Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/372

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. in. MAY 13, m

1757, p. 533, as part of the Royal Navy in time of James II. There was a "Hoy Inn" at Margate ; it is still there, but is now the "Hoy Hotel."

Many years after the hoy became extinct a London, Margate, and Ramsgate Hoy Com- pany was started. They had a small screw steamer ; it did not pay and was stopped, but in 1892 the name could still be seen at the only remaining shipyard at Ramsgate. Sub- sequently about 1896 another hoy company was started, and is still working with Thames barges. RALPH THOMAS.

ROMANI " GHILI." In George Borrow's 'Wild Wales' (chap, xcviii.) there are four lines, which he does not translate, of a gipsy song. It is a mixture of Romanes, English, and Spanish, with one unknown word :

Ando berkho Rye cano,

[On breast Gentleman now,]

Oteh pivo teh khavo ;

[There (I will) drink and eat ;]

Tu lerasque ando birkho piranee,

[Thou on breast sweetheart,]

Teh corbatcha por pico.

[And whip for back.]

In Prof. W. J. Knapp's recently published 'Life of George Borrow,' a book for which students of Romanes and admirers of Laven- gro will be grateful, he gives from Borrow's unpublished MSS. another version, which is called a Hungarian gipsy song (vol. ii. p. 238). He also gives a ghili which resembles the one just quoted, and has the advantage of being less corrupt, though it is unfortu- nately imperfect in the last line. I add an interlinear translation :

Drey o baro wesh cano,

[In the great forest now,]

Odoy pivo ta khavo ;

[There (I will) drink and eat ;]

Tu shan odoy miry piranee,

[Thou art there, my sweetheart,]

oprey dumo.

[ upon back.]

Perhaps we may render the spirit of it thus : In the greenwood great I 'd be There, my sweetheart dear, with thee ; Lying idly on my back, And of meat and drink no lack.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Moss Side, Manchester.

THE ' H.E.D.' Among the notices of escape from literary loss, the following in respect of the 'H.E.D.' is not without interest. It is from a speech by Dr. Murray at a dinner in Oxford, and the extract is taken from a local paper :

"The chair was occupied by Prof. Skeat. Dr. Murray began by acknowledging the services ren- dered by various voluntary workers in the depart-

ment of research, and explained how the constant! j accumulating material was being dealt with. In cidentally, he mentioned that the whole of th( original MS. for Pa and Pe was lost for twelve years, and that a remnant was at last found in s stable in County Cavan. The MS. had been usec as waste-paper ; but enough remained to show thai the whole of it had at one time been lodged in th< stable. The section Hy was also lost for man^ years, but that had fortunately been recovered."

ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.

POISONOUS GIFTS. The grim account senl from America of an actress poisoned by a bouquet impregnated with prussic acid re minds me of a pathetic story (which I read s long time ago in an old French book) of a ladj who was poisoned by a jealous rival in a similar manner. I have forgotten all details and remember only the name of the victim the Chatelaine de Vergy. Perhaps one oi your readers will be able to give a brief out line of the story. F.ADAMS.

106A, Albany Road, Camberwell.

P.S. Since writing the above I have discovered the following among my manu script notes on the ' Heptameron ' :

"A Mr. L. C. D. V. [the Commandeur de Vigna court ?] published in Paris in 1722 a story entitlec 'La Cpmtesse de Vergi,' which is merely ar expansion of the seventieth novel of the ' Hepta meron.' He makes Mme. de Vergi die from a poisoned bouquet given to her by the duchess."

Marguerite's tale is a prose rendering of ar ancient fabliau printed in Barbasan anc Legrand d'Aussy's collections ; but as I have not seen the fabliau I cannot say how th( catastrophe is there produced.

BULLS AND BLUNDERS. Any one whc would like to enjoy a fine selection of these and can read Flemish, should turn up the last volume of the 'Verslagen en Mededee lingen der Koninglijke Vlaamsche Academie, Ghent, 1898, 8vo. Prof. Dr.Willem de Vreese Professor of Flemish Literature at the Uni versity of Ghent, by his triennial report or Flemish dramatic literature ('Verslag var den driejaarlijkschen prijskamp van Neder landsche Tooneelletterkunde') has raised ai veritable oproerskreet. To take a mild sample of his phrases, he says in concluding, " De pen die de laetste hand aan het verslag legl is moede" ! H. H. S.

CROMWELL TERCENTENARY. I have em deavoured to make a collection of the chiel articles which have appeared on the above subject in the newspapers and magazine!- during the past fortnight or so. It is very probable that I have missed many of these. and I would suggest that a list of sucr 1 articles printed in these columns would prove