Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/63

 12 s. ii. JULY 15, i9i6.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

' The Midnight Bell,' 3 vols., 1798 ; other -editions, 1800 and 1824 ; French translation, 1799. Tins novel is mentioned in Jane Austen's 'Letters' (ed. Brabourne, i. 156). It seems to have been popular, but curiously enough it is attributed to two authors, George Walker and Francis Lathom. Both have lives in the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' and ' The Midnight Bell ' is given in the list of the works of each, without any indication of the rival claimant.

' The Orphan of the Rhine ' should be Orphans of the Rhine ' ; it is an anonymous novel (4 vols.), and nothing more is known about it at present.

' Horrid Mysteries,' 4 vols., by P. Will, minister of the German Lutheran Chapel in the Savoy. M. H. DODDS.

Home House, Low Fell, Gateshead.

FIREPLACES : AITCH STONES, FORD, NORTHUMBERLAND (12 S. ii. 8). One learns from the ' E.D.D.' that in the West Riding of Yorkshire an " aitch " is a mantelpiece, and the editor was of opinion that this was possibly " a peculiar use of the name for the letter h." I fancy, myself, that the word is merely a provincial form of " arch," which in Northumberland becomes " airch," as Mr. Heslop's ' Glossary ' declares. I dare say the stone of which Mr. Neville heard at Ford may have served acoustic purposes in the figure of an arch. Letter H's form may have suggested its own appellation. ST. SWITHIN.

"As DEAD AS QUEEN ANNE" (12 S. i. 289, 357). The demise of Queen Anne is still in perpetual commemoration in the Law Courts. The Periodical for June, 1916, has the following quotation from an article by Mr. A. Underbill on ' Law ' in f he forth- coming work, ' Shakespeare's England ' :

" It is perhaps not generally known that the present wig and sombre black gown [of counsel] only date from the funeral of Queen Anne. As the late Chief Baron Pollock is said to have remarked, the Bar then went into mourning and has never gone out of it again." P. 48.

ST. SwiTHIN.

SIR WALTER SCOTT : LOCKHART'S UN- PUBLISHED LETTER (12 S. i. 446 ; ii. 18). Your two correspondents have unconsciously furnished an explanation which may be of interest to future writers. It is a fair inference that the engagement between Miss Lockhart and John Nisbett of Cairnhill did not lead to their marriage a by no meaas unfrequent occurrence. MR. MORE NISBETT, however, makes a somewhat unintelligible reference to a second Sir Walter Scott.

The " Wizard of the North " certainly had a son named Walter, who died before his father received his baronetcy and a second son, Charles, who succeeded, but died unmarried at Teheran. The real mystery of the contents of the letter still remains unsolved. The letter is one of several addressed by Lockhart to, probably, his most intimate friend in England, with whom he maintained cordial relations up to his death.

L. G. R.

Bournemouth.

A LOST LIFE OF HUGH PETERS (12 S. ii. 11). -Two different biographies of Peters are given on p. 1839 of Lowndes's ' Manual ' :

'History of the Life and Death of Hugh Peters,' 1661, 4to.

A copy of this occurred in a London auction in 1904, mentioned on p. 757 of my ' Index to "Book-Prices Current," 1897-1906.' 'Historical and critical account of Hugh Peters after the manner of Mr. Bayle. 1751.' 8vo.

WM. JAGGARD, Lieut.

" NlHIL ARDET IN INFERNO NISI PROPRIA

VOLUNTAS " (12 S. ii. 10). See the Bene- dictine edition of St. Bernard, Paris, 1690, vol. i. col. 903 :

" Quid enim odit. aut punit Deus prater propriam voluntatem ? Cesset voluntas propria, et infernus non erit. In quern enim ignis ille desaeviet, nisi in propriam voluntatem?" 'Sermo in tempore Resurrectionis ad Abbates,' 'De mersione Naaman septies in Jordane,' cap. 3.

EDWARD BENSLY. University College, Aberystwyth.

It is worth noting that the sentiment con- tained in these words is frequently em- phasized by St. Bernard. When com- menting on Romans viii. 35-39, " Quis ergo nos separabit a caritate Christi ? " he has, " Sed cum tot et tanta dixisset, unum, scilicet propriam voluntatem, reticuit, qu salvationis et damnationis est cau?a " (' Tractatus de Conscientia,' c. 1). In the twelfth Sermo, ' De Diversis,' he writes : " Voluntas, quse sola deinceps damnare possit animasnostras." A gain in. Sermo III., In Tempore Resurrection^,' we read \ut supra]. MONTAGUE SUMMERS.

LATIN CONTRACTIONS (12 S. L 468 : ii. 19). I thank J. J. B. for reply, but he does not help me. " Expositorum " and " 01. are suggestions too obvious to have missed consideration, but is the first ever used in the sense of " receipts " ? If these receipts were only from wrecks it might mean " things cast ashore," but they include such as a Sallee