Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/313

 i2s. vii. SEPT. 25, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

257

and he is not the only modern author for whom it has been claimed. The versions I have seen give blandae, not placidae, in the second line, except that printed by Barth, which has raucae. There are some other unimportant variants. It is curious that the four Latin lines are really an expansion of the brief inscription quoted by Amos, "Nymphae Loci. Bibe. Lava. Tace."-

EDWARD BENSLY. Much Hadham, Herts.

Sir Henry Hoare kindly informed me to- day that the tradition has always been that the lines quoted are by Pope, and that he had been at Stotrrhead.

W. A. HUTCHISON.

32 Hotham Road, Putney, S.W.

DUCKS AND DRAKES (12 S. vii. 229). There is an allusion to this pastime in Henry Peacham's tract, 'The Worth of a Penny' {c. 1641), which shows that he, at any rate, had no doubt about its origin. He says :

"I remember, in Queen Elizabeth's time, a wealthy citizen of London left his son a mighty estate in money : who imagining he should never be able to spend it, would usually make ' ducks and drakes ' in the Thames, with Twelve pencies, as boys are wont to do with tile sherds and oyster shells."

It hardly seems likely that an isolated case of this kind (it can never have been common) would give such a name to a game every boy could indulge in. To imitate the boys with a costlier missile "would be natural enough to a foolish, -wealthy spendthrift. C. C. B.

The Yorkshireman who was my father ^was a great adept at the feat of making a flattish stone rebound on the surface of a stream. His formula was "Dick, duck, <lrake and a penny white cake." In 'The Nursery Rhymes of England,' Halliwell conserves (p. 164) :

A duck and a drake, A nice barley-cake, With a penny to pay the old baker ; A hop and a scotch, Is another notch, Slitherum, slatherum, take her.

To that the following note is appended : " The game of water- skimming is of high =antiquity being mentioned by Julius Pollux, and -also by Eustathius in his commentary upon Homer. Brand quotes a curious passage from Minutius Felix ; but all antiquaries seem to have overlooked the very curious notice in Higgins's adaptation of James's ' Nomenclator,' 8vo, London, 1585, p. 299. where it is called ' a duck a drake and a ba^e-penie cake. Thus it is

probable that lines like the [foregoing] were employed in this game as early as 1585, and it may be that the last line has recently furnished a hint to Mathews in his amusing song, ' Patter v. Chatter.' ST> g WITmN>

DOMESTIC HISTORY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (12 S. vii. 191, 216). The enquirer should consult Traill, 'Social England,' 6 vols Tooke and Newmarch, (vol. 6) ' History of prices. '

Servants' duties early in the nineteenth century were duly set forth in a small book called, I think, the 'Footman's Qjide 1 or some similar title.

Some information sought may also be gleaned in the 'New English Dictionary,' under respective headings.

W. JAGGARD, Capt.

Memorial Library, Stratford-on-Avon.

Afternoon tea was introduced by the Duchess of Bedford in 1857.

My father (d. 1869) always dined at a hand-polished oak table. Before dessert damask slips, on which dinner plates had been placed, were removed and dessert plates placed on the bare table. Silver dishes, candles and flowers were reflected in the dark oak and looked very artistic. Coffee and liqueurs were served after dinner.

I never remember artificial flowers being used on dinner tables.

I refer to the period from 1860 to 1869. WILLIAM PEARCE.

A lately published book of "Ana " says that afternoon tea was introduced in 1865 by the then Duchess of Bedford.

W. B. H.

STEUBEN'S ' DEATH OF NAPOLEON ' (12 S. vii. 169, 193). I have not read Ottley's work, quoted by MR. F. GORDON ROE, but the year 1830 given for the execution of the original is entirely incorrect. The oleograph itself was in existence in 1826, and was executed in Italy at the expense of Madame Mere (Napoleon's mother). The first im- pression was limited to twenty copies, and all, with the exception of three for the artist, were strictly reserved for relatives and connexions by marriage of the dead Emperor. 1 may add in conclusion that Baron de Steuben was a life-long and intimate friend of the Weygand family, and even gave some gratuitous lessons in drawing to my mother and her two brothers.

ANDREW DE TERNANT.

36 Somerleyton Road, Brixton, S.W.