506
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. i. JUNK 25,
practice still occasionally in vogue in very out-of-
the-way and rural villages in England, of throwing
stones and firing guns round the abode of a newly
wedded pair."' Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies :
an Account of a Tour through Burmah,' by G. T.
Gascoigne (London, 1896).
H. ANDREWS.
DR. JOHNSON'S RESIDENCE IN BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET.
"It perhaps is not generally known that the residence of the great ' leviathan of literature,' situated in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, was consumed by the fire which destroyed Messrs. Bensley's premises a few years ago ; and that there are now no ostensible traces of the doctor's city retreat save the site. The only vestige of the house is a piece of grotesquely carved wood, which ornamented the centre of the doorway, and which is now in posses- sion of a gentleman of the neighbourhood. Part of the new printing-office belonging to Messrs. Mills & Co. occupies a portion of the site, and the remainder forms a receptacle for coals. As if learn- ing loved to linger amidst the forsaken haunts of departed genius, the place is still the scene of those efforts in propagating knowledge without which it would be a sealed book."
The above is quoted from an article, signed H., which appeared in the Mirror of 18 April, 1829, pp. 258, 259. A more modern instance the Daily Graphic of 21 Feb., 1893 states as " a matter of fact " that the house in Bolt Court in which Dr. Johnson resided "was burnt down in 1819."
As a set-off against these explicit statements I instance two others equally explicit and to the point. At p. 110 of Lieut.-Col. F. Grant's 'Life of Samuel Johnson' ("Great Writers Series") reference is made to Johnson's removal to 8, Bolt Court, in 1776. A foot-note states that "the house still [1887] remains in the same condition as when lived in by Johnson." On p. 114, vol. i. of Thornbury's ' Old and New London ' is an engraving of ' Dr. Johnson's House in Bolt Court.' Above it is the following sentence :
" Johnson's house (No. 8), according to Mr. Noble, was not destroyed by fire in 1819, as Mr. Timbs and other writers assert. The house destroyed was Bensley the printer's (next door to No. 8)."
The circumstantial account given at the commencement of this note seems to carry conviction with it ; but I shall be glad to know whether or not the accounts given by " Mr. Timbs and other writers " are correct. JOHN T. PAGE.
West Haddon, Northamptonshire.
" DERRING-DO." Dr. Murray has proved in the ' H. E. D.' that this is not a proper English word at all, but what he calls a pseudo- archaism, "which by a chain of misunder- standings and errors " has got a place in our written language. He traces the error to Spenser, but it is evident that modern
romantic writers have been led to use it
mainly by the influence exercised by Sir
Walter Scott, who probably took it direct
from ' The Faerie Queene ' (ii. iv. 42 ; vi. v. 37).
Sir Walter Scott has enriched our language
far more than most people are aware by his
revival of good and picturesque old words,
but that is not a reason why, when he fell into
error, as he did sometimes, we should blindly
follow him. It is too much to expect that
men who work under pressure, such as the
leader-writers who help to produce our daily
newspapers, should have read, or remembered
if they had read, what Dr. Murray has said
concerning the words they pitch upon for
adding colour to what they have to say. We
might perhaps as reasonably require the
persons who make our dresses to be learned
in the chemical nature of the dyes used in pro-
ducing the tints they blend so deftly. That,
in fact, few newspaper writers care for these
things is demonstrated by almost every paper
we take up. The following passage occurs in
one just delivered : " This noble narra-
tive of courage and derring-do flashed from
the very field of battle." Though, as I have
said, such errors are very pardonable, it is
well they should be pointed put, as I have
ground for hoping that repetition of censure
may in time produce amendment. There
have been instances where such has been the
case. We do not now hear of "a genteel
female " being " led to the hymeneal altar,"
nor is a married woman commonly spoken of
in newspapers as " the lady " of her husband,
yet these things were so common as to pass
without notice in the early years of the
present reign. ASTARTE.
"VAGABONDS." For the benefit of the ' H. E. D.' an early instance of " vacabounde " is given (see ante, p. 319), but in Machyn's ' Diary ' (Camden Soc.) two earlier instances may be found. On 14 Sept., 1554, two " wacabondes " were whipped at the cart tail, and on 18 May, 1554, a "vacabond" was i whipped for " ronnyng a-bowt master-les."
AYEAHR.
ST. JULIAN'S HORN. In Kichards's 'History of Lynn ' (1812, vol. i. p. 436) is the following passage :
" Memorandum. John, bishop of Ledence, have granted to every brother and sister of the fraternity or Gild of St. Gyles and St. Julian, holden at St. James's Church in Lynn, that at the time or season that any manner of person or persons do intend to drink in St. Julian's Horn with good devotion, are granted by the said bishop, as often as they do, forty days pardon, which grant was confirmed by the same bishop in the mansion place of John Baxter of Lynn Grocer, in the presence of Cyprian
