Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/416

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9' s. IL NOV. 19, >98.

give it, but, in citing the figurative locution manger le lard, he says that it may have arisen from the charge brought against persons guilty of eating bacon or other forbidden viands on fast days. I would ask two questions : Is there any verbatim equi- valent to " To save one's bacon " in any lan- guage save English and French 1 and how long does literary evidence show it to have been in vogue with us 1* Apropos of this bacon, no doubt there are some among the older readers of ' N. & Q.' who will call to mind the technical sense of bacon when, fifty years ago, peg-top was a game of skill. For the benefit of younger readers, I would explain that bacon was a term applied to a section of an old top that was placed in the smaller of two rings as a forfeit jjy a player whose top, when spun, had remained within the boundary formed by the larger circle. It became the prize of the player who pegged it out of its small enclosure. Whether the slang phrase sug- gested the technical term, or whether the slice of top got its name from its fancied resemblance to a scrap of bacon, I do not presume to guess. HENRY ATTWELL.

Barnes.

MACKENZIE. How is this Scotch name pronounced ? Is the z a sibilant ; or should it be the tailed letter 3, sounded like g, as in Menzies, Dalziel, and other Scotch names 1

T.

" LIMERICK." When and why did the non- sense verse as written by Lear acquire the name of " Limerick " ? M. H.

[We have not heard this so called.]

DAILY AND WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS PUB- LISHED IN LIVERPOOL. Were there any daily or weekly newspapers published in Liverpool between the years 1810 and 1815 ? If so, what were their names, and are any of them now in existence ? M. W. W.

Montreal.

SUTHERLANDS. Will any one be good enough to send me a pedigree of the Sutherland^ of Duffus to the year 1600? Also, particulars of the descent of Duffus from Reginald le Chen the first to Mary le Chen, who married Nicholas Sutherland of Torbol? I have failed to find the number of Reginalds intervening, but it seems to be three. A. CALDER.

Alma Cottage, Lympstone.

SIR WALTER SCOTT. The biographers of our great novelist Alexander Manzoni relate the

[* 'H.E.D.' gives 1691.]

following anecdote : Sir Walter Scott, passing through Milan, went to pay him a visit and to compliment him on his ' Betrothed,' which had appeared a few years before. Manzoni interrupted him, saying with a smile : " The 4 Betrothed ' is yours : it is the fruit of the studies which I nave made of your novels." Whereupon Sir Walter immediately replied : "In that case the 'Betrothed' is my best novel."

Now, I have looked for it in some of Walter Scott's biographies, and not only did not find it mentioned, but it even appears that his having visited Milan at all is anything but proved. Can any of the readers of ' N. & Q.' kindly enlighten me on the subject?

DR. PAOLO BELLEZZA.

Milano, Circolo Filologico.

NONJURORS. Is there any evidence of Non- jurors' congregations and definite places of worship in this century ? J. L. FISH.

LOUVRE PICTURES. Can any reader state where a catalogue of the Louvre pictures before 1800 can be seen 1 INQUIS.

THE IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE IN ENGLISH. In the Nineteenth Century for September, p. 384, Mr. Frederic Harrison translates "II se souvint et tinsse main qu'elle affirmat " by " He should remember and take care that she affirmed." The translator is not, of course, mistaking the meaning. He explains it further on into "should solemnly declare." But is that affirmed now justified or justi- fiable ? One might hope it were.

W. F. P. STOCKLEY.

Fredericton, Canada.

JELP AND SLINGSBY FAMILIES. Can your readers give me any information as to where the family seat of the Jelfs was originally situated ? The heiress of the Jelf family had a large fortune and was very highly con- nected. She married a Mr. Slingsby at Gretna Green about 1780, against her family's wish, and she is believed to have been interred in or near Cowes, Isle of Wight, her last place of residence being Cowes. The Slingsby also lived at Twickenham (Middlesex), Up- wey, Weymouth (Dorset), and may have also lived in Berks, Bucks, and Herts (Tring). There were two sons and four daughters, viz., Louisa, Mary Ann, Caroline, and Matilda Elizabeth Slingsby. One of them married a foreign gentleman, and the other daughters also married, but only one of them left a family. One son was Governor of the Spice Islands, and was assassinated by a native one morning while bathing. His brother died