Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/572

 476 NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. vi. DEC. 15,190 well as royal bob, was surely entitled to a place in the dictionary ; but I suppose it was mistaken at Oxford for a proper name. The term "royal poverty'' did not, as I thought, arise out of Jekyll's Act, for I find it in a 1731 edition of Bailey's ' Dictionary.' It may nevertheless have arisen from the 1729 impost being popularly regarded as an indica- tion of royal indigence; but conjecture is idle until I know whether or not it appears in earlier editions. As to " max," I find the following in Hone's 'TableBook,'1878reprint, p. 842: u Max = Gin. Evidently from the Latin maximus, in refer- ence to the strength and goodness of the liquor"—a worthless fiction, as I observed, but etymology was easy-going in 1827. F. H. having, ante, p. 286, kindly extended the list of slang expressions, I may add another term, used by women, namely, "dress- maker's lining." The coarse term he men- tions as frequent in Suffolk is what I should expect from the oft-recurring mention of " Nan " in connexion with gin-tippling in the literature of the Gin Act, one instance of which may be found in my note at the first reference. I avail myself of this opportunity to correct an error in my quotation from Shad well, copied from the 'Encyclopaedic Dictionary.' The error, for which I am not responsible except in neglecting to verify the reference is " Rose Garden " for Rose Tavern. F. ADAMS. "Geneva hath more several and different names j Lies n any other Uquor that is sold here: as double Geneva, royal Geneva, celestial Geneva fittery, Collonia, Strike-fire, &c., and has gain'd such universal applause, especially with the common people, that by a moderate computation, there is more of it in quantity sold daily in a great many Distillers shops, than of Beer and Ale vended in most publick houses, with this farther advantage that Geneva is saleable the next day after it« being distill d, which is not to be practis'd in the others."— George Smith, 'Compleat Body of Distilling' (third edition, Lond., 1738), pp. 49-50. Q. V. "BissoNA"(9<>> S. vi. 268, 338).-Not only my edition of Fanfani (1865), but Baretti, Davenport, Alberti, and Cortnon all ignore the word. Fortunately, however, I have come across a passage in Galibert's 'Histoire de Venise' (Paris, 1850) which seems to confirm MAJOR-GENERAL MAXWELL'S conjecture as to its signification. On p. 511, in a description of one of the races in the grand fete of the regattas, we find the following :— " La plus brillante de ces courses etait celle des gondoles montees par un seul homme mancEUvrant un seul aviron. Debout 4 1'arriere de sa fine nacelle, courbt sur sa longue rame, le visage baigne de sueur 1'ceil i'ji!t:iin in' • par 1'ardeur de la lutte, le gondolier passait devant les spectateurs avec la rapidite d'un cheval au galop, et volait comme une fleche entre une double haie de longues barques, appelecs bittnone ou mcUgherotle, k huit ou dix rames, equipees par de jeunes patriciens dont les gondoliers figuraient dans la regale. Ces bateaux de paradt etaient magnifiquement orn«5s; 1'or, 1'argent, les tentures, les plumes, les fleura, y etaient prodigues. Leur proue etait ornee de figures representent le« divinites mythologiques Lorsqiie la rugate ^tait donnee en 1 honneur de quelque grand peraonnage, de passage & Venise, le noble visiteur <-tait place sur une binaona, plus maenifique que toutes les autres, equipee aux frais de la republique. A la regate de Mai, 1846 1'imperatrice de Russie et la grande- duchesse Olga sa fille etaieut montees sur une superbe bittaona, escortee de gondoles d^eouvertes, aux couleurs noire et blanche, qui portaient leur suite." Not one of the above dictionaries contains the alternative term malgherotta. The quan- tity of the o in bissona I have no means of ascertaining. C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. Bath. " 'SDEYNS " (9th S. vi. 347, 434).—At the last reference the guesses all refer to disdain, but I believe they are all wrong. The form 'ideym is merely a shortened form of the fuller expression 'sdainties or 'sdainty, the latter being the correct original. The sense is "by God's dainty,"i.e., "by God's dignity " for dainty is nothing but the Anglo-French form corresponding to the "learned" form dignity. As for '* dainties, I have met with it, but cannot remember where. As for '» dainty, a quotation for it is duly given in the ' H.E.D.,' s.v. ' Dainty,' section 8, from Cyril Tourneur's 'Atheist's Tragedy,' II. v. This single quotation, as it proves a fact, is worth more than all the rest. WALTER W. SKEAT. LANGUAGE TO CONCEAL THOUGHT (9th S. vi. 368, 432).—It is evident that Talleyrand, when he said, as Harel asserts, that " speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts," was ' merely using Moliere's phrase with a verbal change : "La parole a ete donnee a 1'homme pour exprimer ses pensees" (' Le Mariage Force',' sc. vi.). Voltaire also had previously written in his fourteenth dialogue, ' Le Chapon et la Poularde': "Us ne se seryent de la penseeque pour autoriser leurs injustices, et n'employent les paroles que pour deguiser leurs pensees," but to whom he was indebted for the thought is hard to guess : for this use of speech is noted in one of Dionysius Cato's distichs (iv. 20) :— Perspicito tecum tacitus quid quisque loqnatur : Senno hominum mores et celat et indicat idem, of which there is an old French version (twelfth century) in Le Roux de Lincy's