310
NOTES AND QUERIES. [2-* s. N<> w., APRIL 19. '56.
formation on this subject of inquiry. To prevent
repetitions a subjoined note * supplies various
abbreviations which have been adopted in the
case of those words which are of most frequent
occurrence.
(To be continued.)
THE DANUBE.
The steam-navigation of the Danube implying important results to the commerce of Germany towards the East, its rise and progress may appro- priately be recorded in the pages of "N. & Q." These are succinctly related by the Franckfort correspondent of The Press newspaper of March 29 last, in the following words :
" In 1833 the proposal for a steam navigation on the Danube, founded on a report showing the various benefits of commercial and passenger traffic, was scouted with derision by the Austrian government, and the author of the scheme was declared to be insane. By perseverance, a company was at last formed ; and funds for the build- ing and equipment of one boat, to ply between Vienna and Semlin, was grudgingly subscribed, and held to be a dead loss of capital. For two years it remained the solitary vehicle of transport, but it succeeded. In 1840 the boats were increased to five, with an extension of voyage to Silistria and Galatz. In 1850 the number of steamers amounted to 24, and 5 tugs; making the voyage to Trebizond, Constantinople, Smyrna, and Trieste. In 1854 there were 83 vessels, with 286 tugs ; and in the last year the progress has been in proportion."
The mode of conducting the commerce at the mouth of the Danube at present is then described by the same writer :
" At the present time, the grain of Wallachia is ex- ported from Ibrailow, that of Moldavia from Galatz. The corn of Bulgaria is brought to Matchin ; and that portion of grain from Bessarabia, that is carried to the Danube, is shipped from Reni and Ismail. In spite of the vaunts of these towns being " free ports," the Russian regulations, by the treat}' of Adrianople, expressly provide every im- pediment to river commerce. The product of one pro- vince cannot be carried for shipment to the port of another state. For instance, corn and tallow are prevented from being brought from Wallachia into Galatz, and from Mol- davia into Ibrailow ; and as all importation of grain is prohibited into these provinces, it follows that no corn coming from Turkey can be introduced or exported from these places. Ismail and Reni, therefore, Russian sta- tions, have local privileges almost conferring a monopoly of Danube trade ; nine-tenths of which is of corn, besides throwing the chief supplies upon the Odessian market."
And yet Reni and Ismail are not on the prin-
- Abbreviations : D., duke ; M., marquis ; E., earl ;
V., viscount ; B., baron ; Bt., baronet ; Bp., bishop ; Ld. Mr., lord mayor.
F.-d.-L., fleur-de-lis; R. T., royal, double tress, flory, counterflory.
Fr. Eng., arms borne of France and England.
(1 and 4), first and fourth quarter; (2 and 3), second and third quarter.
Cr., crest ; Sup.^supporter ; D., dexter ; S. sinister.
L. R., L. P., L. S., lion rampant, passant, sejeant, c.
cipal mouths of the Danube. The only effectual
mode of avoiding for the future the obstructions
to the corn trade alluded to,4^the construction of
a canal from Rassova to Kustendji on the Black
Sea, a distance of only forty miles ; and the esta-
blishment on the Black Sea of a really free port
to protect the canal. England and France are to
make this canal, and it will be of paramount in-
terest to Europe.
The same writer further states, that
" A canal has been projected, and is in course of con- struction, from Deitfurth, near the Danube, to Bamberg on the Mein ; whereby a line of communication would be continued from the Black Sea by the Danube, Mein, and Rhine, to the German Ocean."
Thus opening up the commerce of the interior of Germany to the east and the west one result worthy of the late war. HENRY STEPHENS.
The right man in the right place. This glaring
pleonasm has made its fortune with the lovers of
gingle, and may preserve its currency till some
future Lowth or Crombie shall expose its defects.
How just soever the idea, it cannot have the
slightest pretensions to novelty. Numerous ex-
amples of it, more correct in expression, no doubt
exist; and here follows a specimen from a vo-
lume dedicated to Samuel Pepys, esquire, in
1694:
" We are apt to imitate a certain prince [Louis XIV.] in everything except in the most glorious and best part of him, viz. The encouraging and rewarding great men in all professions, and the promoting arts and sciences with his treasure a secret which some ministers think not fit to practise, or perhaps may be insensible of for want of penetration. This makes a great figure in the present and future ages, covers many spots and deformi- ties, and secures the best heads and hand's to carry on and effect great designs."
BOLTON CORNET.
Goethe (like Cromwell) an intended Emigrant to Free America. At a period like the present, when there are seventy German newspapers and journals published in the United States of America, and the German national element becomes a po- litical potency within that transatlantic Union, it will be interesting to record that our great poet, like the friend of John Milton, was, at one time, on the brink of crossing the ocean, and to seek a new fatherland in a new world. The passage is taken from Goethe's Wahnheit und Dichhmg, and relates to that part of his life when his true and sincere (but not fate-ordained) attachment to Lilli, made his position at home anomalous.
" Some kind people had told me in confidence that Lilli, when all the obstacles of our union were laid before her, had declared that for my love she was ready to re- nounce all present ties and advantages, and to go with me to America."
