Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/84

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. v. JAN. 27, im

to translate elementary treatises in history and geography, and transliterated the Eng- lish zebra into Amharic characters. So far as I know, there is no Ethiopic word which has any relation whatever to zebra. I can speak with some authoritjr, for many years ago my regretted friend the late Bernard Quaritch supplied me with an interleaved copy of Isen- berg's ' Dictionary,' on which I entered every Amharic word contained in the vocabularies consulted by Dillraann when compiling his 'Ethiopic Lexicon.' This involved careful research through every page and column of the 'Lexicon.' Nor do 1 think the Abyssinians know anything about the zebra. During three years' residence in the country I never heard of its existence, nor is it mentioned by Mr. W. T. Blanford in his ' Observations on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,' 1870. Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, who was a great hunter and a distinguished naturalist, is also silent on the subject of the zebra in the ' Re- marks on the Geology, Botany, and Zoology of the Highlands of Southern Abyssinia,' appended to the second volume of his ' High- lands of ^Ethiopia,' 1844. In conclusion, I may add that Amharic is not only the Court and official language of Abyssinia, but that it is the language of every Abyssinian in the southern and western provinces of the country. In Tigre, in the north-east, a distinct language is spoken, called Tigrifia, which is much more nearly akin to the old Ethiopic than Amharic is.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

"DAN" CHAUCER (9 th S. v. 27). In the song " Now, Robin, lend to me thy cow " (vide Chappell's ' Old English Ditties ') occurs the line

Dan Cupid is her master's name.

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

When referring to Chaucer as " the morning star of song," Tennyson may have had in mind the lines of Plato beginning,

'Acrrrjp Trplv /xei' efAa/zTres tvi cuoio-tv ea>os, and of Shelley,

Thou wert the morning star among the living, &c. Besides Sir John Denham we have, nearly a hundred years later, the tribute of Thomas Campbell,

Chaucer, our Helicon's first fountain-stream, Our morning star of song, that led the way,

using the identical words appearing in 'A Dream of Fair Women.' R. B.

ST. MARY'S, MOORFIELDS (9 th S. iv. 511). Under this heading it may be interesting to

note that a full-page engraving depicting ' Midnight Mass at St. Mary's, Moorfields, on Christmas Eve,' appeared in the Illustrated London News of 11 Jan., 1862. The picture shows more than two-thirds of the interior of the edifice, looking towards the high altar whereat the mass is being celebrated. A couple of inches of letterpress accompany the engraving, from which I extract the following :

corner of East Street, Finsbury Circus, was opened in 1820. It has an embellished entrance facade, in the pediment of which are sculptured two figures kneeling at the cross. The interior is handsome indeed, it may be called superb. The semi-circular altar-wall, behind a screen of marble columns, has a large painting of the Crucifixion, by Aglio, an Italian artist, executed in what is called mezzo- fresco. This great scenic picture is well shown by a subdued light from the roof, and its effect is very fine. On the ceiling are painted the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus, the four Evangelists, and a series of paintings of events in the life of the Saviour."
 * < St. Mary's, Moorfields, which is situated at the

St. Mary's is further characterized as "an edifice which stands next to the Cathedral of St. George amongst the [Roman Catholic] places of worship."

An engraving which shows the front of St. Mary's is contained in ' London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century ' (First Series), 1827. It is drawn by Thos. H. Shep- herd, engraved by Thos. Barber, and dedi- cated to the Duke of Norfolk.

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

"MARQUEE" (9 th S. iv. 499). The word was apparently unknown to the upholsterer of the seventeenth arid the first half of the eighteenth century, although he was often called upon to " uphold " the portable canvas tent, the equivalent of our modern " marquee," when the menage of outdoor life was an important factor in the society of those and preceding times. But the portable pavilion was superseded by the more permanent struc- ture, which, though retaining the name, possessed nothing of the outward appearance of the original gaily stained pavilion or field tent; so that the use of the "marquee," so far as this country is concerned, may be assumed to have begun when that of the canvas pavilion had been abandoned for the more solid fabric of wood, &c., instances of whose use occur about the time to which MR. W. P. COURTNEY'S extract alludes, namely 1774. The Pavilion in Hans Place (' Old and New London'), for instance, was originally built as a model for the Pavilion at Brigh- ton. The Brighton Pavilion, purchased by George IV., then Prince of Wales, in 1800,