Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/313

 9~»s.v1.sm29.1900.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 259 I have now satisfied myself that “ Alamains” is simply an editorial error for a la mains, a shortened form of the French nouvelles rin la main. These, according to Littré, are “nouvelles qu’On distribue non im&rimées,” hence the latest news or glossip. alpole’s phrase “the Alamains of t e Court” simgily means “Court gossip.” H. T.. “ MAZAME ” (9"*‘ S. vi. 206).-This zoological term was introduced to Buffon and the learned of Europe by Dr. Francisco Hernandez. He wrote in Latin, but a Spanish translation was published in 1615 under the title of ‘Cuatro Libros de la Naturaleza’ (reprinted 1888); and it is this which lies before me. I thin PROF. SKEAT goes too far in asserting that mapame is a grammatical blunder, an that mamapa is the only genuine plural of the Mexican word for “ eer.” In this book, printed in Mexico three cen- turies ago, I find both forms of the plural used interchangeably. Thus book iv. chap. xx. is headed in the index “De los Venados que llaman Matza/m.e”; but in the body of the work it is headed “De las Diferencias de los Benados que los Indios llaman Mamapa.” In the text the first species described is the white deer zztac mamapa (iztac means “ white ”) ; but the four following species are respectively (1) tlalhyu magtame, (2) tlzema ma ame, (3) theotlal mapame, (4) t/wma mapame. Of course, this new fact that both plurals are right does not detract from the interest of PROP. SKEAT’S discovery that this zoolo ical term is what he calls a ghost-word, a plural incorrectly employed by Europeans as a singular. J. PLATT, Jun. SAHARA (9°“ S. vi. 68, 174).-Can any one inform me who was the artist that painted a fine picture of the ‘Sandstorm in t e Desert of Sahara’ overtaking a caravan? If I may trust a distant memory, there was a woodcut of it in either the Penny or Saturday Maga- zine some sixty fyears ago, and, if I may draw from the same ountain, there was a graphic description of a sandstorm in the desert in Hope’s ‘ Anastasius ; or, Memoirs of a Greek] JOHN PIOKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. AUTHORS or QUOTATIONS WANTED (9°*‘ S. vi. 190).- “ To love is to know the sacrifices which eternity exacts from life” occurs in ‘ The School for Saints,’ by John Oliver Hobbes, chap. xxv. H. C. W. Where’er you walk cool gales shall fan the lade, Trees where you sit shal crowd into a shaafe, &c. From ‘ Semele,’ a oantata, “altered from W. Con- greve,” and set to musio_ by Handel, whose lovely air to the above words is well known. The lines and an additional scene have been tacked on to the end of Con reve’s Act II. Who the “ alterer,” and therefore the writer of them, was is uncertain, but they are unusuallg giraceful. Congreve wrote his opera in 1707, an ande1’s work was produced in 1744. GEORGE MARSHALL. _ The quotation “ Where’er she walks” is a very incorrect reproduction of words appropriated to a well-known air by Handel beginningv“ Where’er you walk.” WALTER. SKEAT. Qisnllsnwiu. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Church Towers of Somerset. By E. Piper, R.P.E. Parts XX.-XXII. (Bristol, Frost & Reed.) THREE more parts of Miss Piper’s admirable designs of the church towers of Somerset bring the wor within measurable distance of com letion. Part XX. contains the fine parish church of’ Ilmin- ster and the even more celebrated church of St. Bartholomew Crewkerne. The former is a lovely Perpendicular building, the central tower of which stately in appearance. is a fine speci- men of elaborate decoration especially as regards the uppermost stage, which is very rich. Mr. Warden Page, who still supplies the letterpress, speaks of the entire building, in spite of its “de- p orable” nave, as “ one of t e finest of Somerset- shire churches.” Unlike the buildin previously mentioned, St. Bartholomew’s, Crewierne, “the other great cruciform church of these parts,” is richest in workmanship in the lower portion of the tower, the height of which is but seventy-five feet. It is a beautiful specimen of late Per wen- dicular, specially noteworthy for the size of its windows. As is Often the case, it is built on the site of an earlier church, probably of the thirteenth century, some signs of which are sup osed to be yet traceable. St. Mary’s Church, in ‘Part XXI., is interesting from the antiqluarian rather than the architectura standéioint. ts tower is, however, massive, if Plain. t. Mary Magdalene’s, Taunton, is noticeab e ID many respects. Its tower, no less than a hundred and sixty-three feet in height, and in four stages, has won from Macaulay the epithet “graceful,” which is no more than it merits. Ask any Taunton man to name the finest tower in Somersetshire, and he will at once name this. _ Mr. Warden Page unhesi- tatingly supports this view. The tower is, how- ever, wholy new, having) been rebuilt in 1862. Commendab e pains have een taken to make the new replace exactly the old, but it will take much t-ime to give the whole the reqluisite appearance of an- tiquity. The churchjtself, t ough one of the largest in the county, seems dwarfed y the proportions of the tower. It has no fewer than four aisles, a rare feature, there being, according to the state- ments of the inhabitants of Taunton only two others that can boast a like number. With this is given the other great Taunton church, St. James’s, which also has been restored in facsimile. Though short of St. Mary Magdalene’s in elaboration of detail, the church is finely propprtioned, and its tower is impressive. Unlike the uildings of which we have spoken, the church of St. Peter, Bishops Hull, has undergone restorations by which its character is spo t and its beauty marred. “A