Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/278

 270

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XIL OCT. s, 1903.

p. 105) has renewed my interest in the too that I possess, and has led me to wonder i the design of both be due to the indomitable Benveuuto. I do not suspect mine of being a copy of the Camerlengo's, for it is bette calculated to brain a man than to make i gentle inquiry on his already deserted temples The shaft is six inches long ; the head, which has an uhcloven claw, measures four anc a half inches ; and the weight of the article is twelve and a half ounces. It looks to me as if it might well give a blow or two to initiate the unwalling of a Porta Santa in the year of jubilee. I have no doubt that/ * N. & Q,' can afford enlightenment, ST. SWITHIN.

"TRAVAILLER POUR LE ROI DE PRUSSE.' (9 th S. xi. 289, 392, 437, 496 ; xii. 34, 111.) IT seems to me that it is not irrelevant t settle whether the phrase is a proverb or not. For if it is, we need not look out for a source, whereas, if it can be made plausible that we have to do with a winged word, we may induce students of French literature to be on the look-out for it. In the definition given at the last reference but one " neither nor" must, of course, be "either or," an obvious mistake whether it is a slip of the pen or a misprint I cannot make sure now. MR. LATHAM ought to prove why the saying is not a winged word, and why it is a proverb or proverbial phrase. The latter is, as he himself points out, a loose expression. Some ui 86 lb ut' S a 8 y non y ra f "proverb," which is blamable, because in science one term is sufficient for one tiling : others class under this heading anything that has the currency of a proverb, whether it is a whole sentence asare, to quote such as have been treated in J* : &Vj-i "What has posterity done for us?" Jnrst catcli your hare"; or part of a sen-

t " C ?'' w-1 . On, e ' c ! ock >" "as "gHt as ram With regard to their origin, they are twofold : they may be due to the many like proverbs, or to an individual, like winded words -naturally, often it cannot be decided to which class a certain saying belongs. Now

t MR. LATHAM calls our phrase a proverbial phrase, that does not mend matters, as he leaves us uncertain if he takes this in the former or the latter sense. In point of fact MR. LATHAM and I agree, as he has put his shoulder to the wheel by casting about and giving us the benefit of his extensive reading J he .explanation .Larchey gives is not bad in itself, it is certain that the Prussian soldiers did not draw pay m the period under dis-

cussion for the thirty -first of a month ; they called this unlucky day the "Schlapper- mentstag." But by this the French setting of the phrase is not explained. In Frederick? army, it is true, served Frenchmen occa- sionally, mostly deserters ; but they were not the men to make a phrase, even if they had coined it, popular in a foreign tongue. The form shows by itself that it never reached beyond the circle of people of culture. But why wander so far ? Frederick was passion- ately fond of French literature and surrounded himself with French men of letters, artists, officers, and political characters : I only men- tion Voltaire, D'Alembert, Maupertuis, La Mettrie, D'Argens, De Prades, Jordan, Beau- sobre, La Croze, Chasot, Launay. French ambassadors did not fail to observe, record, and report everything that happened, and seemed to deserve notice, at the Prussian Court. May not among this lively set of witty Frenchmen the word have sprung up, either with reference to the custom men- tioned above, or when Frederick did not remunerate their important services suffi- ciently ? To sum up, and repeat what I said before, I think, if ever the source should be traced, it will be in the French writers, whether professional or occasional, of the eighteenth century, and I trust that MR. LATHAM will be among the foremost to watch or it. Q. KRUEGER.

Berlin.

DUNCALFE (9 th S. xi. 289, 392, 476). Accord- ng to Daniel and Samuel Lysons's * Cheshire,' 1810, the Duncalfes of Foxhurst, more gener- ally called Foxwist, in the township of Butley or Butleigh, in the hundred of Maccles- ield, were an ancient family. They lived at Foxwist Hall for several generations, and had male issue at the time of Glover's Visitation 'n 1566. A younger son settled at Holderness n Yorkshire. Foxwist was sold by William Duncalfe in 1609 to Sir Urian Legh, who died ~eised of it 3 Car. I. (i.e., 1627 or 1628) :

"i lfc ^ aS A I?? 60 for nearl y two centuries in the

Leghs of Adhngton : it is at present occupied by a

ottager : ^ the lands now form part of Adlington

" There is a gentleman of this name (Duncalfe) in he adjoining township of Adlington, where his ncestors have resided for many generations, who, rpbably, is the male representative of the Dun- alfes of Foxwist." P. 838.

5ee also pp. 396, 846.

Probably Thomas Duncalf, mentioned be- ow, was alive when the Lysons collected heir information. MR. PICKFORD (8 th S viii. 12) quotes from 'The Ancient Parish of

restbury,' by Frank Renaud, M.D, (vol. xcvii.