Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/173

 9*s.xii.Auo.29,i903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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MY DEAR FRIEND, I am glad to comply with thy request and that of our friend Archdeacon Farrar. I hope the lines may be satisfactory. It is difficult to put all that could be said of Milton in four lines. How very beautiful and noble thy benefactions are Every one is a testimony of peace and goodwill. I am, with high respect and esteem, thy aged friend, JOHN G. WHITTIER.

1 think even such a scholar as Dr. Farrar will not object to my use of the word "freehold.'' Milton himself uses it in the same way in his prose writings, viz., " I too have my chapter and freehold of re- joicing."

As was to be expected, the American press made many allusions to this matter, and all of them complimentary to the donor of the memorial and church where it was placed. All the allusions were couched in the most felicitous terms, but space forbids more than a passing reference. An article in the Brook- lyn Uagle, the conclusion of which I give, stated :

" Wisely has Mr. Childs chosen this last object of his generosity and munificence. Fittingly have the English people, speaking by the tongue of Arch- deacon Farrar, accepted the offering as at once a tribute to the mighty dead and as a pledge of the race that boasts his ashes as a consecrated legacy."

Just one more : the New York Daily Tribune, the paper founded by Horace Greeley, said on Monday, 20 February, 1888 :

" America has the kindliest feeling towards Archdeacon Farrar a feeling which will not be diminished by the pleasant words which he had to say yesterday about Mr. Childs's benefaction to St. Margaret's Church. The Milton Memorial Window he regards as a peculiarly appropriate gift for an American to bestow, since the United States stand for much that was dear to the heart of the great Puritan poet. The wardens of St. Mar- garet's have gracefully indicated their appreciation of Mr. Childs's act by setting apart a pew in the church for the use of American visitors.

This arrangement, I regret to say, endured only so long as Dr. Farrar was rector. With his departure for the Deanery of Canterbury, and the appointment of his successor, it came to an end, although it is needless to say that all who visit the church from the States are always welcomed and found seats.

This, then, is the record of memorials here in which the American people are especially interested, as being gifts from their public- spirited citizens, and in one case to commemo- rate a minister of their Church. They are all greatly prized by the worshippers at this historic fane ; and I cannot better conclude than by quoting the words of the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, spoken years ago at the house of Mr. Childs in Philadelphia. He said :

" Mr. Childs was quite as well known in Parlia- ment as in the American Congress at Washington, and, best of all, he was always associated with kindly

acts ; and although respected and sought out by Englishmen as a typical American, the grateful memorials with which he had enriched West- minster Abbey, old St. Margaret's, and Shakspeare's birthplace had won for him in addition a warm place in the hearts of all lovers of literature, not only in the mother country, but in many lands."

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

O- WORDS IN THE 'NEW ENGLISH DIC- TIONARY.' When the section of the 'New English Dictionary ' including On Out came to hand, I turned at once to ornithology to find the first mention of the word. In the sense now prevalent, Ray (1678) is the first author quoted. Surely the word must have been used before. Prof. Newton possibly may be able now to give an example of earlier use, although he could not in 1893.

Prof. Newton (1893) is the latest authority for a word ornithology which is used many times every day, and we might reasonably ask that the work should be brought up more nearly to date. But that word is illustrated by quotations much better than most other zoological terms in the section under consideration. Some words in daily use are illustrated by quotations twenty to fort}'- or more years behind time. Such are : oology (1883), opercle (1880), opercular (1875), operculum (1880), operculate (1857), ophidia (1892), ophiuran (1874), opisthobranch (1877), opisthobranchiate (1889),opisthocoelous (1888), opossum (1880), ordinal (1874), ornithological (1872), ornithologist (1874), orthopterous (1859), oscine (1885), osteologist (1874), osteology (1858), and ostrich (1857). The backwardness of these and numerous other dates has given to many an impression of incompleteness which is detrimental to the esteem which the very great work so fully deserves. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that its value would be enhanced if more attention could be paid to recent words. Okapi, for example, is a name which appeared in almost every periodical in 1901 or thereabouts, but it is not listed in the dictionary.

When one turns over the pages, many slight inaccuracies or defects attract notice. A few are of sufficient interest to call atten- tion to.

Oolahan, -chan, is quite properly defined as "the candle-fish (Thaleichthys pacificus)" and indicated as not naturalized. No sxample of oolakanis quoted, the only quota- ions illustrating oolachan (1881) and oulachan 1836). Eulachon is the present-day form and in common use.

Ophidia is thought to be " app. an arbitrary