Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/399

 9* s. x. NOV. is, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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different authors. One of the most scathing and amusing that I know is a poem written by Alfred de Musseton two unfortunate pro- fessional poets who had neither fame nor money. Among greater works ' Les Chati- ments ' of Victor Hugo should not be for- gotten. It has been declared equal to the ' Satires ' of Juvenal or the ' Annals ' of Tacitus ; but this is political satire, and scarcely humorous. T. P. ARMSTRONG.

THE EVOLUTION OF A NOSE (9 th S. ix. 445 ; x. 34, 236, 315). It is as strange as it is true that the type of nose referred to is not in- frequently met with among persons of the yeoman class who are at present residing in Gloucestershire or have descended from families which were formerly located in certain parishes in that county. In former days an election contest in Gloucestershire was invariably regarded as a trial of strength between two territorial lords ; one represent- ing the Whig interest, the other representing the Tory interest. Many years ago I saw a rather clever caricature among a collection of broadsides, skits, &c., which were published in connexion with one of the late eighteenth- century county elections. The caricature represented a "tally" of voters being escorted to the poll by men flourishing whips, and each of the voters was depicted as being the proud possessor of the type of nose referred to. G. E. WEARE.

" DIFFERENT THAN " (9 th S. x. 128, 192, 275). This is not, I suppose, good grammar, any more than "different to." We should, of course, say " different from." Both solecisms seem to spring from a confusion of construc- tions. As the very common error " different to" may be suggested by the opposite ex- pression " similar to," so the mucn rarer one "different than " may be due to the thought of the parallel phrase "other than." Some allowance, too, may perhaps be made in the case of classical scholars for the influence of Latin and Greek constructions. " Differently than " occurs on p. 196 of the E.V. of the ' Commentary on St. James ' published by Clark, 1882, where "otherwise than" might have been expected.

Again, the faulty usage "different to" seems to be responsible for a still worse blunder, "another to": "Quite another hemisphere to that in which he had passed his days," Paxton Hood's ' Wordaw.orth,' p. 92.

By a similar confusion we find " hardly

than," modelled on the phrase "no sooner

than." In the Saturday Review for

16 August, on p. 196, we read, "Hardly had Cicero expounded the philosophy of her

[Rome's] republican constitution, than the ad vent of Csesar made his work ridiculous." " Hardly " should, I suppose, be followed by " when."

So much, however, in speech-craft depends on custom that perhaps it would not be safe to say of any solecism that it will never become tolerated as grammatical even by good writers. The word " than " itself seems to furnish an instance of custom overriding strict grammar. Originally an adverb (then) that has acquired the force of a conjunction, it is used as a preposition before the relative pronoun. Once or twice I have come across "than who," but certainly "than whom" is the recognized form in good writers.* Ai\d this prepositional force is sometimes given to " than " before the personal pronouns. For instance, both the A.V. and R.V. of Prov. xxvii. 3 have " A fool's wrath is heavier than them both," where "both of them" might have been used.

C* LAWRENCE FORD, B.A.

[For " than" and the accusative see 7 th S. xi. 104, 256, 476.]

FLINT : FERREY (9 th S. x. 87, 177, 296). To "ferrey" and ''' fleerish " may, perhaps, be added from Jamieson : " Frezell, s., an iron instrument for striking fire. Z. Boyd."

H. P. L.

THE SEDLEY FAMILY (9* S. x. 286). I have numerous notes on this familv, extracts from the registers of Ightham, Southfleet, &c., copies of which are at COL. PRIDEAUX'S service if he wishes for them. The Sir John Sidley buried at St. Pancras is new to me, but this is not the fifth baronet of the Great Chart creation, for he was buried at Ightham 25 January, 1710. This gentleman married Mary Nicholls, of Kerasing (not Keirising as Berry has it), and some of their children were baptized in that parish.

THOMAS CoLYER-FsRaussoN.

Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks.

'THE TOWER OF LONDON ' (9 th S. x. 305). There are at least nine churches in England dedicated to "St. Peter ad Vincula": the one in the Tower ; Stoke-on-Trent ; Colmer or Colemore, Hants ; Tollard-Royal, Wilts ; Wisborough, Sussex ; Coggeshall, Essex ; Ratley-on-Edgehill ; Ludford Parva ; and Burnham-Thorpe (though now designated as All Saints'), to which may be added Runham, Norfolk (now SS. Peter and Paul). King John granted a Feast on the Vigil of St. Peter ad Vincula; at Ashwater, Devon, a fair was allowed on the first Monday after 1 August,


 * See Milton, ' Paradise Lost,' ii. 299. "