Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/35

 9* s. ix. JA*. 11, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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preserving from oblivion ("not for an age only") the names of bygone heroes and heroines who "fought till they fell and died," may I quote a few lines from the Era of 9 Nov., 1901? In 'A Chat with Mr. Arthur Willoughby, Acting-Manager of the Buxton Pavilion,' that gentlemen said, speaking of old times :

" A very respectable family, the Thornhills, per- formed at the old theatre in Spring Gardens ; then a more modern theatre was opened at the bottom of Hall Bank. The Thornhills are buried in the little secluded church of St. Anne's, in Higher Buxton, the mother church of Buxton. where also lies all that is mortal of John Kane." "Kean?" "No, Kane. You were speaking of dear old Toole a moment ago. When he opened our present theatre, he and his company visited, in the pouring rain, the grave of this 'poor Yorick.' Mr. Toole paid a handsome sum for it to be reverentlv restored/' "We should like to see this grave." " You will find it at the east end of the church- yard. Close to the fence wall is a headstone placed at the foot of the grave, the inscription facing west- wards, while every other inscription faces, of course, the east. The inscription reads as follows :

This stone is placed here

In Memory of

John Kane, Comedian,

Who departed this Life Dec. 10th, 1799,

Aged 58 years.

A pathetic story is associated with this strolling player's grave. John Kane was about to dine off roast beef. He went out in the fields for some horseradish, to serve as a condiment, but instead of horseradish he pulled up the roots of hemlock, or monkshood (aconite), and died in dreadful agony two hours after he had dined. Mr. Toole, with tears in his eyes, bareheaded, before the moulder- ing tombstone, said, pointing to the hundreds of graves in front of Kane's, 'What an audience he will have when the curtain is rung up at the last great performance ! ' "

HERBERT B. CLAYTON. 39, Renfrew Road, Kennington, S.E.

TENNIS : ORIGIN OF THE NAME. (See 9 th S. viii. 23fO M. Jusserand, as noted at the above reference, confirms Prof. Skeat's derivation of the name of the game. " I sup- pose," says Prof. Skeat, "it meant 'take heed ' or * mark ' as an exclamation ; if so, it is precisely the equivalent of the modern 'play.'" M. Jusserand quotes from 'Lusus Puerilis/ Paris, 1555, and deduces that the excipe of Cordier and the accipe of Erasmus were the Latin version of the French ienez, an _ exclamation used on commencing play. It is curious to find that at a late period the server on beginning a set said, " Y etes-vous ? " just as we now say, " Are you there ? " at the telephone. JOHN HEBB.

[Ttnez = " take it," which may still be heard. A player at fives is still said to " take " a serve which is offered to him.]

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.

CARLYLE ON SYMBOLS. The Daily Telegraph of 11 December last, in its first leading article, refers to "Carlyle's belief in the value of traditional symbols." I would ask some kind student of the Chelsea Sage to inform me in which of his works this is found. For to those who confess an affection for symbols it cannot but be gratifying to know that they had the appreciation of the hard-headed philosopher, who certainly did not wear his heart upon his sleeve an indiscretion, indeed, to which his countrymen are not prone,

It will be interesting to notice the symbols to which the Sage refers, and his testimony will add assurance to the conviction that as the world grows old, et nos in illo, the use of emblems, whether political, religious, or social, prevails to-day as through precedent ages it ever did. And how, indeed, can it be other- wise so long as in living beings the material and the immaterial are welded and insepa- rable 1 The one must express the other. " An outward and visible sign " must represent the inward and invisible mind, and so subtle, necessary, and universal is the representation that it is often made unconsciously.

Theological symbols have perhaps chief observance and notoriety ; they have been overturned and smashed when the represented doctrines have also suffered subversion, but others have replaced them. The Puritan and the Covenanter destroyed objects of beauty which to them seemed to represent falsehoods ; but they gave expression to their own con- ceived ideas of truth by the simplicity of whitewash, and the self -abasement of cropped hair and straight - cut sombre garments. The Irish Orangeman also effaced the sacred Christian emblem, and, more cheerful-minded than the Protestant of England or of Scot- land, adopting colours as his symbol, flaunted his flag of orange and blue in the face of his Roman Catholic brother, who, under his banner of green, eagerly accepted the gauge of battle, their differences being referred to the arbitrament of the shillelagh !

The resuscitation and cultivation of art in our own time, joined to our more recent seizure of the Imperial idea, have refreshed our affection for symbols. Then we have been blessed in the prolonged reign of a

treat and good Queen, for so many years the ead and symbol of the nation whose best