Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/41

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11 S. XI. JAN. 9, 1915.]


NOTES AND QUERIES.


31


one be bold enough again to undertake such a task, after the work of Farmer and Henley, Barrere and Leland, Redding Ware, and others would doubtless be able to add con- siderably to our knowledge of the origins of both older and newer words.

MB. PIEBPOINT speaks of Mr. Sampson as writing under the name of " Pendragon " in The Weekly Dispatch ; but is he not best known by the use of that pseudonym in The Referee ? He was closely connected with, and held an important position upon, Fun in its best days, and was the author also of the ' History of Advertising ' now long since out of print, but not a rare book in second-hand catalogues. F. J. HYTCH.

When * Slang, Jargon, and Cant,' by A. Barree and C. G. Leland, was published by George Bell & Sons in 1897, the reviewer in The Daily Telegraph wrote as follows :

" From Grose and Bailey to the ' Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words,' pub- iished by the late John Camden Hotten nearly forty years ago, was a far cry. The compilation of the last-named work is commonly attributed to the industry of the publisher. As a matter of fact, it was executed for him by the late Henry Sampson, who was in early life a sprint runner -and a bit of a boxer, and thoroughly acquainted with the London flash talk of the day."

Sampson, who died in 1891, was for many years, if not indeed from its commence- ment, editor of The Referee, to the readers of "which he was well known under the pseu- donym of "Pendragon."

WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.

The first edition (1859) bears the following title :

"A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words used at the Present Day in the Streets of London, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Houses of Parliament, the Dens of St. Giles, and the Palaces of St. James. Preceded by a History of Cant and Vulgar Languages from the Time of Henry VIII.. .. .with Glossaries of Two Secret Languages spoken by the Wandering Tribes of London, the Costermongers, and the Patterers. By a London Antiquary."

A second edition, revised, with 2,000 addi- tional words, was published in 1860, with new editions in 1864 and 1874.

The British Museum attributes the work to J. C. Hotten, and Cushing's ' Initials and Pseudonyms ' also gives Hotten as the real name of " A London Antiquary." 'D.N.B.' also gives Hotten as the author of the work, and it seems hardly possible that Henry Sampson could have compiled it, seeing that he was born in 1841, and would be only 18 years of age when it was published.

ARCHIBALD SPABKE, F.B.S.L.


The Errata Volume of the ' D.N.B.' (1904) adds to the account of Henry Sampson (1841-91) the words : "after ' the author ' insert (together with * Dictionary of Modern Slang,' second edition, I860)."

A. B. BAYLEY.

The late John Camden Hotten was not either very candid or very scrupulous, and the names on the title-pages of some of his books are not necessarily those of the real authors. I very much doubt the existence of " Jacob Larwood," who is credited with the authorship of ' The History of Sign- boards,' 'Anecdotes of the Clergy,' &c. ; and the late W. Moy Thomas told me that he was the author of ' Thackeray, the Humourist and the Man of Letters,' by "Theodore Taylor," which Mr. Lewis Melville in his ' William Makepeace Thackeray,' 2 vols., 8vo, 1910, attributes to John Camden Hotten himself. WM. H. PEET.

[An interesting reply from ST. SWITHIN postponed.!


THOMAS SKOTTOWE : CBAVEN COUNTY (11 S. x. 509). The modern equivalent for Craven County, South Carolina, is the country generally north of the Santee Biver and east of what was known as Camden District. It comprised part of what is now included in Berkeley, Charleston, and George- town counties. It lost the name of Craven at the time of the American War of Inde- pendence in 1776.

The Onaree Biver (or Ganaree, as it was sometimes called), which is the river B. C. S. is looking for, is a tributary of Broad Biver, and is the boundary dividing Spartanburg and Union counties from Laurens and Newberry counties in the north-western part of the state.

E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G. [MR. B. FREEMAN BULLEN thanked for reply.]

AUTHOB WANTED (11 S. x. 270). The proverb " Le vin est verse, il faut le boire," is said to have been used by M. de Charost in speaking to Louis XIV. at the siege of Douai (1667), when the King showed an inclination to retire upon finding himself within the firing line. LEO C.

SOUTHEY'S WOBKS (11 S. x. 489). In an Appendix to vol. vi. of ' The Life and Corre- spondence of the late Bobert Southey,' edited by his son, the Bev. C. C. Southey, a orobably exhaustive bibliography is given, tt is grouped under the two heads of * Publi- cations ' and ' Contributions to Periodical Literature.' THOMAS BAYNE.