Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/488

 516 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9th s. iv. dec. 23, m Willet was rector of Barley, near Eoyston, in Hertfordshire; Ashen, in Essex, near Clare, is about twenty miles east. Observe the " tobaccha " and the extreme cold. W. C. B. " Better "=Improve. — In the life which he prefixed to the Aldine edition of Parnell's poems, Mitford wrestles with a reading in the 'Elegy, to an Old Beauty,' which he con- siders corrupt. He writes thus :— " There is, however, a couplet in it, that seems to me to be defective, and wanting in construction, but I do not know how to rectify it, while the metre and rhyme are preserved, But beauty gone, 'tis easier to be wise, As harpers better, by the loss of eyes, though it might be restored to its meaning, under the following alteration, As harpers better play, by loss of eyes." The critic here simply raises an unnecessary difficulty, for the reading is periectly intel- ligible as it stands : Harpers better — i. e., become better, or improve—by the loss of eyes. " Better " as a transitive verb is quite common in Shakespeare and other poets, and the expression " for him who bettering not with time " occurs somewhere in Tennyson.* Thomas Bayne. Browning's 'Luria.'—Can anyone throw light on the following passage in 'Luria,' Act II., which, as printed in the " Uniform Edition " (and I have access to no other), is to me quite unintelligible 1 I have been careful to reproduce the punctuation exactly as given :— Tiburzio. Your hand ! I lead the vanguard.—If you fall, besido, The better: I am left to speak ! For me, This was my duty, nor would I rejoice If I could help, it misses its effect: And after all you will look gallantly Found dead here with that letter in your breast. " Uniform Edition," vol. vi. p. 237. Luria had refused to open and read the inter- cepted letter from Braccio to the magistrates at Florence which Tiburzio had handed to him. Tiburzio fully appreciated the magna- nimity of the refusal. Browning, as only Browning could, gives full expression to the appreciation in two short words—" Your hand !" It is in what immediately follows this that I meet with what utterly baffles me: I lead the vanguard.—If you fall, besido, The better: I am left to speak ! Were I permitted to read If you fall, beside The letter, I am left to speak ! all would be plain to me. Can it be that this [* ' Will,' 1. 10.] is the actual reading in the first or any other edition ? This reading allowed, I should para- phrase the whole passage thus :— "I lead the vanguard, and, knowing this, you, I know, will confront me there. If you fall and I survive, not only will that unopened letter found in your breast tell its own tale, but I too shall be there to relate, to your honour and your enemies' disgrace, all that has now passed between us. Though I did only my duty in handing the letter to you, I cannot but rejoice that I have failed in my object, so greatly does your action in the matter redound to your praise." R. M. Spence, D.D. Manse of Arbuthnott, N.B. [It is exactly the same in ' The Poetical Works,' ed. 1868, vol. v. p. 69.] The Ancient Tin Trade of Britain.—A note in the Globe newspaper of 27 Oct., under the column entitled ' Echoes of Science,' gives the following paragraph. As the subject is one that has exercised the pens of many Eng- lish writers, it may be worth while to note the views of a foreign savant, since the Eng- lish authors are not agreed as to the route by which the tin was conveyed to the Continent, nor are they agreed by what people the trade was conducted :— " According to M. Salomon Reinach, a well-known French anthropologist (see L'Anthropoloyie, vol. x., 1899, p. 397), there was in 1000 B.C. an overland trade in tin between the British Islands and Thrace or Macedonia. The relations of Britain, Northern Europe, and Western Asia are proved by the diffusion of tin, amber, and spiral ornaments and bronze implements. Homeric Greece (800 B.C.) knew the Celtic name of the Cassiterides or tin islands, and the phenomenon of the Bhort nights of North Britain. The tin was brought to the Egean by Greeks or Barbarians, who sought an oversea route in order to keep the trade in their own hands. The invention of the anchor by Midas of Phrygia rendered this feasible. Reinach considers that he first brought lead and tin to Greece by the north-west sea route, and that the Phoenicians got the trade into their hands later. Leake, Hamilton, and Ramsay re- discovered Phrygia, but twenty-seven centuries ago the Phrygians discovered Britain." B. H. L. "Soft as a toad." —The toad has long enjoyed (!) a bad name, and I think that if the reasons could be given, they would be found both curious and interesting. When I was a lad most folks considered that it was almost a duty to stone the creature to death, and this has been the cruel fate of thousands of this useful—let me also say beautiful—and harmless animal. The sayings about toads in relation to mankind are many, but without much variety of meaning. " Soft as a toad' is said of a foolish body, who may also bo " A soft toad " or " Silly as a toad "; while the toad comes in again in contemptuous