Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/164

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. FEB. M, KXXX

in her mantles. The shock, however, brought on another attack of the madness which Charles was to transmit to his grandson Henry VI. of England (and for some time of France). The tragedy took place on the night of 29 January, 1393, after the wedding festival of one of Queen Isabeau's German maids of honour. " The bride," says Mme. Darmesteter, " was a widow, and thrice a widow ; therefore a subject for the grotesque licence of the age." There is a curious MS.

Sicture of the ' Bal des Ardents ' in the ibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

A. R. BAYLEY. St. Margaret's, Malvern.

JARNDYCE v. JARNDYCE (9 th S. iv. 539). That Dickens had some particular case in mind is evident from his preface to ' Bleak House,' where he says :

" At the present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the Court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time ; in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds; which is a friendly suit ; and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun."

He mentions another case not then finished " which was commenced before the close of the last century," and states that if other authorities were wanted he " could rain them on these pages." Forster (* Life of Dickens') mentions a "striking pamphlet" on the subject of the Chancery abuses which Dickens received just after the appearance of the first number of ' Bleak House,' " containing details so apposite that he took from them, without change in any material point, the memorable case related in his fifteenth chapter." Is the title of this pamphlet known ?

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

THOMAS A. KEMPIS (7 th S. viii. 125, 171). This discussion began by an attempt to justify the popular name, but the only argument (except custom) in favour of it was demolished by PROF. SKEAT. So far as any conclusion could be drawn, it appeared that we should write either Thomas Kempis or Thomas a Kempen. On the other hand, all your corre- spondents stick to the popular form. What ought we to write ? J. J. F.

"THE GRAVE OF GREAT REPUTATIONS" (9 th

S. v. 48). I cannot tell who was the author of this saying, but it is quoted, in slightly different words, by a distinguished man and a gallant officer, the late Sir George Pomeroy- Colley, in a letter written about seven months before he fell deserted, but glorious even in

defeat, at the disastrous affair of Amajuba (Pigeon's) Hill to Major Macgregor, dated Natal, 25 July, 1880 :

" I can see that I have plenty of hard work cut out for me, and plenty of difficult nuts to crack. Whether 1 shall be able to extricate myself fairly, or shall find that South Africa is to me, as it has been said to be in general, ' the grave of all good reputations/ remains to be seen."

See his * Life,' by Lieut.-General Sir Wm. F. Butler, second impression, London, Murray, 1899, p. 254, a book which should be read by all interested in South African affairs.

H. E. M. St. Petersburg.

The Daily Mail for 3 February quotes the following from the Deutsche Zeitung, Vienna : "Perhaps the prophecy of Prince Bismarck will be fulfilled, and Africa become ' the tomb of the British power.'"

C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A.

Bath.

Was not this first used in reference to Ire- land ? It is thus applied in Beesly's ' Queen Elizabeth' ("English Statesmen"). I have seen it in reference to India. And now it is South Africa. With so many applications the original loses much of its value.

GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

ANGLO-SAXON SPEECH ((9 th S. iv. 45, 94, 137 218, 296, 466, 547). SIR HERBERT MAXWELL seems to think that the 'oo(l) story belongs exclusively to the Border. When I lived in Galloway I dare say that I used to think so, too, although there was nothing in Murray's ' Dialect of the South of Scotland ' (1873) to warrant the belief. I adhere to my statement that the dropping of w before the u or oo sound is common in the north of Scotland. The Welsh and South -West English pro- nunciation of 'ooman or 'uman for " woman " is heard to-day, for instance, in the neigh- bourhood of Balmoral ; and 'uman, as well as } oon= woollen, is given in Gregor's 'Dialect of Banffshire' (1866).

Even so accessible an authority as Jamie- son cites the saying " To gather 'oo' on one's claise," i.e., "To feather one's nest," as be- longing to Aberdeenshire, and 'oon = woollen as prevalent in Northern Scotland. Of course, in many Scottish districts where Celtic once reigned supreme, the difficulty of the wu sound is got over by the simple expedient of vowel-mutation : thus " wood " becomes wad, "world," warld, and so on. Here the true English w sound is not necessar}', because uad and ua,rld give the same pronunciations as wad and warld.