Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/73

 9" S. IX. JAN. 25, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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donner : c'est lorsqu'elle raconte si gaiement a sa fille la revolte des paysans bas-bretons et les hor- ribles sprites qui la reprimerent Quand, pour

chatier Rennes qu'on prend & Vaventure vingt-

cinq ou trente homines pour les peudre, qu'on chasse et qu'on bannit toute une grande rue, femmes ac- couchees, vieillards, enfants, avec defense de les recueillir, sous peinede rnort; quand on roue, qu'on ecartelle, et qu'a force d'avoir ecartele et roue Ton se relache, et qu'ou pend : au milieu de ces horreurs exercees centre des innocents ou de pauvres egares, on souffre devoir madame deSevigne se jouer presque com me & 1'ordinaire ; on lui voudroit une indigna- tion brulante, amere, genereuse ; surtout on vou- droit effacer de ses lettres des lignes com me celles- ci : ' Les mutins de Rennes se sont sauves il y a longtemps; ainsi les bons patiront pour les me- diants ; mais je trouve tout fort bon, pourvu que les quatre mille hommes de guerre qui sont k Rennes, sous MM. de Forbin et de Vins, ne m'empechent point de me promener dans mes bois, qui sont d'une hauteur et d'une beaute" merveilleuses'; et ailleurs : ' On a pris soixante bourgeois : on com- mence demain a pendre. Cette province est un bel exemple pour les auties, et surtout de respecter les gouverneurs et les gouvernantes, de ne leur point dire d'injures et de ne point Jeter des pierres dans leur jardin '; et enfin : 'Vousme parlez bien plaisamment de nos miseres : nous ne sommes plus si roues ; un en huit jours seulement pour entretenir la justice: la penderie me paroit mainteuant un rafraichissement.' "

These extracts render it probable that a lady who could make a jest of the atrocities that were being perpetrated within a few miles of her chateau would have borne with equanimity any losses that might have oc- curred in a distant battle, and one cannot but echo the regret expressed by Sainte- Beuve that her heart, which among her con- temporaries was famed for its "bonte," "ne se soit pas eleve au-dessus des prejuges de son temps." W. F. PRIDEAUX.

" ROUT." The late Francis Pulszky in his autobiography, writing of the doings of Society (with a capital S) in London in 1848-9, mentions the crowded state of draw- ing-rooms " at the so-called * routs ' (which word means about the same as soirees)" The word is not to be found in my copy of Skeat's 'Etymological Dictionary/ but it sur- vives in the vocabulary of some West-End confectioners and other caterers, who lend out on hire " rout-chairs," and advertise the fact on their carts and in their shop windows. L. L. K.

[Annandale's four-volume edition of Ogilvie gives a quotation from Thackeray, and the ' Encyclo- paedic ' one from Wharton's k Ranelagh House,' to illustrate this use of rout.]

'CHRONICLES OF CARLINGFORD.' Dr. Richard Garnett, in his life of Margaret Oliphant ( ' Dictionary of National Bio- graphy,' Supplement, vol. iii. p. 231), makes

very misleading and, indeed, quite incorrect statements relative to the publication of the ' Chronicles of Carlingford.' He says three of them "were published anonymously in Blackwoods Magazine between 1862 and 1865. The earliest was 4 Salem Chapel,' 1863, 2 vols. ; and it was followed by * The Rector and the Doctor's Family' (1863), 'The Perpetual Curate' (1864, new ed. 1865), and ' Miss Mar- joribanks ' (1866)." The dates for the appear- ance in Blackwood's Magazine are not precisely correct, and from the passage taken as a whole a reader naturally infers that the series opened with 'Salem Chapel.' The order of publication in Blackwoods Magazine is ' The Rector,' without the general title of 'Chronicles of Carlingford' (Sept., 1861), ' The Doctor's Family ' (Oct., 1861-Jan., 1862), 'Salem Chapel' (Feb., 1862-Jan., 1863), 'The Perpetual Curate' (June, 1863-Sept., 1864), and 'Miss Mar jori banks ' (Feb., 1865-May, 1866). It is thus interesting to note that Mrs. Oliphant reached 'Salem Chapel' through two slight experiments with Car- lingford themes. In a similar manner Anthony Trollope explored Barsetshire after its discovery in " The Warden.'

WILBUR L. CROSS. Yale University.

FARTHING ON SHORTHAND. I do not know whether anything has been recorded of the professional worth of " Mr. Farthing," a teacher of the stenographic art in the middle of the seventeenth century. The following extract from the address "To the Christian Reader" in 'The Saints' Treasury,' 1654, by Jeremiah Burroughes, may prove interesting to some readers of ' N. & Q.' I may mention that one of the signatories to that address- there are six is the well-known Ralph Venning.

" We shall adde this also for thy encouragement, that these Sermons have been very happily taken by the pen of a ready writer, Mr. Farthing, now a Teacher of Short writing ; one who hath given ample testimonie of his great skill and dexteritie in writing Short-hand. We think we may say, there are not many words delivered by the Author, that are left out. However, confident we are that there is nothing material! which was by him preached, but is here by the care and faithfulnesse of the Scribe presented to thy view."

A. S.

NATHANIEL BOOTH. Nathaniel Booth, the second son of Nathaniel Booth, of Mottram St. Andrew, co. Chester, arm., was born about 1660. He seems to have entered at Brasenose College, Oxford, but not to have graduated. He was admitted at Gray's Inn 21 May, 1683, and was called to the Bar 10 June, 1689. He collected a good library of books and manu-