Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/379

 12 s. ix. OCT. is, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 309 up'Uo 1718. Many of the Notes, Queries, and Replies are given in verse. The title page describes it as " containing about 2,000 answers to curious questions in most Arts and Sciences, serious, comical, and humourous, approved of by many of the most learned and ingenious of both Uni- versities, and of the Royal Society, Per- formed by a Society of Gentlemen." A. ' THE BEGGAB'S OPERA ' IN DICKENS. Literary allusions and quotations are not numerous in the works of Dickens ; perhaps this is one of the reasons why plain people like him. But the following reference to on record. In ' David Copperfield,' chap, xxii., Miss Moucher says : Is he fickle ? Oh, for shame ! Did Tie sip every flower, and change every hour, until Polly his passion requited ? Is her name Polly ? . . . The quotation, it will be seen, is not strictly accurate. C. W. B. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries in order that answers may be sent to them direct. ' ALBUM AMICOBTJM ' OF WANDEBING SCHOLABS. I have lying before me two small quarto MS. volumes, each the ' Album Amicorum ' of a wandering Scottish scholar. In, each a page is devoted to an autograph tribute (in Latin or Greek or Hebrew or French frequently in verse) paid to the owner of the book by a friend whom he has met in his travels among the continental Universities. The album of George Strachan (see has about 150 entries, of dates from 1599 to 1609, written at Beam, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Rome, Padua, &c. The album of George Craig, ' Edinburgensis,' is of almost the same size and date ; among the)places represented are London, Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Geneva, Venice. Many well-known names appear : Theodore Beza, Isaac Casaubon, Thomas Dempster, Arthur Johnston. Were such albums common at the date indicated ? Have any been described in detail ? P. J. ANDEBSON. University Library, Aberdeen. RUSSIAN ? BACKGAMMON. In Cavendish's ' Pocket Guide to Backgammon,' 2nd ed., 1886, two pages are devoted to Russian Backgammon. Where can I find a more exhaustive account of this form of the game ? P. J. ANDEBSON. " HABAKKUK EST CAPABLE DE TOUT." This saying is constantly attributed to* Voltaire. I noticed, for instance, in The Edinburgh Review for January, 1920,'" capable de tout,' like the prophet Habbakuk," and in The Quarterly Review for the same month, " as Voltaire said of the prophet Habbakuk, 'capable de tout".' But did he ever say it ? Can anyone give the reference ? It is true that in * Zaire,' IV. ii., he says, " Apprenez qu'Orosrnane est capable de tout," but where did he bring this charge against the prophet ? whose name, by the way, is given in the Bible as Habakkuk. C. A. COOK. Sullingstead, Hascombe, Godalming. SIB JOHN TOBIN OF LIVEBPOOL : DALZEL. I have an old silver cup, given in 1799 by Governor Dalzel to Captain John Tobin (afterwards Sir John Tobin). I should be grateful for any particulars about Governor Dalzel. He may have been a colonial governor. It may be of assistance to mention that Captain John Tobin (1763-1851) was a native of Liverpool, a master mariner in the African trade, and well known on the coast of Africa and in the China trade. In 1800 he was a merchant in Liverpool and im- ported palm oil and ivory. He was Mayor of Liverpool 1819-1820, and was knighted in 1820. (SiB) ALFBED TOBIN. 3, Temple Gardens, London, E.G. 5. BAD SEASON: TBAGIC OCCUBBENCE. In the middle or late fifties of last century, I think about the time of the Northumber- land Street tragedy (a murderous attack on a well-known attorney), there was a very wet summer, causing great destruction of crops all over the country through the continuous rain. In the Midlands or the South of England, I forget which, a farmer walking through his fields, and seeing the sodden state of the grain, gave utterance to some blasphemous expression, and in a moment afterwards he was struck dead. Can any reader remember the incident, and give shortly the details of this and name of place where it happened ? A.
 * The Beggar's Opera ' may be worth putting
 * Musa Latina Aberdonensis,' iii. 338-346)