266
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. APRIL 5, 1002.
from the manifest practice of the poet, one is
inclined to decide against rather than for the
proposition of one of the most competent
among Burns's editors. It may be well to
rest our conclusion on a compromise. As
Burns's father belonged to Kincardineshire
he probably said "ane" and "ance," as is the
custom on the east coast of Scotland, north-
wards of the Forth, while his mother, an
Ayrshire woman, would pronounce the words
" yin " and " yince," if the editorial informa-
tion regarding the practice in the south-
western counties is correct. Both from his
upbringing and from his experience of
Scottish cities and men, the poet would be
familiar with the two methods of pronuncia-
tion, and, according to his wont, would treat
the matter easily, leaving readers to decide
for themselves. But he could hardly fail to
think "yin " and "yince " erroneous.
THOMAS BAYNE.
' THE NORWICH ROAD,' BY C. G. HARPER. In this interesting book a curious mistake occurs at p. 120. Anthony Trollope is made to kill Mrs. Proudie in ' Barchester Towers.' As a matter of fact, that well-meaning woman lived through 'Barchester Towers,' 'Dr. Thorne,' and 'Framley Parsonage,' and died in ' The Last Chronicle of Barset.'
GEORGE ANGUS.
St. Andrews, N.B.
BATTLE OF MELITENE. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1853 (vol. cxliii. part i.) there is a paper by the last Astronomer Royal (afterwards Sir George Airy) on ancient eclipses. In discussing the locality of one of these he says (p. 193) : " At Melitene was fought the important battle. A.D. 572, between the Emperor Tiberius and Chosroes Nushirvan." An ordinary reader would be somewhat amazed at this passage, as the name Tiberius suggests the stepson of Augustus, who ruled the Roman world when our Lord was crucified. But those familiar with the history of the later empire would perceive that the monarch in question was the one who reigned at Constantinople, and is called, for distinction's sake, Tiberius II. Airy, however, is not quite accurate in his statement. The reign of Tiberius II. of the prudence of whose rule Mr. Bury takes a much less favourable view than did 'Gibbon commenced in A.D. 578, and lasted only four years, until A.D. 582. The reign of the King of Persia, Chosroes Nushirvan, extended from A.D. 531 to 579. During his last war with the Romans, which commenced in A.D. 572, Justin II. was Emperorof Constantinople : he adopted Tiberius as Csesar in 574 ; but the
general who commanded in the Persian war
was Justinian, the son of Germanus.
Melitene, or in the Oriental form Malathiah,
which was destroyed by Chosroes in his
retreat, is in Lesser Armenia, near the Upper
Euphrates. W. T. LYNN.
Blackheath.
" FLAPPER," ANGLO - INDIAN SLANG. The following seems to be an example of English slang revived in the East, shorn of the offen- sive implication which once attached to it, for which see Barrere and Leland's 'Dic- tionary of Slang,' s.v. 'Flippers' :
' ' But you 're a butterfly in Society, and this may give you something to do, when you are off duty with the flappers.' 'Flapper' is elegant Anglo- Indian for any spinster from home." Temple Bar, February, 1902, p. 157.
W, CROOKE.
Langton House, Charlton Kings.
OWENS COLLEGE JUBILEE. Full reports have appeared in the press of the jubilee of Owens College, but ' N. & Q.' should have a short note by way of reference.
A complete history of the college down to 1886 has been written by Mr. Alderman Thompson, who has been associated with it from its earliest years, and who has always been among its most ardent promoters. To him I was indebted for much information concerning the college when compiling my book on the fifty years' work of the Athenoeum. On the 12th of 'March he had the satisfaction of handing the keys of the Whitworth Hall to the Prince of Wales.
The success of the college is now so com- plete that it is hard to realize the struggle it had for very life in its early years. The Manchester Guardian in its leading article on the 9th of July, 1858, distinctly pro- nounced the college to be a failure, and the Manchester Examiner on the 20th of the same month stated that "the most that can be said of the college is that it is too good for us The crowd rolls along Deansgate heed- less of the proximity of Plato and Aristotle." Owens College, however, was not to be a failure, thanks to the undaunted zeal of the men associated with it. The Athenaeum of the 19th of October, 1872, records that " its coming of age has been properly signalized by its change from a private to a public in- stitution by special Act of Parliament ; the old trustees have abolished themselves in
favour of forty- two governors Thus has the
simple scheme of the executors of Mr. Owens developed in twenty-one years into an in- stitution possessing most of the elements of a university."
