Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/316

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. X. OCT. 18, 1902.

escribir,' &c., by a Biscayan named Pedro Madariaga ( = " pear orchard "), published in 1565 at Valencia, where he was a professor He points out that Madariaga refers to "libros impresses en esta lengua," i.e., Baskish and asks, "A que libros podia referirse Mada- riaga al estainpar esta afirmacion ? " i.e., " To what books might Madariaga be referring in printing this affirmation ? " Seiior Echegaray says he only knows of the Dechepare a; existing at that date ; but Elso comes in to make a quorum or plural of two ; and the ques tion deserves to be transferred to the larger publicity of ' N. & Q.' : " Could Madariaj have known in 1565 more than two boo printed in Heuskara 1 " E. S. DODGSON.

Pra PICTURES. I have several of these interesting things, and although parts oi the pictures may have been done with a pin, they do not present that appearance, for the perforations are flush on the under side, show- ing that the pieces are cut out cleanly. The perforations appear to be done with the point of a very sharp knife, and are mostly angular. Three subjects that I have are ' Ecce Homo, ' S. Theresa,' and ' Beata Jacobea.' The central paintings are neatly done with flowers here and there, and gilt borderings round the central designs. How were these really made? Hours must have been spent in the makin of each. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

INVERNESS COAT OP ARMS. I have before me a 'Guide to Inverness and District' (Robert Carruthers & Sons) in which there is a bold presentment of the arms attributed to the city : Vert, a crucifix arg. ; supporters, a camel and an elephant rampant ; crest, a cornucopia. This blazon is of modern pre- scription, and 1 should like to know what heraldic achievement was displayed aforetime. The ' Guide ' says :

" A difference of opinion having arisen as to the precise form of the arms of the Burgh of Inverness, owing to their not having been matriculated in terms of an old Act of the 8cots Parliament, the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council in 1899 presented a petition for matriculation to the Lyon King of Arms. His lordship in due course granted the necessary warrant, and an extract of matricu- in? n m as P resen ted to the Town Council in March, jyUO. Ihe extract, which is signed by the Lyon Uerk, is finely engrossed on vellum, with an illu- minated sketch of the arms on the margin and the seal of the Lyon King of Arms attached. In the new arms a helmet is placed over the shield, and the supporting dromedary [the beast seems to have two humps] and elephant are rampant instead of standing on all fours." P. 26.

If the supporters stood on all fours in the former arms, wherewithal did they support?

Will some one be good enough to explain the significance of Oriental animals as adjuncts to the arms of a Northern burgh, and the special appropriateness of the crucifix as its bearing ? The helmet strikes me as being a curious attribute in the case of a local achievement. ST. SWITHIN.

" TANDEM." Some time ago, in reading one of Miss Edgewprth's charming stories, I came on the expression "drive to Oxford, randem- tandem," and it occurred to me that some such expression as this might be the real origin of the term, and not the accepted university pun, which has always struck me as a, post hoc explanation rather than the real origin. When we consider how little the leader is under real control in a tandem, the word " random " well expresses the mode of progression. Add to this the second element " tandem " as a sort of alliterative jingle, after the manner of "higgledy-piggledy," &c. My friend Dr. Murray, to whom I sub- mitted this suggestion at the time, advised my writing to ' N. & Q.' to see if more evi- dence, for or against, can be procured, but does not himself regard my suggestion with favour. He informs me that the earliest quotation he has is one of 1785, Grose, ' Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,' " Tandem, a two-wheeled chaise, buggy or noddy drawn by two horses, one before the other, that is at length" " This," says Dr. Murray, " shows that the name was originally slang, and may have been university slang, as generally re- puted." He gives me the following quotations as showing, however, that at one time the word " tandem " referred rather to the vehicle than its method of traction :

1789, Loiterer, No. 42, p. 12, " I have not the smallest desire to ride in Mr. Whirligig's tandem."

1813, Morning Chronicle, " A heavy drag-chain for some lawyer's old tandem."

Dr. Murray continues :

"On the other hand, in Felton's 'Treatise on ! arriages' (1801), a large two-volume work with llustrations, and all manner of technical informa- tion, it is categorically stated that ' many people imagine a tandem to be a one-horse chaise of a peculiar form, whereas it is only two horses in a /earn, or one before the other to draw a two- wheeled-chaise.' "

My own quotation from Miss Edgeworth is

irca 1801. Of course, none of the above

quotations gives any information as to the

origin of the term, only as to the nature of

/he thing described. Can any of your readers

hrow light on the subject by references to

earlier mention of the word, or thing,

' tandem " before or about 1785, or direct me

o any previous discussion on the subject ?