Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/440

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. in. JUNE 3, m

king's ears on more than one occasion ; and his alertness to punish delinquencies is pro- bably the source of the expression.

HENRY GERALD HOPE. Clapham, S.W.

[The reference is, we are told, to the portrait of George Buchanan on the cover of JBlackwood's Magazine, and the expression is due to Christopher North.]

SIR WALTER SCOTT (9 th S. iii. 346). The amusing epigram ascribed to " an old Greek poet" is apparently a very modern jeu tfesprit. The clever play upon words in the first line unfortunately does not belong to the small class of translatable puns, like " /J.r) rrjv Koprjv 8ta(f>6tipr)S, do not spoil the pupil," said to a philosopher engaged in extracting a grain of sand from the eye of a beautiful young lady attending his classes.

Both a-KOTia and CTKO'TOS mean "darkness"; but the former also represents Scotia, found in Nova Scotia, and used now and then in English poetry for Caledonia (see Beattie's 4 Minstrel,' i. 6), and CT/COTO?, of course, is also meant for Scott. Again, <o)s, with the circumflex, as given in the epigram, is merely the contraction of <aos which fol- lows, both meaning " light." But if written <ws, with the acute accent, or, as the col- location would here require, <6ws, with the grave, it means " man," as Mr. Bates renders it.

" To-day " must be a misprint for " to day," i. e., " to light," as required by " the doctrine of the enclitic de." And the rendering "there was " seems to point to eVAero, the epic form used for i?i/, "was," rather than to aVcro, " followed," as suggested in the appended note within brackets. I confess I do not see how 'Iliad,' viii. 192, "enables us to correct an obvious mistake in the second line," and shall be glad to be enlightened.

In connexion with this " literary hoax " it may not be irrelevant to mention something of a similar nature, also referring to Sir Walter Scott, and found in a small collection of odds and ends called ' Book of Table-Talk ' (London, 1847), from which the above trans- latable pun is also taken. It occurs at the end of an article on the disguises of authors' names prevalent in the Middle Ages, and runs thus :

"We may congratulate our readers on being allowed to call books and men by their vernacular names. If there be any one who is insensible to the benefit thereby accruing to him, we should very much like to send him on a hunt among the book- stalls for the following scarce work (as he would find it) : ' Viri celeberrimi, &c., Velocis Decani Patriciensis vita, auctore Gualtero Novelista. Augustae, MIOCCCXX. Excudebat Calvisius Victor.' "

That is, roughly, in plain English, "Life of the famous Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, by Walter Scott, novel-writer. London, 1820. Published (or printed 1) by Baldwin."

I think we may safely conclude that the " old Greek poet " is as mythical as the " old grand mother "to whom Swift used to assign his impromptu proverbs. Scott is also, I find, one of those satirized or otherwise described in a famous squib called the * Chaldee Manu- script,' published in Blackwood for October, 1817 (see Adams's 'Dictionary of English Literature,' p. 124). But to this I have no access. C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A.

Bath.

[ovpavov is not given by Bates in his version.]

THE CIVIL LIST (9 th S. iii. 367). A complete list of all the pensions on the Civil List, from the commencement down to 1888, will be found in 'Literature and the Pension List,' by William Morris Colles, published by Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, in 1888.

J. PENDEREL-BRODHURST.

Bedford Park, Chiswick, W.

If MR. O'DoNOGHUE wants a complete list of grants and annuities from the Civil List during the earlier part of the century, he will find it in ' The Extraordinary Red Book,' of which the third edition appeared in 1819. It was a very popular publication, and doubtless many editions or impressions appeared after 1819. The little book supplies a good deal of curious and entertaining information.

W. ROBERTS.

This matter seems to be a speciality of the ' Financial Reform Almanack,' for my old copy gives full details at pp. 63-9 ; I have no doubt it is duly corrected up to date each year, but I have not referred after 1897. It is a curious study, for some recipients are really self-supporting and leave fair estates.

A. ri.

"CUTTING ms STICK" (9 th S. ii. 326, 417; iii. 272). Undoubtedly the phrase was intro- duced into England by the song quoted by MR. HENRY GERALD HOPE, but I believe it to have been in common use in Ireland long before this. In former times a staff was an | absolute necessity for all foot travellers. Witness the pilgrim and his staff. The ancient Hebrews were commanded to eat the Paschal lamb each with his staff in hand, " as one about to set out on a journey." The cutting or preparation of a staff was always associated with the journey itself, and in course of time the two ideas became merged. As it would be said of a man, " He has cut his stick" did not mean he had prepared his staff, but that he had actually set out on