478
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. DEC. 12, IQOS.
I have a note that " Rob Roy " Macgregor
(who died 1892) was saved, when a child,
from the Kent.
In The Times, 1866, one of the survivors relates how
" Major wroto a tew lines and enclosed the
paper in a bottle, which was left in the cabin. Nine- teen months after this the writer of the paper arrived in the island of Barbadoes, in command of another regiment, and he was amazed to find that the bottle (cast into the sea by the explosion that destroyed the Kent) had been washed ashore on that very island. The paper, with its faint pencil lines expressing Christian faith, is still preserved ; and this account of it can be authenticated by those who were saved."
Should not the name of the colonel be Fearon ? Another survivor was Capt. Jas. Spence. R. J. FYNMORE.
"ST. FRANCIS'S MOON" (10 S. x. 189, 258). The original suggestion seems not unlikely. St. Francis Xavier, canonized by Gregory XV. in 1662, first arrived in Japan 15 Aug., 1549, and his body was dis- interred, seven months after his death (" entire, fresh, and still exhaling a sweet odour," as Alban Butler relates), in August, 1553, from a damp cemetery at Malacca.
The suggestion at the second reference is impossible of acceptance. St. Jane Frances de Chantal is never called St. Frances without the prefix of her baptismal name of Jane. Further, she was canonized by Benedict XIV. in 1751, having died 13 Dec., 1641, and so cannot have given rise to the phrase in question in the mouth of a writer " at the end of the seventeenth century." More- over, her festival (not " name-day ") was fixed on 21 August by a decree of Clement XIV. dated 2 Sept., 1769, and, so far as I can see, nothing earlier than this decree connects her with the month of August in any way. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
SHAKESPEARE VISITORS' BOOKS (10 S. x. 429). A portion of the series was sold by auction in May, 1898, for 56Z., and I fear it would be now necessary to journey across the Atlantic to inspect the same. The description ran as follows :
" Shakespeare Birthplace : the Visitors' Books from May, 1821, to Sept., 1847, including the signatures of Royal Personages, Antiquaries, Literary and Theatrical Persons, Poets, &c., viz., Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, Maclise, Sir W. Scott, Ainsworth, Mendelssohn, Edmund Kean, Macready. With poetical inscriptions, &c. Including alphabetical index of all the names entered. Contained in 5 vols., 4to (four in vellum, one in half-morocco)."
Your correspondent suggests the Me- morial. " Hall " (Memorial Library ?), Strat-
ford, as an appropriate resting-place for
such records, but gives no hint as to the-
wherewithal for the purchase. If the pre-
sent attitude of our wealthy countrymen
towards valuable Shakespeariana is any
criterion, such properties will continue ta
cross the ocean, when opportunity offers,
for some time to come. WM. JAGGARD.
FLEET PRISON (10 S. x. 110, 258). As to MB. MACMICHAEL'S " learned lawyer," I suggest a reference to the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' " There ain't no sich person " as Fleta. Q. V.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Oxford English Dictionary. Movement
Myz. '(Vol. VI.) By Henry Bradley. (Oxford,
Clarendon Press.)
Six complete volumes of the great Dictionary have- now been published, containing the letters A N. In addition, the letter is completed ; P has got as far as "Premious"; Q is finished; and R has reached " Ribaldously." This steady advance is most gratifying. It is noted that between 450 and 1 525 pages are issued to subscribers yearly, and that the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths has contri- buted 5,000. towards, the cost of Vol. VI. an instance of the enlightened liberality of the City r which is generally abused for being behind the times.
The present section opens in the middle of the article on "movement." " Mow," a grimace, is said to be of obscure origin, though French moue seems more likely as its source than the Middle Dutch mouwe, which is also suggested as meaning "thick flesh," " thick lips," and "pout." For " mowers ' T we are pleased to see Arnold's ' Thyrsis ' quoted. " Moy," the imaginary name of a coin evolved by Ancient Pistol in 'Henry V.,' is not supposed to- refer to any genuine piece of money, "moidore" not being, apparently, earlier than the eighteenth century. "Mr." and " Mrs." are interesting articles ;: and "much" is an instance of the admirable- analysis of the Dictionary. " Much of a muchness " appears first in 1728. A "mucker" (slang) is ad- mitted, and justified by the usage of Charles Kingsley and Bishop Creighton. " Muckibus " and "muddy" both belong to the obsolete slang of strong drink. The " muffin " is said to be of obscure origin, and begins in 1703. We are disappointed not to find here the historic gentleman in Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' (Ed. B. Hill, iii. 884): "Mr.
, who loved buttered muffins, but durst not eat them because they disagreed with his stomach, resolved to shoot himself." The gentleman may be- called historic because he was transferred into- 'Pickwick' as "the man who killed himself on principle, after eating three-shillings' worth of crumpets."
There is an immense collection of words in. " multi." " Mumbo Jumbo" is of unknown origin, there being no light on the word obtainable from the languages of the Niger regions. "Mungo"' (cloth) also defies the searchers after derivation..
