Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/336

 328

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. APRIL 26, 1902.

become of the original tracing. CoukJ any one say who owns it now 1 A reproduction, as is known, was made by the Arundel Society. Great value is attached by Italians to the tracing, as Prof. D'Ancona, the eminent scholar, in an article in La Lettura, claims for Mr. Kirkup the discovery of Giotto's fresco. ETRUSCO.

"IN AN INTERESTING CONDITION." This

happy and graceful equivalent for the older and more homely phrase "in the family way" does not appear to be registered in 'H.E.D.,' so it is difficult for those who are interested in the history of English phrase- ology to find out when the phrase was first introduced, and gradually took the place of its older synonyms. I notice that it is the usual way in which the situation is referred to in the public press. In the Daily Telegraph, 28 March, it occurs in a telegram from The Hague. The French also speak of a woman being "dans un etat interessant." See, for example, 'Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard,' by A. France, p. 9. The Germans, too, use "in interessanten Umstanden." Was the English phrase borrowed from France, or did the French borrow from us 1 When did the phrase first appear in French or English literature? I was surprised to find that the phrase "to be in an interesting situation " occurs in ' The Slang Dictionary/ Well, it is no longer slang. The Daily Tele- graph is incapable of such an indiscretion.

COMESTOR OXONIENSIS.

NAT LEE. What is known of Nat Lee ; and in which of his tragedies do the following lines, ascribed to a man angry with a cardinal, occur 1 ?

Stand back, and let me mow this poppy down, This rank, red weed, that spoils the Church's corn. The passage is quoted in Browning's ' Letters to his Wife,' and the metaphor it points must strike one for its beauty and originality.

L. K.

[A full account of Lee is supplied in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' The lines you seek occur in ' Ctcsar Borgia,' Act I. sc. i., and are spoken by Orsino. For " down " substitute off. Lee's ' Works,' vol. ii., edition 1736. They are p. 25, each play being separately paged.]

PORTRAIT OF CHARLES I. I should be grateful for information as to the artist and the engraver to whom we are indebted for the portrait of Charles 1. prefixed to his ' Large Declaration ' (1639). The portrait in question is very handsome, and it brings out Charles's likeness to his father, which is not very easily traceable in the portraits by Vandyke and Vander Werff. I should also

like to know if this portrait has been repro- duced in any modern book dealing with the history of Charles I. JOHN WILLCOCK. Lerwick.

'THE FAIRIES' FERRY.' Some time in the year 1847 there appeared in a Dublin news- paper a translation from the German, entitled ' The Fairies' Ferry ' or something to that effect. The following lines are re- membered, and I should be glad if any of the readers of ' N. & Q.' could give the entire poem :

Then a voice was heard, " Oh, ferryman dear, Here we are waiting, all of us here, With our pots and pans And little gold cans ; And our swift caravans Run swifter than man's."

MICHAEL FERRAR. Little Gidding.

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. Will any reader give me information on the Man in the Iron Mask other than that which I find in 8 th S. iv. and v. 1 There is, I believe, an article on the subject in Temple Bar, May, 1872. AMY TASKER.

Colly Weston House, near Stamford.

J There is a book on the subject by Tighe Hopkins urst & Blackett, 1901), reviewed in the Athenceum of 18 May. Later there was an article by Mr. Andrew Lang in the Monthly Review.'}

EULOGIES OF THE BIBLE BY HUXLEY AND DARWIN. I am looking for a eulogy on the Bible by Prof. Huxley, also one by Darwin as to its value as a guide to this life.

G. A. M.

ARMS OF KNIGHTS. Will any of your readers tell me the arms of the following knights, with the source from which the infor- mation has been obtained ? Thomas Esturmey (Sturmy), Theodore le Tyes, 1204 ; Stephen de Valinis, John de Sunnevil, 1249 ; Matthew Hanybal, 1254 ; Peter le Foix, 1302 ; Peter Skerk, 1304 ; Guy de Wolston, 1487.

JOHN RADCLIFFE.

Furlane, Greenfield, via Oldham.

SIR GEOFFREY POLE. This knight married Edith St. John, half-sister of Margaret Beau- fort, the mother of Henry VII. Is anything known as to his ancestry and as to whether he had any other children than Sir Richard Pole, who married Margaret, Countess of Salisbury? RONALD DIXON.

46, Maryborough Avenue, Hull.

' OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FRIENDS.' Could you inform me where I might be able to obtain a copy of a short poem entitled ' Old Friends and New Friends ' ? I do not know