in 1750

" In the name of Almighty God who alone is the Disposer of all Earthly Affairs and Events, I. Matthew Pilkington, Vicar of Donabate, at the time of executing this writing, and of the Parish of St. Mark in the City of Dublin Do hereby give, grant, settle and dispose of all my worldly Effects in the following manner, to avoid any Disputes or Litigations with my Dearly beloved Wife whose happiness I am bound to regard ; and Having first entreated the blessing of Almighty God upon my design as well as upon my faithfull and affectionate Wife Ann Pilkington.