Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/45

 9*8.17. Jita-8, *99.] 29 NOTES AND QUERIES. Madrid, and had a remarkable gift of poetic improvisation. On one occasion she was asked by a lady of distinguished grace and beauty to write a stanza without the letter e in it. As this vowel is the most frequent in Spanish, as in English, the task was not easy ; but she improvised these complimentary lines to the fair woman who had made the request:— Divina flor purpurina! En tus oios cristalinoa Y tus labios los mas fino9, Tu boea la mas divina, Asaz la virtud camina Y mira con gran cuidado; Todos alaban tu agrado, Con la mayor importancia To amor y fina fragrancia Y corazon apiadado. Bowring omits to call attention to the vowel with which the second line begins. He does not give the name of this clever iraprovisatrice. Is there any more extended notice of her life and writings 1 William E. A. Axon. Moss Side, Manchester. Sheep in the Green Park.—Can any one tell me to whom belongs the right of turning out his sheep for free pasture upon this spot, and how far back the privilege may date ? The flock to-day is considerable, the animals being branded with an " E." What does this letter denote 1 Cecil Clarke. Authors' Club, S.W. Ben Jonson's Works.—It is known why Dr. Jeremy Taylor chose such a title as ' Golden Grove' for one of his works. Was there any similar reason which led .lonson to choose such titles as' Timber; or, Discoveries made upon Men and Matter,' 'The Forest,' and ' Underwoods,' which last was adopted by Stevenson 1 Thomas Auld. ' The Waverley Album.'—This is the title of a book in_ my little collection, gilt-edged, bound in crimson silk, lettered 'Waverley Album,' but having no date on the title-page or publisher's name, though on the frontis- piece the name Edward Lacey, 76, St. Paul's, London, appears. The price is stated to be one guinea. The book contains fifty - one line engravings of scenes and places mentioned in the Waverley novels, from ' Waverley' to 'Quentin Durward,' with which the series ends. The illustrations are very unequal, some of them, as those after C. R. Leslie and P. De Wint, being very good, whilst others are indifferent. This is the only copy I ever saw of the book, and I should like to know whether it is scarce or valuable. To the best of my remembrance I have never noticed the mention of it in catalogues. John Pickford, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. [The work was published in 1833. It is not often heard of in booksellers' catalogues. We know nothing of its value.] Peculiar Use of the Term " British."— The following use of the term " British" for " English," in the narrow, provincial sense, is so strange as to invite inquiry. Mr. Leslie Stephen in his life of Dr. Johnson in "English Men of Letters" writes on pp. 110-111 :— "The antipathy to Scotland and the Scotch already noticed was one of Johnson's most notorious crotchets Ho declared that the Scotch were always ready to lie on each other's behalf He felt some tenderness for Catholics, especially when oppressed, and a hearty antipathy towards pro- sperous Presbyterians. The Lowland Scotch were typified by John Knox, in regard to whom he expressed a hope, after viewing the ruins of St. Andrews', that he was buried ' in the highway.' This sturdy British and High Church prejudice did not prevent the worthy doctor from having many warm friendships with Scotchmen." Has such a sense of the word "British" ever been recognized? Perhaps it would hardly deserve notice if it had been em- ployed by a writer of less eminence than Mr. Leslie Stephen, who, it must be said, can seldom be detected in an incorrect or careless use of words. Alex. Leefer. Trinity College, Melbourne University. Arrest for Debt in Ireland. — An episode in one of Lever's Irish novels presents a gentleman threatened by bailiffs and catch- polls, who contrives for a time to evade levy and caption by barricading his residence against the former and strictly secluding himself therein from the latter. The judg- ment debtor is a famous duellist and an authority on all details connected with " affairs of honour." He is outraged one day by beholding from the French windows of his drawing-room the parties to a duel, ap- parently, who have invaded his grounds and are arranging preliminaries on his lawn, but still more exasperated at the obvious un- familiarity of the seconds with the duties of " pacing the daisies " and placing their men. After much excited expostulation and many impatient suggestions, he is invited to step forth and give the trespassers the benefit of his notoriously vast experience. The ruse succeeds, and he finds himself instantly the victim of a ca. sa. Will some one of your innumerable readers kindly communicate through your columns the name of the work in which this incident is narrated, and thus confer a favour upon Gnomon ?