Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/182

 148 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9'*' S- VI- AUG- 25. 19111 The Psalmist, perceiving the irony of human ambition, deprecates the tendency to amass wealth, &c.; for “their houses” may, owing to seismic disturbance or civil war, be- come poeticé “ their graves,” D13p, i.e., these very mansions where they acquired fame by their hospitality, &c., may fall burying their occupants at any moment. Wherefore this most difiicult passage would read thus: ‘° Their houses which made them famous in many lands may become their graves for all time, and their resting-places to all genera- tions.” This translation will fit in with “ Man abideth not in magniticence,” or, as I believe it should be, “Man understandeth not these things in times of prosperity,” for which amendment the reader might compare verse 20 infra. It is likewise an intensification of what recedes it in verse 10 M. L.  BaEsLAIz. Percy House, South Hackney. [The Vulgate has “Et sepulchra eornm domus illorum in a-:ternum ”; the Septuagint Kai oi 1'oI ai?-r<§v olxiac aiiréiv sis 'rev aiéivn, o'x17v<5/tara avfmv as yevedv Kai 76|/£&.V.] ORIGIN or rms LAAGER.-I am not sure if it was in ‘N. & Q.’ or in some weekly newspaper that a note as to the origin of the laager appieared, but the following references from ‘Bo emia,’ by Count Lutzow, may be useful if placed on record. The invention is attributed to Zizka, the great Bohemian leader of the fourteenth cen- tury, and the greatest military genius of his time. “The hradlea vozova (Wagenburg, wagon-fort, or ‘lager of wagons ’), if not abso- lutely Zizka’s invention, became, entirely through him, a serious feature in Bohemian warfare (14l2)1" In 1429, at “ the Batt-le of the Herrings,” the English leader, Sir John Falstolf, “ formed his_w;f;ons in_ square, within which extem- riz fort his men stood on the defensive ” $0 Battles of English History] by Hereford B. George). B. FLORENCE SCARLETT. ILMINSTER cosrouunan wrrn ILCHESTER. -That Ilchester on the Ivel and Ilminster on the Ile, onlty twelve miles apart, should have been con usigg to authors is natural enough. It confus John Leland, for in his ‘Itinerary’ (ii. 90) he sa 's, “Thens to Ilmxnstre. Take better hedle, for Ilmestre, as I syns lernid ys ...... not on [vel water.” and Sir Walter Besant, who, in his interest- Ing romance ‘ For Faith and Freedom] places at Ilminster a large gaol which he calls “Ilminster Clink,” evidently thought of Ilchester, for in the former lace there was nothing more pretentious tli)an a “Round House” for the temlporary detention of prisoners en route to lchester, which was pulled down about the year 1852. Other instances of less interest might be cited. W. Locks Rsnronn. Ilminster. RIFLE RANGES.-At the present moment, when so much attention is being given to rifle shooting, and the Government have sent a Committee from the War Office to inquire into the Swiss system, it may be interesting to note that more than half a century ago the subject was taken up and strongly advocated by the ninth Lord Vernon, the well-known Dante scholar. But he was in advance of his age and received little support. The following extract 18 taken from the biographical sketch of Lord Vernon written by the late Sir James Lacaita, in tlhe third volume of the Vernon ‘ Dante ’ :- “From his earliest youth Lord Vernon took delight in rifle shooting, in which he attained such remarkable proficiency that in Tire Fédéraux in Switzerland, between the years 1840 and l&%, he carried off the first rize at Coire and the second prize at Basle. In l)859, when public enthusiasm was kindled for the formation of Volunteer Rifle Corps in England, Lord Vernon was one of the first to stimulate it, and he formed a Rifle Corps at Sud- bury, where he put up a range at his own expense, for the especial purpose of demonstrating the lpre- ferability of the Swiss system of markingé w Ich iystem has since then been adopted by the ational ifle Association at Wimbledon.” J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC, Col. Vols., Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. Qurrin. WE must reixuest correspondents desiring infor- mation on fami y matters of only private Interest to aflix their names and addresses to their queries, iin order that the answers may be addressed to them irect. Loscwoirrn v. YELVERTON. -When did the matrimonial trial (cause célébre) Miss Long-' worth v. the Hon. Major Yelverton take place, and where can particulars be obtained 'l AN OLD INVALID. [See 5*" S. ii. 466.] hNIce;zo NICKILAMES. (Seleegh S. iv. 2l2.)-it t is re erence t ere a a ver interes ~ ing article by MR. H}o‘I§>alEN MACBIICHAEL on gfaneric nicknames or Eobrdlqzwg, incwléich tie common names o nas ee, u ey, Sambo, &c., appear. All of these old Guinea coast names, as I have heard, are limited to seven, and are separately the names of days in the week indicating t at on which a chi d was born. It was from this that Robinson Crusoe’s attendant was called Friday. Can