Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/474

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NOTES AND QUERIES. or* s. ix. JUNE u, 1902.

correct, as the animal is one of the Giraffidse ; but giraffine, having been used under unique circumstances may be said to have obtained a footing, and being associated with the okapi or o'api, as we are informed the dwarfs pronounce it may rise to the dignity of an established unit in our language. It may be noted further that Prof. Ray Lankester has given the name Ocapia to the genus of which the Special Commissioner's discovery is a specimen. ARTHUR MAYALL.

"CIRCULAR JOYS." Crash aw has this phrase in his poem 'On the Death of Mr. Herrys' for everlasting, or, it may be, for eternal joys. I confess I have never been able to see the beauty of the simile of the circle as an emblem of eternity. It may be quite true that to the ring (or to the circumference of a circle) there is not any end ; but it always occurs to me that we are in any circle traversing the same ground again and again. I think of eternity as a perfectly straight line without termini. I know that it may be said such a thought is unthinkable ; but we can think of the station where we began our part of the journey, and of that other station where we shall end. In this idea at least we have no treadmill work no person ever travels the same part of the journey a second time. History never repeats itself. The world since its creation has never been in the same spot two mornings in succession.

THOMAS AULD.

" COPTIC " USED AS A TYPE OF AN OUT-OF- THE-WAY LANGUAGE OR LITTLE-KNOWN SUB- JECT. The ' H.E.D.' assigns separate sec- tions to somewhat similar uses of the words " Greek " and " Hebrew." For " Coptic " in this typical sense see Macaulay's essay on Croker's edition of Boswell's 'Life of John- son ' (p. 165 in the one- volume edition of the ' Essays,' 1870) : " The composition of this eminent Latinist, short as it is, contains several words that are just as much Coptic as Latin."

With this compare the following passage : "the constitution of this country (in which and the Coptick Mr. Steele is equally skilled) " (Swift, 'Public Spirit of the Whigs,' vol. viii. of 'Miscellanies,' 1751, p. 14).

The ' Public Spirit of the Whigs ' appeared in March, 1714, and Swift may have had in his mind No. 69 of the Spectator (a number written by Addison), where the Spectator himself in describing his visits to the Royal Exchange says, "There is indeed a Merchant

of Egypt, who just knows me by sight

but as I am not versed in the modern Coptick, our Conferences go no further than a Bow

and a Grimace." Even if there is a special reference in Swift's sarcasm to the words just quoted, it seems possible that the word " Coptick " may at the same time have been intended to bear a typical meaning.

Perhaps, before concluding that " Coptic " is found in this proverbial sense, it would be well to ask for more examples of such a use. EDWARD BENSLY.

The University, Adelaide, South Australia.

" GOD HAS THREE CHANCELLORS." In a

letter of 2 July, 1614, written from Leeds, Alexander Cook thus addresses James Usher: " Good sir, I read in the Mariale, that Deus in curia sua ccelesti habet tres Cancellarips : primus est, ad quern spectat dareliteras simplicis Justitise, et iste est Michael Arch-angelus, c. Secundus Cancellarius, ad quern spectat dare literas mixtas, scilicet Justitite & Misericordiae, est B. Petrus

apostolus Tertius Cancellarius est ille, ad quern

spectat dare literas purse gratise & misericordiae, & hoc ofh'cium habet B. Virgo," &c.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

THE IRON DUKE AND THE DUKE OF WEL- LINGTON. 1 venture to think that exception should be taken in ' N. & Q.' to the bestowal of the old appellation of " the Iron Duke " (p. 473) upon the illustrious Duke of Welling- ton in such an important historical work (perhaps the standard life) as 'The Life of Napoleon I.' by J. H. Rose, for the simple reason that the name of " Iron Duke " was selected for a large ship launched at Liver- pool, and not as a title of regard for the conqueror of such " a wonder-worker " as Napoleon the Great (the greatest name in modern history) and nearly all his marshals and generals. HENRY GERALD HOPE.

119, Elms Road, Clapharn, S.W.

[Surely Wellington has fairly secured the title for himself, and now it would be futile to attempt to deprive him of it. Other men were just besides Aristides, but he has secured the adjective in his- tory as his own.]

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 maybe addressed to them direct.

OPTIC OR OPTICAL GLASS. In Hermann Kirchener's ' Oration in Praise of Travell,' prefixed to * Coryat's Crudities,' 1611, we read, ''For this Counsellor is like that opticke- glasse wherein not onely the space of three or tenne miles, but also of a whole prouince, yea, and of the whole world it selfe, may be