Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/36

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XL JAN. 10, im

published in 1837 or 1838. In each case tb mendicant makes a good income, and keep a footman at home. Altamont, however, doe not return to each benefactor all of his gift except one halfpenny. The point was no necessary to the great novelist, and he droppec it. RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor mation on family matters of only private interes! to affix their names and addresses to their queries in order that the answers may be addressed to then direct.

AUTHOR OF LINES WANTED. Will any one tell me who is the author of these lines anc where they occur 1

When earth, as on some evil dreams,

Looks back upon her wars, And the white light of Christ outstreams

From the red disc of Mars, His fame, who led the stormy van

Of battle, well may cease; But never that which crowns the man

Whose victory was peace.

They were quoted by Mr. Bayard, American ambassador, at the close of a speech on 2 March, 1897, as "lines that had long dwelt with him.' ; Please reply direct to Dr. Murray, Oxford. J. A. H. M.

" RUTENE." Leopardi, * Poesie, Sopra il Monumento di Dante,' 11. 139-41 : Morian per le rutene

Squallide piagge, ahi d' altra morte degni, GP Itali prodi.

The reference is to the Italian troops who accompanied Napoleon in his disastrous Moscow campaign, and rutene must mean Russian. But what is Leopardi's authority for this use of the word ? The classical Ruteni belonged to the south of France, and Leopardi, who was a finished classical scholar, must have been well aware of this. Are we to suppose that he arbitrarily transliterated Russian into ruteno; or is there any mediaeval Latinized form of the word which he was following? F. BROOKS.

[May not the allusion be to the Ruthenians, who belong to the Little Russian race ?]

"LE GRAND PEUT-TRE." Who was the well-known victim of the French Revolution who said, as he approached the guillotine,

Maintenant je saurai le grand peut-etre " ?

M. A. A. G.

[" Je vais querir un grand peut-etre" is said, we believe correctly, to have been uttered bv Rabelais when dying.]

" LESING." In a note on p. 27 of the ninth edition of ' Everyman : a Morality Play ' (London, 1902), the word lesing is said to be equal to " loosing, releasing ; so ' without lesing ' means k inevitably.' " The phrase re- ferred to runs thus : " That is to thy damna- tion without lesing." Would not the sense of " deception, falsehood," explain the word better than "loosing, releasing"? Leasing occurs twice in Shakespeare and twice in the translation of the Psalms viz., iv. 2 and v. 6. E. S. DODGSON.

[The ' H.E.D.' defines leasing as " lying, falsehood."]

SUSSEX CLERGY, 1607-26. Where can I find the fullest information as to changes between these dates ? A. C. H.

"WHEN THE LITTLE DRUMMER BEATS TO BED." Can any of your readers give me the context arid origin of an old soldier song? The air I have, but of the words only the following :

When the little drummer beats to bed, And the little fifer hangs hie head, Stilled and mute the Moorish flute, And nodding guards watch wearily.

Why " Moorish " ? Can it be referred to the days of Tangier and the British occupation ? The air is so quaint as to be worth preserving for its own sake. MORRIS BENT, Major.

DUELS OF CLERGYMEN. When did clergy- men cease to fight duels? The 'Annual Register,' 1782, p. 213, records the death of Lloyd Dulany, Esq., occasioned by a wound received in a duel with the Rev. Mr. Allen in Hyde Park. The Rev. Mr. Allen was tried before Mr. Justice Buller, and the jury brought in a verdict, " Guilty of man- slaughter." "Mr. Recorder then, after a pathetic speech, pronounced sentence on Mr. Allen of Is. fine, and to be imprisoned six months in Newgate." The proceedings, as narrated in the 'Annual Register,' are silent with regard to any expression of surprise at
 * he fact of a clergyman fighting a duel and

' killing his man." A. W. D.

CARTODIS SALE OF PRINTS. Between 1850

md 1865 the Cartodis collection of prints and

drawings was dispersed, probably in Paris

r Brussels. Can the date be given, and

eference to a catalogue of the sale ?

XYLOGRAPHER.

GROUP IN BISCUIT WARE. Would some

ne kindly inform me as to the make of a

^roup in biscuit ware, which piece has been

n my family for the last 100 years ? It shows

i rustic arch, the remains of some building,

ut without any architectural significance.

Jnder the arch there are two figures, an old