Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/139

 9 th S. H. A.-UG, 13, '

NOTES AND QUERIES.

131

On which the editor observes :

" Colin paroit etre le sobriquet que les Francois donnoient aux Suisses. On appeloit colin-tampon le tambou r d'abord, puis le son, le jeu propre au tambour des Suisses.'

And there is a further allusion to the drum-beating of the Swiss in the same poet's Blason' (ibid., ii. 172) :

Les Suysses dancent leurs morisques A tout leurs tabourins sonnans.

The ascription of the term to the date of Marignan (1515) is, therefore, questionable. There is, however, no doubt about its onoma- topoetic origin ; for Pasquier thus affirms it in his ' Recherches de la France ' (viii. 6) :

"Ainsi le palalalalan a emprunt<$ ce nom du tambour des Francais ; ainsi le colin tampon de celui des Suisses."

In connexion herewith there is an amusing anecdote of Madame de Pompadour, which the curious may read in Larousse's 'Grand Dictionnaire,' art. ' Colin-tampon.'

F. ADAMS.

106A, Albany Road, Camberwell.

Mr. W. A. Wheeler, M.A., in his ' Diction- ary of the Noted Names of Fiction,' says of this national nickname for the Swiss that it is "a reproachful sobriquet, said to have been anciently given to the Swiss and to represent the sound of their drums."

C. P. HALE.

THE KING'S STONE AT FLODDEN (9 th S. i. 488). The rough upright column of basalt at Westfield, in Branxton, co. Northumber- land, was put there as a memorial of the victory of Flodden, and does not mark the exact spot where James IV. fell. Some writers doubt the truth of his being slain in this battle. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

SCAFFOLDING IN GERMANY (8 th S. xii. 509 ; 9 th S. i. 72, 170). It is a common custom in this part of Australia (South Australia) for builders to place either the bough of a tree or a flag on the top of a new building the day the roof is completed. BOOBOOROWIE.

PERSONATE = RESOUND (9 th S. i. 388). Both Latham and Annandale give as an obsolete meaning " to celebrate loudly," with a reference to Milton, 'Par. Reg.,' iv. 341. Cf. Virgil's use of personal, '^En.,' i. 741, where see Conington's note.

C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. Bath.

" HORSE-SENSE " (9 th S. i. 487 ; ii. 32). This term is included as an American slang term in Messrs. Farmer and Henley's ' Slang and its Analogues.' It means sound and practical j udg- ment. An excerpt from Lippincott's Maga-

zine, March, 1893, p. 260. is given : "Around bullet head, not very full of brain, yet re- puted to be fairly stocked with what is termed horse-sense" C. P. HALE.

" THE MAN IN THE STREET " (9 th S. ii. 7). The locus classicus for this phrase, now such a favourite with newspaper writers, is in Emerson's 'Conduct of Life Worship':

"Certain patriots in England devoted themselves for years to creating a public opinion that should break down the corn-laws and establish free trade. ' Well,' says the man in the street, ' Cobden got a stipend out of it. 5 "

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A. Hastings.

ROBERT BURTON'S ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH WRITERS (9 th S. ii. 1). In connexion with MR. CURRY'S interesting note on this sub- ject it may be well to preserve the following passage in ' N. & Q.' I cut it, some time ago, from a second-hand book catalogue, but with reprehensible carelessness neglected to affix to it the name of the issuer or the date. It was appended to an advertisement of the 1676 edition of the ' Anatomy of Melan- choly ':

"Mr. W. B. Rye, late of the B.M., has pointed out an interesting fact in connexion with the second and later editions, namely, that while the first edition contains not a single evidence that the author was acquainted with Shakespere's works, the latter ones contain numerous quotations which show that he had read them thoroughly."

Robert Burton left his books, or some of them, to the Bodleian Library. A MS. cata- logue exists which I examined many years ago. I do not remember if there are any Snakesperes in it. The press-mark is " Sela. Arch. B, Supra 80 MS." CORNUB.

DUCHESS OF KENDAL (9 th S. ii. 69). Ermen- garde Melusina, Baroness vonderSchulenberg, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, Baron vonder Schulenberg, had two daughters by George I., viz., Petronille Melusine, Countess of Wal- singham, who married Philip, Earl of Chester- field, and Margaret Gertrude, who became the wife of Count von Lippe. See the 'Complete Peerage,' vol. x. pp. 341-2. G. F. R. B.

WHITAKER'S NAVAL AND MILITARY DIRECTORY (9 th S. i. 500). Referring to your reviewer's remarks, it is worth while to point out that although, as he says, Francis would not have been called Emperor of Germany in 1794, the title Emperor of Austria would have been inapplicable, for this was not assumed until 1805-6. See Mr. Bryce's ' Holy Roman Empire.'

EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.