Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/464

 496 [9th S. IV. Dec. 16, '99. NOTES AND QUERIES. is a very common form of expressing a some- what high degree of success, whether in business or otherwise. It would, I suppose, be " bad luck " to say more, but I am not sure that this notion is always, or usually, present. We use the word " moderate" in a somewhat similar way, but inversely, in this neighbour- hood. We rarely speak of a prson as seriously ill until he is almost dying; he is at most" very moderate." C. C. B. Epworth. Shakespeare : the First Folio. — The following remarks by Mr. Quaritch upon "the unprecedented sum" recently paid for a copy at Christie's are worth a place in 'N. & Q.' They will be found in his December Catalogue, No. 194, a propos of "a much finer copy (excepting the first two leaves)" which he offers for 5507. :— " It is amusing for those who are acquainted with the trifling causes that influence the prices of books at auction, to read the philosophical theories of 'tendencies and results' which are solemnly ex- pressed by critics in high consideration. According to those persons it was a great wave of public appreciation which raised the value of the_first Shakes] icarc at a recent sale to the price of 1,700/., and their opinion is that the wave will go on in- creasing in strength and volume for ever. As a matter of fact, at the sale in question, all the public desires were quenched when the biddings had advanced to 1,000/., and scarcely more than two individuals remained to carry on the strife. One of these was an agent holding a simple commission ' to buy' (probably equivalent in the views of his principal to 1,000/. j; the other was my agent, a fiery young man, to whom (as I wanted the book) I had iven the exaggerated commission of 1,200/. Now le, finding himself outdone by an unlimited com- mission, determined to punish his opponent, and the result was that exactly 500/. of the 1,700/. repre- sent a gratuitous addition to the cost of the volume —in nowise altering its real value, which may he set down as about 1,100/." C. S. Ward. " Horning."—I have cut the following from the Daily Telegraph of 16'Nov. for the sake of its preservation in ' N. & Q.':— " Quite a mediaeval quaintness belongs to some of the forms and traditions of French State trials. To-morrow, or the day after, early-rising Parisians will have the opportunity of observing Maitre Dupuis, process-server of the High Court, in the act of blowing a tin horn in the public thorough- fares. By indulging in this seemingly futile and undignified occupation the legal gentleman will only be ol>eying the strict letter of the law, of which he is an important officer. The code of criminal procedure states that in the case of defaulters the decision of the Court proclaiming them to be con- tumacious persons must be read out in public by the process-server,' to the accompaniment of a horn or drum.' It will be noted that a choice of instru- ments is allowed. Maitre Dupuis, it appears, pre- fers brass to the resonant drum, and states that his t intention is merely to purchase a bicycle horn at a bazaar. Into this lie will blow three times before each reading. The ceremony will have to be re- peated in five different places—outside the re- spective abodes of the two defaulters, who are the Count de Lur Saluces and M. Marcel Habert, the Deputy, in front of the Town Halls of the arron- dissements in which they reside, and, lastly, in the courtyard of the Luxembourg Palace. Maitre Dupuis will be accompanied by a clerk, who will do the reading, and by another assistant, who will paste up the legal notice ou variouR walls, but he will undertake the musical part of the programme himself. The officer is rather anxious to avoid undue publicity in the carrying out of his duties, and would prefer to escape notice from Parisian small boys, so he will proceed on his mission be- fore daybreak. Maitre Dupuis was called upon ten years ago to conduct the same legal ceremony in the case of General Boulanger and others, whom the High Court tried by default." A similar rite to this used to be performed in Scotland ; it was called " horning." 1 think it formed a part of the proclamation of out- lawry. It is alluded to, and I think described, somewhere in the writings of Sir Walter Scott. I am, however, unable to find the passage. Astarte. "The Appearance "=Electoral Nomina- tion.— One of the definitions of appearance in ' H.E.I).' is "the action of appearing formally at any proceedings," special reference being made to legal proceedings in this relation. But it would seem that the word was once regarded as equivalent to the nomination of candidates for Parliament, in the old open fashion. " Mr. Secretary Vernon and Mr. Cross," it is recorded in the Flying Post of 4-7 Jan., 1701, "had the Majority upon the Appearance for Westminster ; but a Poll is demanded." Seemingly one took place, for James Vernon, Esq., and Thomas Crosse, Esq., were not officially returned until 21 Jan.; and opportunity may here be taken to ex- press the keen regret of a political student that there has been no continuation since 8th S. vi. G4 of Mr. W. W. Bean's very valuable series of articles upon ' Polls at Parliamentary Elections before 1832,' which broke off, indeed, just at the point that would have told whether there was a contest for Westminster on this occasion. Politician. " Peccary."—This is undoubtedly a cor- ruption of the native name jxikira. See the ' Dictionary ' of Prof. Skeat, who spells it in the Italian fashion, paehira, and the ' Century Dictionary,' which prefers the Spanish ortho- graphy, paquira. Neither of these authorities, however, has succeeded in discovering to which of the tongues of South America it belongs. Obviously this is a most important point to decide. I have been at some pains