Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/63

 9*8. XII. JULY 18, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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a Spartan, and the Emperor Hadrian for Augustus Caesar ; confuses a Greek with Anacharsis, a Scythian ; Demosthenes with Phociou, and Demetrius with Philip of Macedon ; and he made the same error as Shakspeare that Aristotle held that moral philosophy was not a proper study for young men Aristotle referring not to moral, but to political philosophy.

Sometimes the Bacon apophthegms and the plays of Shakspeare correspond. Here are two successive passages from the former :

(1) "Cocks may be made capons; but capons could never be made cocks."

(2) "Chilon would say that gold was tried with the touchstone, and men with gold."

In Shakspeare we find :

(1) " You are cock and capon too."

(2) " Holding out gold that 's by the touchstone tried."

GEORGE STRONACH.

[Our correspondent forgets that under ' Shake- speare's Geography' he has supplied most of the illustrations he now repeats (see 9 th S. xi. 470).]

4 ' TONGUE-TWISTERS" (9 th S. xi. 269, 455, 493). Spain has herversion of the Archbishop of Constantinople form of " Peter Piper ":

"El Arzobispo Constantinopolitano quiere de- senarzobispoconstantinopolitanitar. El que le de- senarzobispoconstantinopolitanitare, buen desen- arzobispocoustantinopolitanitador sera."

"The Archbishop of Constantinople desires to divest himself of the archbishopric. He that divests him of the Archbishopric of Constantinople, a good divester of Constantinople Archbishoprics will he be."

Also a variant :

"El Duque de Medina Celi quiere desenduque- medinacelizarse. El que le desenduquemedinaceli- zare buen desenduquemedinacelizador sera."

"The Duke of Medina Celi desires to divest him- self of the dukedom. He that divests him of the Dukedom of Medina Celi, a good divester of Duke- doms of Medina Celi will he be."

ALDENHAM.

NIGHTCAPS (9 th S. xi. 489). The history of nightcaps could probably be traced in the pages of Punch. They figure in literature. Tittlebat Titmouse wore one. Dickens, who was fond of noticing headgear, made Mr. Pickwick's nightcap to be as well known as his gaiters (1836), and as late as 1861 he made the Aged P. to be jaunty by reason of that article of dress. It will be found, I think, that nightcaps, which up to about 1860 had been more or less common, disappeared in consequence of the disuse of hair oil and pomatum, and the substitution of less greasy hair washes. When it became fashionable to keep the hair very closely cut, and to strip bedrooms arid bedsteads of nearly all carpets

and curtains, then nightcaps wholly ceased and rheumatism and neuralgia increased. But gentlemen whose natural head-covering is scanty still wear nightcaps.

If folk - rimes have any historical value, the use of nightcaps must go a long way back. There used to be a jingle in Yorkshire: Did you ever see the d-v-1, With his wooden spade and shovel, Digging in his garden with his nightcap on ?

The repetition of this nine times while the reciter walked nine times round a certain garden or similar enclosure was said to pro- duce a vision of the person named, habited as to his head according to the formula. In Hull the enclosure was Kingston Square, Jarratt Street, in which stood the dissecting theatre of the Medical School. This. I believe, led to the choice (1857). W. C. B.

I cannot answer your correspondent's query, but a few years ago caps that could be worn at night were part of the kit issued to soldiers proceeding by sea, and are very pleasant to sleep in in the open air.

In a book, * Records of the Royal Military Academy, 1741-1840,' published by Parker, Furnival & Parker, Military Library, White- hall, London, printed at the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich, 1851 (no author's name), there is a picture of a cadet of the Royal Military Academy (R.A. R E.). The descrip- tion of the plates is next to p. 152. Plate 2 is a view of a room in the Royal Military Academy, 1810 and 1812. Fig. 7 is a cadet in white regimental nightcap. R. B. B.

I am eighty-six years of age, but by no means am one of the "bed-ridden people." I wear a nightcap, for the simple reason that, being very bald, I am obliged during the day to use a velvet skullcap, hence I find a night- cap necessary when asleep.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. MUHAMMED OR MOHAMMED 1 (9 th S. XL 509.)

The Semitic name immortalized by the son of A'bdu'llah must necessarily be inter- preted by and through the language to which it belongs, i.e., Arabic. The root-form of it is laamd= praising or praise. Of this \\amd there is an "extended" form, viz., ta\\m\d ; and mulmmmad is the " noun of passivity " (ismu rnafu'l) belonging to talwnd. The re- duplication of the medial m in the " extended " form muhammad throws into the name, according to the rules of Arabic grammar, a corresponding intensification of meaning. Hence the form muhammad denotes, not praise only, but praised repeatedly, or in the highest degree. "Mahomet," of course, is a mere corruptiqn, like Shakespeare's