Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 25, April 20, 1850», sayfa 6
GOMER.
Watewich (pp. 60. 121. 236.).—May not "Watewich" be Waterbeach?
S.S.S.
"By Hook or by Crook."—I imagine that the expression "By hook or by crook" is in very general use throughout England. It was familiar to my ear forty years ago in Surrey, and within these four years its origin was (to my satisfaction at the moment) brought home to my comprehension in the North of Devon, where the tenant of a certain farm informed me that, by an old custom, he was entitled to take wood from some adjoining land "by hook and crook;" which, on inquiry, I understood to include, first, so much underwood as he could cut with the hook or bill, and, secondly, so much of the branches of trees as he could pull down with the aid of a crook.
Whether this crook originally meant the shepherd's crook (a very efficient instrument for the purpose), or simply such a crook-ed stick as boys use for gathering hazel-nuts, is not very material. It seems highly probable that, in the vast forests which once overspread this country, the right of taking "fire bote" by "hook or crook" was recognised; and we can hardly wish for a more apt illustration of the idea of gaining a desired object by the ordinary means—"a hook," if it lay close to our hand; or, by a method requiring more effort, "a crook," if it were a little beyond our reach.
J.A.S.
By Hook or by Crook (pp. 205, 237. 281. &c.).—In confirmation of this phrase having reference to forest customs, my hind told me that my plantations were plundered by hook or by crook, and he and I once caught a man in flagrante delicto, with a hook for cutting green wood, and a crook at the end of a long pole for breaking off dry branches, which could not be otherwise reached. For an early use of the term, see Bacon's Fortress of the Faithful, 1550.
"Whatsoever is pleasant or profitable must be theirs by hook or by crook."
S.S.S.
Tablet to Napoleon.—Will it assist "EMDEE's" interpretation of the inscription to Napoleon (No. 17 p. 262.) if I suggest that it may mean—Ægyptiaco bis, Italico semper invicto?
C.I.R.
Feb. 25.
Lines on Pharaoh (No. 19. p. 298.).—I beg to inform "J.T.," that the well-known couplet about Pharaoh, and rascal rhyming to pascal, are from a certain History of the Bible, or Bible History, by the Rev. Dr. Zachary Boyd, of Todrig, who was either Principal or Professor of Divinity at Glasgow in the seventeenth century.
He left considerable property to the College there, on condition that his bust should be placed in the quadrangle, and his great work printed under the care of the Academical Senatus. The bust was placed accordingly, and is, or lately was, to be seen in a niche over the inner doorway. The History was also printed, it is said, but never published. However, curious visitors have always, I believe, been allowed a peep into it—whether the MS. or the solitary printed book, I am not sure—and a few choice morsels are current. I recollect one stave of the lamentation of Jonah—
"Lord! what a doleful place is this!
There's neither coal nor candle;
And nothing I but fishes' tripes
And greasy guts do bandle."
I think it a shame that the Maitland Club of Glasgow has not, ere now, volunteered an edition of Zachary's immortal performance. The Senatus would hardly object (if the expense were undertaken), as the circulation would be confined to true Scots.
PHILOBODIUS.
[The following communication from a very competent authority, and the very passage quoted by "PHILOBODIUS" himself, quite justify the non-publication of Zachary's doggrel.]
Zachary Boyd (No. 19. p. 298.).—Your notice of Zachary Boyd, and his extraordinary paraphrase of the Bible in the College at Glasgow, has reminded me of my having examined that strange work, and found ample cause for its not being published, though a sufficient sum was bequeathed for that purpose. The whole doggrel is only calculated to bring ridicule and contempt upon the Scriptures; but there are, besides, passages such as refer to Job's "Curse God, and die;" to Jeshuram waxing fat; to Jonah in the whale's belly; and other parts, which utterly unfit the MS. for decent perusal.
W. JERDAN.
Welsh Ambassador.—The origin of the word "Welsh," from the Saxon "Wealh," a stranger, and the use of it in this sense by our old writers (see Brady's Introd., p. 5.: Sir T. Smith's Commonwealth of England, chap. xiii.), sufficiently explain this designation of the Cuckoo, the temporary resident of our cold climate, and the ambassador extraordinary in the revolutions of the seasons, in the words of the Nursery Rhymes,—
"She comes as a stranger, and stays three months in the year."
"Quid tibi vis aliud dicam? me vox mea prodit."
Alciati, Emblema lx. Cuculi, Comment.
T.J.
Prince Madoc.—I was much gratified on reading "T.T.'s" note, commenting on my observations respecting the Mandan language, as he proves the existence of Celtic words amongst the American Indians. Regarding "T.T.'s" doubts as to the Mandans being descended from the followers of Madoc, I confess that my opinions on the point do not differ very widely from his own. The circumstances attending Madoc's emigration, in the paucity of its numbers and the entire separation from the mother country, with the character of the Indians, would almost ensure the ultimate destruction of the settlement, or the ultimate absorption of its remains by those who might have had friendly relations with the Welsh. In this most favourable view, the evidences of the presence of the Welsh seven centuries since would be few indeed at the present day. The most striking circumstance of this nature that I met with in Mr. Catlin's work, is a description of what he calls a "bull-boat," from its being covered with a bull's hide, which, in construction and form, is perfectly identical with the Welsh "cwrygl." Yet, strong as this resemblance is, it will have but little weight if unsupported by other evidence. In conclusion, I would observe, that I never supposed Prince Madoc to be the discover of America, but that his voyage was induced by the knowledge that other lands existed in the great ocean (see Humboldt's Examen critique). The emblems found in America, and said to be crosses, are obviously the tau [cross symbol], or symbol of life, and can have no connection with Christianity.
GOMER.
Poghell (No. 12. p. 186.).—In Cornwall and Devon there are places called Poughill or Poghill,—in Domesday, Pochelle; and in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica, Pockehulle and Pogheheulle. The etymology of the word, I take to be merely the addition (as is often found) of the Anglo-Saxon hill, or hull, to the old Teutonic word Pock, or Pok, an eruption or protrusion. In low Latin, Pogetum is colliculus. (See Ducange.)
S.S.S.
Swingeing Tureen (No. 19. p. 211., and No. 21. p. 340.).—How could "SELEUCUS" "conclude" that Goldsmith's "Poor Beau Tibbs and Kitty his Wife," should have had "a silver tureen" of expensive construction? It is evident that "Kitty's" husband, in the "Haunch of Venison," was the Beau Tibbs of the "Citizen of the World." There can be no doubt that, however the word be spelled, the meaning is swingeing, "huge, great," which I admit was generally, if not always, in those days spelled swinging, as in Johnson—"Swinging, from swinge, huge, great;" but which ought to be, as it is pronounced, swingeing.
Tureen (pp. 246. 307. 340.).—"And instead of soup in a China terrene." (Knox, Essay 57 Works. vol. ii. p. 572.)
S.S.S.
"A" or "An."—Quem Deus vult perdere.—Allow me to refer your correspondents "PRISCIAN" and "E.S. JACKSON" (of No. 22.), to the Selections from the Gentleman's Magazine, London, 1814, vol. ii. pp. 333. and 162., for some interesting papers on the subjects of their respective inquiries.
The paper first referred to, at p. 333., is certainly well worth perusal, as the writer, "KUSTER," has examined the question with considerable care, and proves, by many curious instances, that most of those whom we have been taught to look up to as the greatest authorities in English writing—Dryden, Swift, Pope, Johnson, and others—seem to have had no fixed rule on the subject, but to have used "a" or "an" before the same words with the most reckless inconsistency.
The second paper, at p. 162., gives a more detailed account of the adage, "Quem Deus (potius Jupiter) vult perdere," &c., than "F.C.B." (whose object, of course, was rather to compare results than to trace derivations) has supplied in his interesting communication.
C. FORBES.
MISCELLANEOUS
NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC
Such of our readers as do not possess Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, which Mr. Way, a very competent authority, lately designated in our columns as Mr. Halliwell's "useful glossarial collections," will be glad to learn that Mr. Russell Smith has announced a second and cheaper edition of it.
The new number of the Archæological Journal is a very interesting one. That portion if it, more particularly, which relates the Proceedings of the Meetings of the Archæological Institute, contains a great mass of curious and valuable information; made the more available and instructive by means of the admirable woodcuts by which it is illustrated.
We have received several curious communications on the subject of Parish Registers, with reference to the article on "Early Statistics," and the "Registers of Chart, Kent," to which we shall endeavour to give early insertion. We have also received a copy of A Letter addressed to R. Monckton Milnes, Esq. M.P., on the Condition and unsafe State of Ancient Parochial Registers in England and the Colonies, to which we beg to direct the attention of such of our friends as take an interest in this important subject.
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, of 191. Piccadilly, will sell on Monday, the 29th instant, and three following days, a selection from the valuable library of the Rev. Dr. Maitland. Although only a selection from the library of the learned historian of the Dark Ages, the Catalogue exhibits, in addition to numerous Polyglot and other important editions of the Scriptures, and the great collections of Baronius, Mabillon, Dupin, Martene, and Durand, &c., a vast number of works of the highest value in the departments of Theology and Ecclesiastical History.
We have received the following Catalogues:—Part III. for 1850 of J. Russell Smith's (4. Old Compton Street) Catalogue of Books and Autographs, chiefly Old and Curious. Part II. for 1850 of a Catalogue of Choice, Useful, and Interesting Books, in fine condition, on sale by Waller and Son (188. Fleet Street).
