Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/42

 26 [9th S. IV. July 8, '9 NOTES AND QUERIES. Keats's ' Eve ok St. Agnes.'—It has been wondered why Keats in the 'Eve of St. Agnes' introduced the celebrated " viands " stanza. I suppose Keats's reason was the purely beautiful, and that he did not let his lovers eat the viands because the finality of beauty had been reached by the description, and the poet knew that eating "was a beastly habit," not suitable to art treatment. Things are, as a general rule, somewhat hurried in the case of an elopement—one has not even time to pack one's portmanteau but here there was no necessity for Madeline and Porphyro to "fash" them selves. All the house (li"ke Troy) was buried in sleep and wine ("bloated wassailers drowned in Rhenish and the sleepy mead"); and it has still been customary to take a little refreshment before setting out on a long journey, be it for business or (as in this instance) for pleasure. In all this Keats showed his exquisite art; and he did so more than all in leaving out all mention of the lovers disposing of the viands, but he leaves it to the reader to imagine (if he so please) that they sat down and had a square meal, which perhaps they did. But there is one other reason which may have suggested to Keats the stanza in its totality. There is a somewhat similar stanza in Thomson (' Castle of Indolence,' i. 34). I greatly admire Keats, and if he were not original no man ever was ; but that is just what some say, that there is no such thing as absolute originality. In any case the two stanzas are worth comparison, though Keats's is by far the better. Thomas Auld. "An old friend and a good singer."— This is a delightfully appreciative saying, which, however, is not so commonly used as it was a number of years ago by persons when speaking of others. One giving good things away will say to another, " I '11 give you one, as you are an old friend and a good singer." Then, again, some one hearing his friend praised will " chime in " with, " Yes, he's an old friend and a good singer." It is probably to bo met with all over the country. Does any one know its origin, and why " friend " and " singer " are brought together in this sort ? Tiios. Ratcliffe. [Is it derived from " Arcades ambo "?] " Gazebo."—One of my delightful enjoy- ments when leisure permits is looking over the early volumes of 'N. <fc Q.,' and culling from their pages information alike instruc- tive and entertaining. In looking recently through the tenth volume of the Third Series, I find four articles on " Gazebo," and inquiries as to its possible derivation still unanswered. The writers all agree in de- scribing it as a hill or artificial mound terraced and having trees and shrubbery to its top, but arrive at no definite conclusion as to the origin of the name. I remember a hill so named a short distance south of Down- patrick, in co. Down, Ireland. There may be more hills so named in Ireland, but I have no means of ascertaining whether I am correct or not in so thinking. Webster's ' Dic- tionary ' soells the wora " Gazeebo, a summer house so situated as to command an exten- sive prospect." I think, originally, they were called " gazearbors," but by a vulgar elision "gazebo superseded the name first given these shady outlooks. Edward McGrath. San Francisco. [Once more we say see ' H.E.D.'] The Mountain Ash. (See 9th S. iii. 491.)— At the above reference Mr. Jeakes asks for synonyms of wicken = mountain ash. I give all the names I remember to have met with : quickbeam, quicken - tree, wicken, witchen- tree, wiggin, rowan-tree, roan-tree, rowan- ash, roun-tree, rodderi (the rowans are the berries of the tree, and there is an old saying " Many rains, many rowans," the tree bearing most fruit in wet seasons), wild ash, white ash, field ash, mountain ash. Of these the last appears to be latest in date. It is not mentioned by Lyte or Gerard. The first quotation for it in the ' H.E.D.' is dated 1794. In Devon and Cornwall the tree is called "care." 1 dare say many more names for it exist and may be found in Britten and Holland's 'Dictionary of Plant-Names.' C. C. B. Names of Teas.— Like the word tea itself, the names of the various " chops " or brands of tea appear to have come into English from dialectic rather than from literary Chinese. This is now so generally recognized that the 'Century Dictionary'derives Pekoe from the Cantonese Pak-lvao (the name given to this tea at Amoy, Pek-ho, is still nearer), while the 'H.E.D.' notices that "Bohea" cannot pos- sibly come from the standard Chinese Wu-i, but must be from the dialect of Fuhkien, in which province the Bohea Hills are situated where this kind of tea is grown. Neverthe- less, in both these dictionaries there are cases in which the neglect of this principle has led to error. Thus the 'H.E.D.' under Congou derives it from the standard Chinese Kung-fu (which happens also to bo the Cantonese spelling); the omission of the/," we are told, " is the foreigners' corruption." It is nothing