Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/103

 9 th S. V. FEB. 3, 1900.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

95

of Mr. Newcome's school at Hackney, togethe with letters concerning it, and bills of th< plays performed there every third year. ~ cannot say whether this collection contains any references to Henry Cavendish or hif schoolfellows, but the library is open for con sultation every Tuesday evening, and I an sure that MR. BRESLAR would meet with any necessary assistance at the hands of th courteous hon. librarian, Mr. Geo. Chambers W. F. PRIDEAUX.

"WOUND" FOR "WINDED" (9 th S. v. 4). "Wound," in Scott's line

But scarce again his horn he wound, is proscribed at the above reference "as an instance of a false past tense." This is a somewhat remarkable deliverance, seeing that " wond " or " wound," and not " winded," is the real and regular past tense of the word "wind." A notable instance later than that in the 'Lady of the Lake' occurs early in Tennyson's 'Elaine.' Sir Lancelot, having lost his way through giving the reins to his fancy and his steed, at length beheld the towers of Astolat :

Thither he made and wound the gateway horn. It has of late become so common to tilt at Scott's laxity as a stylist that it is a pleasure to uphold his practice when, as here, he is unquestionably correct. THOMAS BAYNE.

Helensburgh, N.B.

" HORSE -BREAD" (9 th S. iv. 83, 173, 333, 547).

Ralph. " brave, Robin ! shall I have Nan Spit, and to mine own use ? On that condition I '11 feed thy devil with horse-bread as long as he lives, of free cost." Marlowe, 'Dr. Faustus,' quarto of 1604.

J. G. WALLACE-JAMES, M.B.

Haddington.

LINCOLNSHIRE SAYINGS (9 th S. iv. 478 ; v. 38). As quoted at the latter reference I do not remember to have previously met with the saying, but have in recent years known it used in London, by an elderly lady born and bred in Northamptonshire, in the form "As black as Old Sam's nutting-bag." I always understood that the saying was commonly used in her native county as applied to things much soiled or dirty, which required washing ; and I believe that the " Old^ Sam " alluded to was identical with " His Satanic Majesty." W. I. R. V.

WAS SHAKESPEARE MUSICAL? (9 th S. v. 22.) If MR. J. B. McGovERN will read Mr. Edward W. Naylor's ' Shakespeare and Music' I think he will' be led to the conclusion that the poet had no inconsiderable technical

knowledge of the art. Many of the evidences of this are apt to escape the attention of a student of the plays and poems who knows " no more of the scales than a cow does of the zodiac." ST. SWITHIN.

" BROTHERHOOD OF FOOLS " (9 th S. iv. 539). Full accounts of this order will be found in Hone's ' Every-day Book,' 1 Oct. ; also in Chambers's 'Book of Days,' 12 Nov. Divested of detail, the order was founded at Cleves about 1381, and was in existence in 1520. Two of its principal objects were to relieve the wants and alleviate the miseries of suffer- ing humanity, and to banish ennui during the numerous festivals observed in those ages, by preconcerted methods.

RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

For a long article on the ' Feast of Fools ' in A.D. 1431 (suppressed in 1445) and the ' Office of Fools,' see ' N. & Q.,' 3 rd S. iv. 487. EVERARD HOME GOLEM AN.

71, Brecknock Road.

A VOLTAIRE ENGRAVING (9 th S. iv. 328). Desnoiresterres, in his ' Iconographie Voltair- ienne ' (Paris, 1879), at p. 27, gives an account of the print referred to in this query. The design is by Huber. The engraving pub- lished by Sayer is said to be rare. There is a later counterfeit print with additional figures. Desnoiresterres considers that this is the design of Huber's to which Voltaire refers in his letter of 11 Dec., 1772, to the Empress Catherine. See vol. xlviii. p. 244 of the edition of 1883-5. R N.

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S DIALECT (9 th S. iv. 242, 330, 421, 503). This seems to be a question whether Scotch is a language or not. If any one will venture to moot the question in a Scotch weekly say the Weekly Neivs such a storm of undoubted " language " will descend upon him as to satisfy the most exacting. If Scotland had been the bigger country would the Scotch of Knox not have taken the place of the English of Shakespeare throughout Britain after the union of the crowns 1 The emoval of the Court to London made English Edinburgh, Scotch would no\v be the uni- versal tongue. The following interesting note on Scotch being used by men of first- rate abilities and acquirements at a recent oeriod is from Dr. Smiles's ' Life of Nasmy th,' he mechanical genius and inventor of the team hammer. The year was 1858 : " But not the least interesting part of my visit to Edinburgh on this occasion was the renewed inter- ourse which I enjoyed with many of my old
 * he universal tongue. Had the Court come to