Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/193

 s. ix. MARCH s, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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whole body of artists and literati ran with wonder not to study the picture of Titian but to chat- ter, to shrug, to take snuff, and to express admira- tion of the talents of M. Hacquin. The whole %stem of this cleansing and restoring is hateful n English artist told me that he was within the Louvre, studying the cartoon of the ' School of Athens,' when from a private door came forth an old Frenchman, who regularly set his palette and began to work on a large picture, the back of which was towards the Englishman. The latter thought it must be the performance of the person who was so busily employed on it, and from curiosity went over to examine it. To his horror he found the Frenchman engaged in regularly painting over an early and curious specimen of Italian art, touch by touch. He had painted the drapery of the Virgin entirely over, a fine staring blue. ' Good God ! ' said the startled Englishman, ' who is this picture by ? ' ' Je ne sais pas, Monsieur,' was the reply. ' Je ne suis pas peintre Je suis Restorateur ! ' It afterwards turned put that this painting, so honoured by the attention of Monsieur le Restora- teur, was by Cimabue, and a most rare and singular relic."

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Ramoyle, Dowanhill Gardens, Glasgow.

"LuRDEN." The following account of the origin of this word, as it is too lengthy for Dr. Murray, may yet be worth putting within ready reference by * N. & Q.' :

"And besydes this, the common people were so of them oppressed, that for feare and dreade, they called them in every such house as they had rule of, Lord Dane : But in processe of tyme, after the Danes were yoyded the lande, this worde Lord Dane, was in dirision and despite of the Danes turned by Englishe men into a name of opprobry

called Lurdane, for if one Englishe man will

rebuke another, he will for the most part say, thou art but a Lurdane." Graf ton, 1568, 'Chron.,' i. 163.

This is given in connexion with the massacre of the Danes, about 1002, or as a result after it.

Halliwell gives also "lordeyn fever "= idleness, and "lurdy "=lazy, with references, but suggests no origin, and this may not be a sound derivation, and yet be worth noting.

CHILDREN'S AFFIRMATIONS. Children soon learn to distinguish nicely between various degrees of affirmation. The bare word they rarely consider binding. One of the most curious forms of oath (for such it really is) that I have met with among them is the wet ringer. The child holds up a wet finger, and asks, "Is this finger wet? " then dries it, and holds it up again, with the question, " Is this finger dry?" and adds, "Cut my throat before I'd lie." Only the most depraved will tell an untruth with this formula. An ap- proved way of getting at the truth is to ask, " Are you sure 1 " " Yes." " Are you certain ? " " Yes." " Are you shot down dead 1 " " Yes."

" Are you sure and certain, shot down dead ? " " Yes. This, I believe, is, or was in my own young days, the most binding form of all.

C. C. B.

IN PRAISE OF BURNS. Mrs. Annie Vincent Burns Scott (great-granddaughter of Robert Burns), of Ortunga, Largs, South Australia, made application recently to the secretary of the Burns Federation for assistance to dis- cover the author of some verses on Burns, "deciphered in manuscript on a very old hand-painted memorial card." The " poem," consisting of six stanzas, the first two of six and the remainder of four lines, appeared in the Glasgow Evening News, and evoked a reply, in which the writer ascribed most of the verses to John Nicholson, of Airdrie, who penned them in 1826. Nicholson's poem, I think, will interest some readers of N.&Q.':-

Learning hath many a rhymer made To flatter near the throne,

But Scotia's genius hath displayed A poet of her own.

His lyre he took to hill and glen,

To mountain and to shade ; Centuries may pass away, but when

Will such a harp be played ?

His native strain each bird may try,

But who has got his fire ? Why, none ! For Nature saw him die,

And took away his lyre.

And for that lyre the aspiring youth The world may search in vain ;

She vowed she ne'er would lend it more To sound on earth again.

Then call'd on Fame to hang it by ;

Fame took it, with a tear, And broke the strings to bind the wreath Which Burns shall ever wear.

J. GRIGOR. 105, Choumert Road, Peckham.

MOSES MENDELSSOHN. The witty distich quoted in your 'Notes on Books' (ante, p. 100),

George the First was always reckoned Vile, and viler George the Second, recalls an anecdote told of Moses Mendels- sohn. With more refinement of wit than Heliogabalus, Frederick II. was wont to play practical jokes on his intimates. These invariably took the form of sportive sallies when men like Voltaire, Lessing, and Men- delssohn were his guests. One night Fre- derick had the tables turned upon himself most adroitly by the little humpbacked scholar. As soon as Mendelssohn took his customary seat at the festive board there was a universal titter. Frederick, pretending nnocence, inquired why he was making such