226
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. MA*. 19, 1910.
the main road frequented by aimless
loiterers of an evening. A feature of modern
suburban life is the crowding of main roads
by irregular groups and processions, to the
obstruction of through pedestrian traffic,
a,nd consequent irritation : hence the name.
I do not know if this phrase is used in other
towns, but most Londoners know what it
means. FRANCIS P. MARCH ANT.
Streatham Common.
BUTLER AND RABELAIS. I suppose that most readers of ' N. & Q.' are familiar with the wonderful simile in ' Hudibras l (Part II. canto ii.) in which the sunrise is compared to a lobster after it has been boiled :
The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn.
It has often been stated that Butler stole this simile from Rabelais. Mr. Henry G. Bohn, the latest editor of ' Hudibras, >J says in a foot-note ' ' this simile is taken from Rabelais," giving Mr. M. Bacon as his authority, but without giving a reference which would have enabled the reader to compare the two passages.
MR. E. LEATON BLENKINSOPP (see 5 S. iii. 505) tells us that the simile is stolen from Rabelais, and he is good enough to supply a reference to the passage in ' Pant a - gruel ' in which it occurs. But he does not give the original French of Rabelais.
The fact is, the simile does not occur in Rabelais. It is found in Motteux' transla- tion of Rabelais's works (Book V. chap. vii. ed. 1750, p. 80) : " Day, peeping in the east, made the sky turn from black to red, like a boiling lobster." 'Hudibras,' Part II., was published in 1674, when Motteux was a little boy four years old ; we are forced, therefore, to the conclusion that Motteux stole the simile from Butler.
It seems, then, that three men have made an unfounded charge of plagiarism against Butler without taking the precaution of referring to the alleged original. It is strange that MR. BLENKINSOPP'S note provoked no reply on this point- (though it did on other points raised) in the columns of ' N. & Q.' A. L. MAYHEW. 21, Norham Road, Oxford.
PENELOPE AS A BOY'S NAME. There are plenty of instances of girls being chris- tened with boys' names, and of boys with girls'- names, but the following is one of the most curious examples of the latter. Sir John Croke, Recorder of London 1595-1603, Speaker of the House of Commons 1601,
and Justice of the King's Bench from 1607
till his death in 1620, had a son baptized in
1596, at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, by the name
of Epolenep, which is Penelope backwards.
The mother's name was Catherine.
A. RHODES.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
' THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN,* A
POEM. A correspondent in America has
asked us to trace a poem
" written, I think, by an Englishwoman, and pub- lished, if I remember correctly, between 1882 and 1885 in an English magazine. The title of the poem was, I believe, ' The Land of the Midnight Sun,' and the first line was
In the still white coast at midsummer/'
We are anxious to help our correspon- dent, if possible, and shall be glad and obliged, therefore, if one of your many readers can tell us the name and date of the magazine in which the poem appeared.
HENRY SOTHERAN & Co.
GEORGE CHALMERS'S ' SYLVA.' In ; The Poetical Remains of the late Dr. John Leyden'- (London, 1819), p. 204, is the note :
"On the departure of our author [John Leech or Leochseus] from Paris in 1620, a poetical address was published, and inscribed to him, under the title of 'Sylva Leochseo suo sacra, sive Lycidse deside- rium, a Georgio Camerario Scoto ' : Paris, 1620."
Where can a copy of this ' Sylva ' be found? It is in neither the Bibliotheque Nationale nor the British Museum, though the latter has the same author's ' Emblemata Ama- toria,' Venetiis, 1627.
George Chalmers graduated M.A. at University and King's College, Aberdeen, in 1620. John Leech has verses to Chalmers in the fourth book of his ' Epigrammata,' p. 93. Cf. Mr. Keith Leask's ' Musa Latina Aberdonensis,' vol. iii. p. 263.
P. J. ANDERSON.
University Library, Aberdeen.
DICTIONARY OF HERTFORDSHIRE BIO- GRAPHY. After some considerable delay (for the subject was first referred to in the East Herts ArchaBological Society's Report for 1904), the scheme for compiling a Dictionary of Hertfordshire Biography from the earliest times to the end of 1900 has at last been formally approved, and the
