Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/67

 9-s.vi.jnLY2i.i9oa.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 53 written rule of that pronunciation?" Is it not a rule perfect and unalterable to say that pronunciation is regulated entirely by ac- centual and phonetic convenience, and that it is impossible, in any circumstances, to evade the dictates of this changeless decree of common sense ! In'undate is more easily said than inundate, as crin'oline is than crin- o'-line, though in a word of four syllables, like lino'leum, the accent would be on the second. Why do we elide the aspirate in heir, hour, &c., unless, again, for convenience' sake ' In the first case to distinguish it from hair, hare, or rather to lessen the confusion that would attend the existence of three words identical in pronunciation : and, in the case of hour, simply because that word is more easily expressed without the aspirate, as in honour, honest, &c. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAKL. Wimbledon Park Road. All classical scholars who wish to pronounce English correctly (1) are advised wholly to forget their Latin, as if they allow themselves to be guided by etymology they will get them- selves laughed at as old fogies. In'undate * is bad, but dem-Onstrate is positively hideous. In this syllabication we must in demonst.ra.re cut off TO from the radical and add it to the prefix, converting long de into short dem, and leaving as radical the wonderful verb onstrare I I am sorry to learn from the Editor's note (v. 497) that the same hideous process is now going on with regard to illustrate, the un- educated, who have already sent up in'undate and dem'-onstrate, having now agreed to lop off an I from luntrare, giving us the unheard- of prefix ill, and the equally unheard-of verb ustrare I I heartily thank DR. MURRAY that in his great dictionary he has the courage to frown upon these " modern instances." Encouraged by him, I shall continue to inundate and demonstrate in my short future as I have ever done in my long past. R. M. SPENCB, D.D. Manse of Arbuthnott, N.B. P.S.—Since this reply was written I am pleased to find that in the great' Standard Dictionary,' recently published, inundate ap- pears unquestioned, while in the _appendix containing "Doubtful Pronunciations" the preference is given to demonstrate and u-ltistrate. " THKY SAY. WHAT SAY THEY 1 LET THEM SAY" (9th S. v. 456).—The following, taken • " Inundant sanguine foute."—'.Knci.1,' x. .'4. from a volume I just happened to be perusing when 1 observed his query, may interest your correspondent in this connexion : — " Walking dowu the Haslithol in a tremendous downpour, I repeated to him [Henry Smith] the motto of the Earls Marischal, given by them to Mariachal College, They say. Quhat say they ? Lat them say, which had been cjuoted to me by Mr. Elphinstone, and with which circumstances in after years were to make me very familiar (as M.P. for Peterhead, and Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen). ' Ah ! ' said he, ' I see what that means. It is the ' account of a voung man's life at the University. yea'r he believes all that his Professors tell him. His answer to all objections is, They my. In his first yea'r he . In his second year doubts begin to arise. He asks, What say they ? In his third year he has lost all confidence, and says. Let them talk at they will.' "— ' Notes from a Diary, by Sir M. E. Urant Duff, vol. i. p. 44. J. B. McQoVERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester. Many years ago, when with youthful ardour I was endeavouring, under much dis- couragement, to eliminate some truths from the universally discredited statements of Constantine Simonides, that well -abused Greek called my attention to a _seal in the Soane Museum, as bearing an inscription which corresponded with his feelings towards his critics. By the courtesy of the official in charge I was allowed to take away an impression in wax, an electrotype from which made at the time enables me to send you a replica of the original inscription : — AEFOYCIN } A0EAOYCIN I _ Myovviv a OfXova-iv, AEFETflCAN f 	yir(a<ra.v, ov /x«A(e)i pot. OYMELIMOI J They say what they please. Let them say, I care not. I have called the original a seal, but my belief is that it is a cameo, and that the wax impression given me was a matrix. J. ELIOT HODOKIN. Whether derived from a Greek original or not, I think that LORD SHEKBORNE will find that the above words formed the motto of one of the old Anglo-Norman families, such as Bigod, or Bohun, or Neville KEG. MERIVALE. 11, New Square, Lincoln's Inn. "IN GORDANO" (9th S. V. 126, 254, 359).— There are four parishes in North Somerset so designated, viz., Weston, Easton, Walton, and Clapton. MR. MAYHEW is wandering very far in seeking to derive the term from