Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/24

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16


NOTES AND QUERIES. [* s. XL JAW. s, wos.


tion of -ant for the substantival form only is, of course, not feasible, for no one would submit to such a solecism as "agant" for "agent." J. DORMER.


ATLAS WANTED (9 th S. x. 489). Coryitri should evidently be Cervetri, i.e., Caere Vetus, " Old CEere," in the Campagna, not far from Rome. It is marked on most large maps of Italy : e.g. (1) in Stanford's ' Complete Atlas,' 1872; (2) Philip's 'Imperial Library Atlas,' 1873 ; (3) Blackie's ' Comprehensive Atlas/ 1883; (4) Johnston's 'Royal Atlas,' 1892. I cannot find Racova on any of my maps, but it is on the river Birlad, near Vaslui ; in fact the oldest Moldavian chronicle (Gregory Urechi's, written about 1625, published 1852) actually calls Stephen's victory over the Turks "Izbanda lui Stefan Voda la Podul inalt la Vaslui," the battle of Vaslui.

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

Cervetri (misprinted Corvitri in the query) is the ancient city Agylla, known later as Caere. All three names for it appear on the map 'Environs of Rome' in the 'Ancient Atlas,' edited by Smith and Grove.

C. S. WARD.

B. R. HAYDON (9 th S. x. 207, 249, 317). I can remember seeing the large picture by this artist of Curtius leaping into the gulf at the Forum of Rome, at the Pantheon in Oxford Street, when I was a boy, circa 1844. About that time, or a little before that date, it was engraved in the Illustrated London News, and fault found in an accompanying descrip- tion with the mode in which the horse was drawn. Pimchh&d also a caricature engraving, representing a _ gaspipe^ traversing the gulf, and some amusing descriptive lines.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

FRANKLINIANA (9 th S. x. 329). "To have axes to grind " is from B. Franklin's ' Poor Richard's Almanac.' Unfortunately I am unable to give either date or page.

CUTHBERT E. A. CLAYTON.

Richmond, Surrey.

" THE " AS PART OP TITLE (9 th S. ix. 428 ; x. 13, 338, 415). How many hypotheses might be adduced to account for this omission ! Three have occurred tome. First, indexing and advertising (trade announcements, cata- logues, &c.). I have seen hymns indexed under " The," where all hymns in the book beginning with "The" were indexed in order ; but this is, of course, an exception. The usual and much better plan is ' Pilgrim's Progress (The),' by John Bunyan. Secondly, titles taken direct from the Latin. This


may have marked the origin of the custom of omitting "The," which, if it be in every case an error, is a very widely spread one, and has been committed by nearly all if not by all our best authors. Lucan's * Pharsalia ' is correct. * The Pharsalia,' by Lucan, is also correct. Is 'Pharsalia,' by Lucan, wrong 1 Thirdly, oral custom. Have you read Haggard's 'She'? Have you seen Smith's ' Empty Phial ' ? where the full title should read 'The Empty Phial,' by John Smith. Have you seen Smith's ' The Empty Phial ' ? This does not sound nearly so well, and I will venture to say that not five per cent, of the best scholars in Britain would speak in such a manner. THOMAS AULD.

The vile practice of dropping the article before the title " Rev." ought to be stigma- tized under this head. C. C. B.

" WARTH" (9 th S. x. 409, 476). The notes at the latter reference appear beside the point by reason of the date (1767) of the word in

Siestion. Centuries before that time the .E. wor]> had apparently ceased to survive, except in the place-name suffix -worth, in the sense of manor or estate. Neither Stratmann nor Halliwell records the word. Waro\> or wear]> is out of court, as there is no sugges- tion of " water" in the quotation ; but I may remind MR. ADDY that warth occurs in York- shire in a place-name familiar to him, Wath- upon-Dearne, where Wath or Warth = ford (Halliwell). Probably the Editorial sugges- tion on p. 409 cannot be improved on.

H. P. L.

This term is applied to low-lying lands by the Severn shore, in Monmouthshire. I have seen it in old deeds of conveyance of portions of the flat pasture lands on the coast between Cardiff and Newport. Here it has become corrupted to " wharf," and so has given rise to folk-tales about the supposed remains of wharves testifying to the former commercial importance of now depopulated parishes, such as Marshfield and St. Bride's. I have often wondered if the word is akin to the Cornish ivartha, low, frequently found in place-names in Cornwall. It is not Welsh of the ordinary type. JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.

Town Hall, Cardiff.

KIPLING'S ' CITY OP DREADFUL NIGHT ' (9 th S. ix. 289). According to 'A Kipling Primer,' by Frederic Lawrence Knowles, 1900, ' The City of Dreadful Night, and other Sketches,' appeared at Allahabad in 1890, and was suppressed. " Of this book an edi- tion of three thousand copies, printed for Wheeler & Co., was cancelled. Of the edition