Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/14

 e -NOTES AND QUERIES. mw s. v1_ JULY 1, ww. estin to note that in the list still existing (in I§rummond’s own handwriting) of the books which he read in the year 1606 ‘ Romeo and Juliet’ finds a place, together with two other plays of Shakespeare. The parallel has not escaped the eye of Palgrave (‘ Golden Treasury’). ALEX. LEEPER. Trinity College, Melbourne University. ‘ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL,’ II. iii. 84-5. “ I had rather be in this choise than throw Ames- ace for my life.” Compare the following from ‘The Unfor- tunate Traveller,’ by Thomas Nash (Chiswick Press Series): (1) “But as you love good fellowship and ames ace ” (p. 9), and (2) “I durst pawne the credit of a pa_e, which is worth ams ace at all times, that she was immaculate honest till she met with us in prison” (p. 103). These examples seem to cast doubt on the generally accepted ex- planation of Lafeu’s words at the head of this note; for is not “ames ace” in (IJ symbolical of companionship as distinguishe from single solitariness? and does not “ams ace” in (2) mean “ twice one,” the credit of a page being regarded as having a double va ue? I must confess, though I have hitherto held a different view, that it appears to me probable that Lafeu simply means that he would prefer the chance of being chosen by Helena to having a second lease of life--a sentiment which would be forcible enough in view of his age. ALFRED E. THISELTON. ‘ THE WINTER’S TALE ’ (9**‘ S. v. 283, 329, 392). -Without attempting a reply in detail to ME. Go'1‘CH’s notes, shou like to offer the friendly suggestion that it is to be regretted t at so many of them are not new, fully one-third bein covered by Fur- ness’s ‘New Variorum’ edition. While Dr. Furness sa s of his edition that it “aspires merely to lie one cum Notis Varzlorum Edi- torfu/m,” not “one cum Notis Omn-ium Editorum or C'riticoru.m,” it seems somewhat ungrateful not to make use of the wealth of information which his great labours have placed within the reach of all. Surely the ‘ Cambridge” edition for the different readin s, and the ‘New Variorum’(covering the plays edited) for explanatory comment, should not be neglected by an}y serious student who would contribute to ‘S iakespeariana’ in ‘N. JL Q.’ E. MERTON DEY. WATERLOO NAMES.-About three quarters of a mile behind the British position on 18 June, 1815, is the village which gave the name to the decisive battle. It lies on the skirts of the forest of Soignies. Names in -Zoo are numerous in the Netherlands, as Venloo, Beverloo, Hengloo, and Tongerloo. Here -loo is the honetic equivalent of the O.H.G. l6h, the ll).-S. led/z, and the modern English -lei /z. It means a “woodland pas- turage,” andy it may be noted that names in -loo usually refer to laces in forests. The probable meaning of PVaterloo is “wet pas- ture.” The Prussians wished to call the battle La Belle Alliance from the centre of the French position, thus commemorating their own share in the victory. La Belle Alliance is a little tavern on the road from Brussels to Charleroi, so called derisively from the marria e of a former proprietor, who was old and; ugly, with a woman who was young and pretty. Hougomont, the key of the British osition, was a country house with a walled) garden and farmya , grotected by a thick wood. As Sir Herbert Iaxwell has pointed out, Hougomont is a mere “ghost-name,” the real name, Chateau du Goumont, having found its way into despatches as the Chateau d’Hougomont. ISAAC TAYLOR. “ SAMPAN ” : “ TAMEAN ” : “ KAMPAN.”- These three terms, denoting various kinds of boats, are well known to travellers in the Far East. Only the first of them has found its way into our dictionaries. Sampan, a ship’s gig, or row-boat, is Chinese (Williams, ‘Syl- a ic Dictionary of the Chinese Language# 1874,  651), and means “ three boards,” from sam, t ree. Tamban is the form assumed by it in Annam, and used by the French, from tam, three, in the Annamite dialect. Kampan is Siamese; but in spite of its similarity to sampan, I do not see how, considering the difference of initial, it can be identified with it. Three in Siamese is sam, the same as in Chinese. I prefer therefore to look upon kamprm as a corruption of another wide- slpread name for a boat, Chinese kappan, amil Imppal, Malay kapal. Perhaps some reader of these lines may be able to throw further light upon it. JAMES PLATT, Jun. SAMUEL J 0HNSON’S FATHER AND ELIZABETH BLANEY._N€8P the beginning of his ‘ Life of Johnson’ Boswell tells the following “ some- what romantic” story, as he calls it, though I think it is somethin more than “ some- what romantic.” I shouil call it exceedingly romantic and touching :- “There is a circumstance in his [Michael John- son’s] life somewhat romantic, but so well authen- ticated that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in Staffordshire, while he served his ap-