Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/11

 9*" S. V. JA*T. 6, 1900.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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be clearly seen by those who looked into the near future that on the army would eventu- ally hang the destinies of both opposing parties, that the common soldiers had to be reckoned with as important elements in the contest, and that their politics and religion should therefore be carefully coached and tutored, and, above all, any religious scruples especially cleared and directed. This will appear from the following curious literature, of which but few copies have escaped to our days :

1. A Spirituall Snapsacke for the Parliament Souldiers, containing Cordiall Encouragements unto the Successfull Prosecution of this Present Cause. Lond., 1643, 4to.

2. The Christian Souldier; or, Preparation for Battaile. Lond., 1642, 4to.

3. The Christian Souldiers Magazine of Spirituall Weapons. Lond., 1644, 8vo.

4. The Rebells Catechism. Composed in an easy and familiar way. 1643, 4to.

5. The Souldiers Language; or, a Discourse between Two Souldiers, shewing how the Warres go on. 1644, 4to.

6. The Zealous Souldier.

7. The Mercenary Souldier. Both broadsheets, c, 1646.

8. The Souldier's Pocket Bible. Lond., 1643, 12mo. And a second edition, Lond., 1644.

9. The Souldier's Catechism, composed for the Parliaments Army, in two parts, wherein are chiefly taught: (1) The Justification, (2) The Quali- fication, of our Soldiers, written for the encourage- ment and instruction of all that have taken up arms in the cause of God and His People, especially the Common Soldier. Lond., 1644, 12mo.

The last two are associated with the name of Cromwell, as having been issued accord- ing to the wish and instruction of his rising and influential party. Both are extremely scarce, only two copies each being known of theoriginals. The 'Pocket Bible 'is well known, haying been frequently reprinted, and is mainly a collection of Scripture texts suit- able for soldiers with appropriate headings. But the 'Soldier's Catechism' is by far the most remarkable and interesting book ever issued for a soldier's breast-pocket, and, as is acknowledged, was a powerful instrument in determining the king's execution. It would be interesting to know who drew it up, and how it is we know so little about it. No bibliographers, no historians, even mention it. NE QUID NIMIS.

" BOER." It may be of interest to note that the word boer, pronounced as a dis- syllable booer, is in common use in this part of Scotland (Galloway), although it is not to be found in Jamieson's 'Dictionary.' It is used to denote the person, usually a peasant, to whom a farmer lets his dairy cows for the season. Perhaps I should have said that this

seems to be the same word as the Dutch boer and English boor; but it is to be noted that a dairy of cows is spoken of here as a booing, apparently onomatopoeic, and our word booer may signify one who takes over the booing. HERBERT MAXWELL.

ROGERS'S ' GlNEVRA.'

Within that chest she had concealed herself, Fluttering with joy, the happiest of the happy ; When a spring-lock that lay in ambush there Fastened her down for ever !

If the following, taken from the Daily Tele- graph for 26 June, 1897, is the bond fide account of an actual occurrence, and not an exaggeration or invention suggested by the story, we have what seems to be a striking parallel or illustration :

" Henderson, Kentucky, Friday. Two. sisters, named Laura and Jennie Melton, aged seven and five years respectively, while playing hide-and seek with three other children at their father's house, hid inside a big trunk in the cellar. Two others hid in a bed upstairs. The fifth child found the latter two, but could not find the others. The parents were away visiting a neighbour, and did not come back for three hours, but, on learning the two children were missing, at once began to search for them. After an investigation lasting an hour, the father remembered the trunk, and on opening it discovered the two girls lying dead in each other's arms. The lid of the trunk fastened with a spring- lock, and when the children were once in the box, they were unable to open it, and were slowly suffocated. Dalziel."

The incident, if truly such, lends itself to poetry on the lines of ' Lucy Gray '; but any writer so utilizing it would, of course, be thought to be simply imitating Rogers.

C. LAWRENCE FORD. B.A. Bath.

"QUAGGA" AND " ZEBRA."The names of these two nearly allied animals have never been satisfactorily traced to their sources. Taking Prof. Skeat's 'Dictionary' and the ' Century ' as the two best authorities, I find in the former, " Quagga, said to be Hottentot"; in the latter, " Quagga, apparently South African." The word is South African. It is not Hottentot, but Xosa- Kaffir. As early as 1812, Lichtenstein, in his 'Travels,' gives it as such in a vocabulary of Xosa words; and in the ' Dictionary of the Kaffir Language,' by the Rev. W. J. Davis (London, 1872), I find it again. Davis spells it iqivara, but his r represents a " deep guttural sound," hence the European forms quagga and quacha (pronounced kivokka). As to zebra, the nearest approach to an etymology of it is due to Littre', who calls it " mot e'thiopien." Prof. Skeat quotes this only to express doubt of its accuracy, though he has nothing with which to replace