382
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. IL NOV. 12, im.
dissertation, when he was paying the com
pliments to Prince Henry which Webste
copied from him. Hence Edmund Spenser
in Jpnson's opinion, is one of " the grea
inquisitors in Nature." For form's sake
will quote a few lines from Spenser, am
refer the reader to the poem for the fu]
proof that it inspired Ben Jonson :
So every spirit, as it is most pure,
And hath in it the more of heavenly light,
So it the fairer bodie doth procure
To habit in, and it more fairely dight, c.
Lines 127-30.
There are other parts of 'A Monumenta Column' and 'The Duchess of Malfi' which are borrowed from Ben Jonson, but th scope of these articles precludes me from dealing with them. It is sufficient for me to claim that I have proved Webster to have been a royal borrower from Sidney ; and ! hope I have ordered my evidence in such a way as to make it fairly evident that 'A Monumental Column' ana 'The Duchess o: Malfi ' were produced about the same time and that both were followed by ' The Devil's Law-Case.' CHAKLES CRAWTOKD.
MR. RALPH THOMAS'S 'SWIMMING.'
I FORWARD some corrections and additions to Mr. Ralph Thomas's book on * Swimming.
P. 22. For " Russien " read Russische.
P. 59. ' Swimming and Swimmers ' is said to mention the sidestroke for the first time. The account thus referred to is copied, with slight changes, from "A Treatise on the Utility of Swimming, containing Instruc- tions in the Acquirement of the Art, with Various Anecdotes of Celebrated Swimmers by Mr. H. Ken worthy, Teacher of Swim- ming at the National Baths, 218, High Holborn. London : C. Hedgman, Printer, London Wall. 1846. Price one shilling," 8vo, pp. 32. Kenworthy writes (p. 13) :
" Speed in Swimming is desirable in many points of view. It is certainly a criterion of skill ; it manifests at the same time a healthy state of body ; and it is a quality which under circumstances of emergency, may be essential to the preservation of human life. Until within the last few years, it was generally supposed that Breast or Belly swimming was the swiftest process, but this opinion has proved fallacious. The side stroke is now universally acknowledged as the superior method, and young Swimmers would do well to practise it accordingly. The stroke is rather peculiar. The body is disposed sideways, as near as possible to the surface of the water ; the left arm is thrown out boldly in front, the body springing at the same time to the stroke ; and the right is worked laterally along the side with a sort of paddle action the palm of the hand being hollowed so as to scoop the water, as if the Swimmer were pulling himself along by it. The
stroke of the legs should be long and vigorous,
crossing each other in the action and working well
together with the upper extremities. This style
of Swimming requires considerable practice to get
into, but when acquired it amply repays the
Swimmer for his labour."
P. 68. Pfuel. " There is nothing about a drill in this pamphlet." It contains a series of instructions for the use of teachers of swimming in military institutions, the ex- ercises being systematically arranged and performed by word of command in breast and back swimming. It is, thus, a drill book. Both editions are essentially the same. I have them both now before me.
P. 69. " Auerbach in 1873 says he was the first to put the land drill in to practice." This is incorrect. Auerbach's language is not clear : he may mean that he was the first to use the land drill with a class, but as he quotes a similar claim (p. 9) by D'Argy, he probably means that this was the first step he himself took towards teaching a class both on land and in the water.
P. 70. The statement that Brendicke "credits other countries and the people of past times with being better swimmers than those of the present day " is one I cannot find in his pamphlet.
"J. B. Basedow" in the next paragraph should be J. J. Rousseau. The original passage is well worth quotation ; it is from 'Emile, ou de 1'Education,' Livre Second (' CEuvres Completes,' Paris, 1826, p. 163) :
" Sans avoir fait son academie, un voyageur monte a cheval, s'y tient et s'en sert assez pour le besoin ; mais, dans 1'eau, si 1'on ne nage on se noie, et Ton ne nage point sans 1'avoir appris. Entin Ton n'est pas oblige" de monter k cheval sous peine de la vie, au lieu que nul n'est sur d'e"yjter un danger auquel on est si souvent exposed Emile sera dans 1'eau comme sur la terre."
P. 99. " The original footnote " by Clias is a literal translation from one in Pfuel's first edition.
P. 104. "Salzmann" should be Guts Muths. P. 135. "Auerbach, 1873, says that in Sermany swimming was not adopted in schools before 1870, and he adds, 4 every one must be a soldier in Germany and therefore must learn to swim.' "I do not find either assertion in Auerbach's book.
P. 192. W. Wilson's article was not due to Vir. Thomas's remark, but to a suggestion made to Mr. Wilson in April, 1886, that he ought to write the article for the ninth dition of the 'Encyc. Brit.' He replied hat he knew nothing about the latter. I
- ave him the necessary information, the
ame of the editor, how to apply, and he . 7 rote to the editor.
