Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/20

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12


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii u. i. JAN. i, 1910.


Dr. John Cowell in ' The Interpreter ' (1637) states :

"Parson (persona) cometh from the French (per- sonne). It peculiarly signifieth with us the rector of a church, the reason whereof seemeth to be because hee for the time representeth the church and sustaineth the person thereof, as well in slewing as being slewed in any action touching the same.

In the ' Dictionarium Britannicum ? (1730) the word is defined as follows :

"Parson (prob. of parish son or of persona), the Minister Rector of a parish, probably so called because he represents that church and bears the person of it."

In the same work an " Immortal Parson " is described as "a collegiate or conventual body to whom the church is for ever appro- priated " ; and the term "Mortal Parson n as " the title formerly used for the rector of a church made for his own life only.' 1

I cannot find any instance of a lay rector being termed " a parson,' 1 and it appears clear that the word is only properly applied to a rector who is in holy orders. The term is therefore not appropriate to a vicar, chaplain, curate in charge, &c.

R. VAUGHAN GOWEB.

Blackstone, ' Commentaries, 4 Book I. chap. xi. ('Of the Clergy 5 ), says: "The appropriator, who is the real parson."

G. PBOSSEB.


'THE AMEBICAN IN PABIS ' (10 S. xii. 410). Two distinct works have been pub- lished under this title.

1. The book inquired about by MBS. BEALE was written by John Sanderson of Philadelphia, of whom a brief notice will be found in ' Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. 1 He is chiefly known as the joint-editor with Robert Wain of ' Biography to the Signers of the Declara- tion of Independence, 1 9 vols.. Philadelphia, 1823-7.

In 1838 Carey & Hart of Philadelphia published in one volume " Sketches of Paris : in Familiar Letters to his Friends. By an American." This contains a Preface (pp. iii-iv) dated " London, August 10th, 1836 " ; and pp. 5-321 of text in twenty three letters written from Paris between 29 June, 1835, and 7 May, 1836. This was printed in London in 1838 in two volumes under the title of ' The American in Paris,' and is the book about which MBS. BEALE inquires. As this London edition is not in the Boston or Cambridge (Mass.) libraries, will MBS. BEALE kindly state whether it contains a


preface other than the Preface to the Phila- delphia 'Sketches of Paris, 1 1838 ? In 1839 Carey & Hart published in two volumes " The American in Paris. By John Sander- son. >J The text of this edition appears to be identical with the text of ' Sketches of Paris, 1 though each volume contains a table of contents not in the earlier work. In 1847 Carey & Hart published the "Third Edi- tion " of "The American in Paris. By John Sanderson. n The only edition mentioned in the British Museum Catalogue is the London edition of 1838.

2. In 1843 there was published in Paris " Un Hiver a Paris par M. Jules Janin.'* Probably in 1844, though there is no date on the title-page, there was also published in Paris " L'iCte a Paris par M. Jules Janin. ?i Probably in 1844, though still without date on the title-page, " Fisher, Fils & Cie." published in London " L' Hiver et I'Ete a Paris, par M. Jules Janin. Illustres par M. Eugene Lami. L'^lte. n In 1845-7, according to the British Museum Catalogue, Fisher, Son & Co. published in London a work in four volumes called " France Illus- trated, .... Drawings by Thomas Allom, Esq. Descriptions by the Rev. G. N. Wright, M.A." The title of the last volume reads in part : " France Illustrated. Comprising a Summer and Winter in Paris. Drawings by M. Eugene Lami. Descriptions by M. Jules Janin. Supplemental Vol. IV. Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son & Co. n In 1843 Longman published in London " The Ame- rican in Paris ; or, Heath's Picturesque Annual for 1843. By M. Jules Janin. Illus- trated by Eighteen Engravings, from Designs by M. Eugene Lami. n In 1844 Burgess, Stringer & Co. published in New York " The American in Paris, during the Winter. By Jules Janin. Ji

The Longman volume of 1843 ("The American in Paris ' ) is a translation of ' Un Hiver a Paris.' Vol. iv. of ' France Illus- trated ? contains 228 pages, of which pp. 5-141 are a translation of ' Un Hiver a Paris, 4 and pp. 142-228 a translati9n of ' L'^te a Paris.* The translation of ' Un Hiver a Paris * in 'France Illustrated' (iv. 5-141) is identical with Longman's ' The American in Paris 3 of 1843, except that certain portions of the latter are omitted in the former. In the translation of ' L'^te a Paris * in ' France Illustrated 8 (iv. 142-228) the translator has omitted portions of the French original.

Who wrote ' Un Hiver a Paris ' and L'fite a Paris ' ? In all the catalogues

have seen they are attributed to Jules Janin ; but the works themselves purport to