Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/471

 9»> S. IV. Deo. 16, '99.] 503 NOTES AND QUERIES. subject. The song was "adapted" to American use during the American war or just after, and after 'The Red, White, and Blue' was already well known in England as an Eng- lish song in the fifties. Here, however, is the American version as issued by the Oliver Ditson Company:— COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE OCEAN. (Written and composed by David T. Shaw.) O Columbia, the gem of the ocean. The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of each patriot's devotion, A world offers homage to thee. Thy niandates make heroes assemble When Liberty's form stands in view ; Thy banners make tryanny tremble When borne by the red, white, and blue. When war winged its wide desolation, And threatened the land to deform, The ark then of Freedom's foundation, Columbia, rode safe through the storm, With her garlands of victory around her When so proudly she bore her brave crew, With her flag proudly floating before her, The boast of the red, white, and blue. The wine cup, the wine cup bring hither, And fill you it true to the brim ! May the wreaths they have won never wither, Nor the star of their glory grow dim ! May the service united ne'er sever, But they to their colours prove true, The army and navy forever, Three cheers for the red, white, and blue ! Of course, this is a " dodged" version of the English original, which was also written by. Shaw. The last two lines of the last verso as applied to Americaj in those days are absolutely absurd. And "Columbia," taking itin its broad sense, embracing both North ana South, could never be the "gem of the ocean." Again, America alone hail a civil or slave war, and consequently her position in the sixties was never assailed or threatened by the outside world. Once more, what flag of America is known as the "red, white, and blue"? S. J. A. F. With reference to A. F. R.'s query at the conclusion of his note I may say I used to hear the third line, some forty years ago, sung The shrine of each sailor's devotion. This would seem to point to Britain as its birthplace. C. J. Durand, Colonel. Grange Villa, Guernsey. Christianity in Roman Britain (9th S. iv. 229, 334,40(3).—Under the reference last noted Dr. Arthur W. Thomas contests my state- mentthat "the only Romano-Christian church found in Britain is that at Silchester," and he claims a likedistinctionforcertain foundations in the churchyard at Lyminge, near Folke- stone, and for the walls of St. Martin's Church, Canterbury. Will Dr. Thomas kindly explain what constitutes the claims of the buildings he cites to be regarded as the re- mains of Romano-Christian churches 1 and will he state if there is any accurate plan_of the Lyminge example, and, if so, where it may be found 1 Frederick Davis, F.S.A. Palace Chambers, Westminster. Sir Walter Scott's Scottish Dialect (9th S. iv. 242, 330, 421).—This is mainly, if not entirely, a question of terminology ; and when one finds, as at the last reference, that the terms speech, tongue, dialect, and language are used promiscuously, the point is not elucidated. It will be noticed that in the third paragraph at the first reference doubt is expressed as to whether Lowland Scotch is a language. In the fourth paragraph at the same reference there is a tentative claim that it is "really a language." What are wanted are precise and discriminating defini- tions of the terms language and dialect, and the application thereupon of one of the terms to the point at issue. Failing which it will be sufficient for this modest contributor to use the term dialect, in this matter, as applied to the southern counties of Scotland ; and to assert that Scotland, in and as herself, has never had any body of utterance that attained to the dignity of a language except the Gaelic. It is a pity that the trivial fatras in the opening paragraph at the last reference has been introduced into the case, especially as it is associated with an entire misconception of fact. In face of this attack may I say that I have not the fortune to be included in the group mentioned, coming as 1 do on the distaff side from a family bearing an honoured name among the stalwart sons of Annandale 1 Arthur Mayall. "Ginns" IN the Fylde (9th S. iv. 34f>, 448). —Mr. Bullock's note, I am sorry to say, does not help me. I do not want words cog- nate with ginn, but that word itself. The words adduced by Mr. Bullock as cognate with ginn, with one exception, have no pos- sible relationship to that word. The " cognate forms" produced by him are: Newbiggin, Kyleakin, chine, che'neau, channel, canal, and ginnell. A biggin or bigging is a building (see Jamieson, Stratmann, or the 'English Dialect Dictionary'), and Newbiggin means, of course, " new building." Kyleakin, more correctly Kyle Akin, is said to mean " the straits of King Haco," or Akon, of Norway (Johnston's 'Place-names of Scotland,' s.v. ' Akin '). Chine, used in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, is from the A.-S. clnu, a chink