Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/395

 9*8. XI. MAY 16, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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fallen fortunes. The old Britannia is now a thing of the past; but there are not a few who will always cherish kindly recollections of Mrs. Lane's great theatre.

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME. ARMY DOCTORS. In our day army doctors, apparently anxious to conceal the fact that they are doctors, and to pose as copper captains, have lately wrung from Ministers semi -military titles. Why should these gentlemen be ashamed of their own noble profession, and desire to posture as mili- tary men? Surely a doctor is as good as a captain. Moreover, it might be argued that if army doctors are to be colonels and generals, then army chaplains should be colonels and generals as well, and navy doctors should likewise be commodores and admirals. However, having won these titles, the army doctor might go a step further, and might cite Homer as affording good precedent for conferring on him actual military com- mand ; for is it not written in Iliad ii. 729 sqq. that two Grecian army surgeons com- manded the combined contingents of (Echalia, Tricca, and Ithome in the army of Agamem- non in front of Troy ? 01 5' fT-^ov TpiKKrjv KCU 'I0(ofj.rj ot T'C'XOI' Ol\aX.ii]v ) TroAiv Evpvrov TWI/ avO' fiyia-6r)v 'Aor/cA^Triou Svo irjTrjp' dyaOw, IIoSaAciptos ^Se Mavawi/. From Tricca, from Ithom rough and rude With rocks and glens, and from (Echalia, town 3f Eurytus (Echalian-born, came forth Their warlike youth, by Podalirius led, And by Machaon, healers both expert Of all disease. Cowper.

Another translator more closely describes these medico-military generals as

Two skilful leeches, ^Esculapius' sons. To my mind it would have seemed fitter that these two medical gentlemen should have commanded "Magnesia's troops," mentioned a little lower down at 1. 756. This reminds me, by the way, that that pleasant potion, rhubarb and magnesia terror of our child- hoodseems to have passed to the limbo of disuse, along with senna tea, black draught, and sundry other now forgotten medical delicacies. PATRICK MAXWELL.

Bath.

' H.E.D.' JOTTINGS. Cross = Transept. The 'H.E.D.,' or Head Dictionary of the English Language, gives no instance of the use of cross in the sense of transept in books of the nineteenth century. But it occurs on pp. 5 and 175 of 'An Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, its Monu- ments and Curiosities ' (London, 1836). The

passage on p. 175 is this : "What will princi- pally engage your attention, in viewing the outside of this building (the new towers excepted), is the magnificent portico leading into the north cross." The British Museum has nine editions of this work : the first of the year 1754, and the last of 1851.

Doctrin in 1772. The said Dictionary has a quotation showing the use of doctrin as a variant of the noun substantive doctrine in the sixteenth century. But the history of this phonetic spelling may be prolonged. It was in use in the reign of George III. It is the only spelling of the word, in the singular number, in "The Catechism of the Church of England explained by Short and Practical Discourses to each Question and Answer. By Thomas Dil worth. London, MDCCLXXII." This author, however, wrote doctrines in the plural.

Lie/tenant. On a tombstone in the church- yard at Cumnor, near Oxford, there is on one side this inscription :

"Lieftenant William Godfry He [sic] Died y e 14 Day of May 1694 Aged 76 Years/'

And on the other this :

" Here Lyeth ye Body of Liueten* William Godfry Who faithfully serued King Charles y e 1 th [sic] from Edgehill Fight to y* end of y e unhappy wars."

This is interesting because it gives us an instance of the phonetic spelling of / for u in lieutenant, corresponding nearly with the modern pronunciation, which is lef tenant. No instance so late as this of this spelling of the word is to be found in the 'H.E.D.

Unwarrant. 'The Imperial Dictionary,' 'The Century Dictionary,' and 'A Standard Dictionary' give some words derived from the verb " to unwarrant," but quote no form of the verb itself. Probably the 'H.E.D.' will supply the deficiency. In the St. James's Gazette of 31 December, 1902, p. 13, there occur the words "on the ground that the state of trade absolutely unwarrants it."

Thoaghtsome: Overjoyedness : Uncessantness.

In 'The Christians Daily Walke By

Henry Scvdder ' (London, 1637, seventh edition), one notes, p. 219, " though tsome "; p. 259, "overjoyednesse '; p. 639, "uncessant- nesse." Of these three words the first alone is noted in * The Century Dictionary,' which cites no other authority for it than ' Encyc. Diet.'

The Yoke of Rams' Fleeces. On p. 50 of an ' Essay on Sheep,' &c., by Robert R. Living- ston, LL.D. (Concord, N.H., 1813), the follow- ing advice is given, among other hints, for those who wish to judge of the quality of a ram :