Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/189

 2nd S. N 9., MAR. 1. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

181

was the Reverend John Hunter, minister at Ayr, who died 12th February, 1756, aged eighty-six, at that time the oldest clergyman of the established church in Scotland. This drama, if it may be so termed, is of the greatest rarity ; it was printed at Glasgow in 1 733, but does not appear to have been published. It is dedicated to the Patroness of the Gentle Shepherd the Countess of Eglin- toun. No copy has been traced in any of the public libraries north the Tweed. Mr. Hunter was the author of a rare theological volume, called Spiritual Pleadings, being an imitation and supplement of Mr. Thomas Harrison's book, en- titled Topica Sacra ; Kirkbride : printed by Ro- bert Rae, 1711. This I never saw in a complete state, but I preserved the title of a mutilated copy, which was not only wretchedly imperfect, but destroyed by damp,

The dramatis persona of the'play consist of the Traveller, a Christian " set out for Heaven ; " the Inhabitant, who " has attained it ; " and the Wan- derer, a Pagan, " who cannot find his way." These are the leading personages ; but certain ghosts are summoned from " Hades " as Apuleius, Zoroaster, Socrates, &c. Next come Faith, Hope, and Love, &c. &c., Stephen, the protomartyr, David, "the most devout of Old Testament Saints," and Paul, " the greatest of the Apostles." The drama opens with the traveller discovering the Wanderer, who says :

" Thrust from mine home By ancient doom, j

I tread around Inchantecl ground, Winding, turning, Freezing, burning, Fond to regain, Ah, all in vain, The forsaken seats of Day."

The versification is generally good, and many spirited passages might be pointed out.*

J. M. (2.)

Ridding Pig (2 nd S. i. 75.) Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, calls reckling a north country word ; and defines it as " the smallest and meanest of a brood of animals." It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Uric, back, whence our word ridge ; and means hindmost, or last The German adverb Rilcklings stands in the same relation to Riicken. From the Anglo- Saxon Hreac is also derived the word rick ; as well as ruck, in the sense of a heap, a crease. Other provincial words, denoting the same idea of the smallest of a brood, are derived from the Anglo- Saxon Hnesc ; namely, niscal, nestling, nestlecock, nestlelub, nestgulp, nestletripe, ncstlcdraft. The words barra-pig, pitman, pinbaskct, cudina, and whinnock, likewise occur in the same sense. The terms pitman and pinbasket probably allude to local usages, which some of your correspondents

may be able to explain. (See the Herefordshire Glossary, in NISCAL). Some remarks on the ter- mination 'ling, as used in our language, will be found in the Philological Museum, vol. i. p. 685.

L.

The -Eugulian Tables (2 nd S. i. 108.) The best work on these monuments, which are in two different languages or dialects (one of which in particular has much in common with the Old Latin) is by Aufrecht and Kirchhoff. The title is Die Umbrischen Sprachdenkmaler, Berlin, 1851. The tables relate to the worship of the different deities, at the different seasons. Neither Sir W. Betham, nor your correspondent, has approxi- mated to the meaning of even a single sentence.

E. H. D. D.

Philce (2 nd S. i. 115.) The most solemn of Egyptian adjurations, was " by him who sleeps in Philas," meaning thereby the good Osiris ; who, after he succumbed to the red-haired Typho, tradition buried in the cataracts, whence he an- nually steps forth and manures the earth.

It is almost needless to add that, by Osiris, was originally understood the Nile itself. For sub- sequent changes in the ideas, respecting this divinity, consult Smith's Diet, of G. and R. Biog. and Myth., frc. A. CJIALLSTETH.

Mr. William Clapperton (2 nd S. i. 113.) I am happy to be able to give your correspondent some information relative to this gentleman. He was a son of the late George Clapperton, Esq., writer to the Signet, in Edinburgh, by a lady of the name of Buncle. The father died in October, 1814, leaving William, James, and Andrew, sons, and Helen and Anne, daughters. With the ex- ception of James, who is a medical gentleman in high estimation in India, the others are all dead. William's death took place in London Street, Edinburgh, on the 10th January, 1849. He was a very amiable person, of kind and gentle manners, and a great enthusiast in poetical matters, Virgil he perfectly worshipped, and his e'dition of the Latin epic poet, as translated by Dr. Ring, is remarkable in its way. . Clapperton supplied many hundred deficient lines, either by re-trans- lation, or by adopting those of earlier writers ; in this way lie made a curious and, considering everything, a successful mosaic of the whole. He was brought up to the legal profession, but the Muses had more attractions than the law courts. For many years he was a clerk in the banking house of Sir Win. Forbes & Co., and latterly set up as a French teacher. He died in not very affluent circumstances. His father was as enthu- siastic about music as his son was about poetry. He was an admirable player on the violin, and excelled in Scottish airs, which he gave with in- tense feeling. The late George Thomson, so well known as the friend of Burns, and editor of his