Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/278

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 s. x. OCT. 4, 1902.

in a conveyance dated 1692, the earliest con- veyance of the property. Bank, benk, and bink are synonymous terms for a bank by the roadside, and coal miners working on the coal face call the portions allotted to them bank, benk, and bink. Bank does not always mean a bank of earth, for dense growths, such as bushes, nettles, docks, and so forth, are often called banks. I should be glad of information. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

FORBES OF CORSE. Is there any engraved portrait of Dr. John Forbes, of Corse, the celebrated Scottish theologian? After diligent search I have not been able to find one.

W. S.

"TASTE OF THE POTATO." In 'Croker's Correspondence and Diaries,' vol. i. p. 300, King George IV. is quoted as saying of certain doings of Lord Moira : " I thought it tasted a little of the potato that he should sign a paper," &c. What was the meaning and origin of this phrase ? F. J. P.

Boston, Mass.

" IN FINE." The summing-up in an oration. Is it Latin or English ? Is " fine " a word of one or two syllables ? M. D. DAVIS.

[Fine, sb., originally meant end. See ' H.E.D.']

ARTIUM MAGISTER. I shall be glad to learn the real name of Artium Magister, the author of 'An Apology for the Beard' (London Rivingtons, 1862). WILLIAM ANDREWS.

Royal Institution, Hull.

WILLIAM BATE, MINIATURIST. - I an desirous of information regarding the life am works of William Bate, the miniaturist. He signs his works as " Painter in Enamel to H.R.H. the Princess Elizabeth," and at one time worked at least in 1816 in Dublin. Is any list of his paintings known 1

A. FRANCIS STEUART.

79, Great King Street, Edinburgh.

[According to Mr. Graves's invaluable 'Diction- ary of Artists' Mr. Bate's date is 1799-1827. He exhibited eight miniatures at the Royal Academy.]

EXPERTS. Can one of your readers refer me to a recent discussion of the position of expert witnesses in English courts which cites authorities for its statements ? I think I have read such an article in recent years, or perhaps it was a judgment of the court. I may add that I do not refer to the (presumably extra-judicial) opinion commonly attributed to Lord Bramwell that " there are three sorts of persons wk^bixannot be believed on oath tv ~ T -Mid experts," though it

EW JERSEY A, know the locus classi-

consult the set of v O O H

IN MATTERS OF COMMERCE THE FAULT OF THE DUTCH."

(9 th S. x. 168.)

MR. ERSKINE SCOTT refers to the "fre- quently quoted words": In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch Is asking too little and taking too much. He assumes that these lines are correct, and wants to know their origin. The second line is, however, entirely wrong. Until ' N. & Q.' printed in 1868 Canning's dispatch of 31 January, 1826, no correct version, so far as 1 can find, had appeared anywhere. This being thirty-four years ago, would it not be well to reprint it in ' N. & Q.' ? Here it is verbatim et literatim, only arranged in lines instead of as prose : In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch Is offering too little and asking too much. The French are with equal advantage content- So we clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per cent. Chorus of English Custom House officers and

French Douaniers. English. " We clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per

cent." French. " Voua frapperez Falk avec 20 per cent.

Falk was the Dutch Minister in London.

Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, the diplomatist, in his 'Historical Characters : Canning,' vol. ii. pp. 421 and 422, gives this account of Canning's dispatch :

" The embassy at the Hague is in earnest dispute with the King of Holland ; a despatch arrives to Sir Charles Bagot it is in cypher. The most acute of the attaches set to work to discover the meaning of this particular document ; they produce & rhyme! they are startled, thrown into confusion ; set to work again, and produce another rhyme. The important paper (and it was important) contains something like the following doggrel : Dear Bagot, in commerce the fault of the Dutch Is giving too little, and asking too much, So since on this policy Mynheer seems bent, We'll clap on his vessels just 20 per cent.' Neither Tierney, nor Canning's private secretary Stapleton, nor the 'D.N.B.' makes any allusion to this dispatch, and A. Hay ward, although he refers to the humour of Canning, also makes no allusion to it (' Essays,' vol. iii. p. 187) : but in ' The Life of Canning,' by Robert Bell (1846), cap. 14, p. 345, the subject is dealt with. After speaking of the Reci- procity Act of 1823, by which the king in Council could relinquish duties on foreign ships where there was a mutual concession, or impose increased duties where the principle of reciprocity was resisted or evaded, the writer, at p. 345, states that "Mr. Canning was not slow to avail himself of this power, as an indirect means of compelling other