Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/473

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10* s. v. MAY 19, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


389


happened on 8 May, 1902, and destroyed St. Pierre, in the Isle of Martinique, with more than 20,000 inhabitants. Surely the recent San Francisco earthquake and conflagration of 18 April will have left no lighter impres- sion upon the minds of its survivors, and is likely to be depicted vividly in future works of fiction and elegies. X.

KEY. SAMUEL MARSDEN, CHAPLAIN OF N.S.W. Where is a portrait of him to be found ? I think in some old magazine about 1808-10, when he was visiting England. I do not refer to the later one of 1833.

T. M. HOCKEN.

Dunedin, N.Z.

KIPLING OBSCURITIES. 1. What is the meaning of the simile in * Mandalay ' And the dawn comes up like thunder?

2. What are "the Five Free Nations" in the poem called 'The Young Queen"? One would be inclined at fiffit sight to say English, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, and New Zealanders ; but I have heard it sug-

ested that the reference is to English, Irish, cotch, Welsh, and Manx !

3. In the same poem what is the mean- ing of "the jealous circlet : ' prest? Why "jealous"?

4. What is the meaning of the line, Mother of many princes and child of the child

I bore ?

DUNSINK.

LADIES' HEAD DRESSES IN THE THEATRE. In Dr. Doran's ' Habits and Men,' p. 115 (1855), occurs the following passage :

"In Paris feathers and head-dress extended so outrageously, both in a vertical and horizontal direction, that a row of ladies in the pit stalls, or in the front row of the boxes, effectually barred the

  • spectacle' from an entire audience in the rear.

The fashion was suppressed by a Swiss, who was as well known in the Paris theatres as the cele- brated critical trunk-maker once was in our own galleries. The Swiss used to attend, armed with a pair of scissors ; and when he found his view obstructed by the head-dresses in front, he made a demonstration of cutting away all the superfluous portions of the head-dresses which interfered with his enjoyment."

Who was this "Swiss"? and who was "the celebrated critical trunk-maker"?

FRANK SCHLOESSER. 15, Grosvenor Road, S. W.

"BROCK": "BADGER." I think the first of these words for the quadruped in question is quite obsolete in the south of England, though there are several place- names (notably Brockley) taken from the word. The last book quoted in the 'N.E.D.'


as containing it is Scott's 'Antiquary.' It is undoubtedly of Celtic origin, meaning grey.

With regard to " badger," which has super- seded it, whereas Prof. Skeat still seems to think that, like the French blaireau, it is connected with corn, which ths animal is thought to hoard, Dr. Murray prefers to derive it from badge, owing to a white mark resembling a badge on the creature's fore- head. Who shall decide when doctors dis- agree? Historical principles are the only true sources of etymology ; and I would ask whether any further information has turned up recently to throw light upon this subject.

W. T. LYNN.

CARDINAL WISEMAN'S TOMB. Can any reader of * N. & Q.' tell me whether this tomb has ever been engraved ? It was de- signed by the elder Pugin, and is probably the finest monument, from an artistic point of view, in Kensal Green. A temporary building was erected to protect it from the weather when it was first placed over the grave, but it now looks very neglected and uncared-for. A number of replicas have been madeof it, as it has been much admired; but I have been unable to find an engraving of it amongst the published designs of the elder Pugin. FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION, 1838. Where can I find an account of the founding of the" original Polytechnic? J. M. BULLOCH.

118, Pall Mall, S.W.

'JoHN BULL'S BIBLE.' What is known of this? It was published at Stamford, by J.


Drakard, about ninety years ago, and written by "Demodocus Poplicola," being "Memoirs of the stewardship and stewards of Great


Albion, from the earliest times to the present." THOS. EATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

KINGS AND QUEENS COMPARED. There is a familiar saying to the effect that queens rule more successfully than kings, because under a queen the men govern, but under a king the women. St. Simon ascribes this saying to the Duchess of Burgundy : Rich- ardson puts it into the mouth of his Lovelace. Neither of them could have copied from the other, therefore there must have been some earlier original. Who was he? QUERIST.

J. F. VIGANI, Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University, 1703, married a lady from Newark. Any particulars relating to her, together with her maiden name, will be much valued by H. R.

Cambridge.