Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/18

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi JAH., 1920.^

10. P. 59, 1. 9. The Danish poet Ohlenschlager complains, that who writes in Danish, writes to two hundred readers. [Did Ohlenschlager make this complaint ? Its substance is flatly contra- dicted by Laing's ' Observations on the Social and Political State of Denmark' (1852), where, at p. 353, Laing states that the Danish language escaped being divided into two languages, as happened in Germany, and that Danish, like English, " is essentially the same in the mouth of prince or peasant."]

11. P. 64, 1. 39. Mr. Cobbett attributes the huge popularity of Perceval, Prime Minister in 1810, to the fact that he was wont to go to church, every Sunday, with a large quarto gilt prayer- book under one arm, his wife hanging on the other, and followed by a long brood of children. [Does this appear in any of Cobbett's works ? Is his statement about Perceval true ?]

12. P. 65, 1. 37. The barons say, " Nolumus mutari." [What was the historical occasion of this refusal ?]

13. P. 65, 1. 40. Bacon told them, " Time was the right reformer " ;. . . .Canning, to " advance with the times " ; and Wellington, that " habit was ten times nature." [References desired for all three quotations.]

14. P. 69, 1. 23. The Northman Guttorm said to King Olaf : " It is royal work to fulfil royal words." [Reference desired.]

15. P. 69, 1. 35. Even Lord Chesterfield,

when he came to define a gentleman, declared that truth made his distinction. [Reference desired.]

16. P. 70, 1. 28. Madame de Stael says, that the English irritated Napoleon, mainly, because they have found out how to unite success with honesty. [Reference desired.]

17. P. 71, 1. 14. On the King's birthday

Latimer gave Henry VIII. a copy of the Vulgate, with a mark at the passage : " Whoremongers and

adulterers God will judge " ; and the King

passed it over. [Is this story true ? Any authoritative reference for it ?]

18. P. 73, 1. 13. English wit comes afterwards which the French denote as esprit cTescalier. [Is the originator of this phrase known ?]

19. Pp. 73 and 74. [Can any one give me the names of the central figures in two stories told by Emerson to illustrate our hard-headedness : (a) of a man who deposited 100Z. note in a sealed box in the Dublin Bank for six months, and advertised unsuccessfully for any somnambulist, mesmerizer, medium, &c., to win the note by telling him its number ; (6) of " a good Sir John " (sic Emerson) who was hopelessly perplexed by hearing both sides of a case stated by counsel, and exclaimed : " So help me God ! I will never listen to evidence again " ?]

20. P. 74, 1. 8. I knew a very worthy man a magistrate, I believe he was, in the town of

Derby Mr. B. [In December, 1847, Emerson

spent two nights at Derby with a Mr. W. Birch. Was he a magistrate ? Is there any corroboration of Emerson's story that Mr. B. interrupted an opera by protesting that a bridge on the stage was unsafe ?]

21. P. 75, 1. 32. " Ils s'amusaient tristement, selon la coutume de leur pays," said Froissart [of the English]. [Reference desired.]

22. P. 77, 1. 24. Wellington said of the young coxcombs of the Life Guards delicately brought up, " but the puppies fight well " ; and Nelson

said of his sailors : " They really mind shot no< more than peas." [References desired.]

23. P. 78, 1. 8. The Bohon Upas. [The legend 1 of the Upas-tree is familiar : but what is the- literal meaning of the words " Bohon " and; " Upas " ?]

24. P. 78, 1. 9. At Naples they [i.e., the hard- headed English] put St. Januarius' blood in an alembic. [The story of St. Januarius is familiar ;. but have Englishmen ever attempted to analyse the contents of the phial believed to contain his- blood ?]

25. P. 78, 1. 11. They saw a hole into the head of the " winking Virgin," to know why she winks... [I should be particularly glad to track down this- " winking Virgin " ; she has baffled many a learned friend of mine.]

26. P. 78, 1. 19. [Englishmen! translate and send to Bentley the arcanum bribed and bullied away from shuddering Brahmins. [Would this be more likely to refer to Rev. Richard Bentley the scholar (1662-1742), orto Rev. Richard Bentley the publisherof ' Bentley's Miscellany ' (1794-1871), our to Samuel Bentley the antiquary (1785-1868) ?]

-" 27. P. 78, 1. 34. What was said two hundred) years ago, of one particular Oxford scholar : " He- was a very bold man, uttered anything that came into his mind, not only among his companions, but in public coffee-houses-, and would often speak. - his mind of particular persons' then accidentally present, without examining the company he was in ; for which he was- often reprimanded, and several times threatened to be kicked and beaten." ^ Reference desired.}

(Rev.) R. FLETCHEB. Buckland Faringdon, Berks.

HIDDEN NAMES IN DEDICATIONS, &G., ox>- ELIZABETHAN BOOKS. I would be obliged to- anyone who can give me the name of any. work on this subject.

W. H. M. GRIMSHAW.

Eastry, Kent.

BRAMBLE. Can any of your readers kindly inform me what is the origin of the surname Bramble, and in what county it is known ? I should be very grateful for any informa,- tion. P. BRAMBLE..

Caister on Sea, Great Yarmouth.

BUTTON. Richard Hutton " of Lincoln's- Inn, Gentleman," made a will 20 Oct., 1721 [P.C.C. 235 Richmond], proved 15 Nov., 1723', in favour, among others, of Charity his sister, wife of Simon Michell [b. 1676, Member of the Middle Temple, 1704, of Lincoln's Inn*. 22 Oct., 1714, d. 30 Aug., 1750, buried,, portrait and M.I. at St. John's, Clerkenwell,. f which he was a benefactor]. Charity was . circa 1669 and d. 2 March, 1745. Richard' Hutton was not a member of Lincoln's Inn.. He leaves a legacy of IQl. to his godson Francis, son of the deceased William Taylor " heretofore my Fellow Clerk in the Home ircuit." What was the parentage and,' ancestry of Richard and Charity Hutton ?J

H. .PrRIE-GORDON. .