Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/460

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. DEC. 2, im.

like the rattlesnake or the horrible cobra de capello, which glides along slowly when seeking its prey. " This attitude," observes -a distinguished naturalist, " is very striking, and few objects are more calculated to inspire awe than a large cobra when, with Tiis hood erect, hissing loudly, and his eyes glaring, he prepares to strike." The physical correspondence between the livyoson boreeach veakkalosoun and the izza and tsiffra of the Talmud is most extraordinary ; -and when it is pointed out that its awe- inspiring effects on its hapless beholders form one of the direct causes of its being called by the ancient Hebrews livyoson, be- cause it leiv-yittein, will " excite " fear in the " hearts of all," we have another re- markable testimony to ther acuteness of observation and powers of pictorial nomen- clature when applied to the phenomena of Nature, in which they saw that nothing was superfluous, useless, or redundant (Shobbos, 77b) ; that all things fulfilled the eternal laws of their being (Chulin, 127a) ; and that no evil existed without an overriding good, -which somewhere, somehow, will sooner or later vanquish and destroy it, just as a gnat destroyed Titus, or an earwig will madden leviathan when Nature so ordains it for the .universal good (Shobbos, 77b).

M. L. R. BBESLAB. Percy House, South Hackney.

THE MOTTO OF WILLIAM III.: " RECEPIT, ON BAPUIT" (12 S. ii. 26, 96, 336). Hawkins, Franks, and Grueber describe several medals that commemorate the landing of William of Orange at Torbay. See No^. 61-7 under the reign of James II. Their account of that mentioned at p. 96, ante, is as follows :

" Bust of William III. of Orange, r., hair long, in lace cravat, armour, and scarf across the body ; the truncation is marked, 1688. Leg. GVILIELMVS.

III. D.G. PBIN. AVB. HOL. ET. WES. GVB. Below,

B. F. (George Bower fecit.). Rev. The Prince on horseback at the head of his army, drawn up on the beach ; his fleet lying near at anchor. In the foreground a warrior is raising the fainting figure of Justice. Leg. TERRAS. ASTRJSA. REUISIT. Edge. NON. RAPIT. IMPERIUM. uis. TUA. SED. RECIPIT."

The specimen described is one of bronze in the British Museum. The writers add :

" Somewhat rare. This medal was struck in England ; casts of it, without the inscribed edge, ^re common. The plates referred to [Rapin, i. 5 ; Van Loon, iii. 353] represent a crown in the field before the Prince's face, but no such specimen is now known."

The diameter is gi^en as 2 inches. The use of TT and v is inconsistent, if the inscrip-

tions are correctly given. George Bower, or Bowers, who is included in the ' D.N.B.,' is said in a biographical notice in vol. ii. of Hawkins, Franks, and Grueber to have worked in London from 1650; to have been appointed in January, 1664, one of the engravers to the Royal Mint and Embosser in Ordinary ; and to have died before March, 1689/90.

The plate in Rapin referred to in the above work, and described by MB. PIEBPOINT, certainly differs in several respects from the medal in the British Museum. The varia- tions in the inscriptions might be due to the carelessness of a copyist ; the reading " is tua recipit, non rap it imperium." is no longer a pentameter. But the real difference is in the presence or absence of the crown. If the engraving in Rapin (and Van Loon) is correct in this particular, could there have been two issues ? EDWABD BENSLY.

" TO GIVE THE MITTEN " (12 S. ii. 361).

This expression, according to J. S. Farmer, is of French origin, as it was the custom to present mitaines to an unsuccessful lover, instead of the hand to which he aspired.

This author, as well as other authorities, says that the euphemism is commonly colloquial throughout the English-speaking portion of North America, and several instances are recorded by them, all from American sources, including the following from Will Carleton's ' Farm Ballads ' :

Once, when I was young as you, and not so smart,

perhaps, For me she mittened a lawyer, and several other

chaps ; And. all of them was flustered, and fairly taken

down, And I for one was counted the luckiest man in

town,

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

EMPLOYMENT OF WILD BEASTS IN WAR- FABE (US. xii. 140, 186, 209, 463 ; 12 S. i. 74, 94, 311).

" The Hottentots have a sort of Oxen called Bakkeleyers, or Fighting Oxen (from Bakkelei/, War), which they use in their Wars, as the Asiatic Nations use Elephants, to break and trample down the Enemy. These Oxen are of great Service to them in Managing their Herds, and defending them both against the Attacks of the BttakTa, or Robbers, and Wild Beasts. On a Sign given, they will fetch in Stragglers, and bring the Herds within Compass. Every Kraal has at least half a Dozen of them. They know all the Inhabitants of their own Village, to whom . hey pay the same Respect as the Dog, and will never hurt them ; but if a Stranger appear without the Company; of a Hottentot belonging) to the Village, the Bakkelei/er presently makes at him, and will demolish him, unless whistled off, or frightened