288
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. APRIL 12, 1902.
WE must request correspondents desiring infor-
mation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that the answers maybe addressed to them
direct.
"ONLY TOO THANKFUL." Expressions of this type appear to be very recent ; I seem to remember "only too true" in the sixties, but of such no quotations before the eighties have been sent in for the dictionary. Will readers of 'N. & Q' try to find, or to remember, how far back the idiom goes? And we shall be glad of any light upon the sematology. What does too here mean 1 and what does only mean? Why tool and why only too 1 ? When a man is " only too glad " to get some- thing to do, why is he too glad ; and if he is " too glad " to refuse it, why is he only too glad? What does the "only" limit or ex- clude? Or is it ironical in its origin, like "Has he lost anything?" "Only his life; that 's all," or " Did he speak long ? " " Only till everybody was asleep." Help with this idiom will be "only too thankfully" received. J. A. H. MURRAY.
Oxford.
CARDUCCI'S LIBRARY. The Queen Dowager of Italy has lately bought the library of the poet Carducci and all his published and unpublished manuscripts. Her Majesty has done this so that the library may not be divided. The books are to remain in the poet's possession until his death, when they are to be transferred to the Bologna Museum. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' give some indi- cation as to the nature of the books and MSS. ? A. N. Q.
TABLET IN WEST-END SQUARE. To the front of the house No. 35 in Bryanston Square is affixed a small framed relic, the motive for whose preservation has often puzzled me. It has the appearance of a portion of some mural adornment, and depicts sundry nude infants toying with bunches of grapes. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' satisfy my curiosity in respect of this rather unique attraction to a private residence? CECIL CLARKE.
Junior Athenaeum Club.
"RATLINGS." In this part of the country lumbermen call kindling that is tied up in bundles about four feet long "ratlings" (sometimes spelt " rattlings "). I have not been able to trace this word. Is it possibly connected with the nautical term ratlines and its variants ratlins, ratlings, rattlings ? I con-
jecture, though, that it may be akin to M.E.
rattes, rags ; M.E. ratten, to tear ; Icel. hrat,
hrati, rubbish, trash ; Norw. rat, rubbish
(cp. ratgods, refuse goods) ; w., Norw., rata,
to reject, refuse ; Eng. rate, to refuse, to find
fault with. CHARLES BUNDY WILSON.
State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
EPIGRAM ON WOMEN. I shall be very much obliged if you can favour me with the name of the author of the following epigram upon women. It has, I fancy erroneously, been ascribed to Love Peacock : Oh the gladness of their gladness when they 're glad, And the sadness of their sadness when they 're sad ; But the gladness of their gladness and the sadness
of their sadness Are as nothing to their badness when they re bad.
STEPHEN SIMEON.
Fleet, Hants.
- JENNY OF MONTEITH.' Wraxall in his
'Memoirs' speaks of the "once well-known ballad 'Jenny of Monteith.'" Where can I find a copy of it 1 J. M. BULLOCH.
118, Pall Mall.
DOSET HALL. In J. llocque's map of Surrey, " compleated and engraved by J. Andrews" (date 1765?), I find, alongside Merton Abbey site, the name of Doset Hall, just on the Wimbledon side of the turnpike a little to the west of Abbey Lane. Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' supply particulars of the history of it?
I do not find Doset Hall in Norden and Spede's Surrey sheet of their ' Atlas of Eng- land' (1610?), in Schenk and Valk's 'Surria vernacule Surrey' (1680?), nor in Kip and Norden's map of ' Surrey oliin Sedes Reg- norum' in Camden's 'Britannia,' sixth ed., fol. 211, date 1607. (My dates are as given in the B.M. Map Catalogue.) In these latter maps I find Merton is sometimes given as Martyn, Martin, or Martin Novell Can that be explained ? JOHN A. RANDOLPH.
SALE OF STAMPS FORBIDDEN BY THE IN- LAND REVENUE. I find in a recent number of Hobbies an article on the subject of for- bidden stamps. I should be glad if any reader of your paper could give the date of the order by the Inland Revenue forbidding stamps to be sold to collectors, and tell me what object is gained by it. B. Y.
MONTESQUIEU IN ENGLAND : UNPRINTED MSS. If any of your readers could help me to any imprinted manuscript material throwing light on Montesquieu's resi- dence in England between October, 1729, and 1731, I should be very grateful. It is
