Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/427

 i2s. vii. OCT. so, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

351

Impresso por W. Lewis, em St. John's Square lerkenwell, 1812 "; in contemporary morocco binding, and with -autograph in- scription of the Duke, dated October, 1813, showing the copy to have been a presenta- tion one from the author to " S. Ex a Consel- heiro de Estado Antonio d'Araujo. "

Is it known if the speech was translated into, or published in, any other language; and if not, why into Portuguese ? I have failed to trace another copy, but it seems hardly likely that there were not others, though the issue may have been a private one, or in any case very small. W. B. H.

EARLIEST ENGLISH POETESS. To whom is assigned the claim to be the earliest woman writer of verse ? One or more became known in the seventeenth century, but I cannot trace any of an earlier date, and a search through the volumes of the ' D.N.B.' would be a hopeless task.

L. G. R.

STONES IN WOOD PAVEMENT. About 30 paces south of -the last refuge at the bottom of St. James's Street are stones, deeply worn, let into the wood pavement roughly in the shape of a letter L.

They are nearly, but not quite, opposite the gate- way of St. James's Palace, and nearly, but not quite, form a right angle. They seem to have no direct relation to anything, but may be a parish or other boundary. What in fact was their origin and purpose ? E. A. ARMSTRONG.

"THAT " AND "WHICH " (Hos. xii. 8). It appears that some clear distinction existed between these words in 1611. The passage referred to reads in A.V. :

" And Ephraim said, Yet am I become rich, I have found mee out substance : in all my labours they shall finde none iuiquitie in mee that [marg Heb. which ] were sinne. "

The R.V. does not shed any light on a possible difference in the meaning of the two expressions : " that were sinne " and " which were sinne." I hope some of your contributors will be more fortunate.

Q. V.

DR. JOHNSON AT CHESTER, 1774. In Duppa's edition (1816) of the 'Diary of a Journey into North Wales,' under date July 27, a long account by Johnson of the Roman hypocaust is given. This is entirely omitted in Dr. Birkbeck Hill's edition (v. 435). Why did he omit this passage

which is of some interest ? I have not Croker's text to refer to, so do not know if he omitted it also. If so, the same question arises.

By the way, when did Johnson have the smallpox ? He says his father went to the fair at Chester when he (the Doctor) had it ('Life,' loc. cit.). R. S. B.

" A BOOK OF CLOTHES. " The week's wash hanging on the line. Is this expression peculiar to Somerset ? M. N. O.

"ME HERCULE ! " In Thomas Ran- dolph's play 'Aristippus ' (1630) occurs this passage :

"Yes, me Hercule, sir, for I always accounted philosophy to be omnibus rebus ordine, natura, tempore, honore, prius ; and these schoolmen have so puzzled me and my dictionaries, that I despair of understanding them."

The oath "me Hercule " occurs also in ' Love's Labour's Lost ' (iv. 2) :

Holofemes. Me Hercule, if their sons be ingenious? they shall want no instruction ; if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them ; but vir sapit qui pauca loquitur.

Randolph's comedy was obviously written for Cambridge University and Randolph was himself a Trinity man. Was " me Hercule" a University oath ? And are there other in- stances of its appearance in the literature of the period ? R. L. EAGLE.

Sydenham, S.E.26.

[This is surely only a characteristic pedant's ex- pletive, being common in Latin. See Cicero's letters to Atticus passim.]

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED :

l f Life without is crime,

Without Art is barberism.

Is "Industry," "Labour," or 'Work" the word required ? I shall be most grateful if you can set me right in this matter and give me the author's name. Was it Ruskin or William Morris?

FRANCIS F. MAULE. Washington, D.C.

2. Can any reader give me exact information as to the origin of the famous lines about Nebuchad- nezzar, one couplet of which runs in my version thus :

He murmur'd, as he munch'd th' unwonted food, (Other versions are current.) It is usually sup- posed to be a parody of a perhaps imaginary Oxford prize poem. I fancied it might be in Thackeray, but cannot find it there. Guesses and alternative versions are not wanted, but precise particulars of its first appearance. T. S. 0.
 * It may be wholesome, but it is not good ! "

Thou for my sake at Allah's shrine, And I at any god's for thine. Chelsea. J - E< T -