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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XL FEB. w, ira.

wood, therefore, identifies the club with the Macarony Club. In a paragraph written by a Cambridge undergraduate early in 1774 both Macaronies and the Savoir Vivre Club are said to be the offspring of Cambridge. This statement seems to support Larwood's account. I should be very much obliged for information about the origin and history of the club, and for evidence of its founders, or of its leading members in 1770-3, being old Cambridge men. The contemporary references that I have come across in H. Wai- pole, Lord Mai mesbury's 'Letters,' Gent. Mag. (1773), and Jesse's 'Selwyn' throw no light on these points. A. M.

THACKERAY AND 'VANITY FAIR.' I shall be glad of information as to the meanings of the following references :

"Tay-boy " (chap, xxvii.).

" The Munoz of private life " (chap, xxxviii.).

" A little bit of the Sunday side" (chap, li ).

"Panther Carr" (chap. lv.).

"Latude's beard and whiskers " (chap. lyi.).

In chap. xix. there is an allusion to Colling- wood planting acorns in vacant places on his estate. Was this Admiral Colling wood 1 If so, where can the statement be found 1

Levant House (referred to in chap, li.) is described as being " then occupied by His Highness [the Prince of Peterwaradin] during the temporary absence from England of its noble proprietor." Where was Levant House, and who was its " noble proprietor"?

The Regent Club, in St. James's Street (chap, liv.), is presumably fictitious, as I can discover no record of its existence. The period of 'Vanity Fair' is, of course, the early part of the nineteenth century.

F. G. KITTON.

St. Albans.

FRENCH PHRASE. "II faut souffrir pour etre beau " ; " II faut souffrir pour etre belle." Which is correct French? What is the origin of the expression ? H. G. T.

Carlton Club.

'DlSCURSOS DE LA NBLEZA DE ESPANA,'

1659. I possess a book by Bernabe Moreno de Vargas entitled as above. Can any one supply information concerning it ?

HENRY E. DAVIS.

" MAIDEN " APPLIED TO A MARRIED WOMAN. In Somerset an old woman will say of a married daughter, "I've not seen my maid this while." Another like expression is, " Her 's an uncommon purty maid. Who did her marry?" (Wright's 'Dictionary of Eng- lish Dialect.') In Latin this use of the word virgo also sometimes appears for young

women, to whom the ordinary meaning of the description maiden does not apply (Ovid, ' Her.,' iv. 133 ; Curt., v. 1 ; Virg., E. vi. 47, 52 ; Hor., Od. ii. 8, 23 ; iii. 14, 9 ; Andrews's ' Lexicon ';. Is there any trace in early or later Anglo-Saxon writings of the use of maiden as applied to married women or young women in general ?

A. R. GODDARD.

VAN DER NEER'S CENTENARY. Can any of your readers furnish the exact date of the birth of the Dutchman Artus van der Neer, the painter par excellence of moonlight scenes, whose paintings are exhibited in the National Gallery, Dulwich Gallery, Boymans's Museum in Rotterdam ; also in the galleries at Amster- dam, Antwerp, Berlin, Cassel, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, St. Petersburg, and the Louvre in Paris? He is stated in various catalogues to have been born in 1603, 1613, 1615, 1619, at Gorinchem or Gorchem. His son Eglon Hendrick is stated to have died on 3 May, 1703, which is exactly 100 years after the father's birth, according to some accounts. WALTER LOWELL.

"SPHERES OF INFLUENCE." How long has this phrase been formally used in the diplo- matic world ? It has been largely employed in this country since the European nations began systematically to carve out the African continent among themselves, as well as in relation to their proceedings in China. But it is now coming into more ordinary use ; for in the report to the Committee appointed to consider the disposition of the King's Osborne estate the first clause runs :

" That the Osborne estate should be transferred to the care partly of the Office of Woods and partly to the Office of Works : the respective spheres of influence to be settled by the Depart- ments concerned."

POLITICIAN.

DOROTHY GIFFORD=JOHN PAGETT. John Pagett, or Paggett, of St. Nicholas's parish, was married, 19 December, 1667, to Dorothy Gifford, of St. Werburgh's parish, Dublin. Can any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' give the parentage of this John Pagett or of his wife, and the date of her birth or death ? Was she sister of Elizabeth Gifford, who married, in 1662, Sir Peter Courthope, of Little Island, co. Cork, Knt., whose prerogative will was proved in 1680? WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

EQUATION OF TIME AT CHRISTMAS. Can some astronomical reader tell me why the equation of time is at zero on Christmas Day ? If this is an arbitrary arrangement, when and by whom was it made ? T. WILSON.

Harpenden.