year invested his savings in another annuity. Of course at his death all the annuities ceased.

A clergyman present remarked that he made his whole property a present to an annuity company. This would be the case if he had bought every annuity from the same company. But supposing him to have bought from a different company every year, each company seems to give value, and yet the property is all lost. In this case it is not easy to say who was the gainer, or what became of the property. I told a story which illustrates the opposite description of property. It was taken from a Scotch newspaper; it was headed

"The best Investment ever made for a Guinea. "Died at aged 90, Mrs. Mac, widow of the late Surgeon Mac This gentleman was married at the age of 21, his wife being 19. On the day of his marriage he paid one guinea to an Amicable Annuity Company; He died before the end of the year. His widow survived him 70 years, and received an annuity of 201. a year. The guinea, therefore, paid many thousands per cent." These stories represent extreme cases of life annuities and life insurance.

POETIC PAINS. (3rd S. xii. 22.)

"Few, few shall part where many meet! The snow shall be their winding-sheet, And every turf beneath their feet

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre."

H.

In regard to the use of rhyming dictionaries to save the poet's agony or pleasure, whichever it be called, it is the mania of many men of genius to eschew all help, for fear of impairing their originality. We laugh at medieval "mortifications as superstitious; but the same fatal folly, under a different shape, haunts human nature now. A man will not use interest tables nor ready reckoners. A translator will not use translations, for fear he should be biassed. Some speakers and writers will only make use of AngloSaxon words. There are novelists who avoid any curious incident that has actually taken place in the course of human life, lest their inventive faculty should suffer diminution. In all the arts it is the same thing, and the sciences are not free from the tendency by any means. Vanity, selflove, and inordinate conceit lie at the bottom of all this. Such geniuses as these ought all to live in one-storied huts: what right have they to go upstairs to bed, stairs that another man built? It is a foolish principle, this, of independence. Every man should borrow everything that the Egyptians can lend him, and as an original cellule of littleness must suck in help and nutriment from far ages and near neighbourhoods. It is a privilege of those who come into the later world to find a great deal done to hand; are they not to use it as they would an estate, and so to fortify

man's natural weakness by every aid and all the helps (and few enough they are) that exist around them? Certainly, then, as long as they want rhyme, good poets are to use rhyming dictionaries, as Byron did. MR. THOS. KEIGHTLEY does not say whether rhyme altogether be not to a great extent a puerility. I should incline to pronounce it so, were it not that all sanction, especially all modern sanction, lies the other way. If it be not a puerility, I see no reason why he should style it a puerility in Campbell to end every stanza in "Hohenlinden," with a trissyllable. If you take away "Hohenlinden," "The Mariners of England," and one or two more lyrics, from Campbell, you do indeed reduce him to "the smallbeer" that Cobbett and others considered him to chronicle. To many it has appeared that there is something both grand and new in the rhythm of the two closing lines of the first stanza:

"And dark as winter was the flow
Of Iser rolling rapidly."

But it was too good for Campbell to follow up in rhyme through seven consecutive verses. Many of the rhymes that follow are open to MR. KEIGHTLEY's criticism of puerility. I think it might be shown, however, that had Campbell broken the trammels and made this fourth line an unrhymed one throughout, we should have had a war ode that would far better have satisfied the intellect as well as the ear, than we have in the present version. As a proof of this, if a reader will discard the idea of rhyme, and "sepulchree," which is ridiculous, and read it in the ordinary way as the poet's instinct (in spite of his judgment, as Mr. Redding tells us) wrote it, he will find that the last comes out a really fine stanza with a grand terminal pause, and a thousand times better than MR. KEIGHTLEY'S wretched, though quite C. A. W. correct, jingle would make it.

While quite agreeing with MR. KEIGHTLEY in the propriety of his transposition of Campbell's last line, I cannot give the same approval of the alteration of the word sepulchre; and MR. KEIGHTLEY's reasons for the substitution of resting-place rather (it appears to me) strengthen the reasons for retaining the poet's own term.

It seems to me that, as sepulchre may mean grave, tomb, or any other synonymous word, sepulchre is peculiarly appropriate, as giving when covered with snow the appearance to every grassy turf or mound of a stone sepulchre-a whitened sepulchre for the winter season in which the slaughter took place. But MR. KEIGHTLEY'S change of arrangement of words has this objection still: that two words are called in by it to compose the three syllables which it was Campbell's desire should terminate each stanza, and those formed by one word only. By referring to the poem it will be perceived that the poet has

in every instance succeeded in selecting such a word, and in every instance but one it is strictly trisyllabic-the exception is in the fourth verse artillery. This would be trifling, but that we perceive that the ingenious poet preferred violating his rhyme, which he could not find, to his syllabic number, which he could.

Had this specimen of termination occurred in some such Scottish psalmody as I have occasionally met with, I should have been inclined to lean to the ridiculous idea of the author intending to sound it sep-ul-cree-and then in his view all had been right. J. A. G. Carisbrooke.

The

I agree with MR. KEIGHTLEY, that it was a puerility, if not an affectation, in Campbell to end the stanzas of his fine poem of "Hohenlinden" with such words as rapidly, revelry, canopy, &c., which do not legitimately rhyme at all. rhyme should fall on the last syllable but two: thus a proper rhyming word for revelry would be devilry. But with respect to the word sepulchre in the last line, I have no doubt he intended it to be sounded sepulchree, as we have often heard old-fashioned people pronounce massacre massacree, and thus it would in some measure correspond with the concluding words of the preceding F. C. H.

stanzas.

STOOL BALL (3rd S. xi. 457.)-In reply to a very courteous letter signed H. H., I beg to say that I saw the apparatus for playing this game for the first time in a field adjoining the vicarage at Horsham, and there received the information I then forwarded to "N. & Q."

The parties who gave me the information seemed surprised that I was not aware of the facts they informed me of, and assured me, as I have before written, that it was a very common game played all over Sussex. I remarked at the time I had never seen it in Kent, with which county I am much better acquainted than with Sussex, but was told the game was often played in West Kent. Probably some of your numerous readers will be able to give us more local information as to this interesting subject.

I think there is a song of Herrick's especially devoted to the game. A. A. Poets' Corner.

JUNIUS, BURKE, ETC. (3rd S. xii. 34.) — It is true that in the long letter which Burke addressed, but did not send, to Bishop Markham, there is no positive denial of the authorship of Junius.

But in the same collection, a very few pages before, Burke says, in answer to Charles Townshend, "I have been as ready as I ought to be in disclaiming writings," &c.

Next, in writing to the same Bishop Markham,

he calls the Letters "performances to which I am a stranger."

And, lastly, Mr. Townshend having doubted whether his former letter conveyed an absolute denial, Burke writes to him, "I now give you my word and honour that I am not the author of Junius.' See Burke's Correspondence (by Lord Fitzwilliam, §c.), i. 269, 270, 275. LYTTELTON.

"WHEN ADAM DELVED," ETC. (3rd S. xi. 192, 323, 429, 486; xii. 18.)-Of course, any idea of a reference to lameness here is a mere blunder. Lam is the regular old spelling of loam, the A.-Sax. form being lam or laam. This is made yet more certain by the account of Adam's death given in the "Oil of Mercy:" see Morris's Specimens of Early English, p. 144. An angel tells Seth the following message: Adam,

Thi fader (he said) than sal thou say,
That he sal dei the thrid day

Efter that thou be commun ham (come home),
And, as he was, turn into lam (loam).”

That is, Adam was made of loam at first, and to loam he should return. This settles the point, I think, beyond all further controversy. The story of the "Oil of Mercy is from the "Cursor Mundi," about A.D. 1320.

Cambridge.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

The original query ("Whence the proverb?") has become merged in the new query started by MR. BLADON as to the lameness of Adam; and from this latter, yet another query branches forth in MR. KERSHAW's researches as to the loamelement in Adam.

I leave untouched the original query, and also the general question of Adam's lameness. The latter must stand over until MR. BLADON, or some other for him, can recover his lost authorities. I address myself to prove (as has been already suggested) that MR. BLADON'S quotation from the Early English Text Society book has no reference whatever to Adam's lameness; and, secondly, that loam did really (according to popular belief) enter into our protoplast's composition.

Line 5, p. 79, of E. E. T. S., No. XXVI. "Of erthe and lame as was Adam,”

is explained at once by turning up "lame" in the glossary of the book. There we find: "Lame, s. loam, clay, p. 79, 1. 5."

Let me premise, before going further, that "Robert Thornton's MS." (Lincoln Cathedral Library), in which the above-quoted line occurs is "a genuine specimen of the old Northumbrian dialect" (see E. E. T. S., No. XX., Preface, p. v.)

Of this Northumbrian dialect Mr. Morris treats, in his Preface (p. xxvi.) to Hampole's "Pricke of Conscience" (Philological Society's Early English Volume 1862-4). I quote from him:.

"Characteristics of the Northumbrian Dialect from the latter Half of the Thirteenth to the End of the Fourteenth Century:

"1. The most striking peculiarity perhaps, is the preservation of the long a in words of A.-Sax. origin containing this vowel, which the Southern dialects changed into a long o: A.-Sax. lám; Northumb. lame; Southern form, loam."

Mr. Morris gives this among many other examples, but it is enough for our purpose.

In his notes to this same "Pricke of Conscience" (p. 272), he gives the following quotation from the Northumbrian "Cursur O Werld" (Cott. MS. Vesp. A. III.)—

"He that es laverd of erth and heven,
Mai o that ilk selvin even,

That first was molten into lame
Mak a wel fairer licam," &c.

The subject is the resurrection of the dead in the body.

Lame, then, we may conclude for the future, is the legitimate Northern form, as loam is the Southern.

Secondly, to bring the matter home to Adam himself; and to show that (whether halt or not so) he was made of lám, lame, or loam:

One

In Specimens of Early English (Clarendon Press Series), Mr. Morris gives other quotations from the same Northumbrian "Cursor Mundi.' of these he calls "The Oil of Mercy"; and of this, lines 550-554 run thus:

BISHOP NICOLSON (3rd S. xi. 459.) — It was a great fault of mine to omit the printers and date of my copy of the Exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England, &c., by the above-named bishop. I will now supply the deficiency:

"London: Printed for Nathanael Webb, at the Royal Oak, and William Grantham, at the Black Bear, near the little North-door in St. Paul's Church Yard. 1663."

On the fly-leaf of this edition is the design of the "Royal Oak," named in the last query. It also contains the following autograph: "E lib. Guliel. Waddon, pret. 7' 8" GEORGE LLOYD. Darlington.

"Sera deshormais hardi" and "Trop hardi "-Hardie. "Sit saxum firmum"-Saxby.

"Solus Christus meus rupes"-Orrock. "Sumus"-Weare.

"Toujours gai"-Gay. "Ut palma justus"

"-Palmes.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

J. MANUEL.

There is always something entertaining in glimpses at these curious and often obscure memoranda of other times. "Quod dixi dixi," was once translated of a very absolute Dixie: "What Dixie has said, he will swear to." The "Ascendit cantu of the Cockburns would hardly apply to the modern corruption of their patrimonial parish, Cockburnspath, now Coppersmith. Of the old raid times, the Border mottoes were tolerably descriptive: "Furth fortune, and fill the fetters," was not meaningless; but the "Ye shall want ere I want" of the Cranstouns was still more plain and comprehensive. The ancient joke of "Quid rides,” for the coach panel of an enriched tobacconist, was good, and has been the hint for numerous imitations. BUSHEY HEATH.

"FORM" (3rd S. xii. 24.)-I am not a "sporting reader of N. & Q.,'" but perhaps JAYDEE will not merely on that account scout my theory as to the signification of "form." It is, that it means the style or manner in which a thing is done, as in "They rowed in good form down to

QUERY ON POPE (3rd S. xi. 519, 537.) — 1 can state from personal experience, that lambs, horses, and cats will lick both hands and face of their master. I know at least four instances of horses doing so, one of a pet lamb, and I never had a cat belonging to me that did not lick my face, and that most elaborately. S. L.

"ENDEAVOUR" AS A REFLECTIVE VERB (3rd S. xi. 448.)—There is a familiar example of this in the collect for the Second Sunday after Easter; and a very accessible one in the Order for the Making of Deacons. Dean Alford refers, in his book on Queen's English (p. 96), to the error in accentuation of which many clergymen are guilty, when they have occasion to use the prayer. I know not how ordination candidates acquit themselves in making answer to the bishop.

ST. SWITHIN.

PENNY (3rd S. xii. 25.)-The Sanscrit word pannas, according to Eichhoff and Kaltschmidt, means flüchtig, flying, and is in close relationship with the Latin penna, the wing-feather or quill of a bird, from pat, to fly, to fall. Penny is not generally connected with the European languages, but is confined to one branch. It is not a very the Gothic of Ulphilas is skatt (Mark xii. 15, Luke old word. The corresponding word to penny in xx. 24). The English penny is related closely to the German pfennig, where it is a favourite, for they have pfennigmeister = treasurer, or cashier; Pfennigfuchser = pinch-penny; pfenniggewicht = pennyweight; pfenniglicht farthing (penny) candle; and pfennigwerth pennyworth. T. J. BUCKTON.

=

penny

The querist seems to misunderstand the comparative study of languages, when he asks if the Sanskrit panna is the origin of our word "penny." The origin of our word "is the AngloSaxon pending, pening, penig, and certainly not the Sanskrit panna. It is well known that AngloSaxon is a branch of the Teutonic class of Aryan languages, whilst Sanskrit is a branch of the Indic class. Now Teutonic and Indic are co-ordinate and not sub-ordinate to each other, and it is quite an erroneous supposition to believe that Sanskrit is the mother tongue of the Aryan languages. We may consult the Sanskrit vocabulary for the origin of a Pali or of a Prâkrit word, but not for the origin of an English or of a Latin word. Of course we may discover some close resemblance between a Sanskrit word and a Latin word, for instance; but then we must conclude that the origin of both words was a word of that Aryan mother-tongue which no longer exists, and

of which Indic and Italic are remnants. I think it useless to dwell on this subject, for I suppose that the querist is as well acquainted as myself with comparative philology, but that he has not been careful enough in the wording of his query.

As to the etymology of the word penny, the querist may refer to Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iv. p. 164:

"We may be curious," says the author, " to inquire into the etymology of the pening. The word occurs for coin in many countries. In the Francotheotisc, it occurs in Otfrid as Pfening; and on the Continent one gold pfenning was declared to be worth ten silver pfennig. It occurs in Icelandic, in the ancient Edda, as penning.

"The Danes still use penge as their term for money or coin, and if we consider the Saxon penig as their only silver coin, we may derive the word from the verb punian, to beat or knock, which may be deemed a term applied to metal coined, similar to the Latin cudere."

The same author (Turner) adds in a note to passage:

this

I find the most probable etymology of the word penny in Chambers's Encyclopædia, art. "Penny": "The name is evidently the same as the German Pfennig, and both words seem to be intimately connected with the old German Pfant, a pledge, and the Latin pendo, to weigh or to pay."

The word penny, Anglo-Saxon pending, pening, penig, Germ. pfennig, Dan. and Swed. pening, is a diminutive, and means probably "little coin." I am unable to decide whether the Sanskrit panna has the same meaning, for the querist does not indicate precisely the passage where it seems to designate a copper value. If it means this, there is certainly a striking, but by all means fortuitous, resemblance between the two words.

G. A. S.

"CONSPICUOUS FROM ITS ABSENCE" (3rd S. xi. 438, 508; xii. 34.)-I believe that the French anticipated us in the application of this epigrammatic expression. "Briller par son absence" has been familiar to them ever since the Jesuits succeeded in causing the lives of Arnauld and Pascal to be excluded from L'Histoire des Hommes illustres by Perrault. It was then, I think, that the expression became popularised among them. I do not know whether it has been introduced among the Germans and Italians. C. T. RAMAGE.

PALINDROMICS (3rd S. xii. 38.)

"A lawyer once chose for his motto 'Si nummi immunis.' And in the time of Queen Elizabeth, a noble lady, who had been forbidden to appear at court in consequence of some suspicions against her, took for the device on her seal the moon, partly obscured by a cloud, and the motto, Ablata at alba.' Taylor, the water-poet, writes'Lewd did I live, and evil I did dwel.'”

Specimens of Macaronic Poetry, London, 1831, p. vi.

Why should si nummi immunis be taken as specially the motto of a lawyer?

D.

cum cerea impressione," &c. (Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, pub. 1656, p. 138.) S. L.

LINES ON THE EUCHARIST (2nd S. v. 438; 3rd S. x. 519; xi. 66, 225, 315.)—The following extract from Clark's Ecclesiastical History has not been noticed hitherto in "N. & Q." It occurs in his Life of Queen Elizabeth, p. 94:

sister's reign, when a popish priest pressed her hard to
"She had a good vein in poetry. In the time of her
declare her opinion of Christ's presence in the Sacrament,
she truly and warily answered him thus:
""Twas God the word that spake it,

He took the bread and brake it,
And what the word did make it,
That I believe and take it."

Clark's Eccles. History, 3rd edit. 1675.

S. L. BISHOP GIFFARD, ETC. (3rd S. xi. 455.)-Joseph Francis de Malide, Bishop of Avranches, was translated to Montpellier in 1774. He was one of the thirty-six bishops who refused to resign his see in 1801, which all the French bishops were required to do by the concordat between Pius VII. and Buonaparte. He died in London.

Renè de Moutiers de Mérinville was made Bishop of Dijon in 1787. He, unlike the above, became a démissionaire in 1801. I see in Darling's Cyclopædia Bibliographica, part 1.," Catholick Sermons," in two vols. 8vo, by "Giffard B." VILEC.

SIR JOHN OLDMIXON (3rd S. xi. 399.) — That Sir John's name is not to be found in a list of knights may be owing to his having been a baronet. It is my impression that his eldest son succeeded to his title on Sir John's death. Another of his sons was an officer of the United

States navy about thirty years ago. I remember Sir John's widow well. Assisted by her two accomplished daughters, she kept a young ladies' school for many years in this city.

Philadelphia.

BAR-POINT.

CHARLES LAMB'S "ELIA" (3rd S. xi. 193.) — Charles Lamb's sister Mary was "the quaint Boys," quoted in one of his essays. They are to be poetess" who wrote the verses called "The Two found in a volume published early in this century, and entitled Poetry for Children, entirely Original. By the author of Mrs. Leicester's School. The title-page might have said authors, as I believe that Charles Lamb contributed to this volume as UNEDA. well as to Mrs. Leicester's School. Philadelphia.

TRANSLATIONS (3rd S. xi. 478.)-The reply to this query is literally nil. Champion's ShahNameh is the only English translation, but that is not in prose. The "Veds" recently issued by Prof. Max Müller is useless alike to the Hindoo and to the European, and is a most costly work to