Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/203

 ii s. ix. MAR. 7, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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rucken (back) namely, ruck (-e). But there seems to be little real evidence for this view. Rucken is the current word meaning the back, even among the people who commonly carry, and speak of, the rucksack. It is not obvious why two different forms of the word should continue to be used, even if it could be shown that the article itself is old enough to render such a deriva- tion historically probable. A more likely origin is, however, to be sought in another word, ruck, which has nothing to do with rucken, but means a push or pull, with a secondary implication of jerking or jostling, as well as expressing the notion of hauling a load. At the same time it excellently conveys the idea of that jumbling together of the contents of the bag, such as actually occurs in the ordinary rucksack. Moreover, this view of the derivation is that taken by German authorities most competent to form an opinion (cf. Muret- Sanders, ' Encyclop. Worterbuch,' iv. p. 1681 ). The original meaning of this word ruck is well seen in the expressions, *' Einen kriiftigen ruck geben ' (give a good push), ' Ein ruck am ztigel ' (pulling the reins). Any one who has carried a heavy rucksack weighing forty to fifty pounds will vividly realize the aptness of the meaning ^embodied in the word ruck. It is not the position on the back of which one thinks, but of the load itself ; and it is the shoulders, not the back, that really feel the strain.- It appears, then, that the latter solution of the problem is probably the right one."

H. K. H.

" MAN IS IMMORTAL TILL HIS WORK IS

DONE " (11 S. vii. 330, 373 ; viii. 136 ; ix. 36). The quotations at the last reference do not seem to be in any sense parallel to the English line, if we assume this to embody the thought expressed in the words from Fuller given at the end of MR. W. H. FEET'S answer, vol. vii. p. 373, "Thus God's chil- dren are immortal! whiles their Father hath anything for them to do on earth."

On the other hand, there is an excellent illustration in Carlyle's ' Frederick,' book xx. chap, ix., just after the account of the failure of Warkotsch's conspiracy to kidnap the King :

" It would, indeed, have ' finished the war at once ' ; and on terms delightful to Austria and its Generals near by. But so would any unit of the million balls and bullets which have whistled round that same Royal Head, and have, every unit of them, missed like Warkotsch ! Particular Heads, royal and other, meant for use in the scheme of things, are not to be hit on any terms till the use is had."

EDWARD BENSLY.

THE WILD HUNTSMAN : HERLOTHINGI (11 S. viii. 487 ; ix. 15, 76, 152). Several variants of the legend of the Wild Hunts- man are known in England. For example, see Wright's ' English Dialect Dictionary ' under ' Gabriel Ratchet ' and ' Gabriel's Hounds. ' The same work probably mentions

the Hunt under different local names. Consult Atkinson's ' Glossary of the Cleve- land Dialect ' and the Index to Miss C. S. Burne's ' Shropshire Folk-Lore.' Probably the Indexes to the different volumes of Folk-Lore would also contain something to the point.

According to my memory, the legend is well known on Dartmoor, but at this mo- ment I do not recollect any authority for the statement.

In France various stories of the Wild Hunt are widespread. Probably Sebillot's ' Folk-Lore de France ' contains informa- tion on the subject. L. N. C.

THE FIRST BARMAID (11 S. ix. 148). I have always understood that this innova- tion was first introduced by a man of some notoriety in his day E. T. Smith at the " Red Lion Tavern," Red Lion Street, Holborn, prior to the Crimean War.

E. T. Smith (son of an admiral) became a police inspector, and subsequently lessee of Her Majesty's and of Drury Lane Theatre. H. AUSTIN CLOW.

Junior Constitutional Club.

Goldsmith's comedy ' She Stoops to Conquer,' 1772, repeatedly mentions a " Bar-maid " in Act III., where Miss Hard- castle says : "I think I have got the true bar cant. Did your honour call ? . . . . Pipes and tobacco to the Angel " ; and it is clear the word is used in our modern and present sense.

At the time of the Crimean War Punch was satirical at the expense of male servers in drapery and such -like shops ; vide some verses ' The Recruiting Serjeant among the Linendrapers,' of 28 July, 1855; and I have contemporary recollection of a sketch showing young women beating up army recruits, with the lines :

Who '11 serve their country ?

We '11 serve the shop !

but do not remember in what publication it appeared. I do not think any barmaid question came into prominence in the con- nexion suggested. W. B. H.

Although I cannot answer Miss PAP- WORTH'S inquiry, her informant must be under a misapprehension, as a barmaid is referred to in the second chapter of ' The Pickwick Papers,' published in 1836.

URLLAD.

Barmaids were employed long anterior to the Crimean War. In the Epilogue to Goldsmith's ' She Stoops to Conquer,'