Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/172

 138 NOTES AND QUERIES. f 12 a ix. A, is, 1921. also be mentioned here of the sale (Sotheby's, Xov. 27, 1913) of W. H. W.'s Autograph Letters and MSS., comprising Browning, Swinburne, Ruskin and others of that cycle. In conclusion, there is Ruskin' s lished by George Allen in 1886 (Orpington, Kent), " illustrating Prseterita," as the title page has it, in which W. H. W. has from his place of privilege at the Admiralty given some data on Turner's ' Temeraire.' W. WILLS CLINTON. 126, Inchmery Road, Catford, S.E.6. OLD SONG WANTED (12 S. viii. 250, 299, 315, 374, 455). This is to be found in * The Jubilee Singers,' 1873, p. 200. There are three verses that quoted by J. W. F. being the third and a chorus. The first English edition of ' The Jubilee Singers ' was that of 1873, and, besides the words and music, it comprises a full nar- ration of the institution of Fisk University, and personal histories of the several freed slaves who formed the ' Jubilee Singers.' It should be noted that their first visit to England was in May, 1873, and that the record of their singing before Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales (the late Edward the Peace- maker), Mr. W. E. Gladstone, and other august persons in Willis's Rooms and elsewhere is one of the happiest episodes any imagina- tion could fancy. At the risk of the editor cutting it out for paucity of space I will give a meagre outline : On Her Majesty's arrival at the Rooms the Duke of Argyll informed the Singers that Her Majesty would be pleased to see them in an ad- joining room, and at his request they first sang ' Steal away to Jesus,' ' The Lord's Prayer,' and ' Go down, Moses.' On another memorable occasion Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone were giving a lunch at their residence, Carlton House Terrace, to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal Family. The Singers were present to entertain the gu'ests with Jubilee songs, and it is related how H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, looking over the book of songs, called for ' Xo more auction-block for me.' (Thus the 1897 edition, Hodder and Stoughton.) In conclusion, should J. W. F. desire the words and music of the principal songs (including 'He arose'), they are obtain- able, I believe, still from the present Mayor of Bromley, Kent, W. J. Gibbs, Esq., from whom I obtained a copy in 1914 to add to my copies of various editions. This edition contains 140 pieces, but not the narrative and history of the movement ; in the edition of Hodder and Stoughton just mentioned the history alone occupies 156 pages, and the pieces carry the book to its conclusion at p. 311. W. WILLS CLINTON. 126, Inchmery Road, Catford, S.E.6. SMALLEST PIG or A LITTER (12 S. viii. 331, 376, 395, 417, 435, 453, 473, 497 ; ix. 15, 94). The language seems to lack a noun for deficiency in size or development, and the origin of local makeshifts would be a study in itself. They seem to be marvellous in num- ber and unlikeness one to the other. J. T. F., however, who quotes " reckling," may be j interested in the Scottish " wreg," an expres- sion in common use (at least in Fifeshire fifty years ago) for a variety of abnormal objects, pigs included. To show its plenitude, Scotch had also an adjective, " mizety," meaning pined or diminutive, which ad- heres to the rule of non-resemblance among such words. At the same time I see in Cleishbotham's Handbook " wregh " for a niggard. Unlike " wreg," this is probably guttural in sound. In signification the Sw. " vrak," trash, given in the ' Century Dictionary' s.v. "wreck," is the closest " Back," a little rabbit, may point to i separate etymology for "wreg" and "reck- ling." J. K. South Africa. LONG MARRIED LIFE (12 S. ix. 95). The enclosed paragraph appeared in Lloyd's Weekly News (Edward Lloyd, Ltd., 12, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, E.G.), about When Humboldt was at Lima, he saw the funeral of an Indian, one Hilario Pari, who was born 143 years earlier, and whose wife had died at 117, after 90 years of wedlock. See my article re ' Extraordinary Married Couples ' (7 S. xi. 144) just thirty years ago. F. L. TAVARE. Manchester. DE VALERA (12 S. ix. 72, 99). MR. AN- DREW DE TERNANT'S answer to this query, however interesting, is somewhat too vague for the purpose. Most of what he gives us can be found and a great deal more in books of reference. Could MR. DE TERNANT give us proof of his assertion : " The founder of the noble branch, of which the present-day Mr. de Valera is a descendant, was Don Diego de
 * Dilecta ' (Parts I. and II. ), which was pub-
 * parallel. Compare " wrack and ruin."