Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/35

 9* s. XL JAN. io, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

authority of Varro that in his time that word could not fitly be applied to the utter- ance of a single individual, but only to speech, or spoken intercourse, or disputation shared in by two or more persons ; and this view of the matter is corroborated by Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. It is, therefore, only by one of the ironies of chance that this word has been adopted in order to denote a speech or ad- dress of a religious character only, uttered by a single person only, and in certain build- ings only, to a large company of other persons, who are absolutely debarred from sharing that address or in any way discussing its propositions. It is not that any man would for a moment advocate the toleration of any such discussion. But it does seem that the word " sermon," looking to its original sense, is curiously inappropriate as the name to be applied to such utterances; and it is interest- ing to reflect in passing that the same objec- tion may be advanced against the other word of Greek origin employed to denote pulpit addresses, the word "homily," to wit, which, like "sermon," originally signified not the utterance of a single person, but the inter- course or conversation or communing of several.

In strictness, then, and if these words had retained their original and etymological sense, a party of friends, in referring to a social entertainment where they had met and enjoyed agreeable conversation, might fitly say, " We had a delightful sermon the other night "; or a young lady might appropriately describe a successful dance as a highly enjoy- able homily.

Of course everybody knows that words have a perfect right to change their meanings, and our language teems with examples of such change and of divergence from the original signification of words ; but I think it must be admitted that the words now under notice present a remarkable instance of such divergence. PATEICK MAXWELL.

Bath.

FRENCH NAVAL MEMOIRS. Among the most interesting of these records are those which describe the brilliant and adventurous careers of the Comte de Forbin and M. du Gue-Trouin. The English translations of these memoirs appear to be very scarce, none being in the British Museum Library. I transcribe the title-pages from my own copies:

Memoirs of the Count de Forbin, Commodore in the'Navylpf France : and Knight of the Order

of St. Lewis Translated from the French.

London : MDCCXXXI. 2 vola. 12mo.

The Memoirs of M. du Gue-Trouin, Chief of a

Squadron in the Royal Navy of France, and Great 7!ross of the Military Order of St. Lewis. Contain-

ng All his Sea-Actions with the English, Dutch, and Portugueze, in the late Wars of King William and Queen Anne. Translated from the French by a Sea-Officer. London : MDCCXXXII. 12mo.

A second edition of the former appeared in 1734, and of the latter in 1743, each being identical with the first edition, with the substitution of a new title-page, that of the second edition of Trouin stating the trans-

ator to be " George Shelvocke, Esq. ; Secre- tary of the Post Office." C. D.

ARCHBAND ROOF. In the 'Parliamentary Surveys of Episcopal Lands ' in 1647 (now in Lambeth Palace Library) is the survey of Ford House and Park, between Reculver and Canterbury :

"One Great Hall with a screen, in length 52 feet, and breadth 27, built of stone with buttresses, having an archband roof open to the top, in the midst whereof a lantern covered with lead."

Also the kitchen had "an archband roof open." Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls's ' Dic- tionary ' describes this as " that portion of a rib which remains visible below the surface of vaulting." ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent.

FREDERICK TENNYSON. It is well worth noting that an article by the Rev. W. H. Buss appears in Morning Light of 8 Novem- ber, 1902, controverting the statement in the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' that Frederick Tennyson abandoned his Sweden- borgian faith in his old age. Mr. Buss shows good reasons for thinking that this is a mistake. He was a "New-Churchman" up to the age of eighty-eight, and his co-disciples "have certainly no ground for believing that his opinions changed just before he was ninety years of age." Swedenborg's influence has been wide and deep and has left a profound impression on many thinkers, as witness Emerson.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

' THE CHIMES,' 1845. In the first edition of 'The Chimes,' dated 1845, there is an error which has not, to my knowledge, been pointed out. In the list of illustrations, ' Trotty at Home ' and ' Margaret and her Child,' the engravers' names have been trans- posed. Trotty is attributed to Linton, and Margaret to Dalziel, whereas Dalziel is respon- sible for the first and Linton for the second. MAURICE JONAS.

THE CROSSING SWEEPER. (See 2 nd S. ix. 20, 286.) This curious incident would seem to be the basis of Thackeray's * Miss Shum's Husband,' one of the " Yellowplush Papers,"