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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. n. SKPT. 17, >s

continued it not if fifty Homers and Miltons did so it has always appeared to some people that this construction is absolutely erroneous and absurd. It may possibly be palliated by authority, or defended under the plea that " communis error facit jus "; but many persons regard it as intrinsically vicious and full of original sin ; and in holding this view such persons are in pretty good company, since it was censured by Addison, and totally condemned by Bentley.

PATRICK MAXWELL. Bath.

THE SOUDAN. ' The Lady, the Engine, and Twins ' is a paragraph-heading in ' Back to the Soudan,' Daily Graphic, 22 Aug., p. 4 :

"The natives look upon the engine as a sort of god, and stand in great awe of it. The sapper officers who built the line have many amusing yarns to tell about their reception when first the loco- motive came along. At Gennanetti an Arab ap- proached the officer in charge and asked him if his wife might creep under the engine. The reason for this extraordinary request was that the lady was anxious to have a child, so permission was at once given. Not content with crawling under the engine once, she asked if she might do it again, and her husband explained that this would ensure her having twins."

Henry Dufton, in his 'Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-3 '(second edition, London, Chapman &Hall, 1867, p. 20), says (speaking of Meselemieh, the first con- siderable town on the Blue Nile above Khartoum) :

" Some photographic portraits and picture-books, as well as a concertina I had with me, by them called shaitan, or the devil, were a great source of amusement to the people in my immediate neigh- bourhood, who, especially the children, would beset the house in crowds, and 1 was frequently invited out by my neighbours to a booza-drmking. But I was particularly amused when, on one occasion, my landlady came to me with a very earnest re- quest that I would play for the benefit of another of her sex, whom she had brought with her. 'Why,' I said, ' what makes you so particularly desire it ? ' 'Oh,' she replied, 'this lady/ee wallad fil bcvtnha [is enceinte], and in pur country we believe that in such cases music has a beneficial effect.' With this powerful inducement I put the instru- ment on at high pressure, and I hope effectually." THOMAS J. JEAKES.

'CROCKFORD'S CLERICAL DIRECTORY.' This book, the volume of which for 1898 is stated to be the " thirtieth issue," has grown to a vast size. The current volume contains, ex- clusive of advertisements, 1,091 leaves and a map. The names of the clergy (about 35,000?) of the Church of England at home and abroad, of the Church of Ireland, and of the Episcopal Church of Scotland are arranged in one alphabet, and pp. 1537-2079 contain five

indexes of benefices, missions, and charges. The prefaces of the editors, in recent years, are known for their quiet humour and well- directed satire. The ' Directory ' is useful not only with regard to the clergy of to-day ; its earlier issues are now of sufficient age to be of considerable value to the biographer and the topographer. It has already been frequently cited as an authority in the ' Dic- tionary of National Biography.'

A few words therefore may be permitted concerning the first issue.

The title-page runs : "TheClericalDirectory, a Biographical and Statistical Book of Refer- ence for Facts relating to the Clergy and the Church. Compiled by the conductors of 'The Clerical Journal,' 1858. London : John Crock - f6rd, 29, Essex Street, Strand (W.C.)." 8 in. X 6jin., 20 leaves-j-pp. 1-812 (owing to many errors in pagination the true number is much- more), bound in the now familiar black cloth.

This volume is made up of supplements issued occasionally with The Clerical Journal and Church and University Chronicle, from about May, 1855, to 8 Aug., 1857, and deals with 18,559 clergy. The names are not in alphabetical order, but were printed from week to week as the returns were received. An index was issued 9 Nov., 1 857, to 22 Jan., 1858.

To show the backward sweep of such a chronicle it may be mentioned that at least two vicars are included who had then held their' benefices for sixty years, viz., Arch- deacon Timbrill, vicar of Beckford, near Tewkesbury, 1797; and J. H. Bromby, vicar of Holy Trinity, Hull, 1798.

It will be observed that the ' Directory ' was not at first an annual publication.

W. C. B.

"AFFICHER." This word is [sometimes] used to express the making of a person unpleasantly conspicuous, and appears to be derived from the objection French actors formerly had to their names appearing on a playbill. Dr. Doran (who, it must be con- fessed, is not a good authority) says :

" The absence of the names of actors in old play -books perhaps arose from a feeling which animated French actors as late as 1789, when those of Paris entreated the mayor not to compel them to have their names in the affiche, as it might prove detrimental to their interests." 'In and About Drury Lane,' i. 7.

JOHN HEBB.

EXTRAORDINARY COMPOUND ADJECTIVES IN POETRY. The ordinary spondaic compound adjective, such as long-drawn or loud-mouthed, is a commonplace, .of sorts, in poetry ; and there are some epithets partaking more of