Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/333

 12 S. IX. OCT. 1, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 271 COLONEL MORGAN, ROYAL ARTILLERY.- I am compiling a memoir (for private pur- poses only) of the late Colonel H. R. L. Morgan, C.B., Royal Artillery. Would, any officer who served with him send me my characteristic incidents ? Extracts from the | papers of the following, under whose com- 1 mand. he served, would be of the greatest I value : Sir Charles Keyes, Col. Money, Sir Hugh Gough, Generals Macpherson, Baker, Kennedy (1876-81), and Sir John McQueen. For his war services see ' Who was Who, 1917.' JOHN WARDELL. The Abbey, Shanagolden, Co. Limerick. ' THE WATERLOO LETTERS.' In whose hands are the originals of ' The Waterloo Letters,' published by Colonel Siborne ? Are there any letters from the following : Captain Henry Ross-Lewin and Lieut. Thos. Ross-Lewin, 32nd Foot, Lieut. Car- j rique Lewin, 71st Highland Light Infantry ? | JOHN WARDELL. The Abbey, Shanagolden, Co. Limerick. THREE -COIN TRICK. In what does this | consist ? My curiosity is excited by the following notice of it in Colonel Repington's ( ' The First World War,' vol. i., p. 307 : I showed them . . . the absurd trick with the J three coins which I learnt at Maxime Elliott's, j They all became intensely interested, and tried j for two hours to do it, without any success, until at last Scarbrough lighted upon the secret. It is the most absurd and maddening little trick and the Vice-Chancellor was completely baffled by it. ST. SWITHIN. BRITISH DIPLOMATIC SERVICE IN AMERICA, c. 1800. I should be very greatly obliged if some one would tell me where there is a por- trait of Phineas Bond, or of Sir Robert Listen, or of George H. Rose, or of the elder Sir Edward Thornton, or of the second Lord Erskine, or of Francis James Jackson all of whom were British Ministers or Charge d' Affaires in Washington (or. in the case of the first two, in Philadelphia) between 1795 and 1810. I should also be glad of any information as to any extant papers of Rose or Thornton re- lating to their diplomatic service in America, or as to a body of papers of Thomas Muir that in 1821 were in the possession of a Mr. Witherspoon in Cheapside. J. F. JAMESON. ARMS WANTED. Chevron cotised sable between three bears' heads. E. E. COPE. Finchampstead, Berks. IRISH SEPTS. Would anyone give a brief clear account of these, their origin, number and coats of arms ? Were they previous to, or recognized by, England ? The arms sug- gest the latter. " E. E. COPE. Finchampstead, Berks. " WHAT BETWEEN " : " WHAT FROM," &c. We have all, no doubt, used the collo- quial " what with " many times. To me it happens only now to inquire as to its grammatical propriety. I submit two analogous phrases : 1765, Goldsmith, 'Traveller,' Bed. But of all the kinds of ambition, what from the refinement of the times, from different systems of criticism, and from the divisions of party, that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest. 1921, Challenge, 9 Sept., 269/2. And what between the scandal of profiteering and the incompetence of those in authority, the minds of hungry, workless, despairing men are ferment- ing towards madness. May these sentences be parsed and para- phrased so far as the what phrases are con- cerned ? Is it correct to use what with any similar preposition ? ' The Concise Oxford Dictionary ' men- tions what with in the last three lines of the article ' What,' but does not, I think, dispose of the question by its reference to " various causes," &c. Q. V. " SHALL" AND " WILL " IN A.V. What is the difference in sense indicated by the alternative reading of 1 Pet. iv. 8 : For charity shall [or will ?] cover the multitude of sinnes ? Are there other instances of a similar, or converse, alternative reading in A.V. ? Q. V. DANTE'S BEARD. In, the course of her reproof of Dante (' Purg.,' canto 31), Beatrice says : - If but to hear thus pains thee, Raise thou thy beard, and lo ! what sight shall do. In his ' Life of Dante,' Boccacio states " his hair and beard were thick, black and crisp," and he also repeats a conversation of two gossips of Verona who agree that Dante must have visited Hell, for " his beard is crisped and his colour darkened," &c. Can any of our readers say if there is such a thing as a portrait of Dante repre- senting him as he was known to his friends, viz., with a beard, and not as he is known to us with long, clean-shaven, lantern jaw. HENRY W. BUSH. Beckenham.