Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/194

 186

NOTES AND QUERIES.

p* s. n. SEPT. 3,

rather than adopt any coinage due to a mis taken notion, though it bear the imprimatur of MR. BAYNE. TENEBR^E.

BYRON ON NAPOLEON. Lord Wolseley ends his ' Decline and Fall of Napoleon,' 1895, with the following words :

" 80 wrote the finger on the wall about the proud King of Babylon. It might with equal truth have been written of him whose overthrow at Waterloo is thus described in verse :

Since he miscalled the Morning Star, ; Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far."

This is not quite correct, though I dare say dozens of readers of Byron's splendid ode have thought, with Lord Wolseley, that the great poet was referring to Napoleon's over- throw at Waterloo. This, however, is im- possible, simply because this ode was written before the battle of Waterloo. It refers to Napoleon's abdication in April, 1814. The "sullen isle" in stanza xiv., accordingly, is Elba not, as doubtless many have thought, St. Helena.

I possess a copy of Byron's 'Lara' and Rogers's 'Jacqueline' in the same volume, dated 1814. Amongst the advertisements of books by Byron and others at the end is "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte [so spelled]. Ninth Edition. 8vo. Is. 6d" The date 1814 proves conclusively that the ode cannot refer to Waterloo. " Cela va sans dire."

It is not actually stated in the advertise- ment that this ode is by Byron, but as it immediately follows several works of Byron there can be no doubt that it is Byron's magnificent ' Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte.'

It is but fair both to Byron and Napoleon to remember that only a year or two later Byron modified his opinion of Napoleon. In the third canto of ' Childe Harold,' published in 1816, the poet speaks more kindly of the great conqueror, whose greatness, happily, was not equal to conquering our own beloved land.

Would that England would perform a tardy act of reparation for her ignoble treat- ment of the dead poet in 1824, by transferring his remains even now from Hucknall Torkard to Poets' Corner ! Amongst all the great poets from Chaucer to Tennyson whose honoured ashes repose in the "temple of silence and reconciliation " is there, with the exception of the author of ' The Faerie Queene,' really a greater than the author of the third and fourth cantos of ' Childe Harold's Pilgrim- age'? JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

Ropley, Hampshire.

"BOULANGER" AND FRENCH ROLLS. In

the new Hatzfeld and Darmesteter the origin

of the word boulanger is said to be unknown ; but mention is made of a Low Latin bulen- garius in use as early as 1120. In Russian there are the words boulka = & roll, boulotchka = a small roll, and boulotchnik & baker of rolls and white bread. The derivation of boulka is given in the new Russian dictionary of the Academy as "Polish, from French boule." The terminations -ka and -otchka are both diminutives, and -nik has the signi- ficance of our -er. Barrere's ' Argot and Slang ' gives "Boule de son (mil.)=]oal, bread ; bmde (thiev.) = prison loaf." In Hatzfeld and Darmesteter no mention is made of boule = bread (in any form). But is it altogether improbable that the words boule and bou- langer are nearly related ? H. RAYMENT. Sidcup, Kent.

KEATS'S EPITAPH ON HIMSELF. The expres- sion "writ in water," which many persons imagine was first used by Keats with regard to himself, was a proverbial one, in common use many years before Keats's time. In a commendatory poem, by an anonymous author, prefaced to a book by Sir William Sanderson, on the ' Art of Painting in Water Colours ' (1658), the following lines occur :

Your Fame shall (spite of proverbs) make it plain To write in Water s not to write in vain

which shows that the expression was in ordinary use in a proverbial sense nearly two and a half centuries ago. JOHN HEBB.

Canonbury Mansions, N.

SUPERSTITION IN SOMERSET. The Western Morning News of 16 August contains the following :

" The Wells city magistrates were engaged for a considerable time at the Town Hall investigating a charge against William Elliott, alias Chambers, of Tor Street, Wells, of unlawfully using 'certain subtle craft, means, and device to deceive and impose on Henry T. Blackburn, of Mortlake, Surrey, who on 20 July went with Mrs. Reynolds, of Easton, and her daughter to defendant, whom he knew. Mrs. Reynolds told defendant her child was worse, and defendant remarked, ' They 've been at her again, and cast a devil into her,' and explained that he meant Mrs. Reynolds's daughter-in-law. He added that he cured the child one Sunday morning, and Mrs. Reynolds replied, ' Yes ; my child did get better, but was taken worse on Thurs- day." Some further conversation ensued as to the sxtent of his curative powers, and ultimately he
 * onsented to drive the devil or witch out of the
 * hild for a fee of 7s. 6rf., which was paid him. The
 * hild got worse, and died. Information was given

to the police, and defendant was arrested on a warrant. On searching the house, a number of
 * ortune-telling books were found, and a book con-

taining the names of 206 persons who had consulted lira. Defendant asked no questions, but handed to who had asked his advice and assistance, The
 * he Bench a number of testimonials from persona