Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/115

 9s.vn.FB.9,i9oi.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

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soul," and explains it as a poetical phras for u iny life." It is the word employed i Judges xi. 34 for an only daughter. Tha which our versions style "power," and fo which Bar Hebrseus substitutes " mouth," i literally " hand." Hence Dr. Robert Young' rendering,

Deliver from the sword my soul, From the paw of a dog mine only one.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

THE DOG AND THE GAMEKEEPER. L Petit Temps (supplement to the Paris journa Le Temps) of 12 December is responsible fo the following dog story, which "si nori vero i ben trovato."

An incident has just occurred which give* matter for thought. M. X., the owner of a small villa in the environs of Paris, had a dog a Great Dane an intelligent and faith ful animal. M. X. was very fond of his dog, and it was a blow to him when, having sole his house in order to return to Paris, he was obliged to separate from the dog. A friendly gamekeeper agreed to take it, but it followed its new master disconsolately. Having been used to live in a garden, the dog did not easily adapt itself to a different existence. The gamekeeper, who was not tender-hearted, grew tired of feeding an animal with such an appetite, and resolved to get rid of it. And this is how he set to work.

He fastened a heavy stone to the dog's neck, put it on a boat, and rowed towards the middle of the river Marne. When the boat was in mid-stream the gamekeeper took the dog in his brawny arms and threw it into the water. The rope, which was not a good one, broke, and the animal, after making a plunge, came to the surface. It swam towards the boat, and had nearly reached it when the pitiless man struck it over the head with an oar. A stream of blood spouted forth and slightly tinged the water. The dog returned towards its executioner ; the river bank seemed to it too far off. The keeper became more furious with his victim. He had not put down his oar, and now brandished it like a windmill to strike a mortal blow. But his violence made him lose his equilibrium, and he fell into the water. He did not know how to swim, and would certainly have been drowned if the dog, who was much better than the man, had not seized him by his teeth and supported him. The gamekeeper could thus lay hold of the boat, which the current had not had time to carry away during the rescue of the keeper; and this time the bank was reached. This saving of the man's life modified, as

may be supposed, the feelings of the game- keeper for his dog. He dressed the wound made by the oar in the head of the poor and forgiving animal, and tended it quite pater- nally. And when relating the story he adds that only death shall separate him from the creature to whom he owes his life.

J. LORAINK HEELIS.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

COL. HENRY HUGH MITCHELL. The date of the birth of my grandfather Col. Henry Hugh Mitchell is given in the short account of him in the 'D.N.B.' as 1766(3). As a matter of fact, he was born 9 June, 1770. He was remarkable as being the only officer under the rank of general mentioned in the Waterloo despatch ; and though, when in command of three regiments on the right under a heavy fire all day, he escaped with- out a scratch, he caught a severe cold, which eventually caused his death. He entered the army as ensign in the 101st Foot, November,

1782, and was promoted lieutenant 14 June,

1783, and served in India during that year. Was it unusual for a boy at that period to enter the army at the early age of twelve, or are there other instances ? I have traced several of his brother officers, but, owing to the

amentable lack of dates in Burke's * Landed Gentry,' &c., I have not been able to ascertain

heir ages. H. S. VADE-WALPOLE.

[For child commissions in the army see 8 th S. viii. 421, 498 ; ix. 70, 198, 355, 450.]

OLD LEGEND. Can anybody put me on he track of a quaint old legend French, I hink ; at least, I saw it some years ago in he Revue des Deux Mondes somewhat to the olio wing effect 1 ? A rather fractious personage, )eing in difficulties, invokes some deity or aint and implores his aid. The deity or aint relieves him from his straits, and urthermore presents him with a bugle-horn, elling him that, should he again at any time equire help, he need only wind a blast on hat horn, and he, the deity or saint, would ,t once come to his support always provided hat the fractious personage will for the uture live peaceably and shun all wanton roils. Emboldened by this gift and promise, ut neglectful of the condition thereto ttached, the fractious personage very soon lunges into fresh quarrels with all sorts of eople, and of course is very soon in un-