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is one hour after midnight, and is not one hour before either midnight or midday. I am prepared to be told that the figures are not to be read in connexion with the letters. But that is my complaint. KILLIGREW.

The following cutting from the Birmingham Daily Post (August 27, 1891) gives a very extraordinary reading of P.M. by one of the unlearned, which is worth recording under this heading:

"In the course of the hearing of a case at the North London Police Court, on Tuesday, a witness, who was described as a commercial traveller in the City, was asked, 'Was it night or morning that the affair occurred? Post mortem,' was the ready reply. What do you mean?' said the solicitor. Why, at night, of course.' In face of this astounding ignorance it is somewhat curious to read that at the same court a number of poor persons were summoned for not sending their children to school."

I have a correspondent who habitually uses such phrases as "I met Mr. yesterday A. M.," 'any time this P.M."-evidently treating these signs as equivalent to "morning" and "afternoon." R. HUDSON.

Lapworth.

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"AVAILED OF" (8th S. ii. 325, 417, 498).—The reply of MR. ADAMS opens up a new question of considerable interest, viz., the right of using elliptical phrases. The sentence quoted by him, "There is both a St. Christ and a St. Jesus," written at full length would, of course, be-"There is both a St. Christ, and there is also a St. Jesus." The word both, italicized by MR. ADAMS, and the repetition of the article in the latter clause, show the sentence to be elliptical. There could be no objection to a verb plural; but, in my opinion, the verb is better in the singular number, as it individualizes the two remarkable saints and is more emphatic.

It would not be difficult to fill a column with

similar locutions from our best writers; but this

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LIFE OF LOCKHART (8th S. ii. 328, 438, 511).— To the biographical articles already mentioned may be added that of William Bates, in his 'Maclise Portrait Gallery' (Chatto & Windus, 1883). To a fairly good outline of Lockhart's career and a sensible estimate of his work, the writer adds various important references, which should interest the admirers of a man who has not always got his due. See also 'Archibald Constable and his THOMAS BAYNE.

Literary Correspondents,' vol. iii. passim.

Helensburgh, N.B.

CLAUSE IN OLD LEASE (7th S. xii. 149, 311).-I have since come across another "olla," also called "Colman," existing, apparently, rather more than a century earlier than the one mentioned in the above reference. It occurs in Mr. T. F. Kirby's 'Annals of Winchester College,' pp. 160-1, and is described (from the back of a roll for 1412) as a great brass pot' Colman' with ears and feet." Other similar instances would be welcome.

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W. C. W.

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'ESSEX HIGHWAYS, BYWAYS, AND WATERWAYS' (8th S. ii. 139, 437, 493).—As I am writing away from my books, I am unable to answer in detail MR. GRIFFINHOOFE's question with regard to the "strange architectural freak" of the spire of All Saints' Church, Maldon. But, unless some one send a better description, this note may serve: The tower (I believe of Norman date) is triangular, while the spire is hexagonal. As one angle of the tower projects into the body of the church, the remarkable effect produced may be imagined. I believe this instance is unique.

ARTHUR MONTEFIORE.

THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS (8th S. ii. 509).— CHALK (8th S. ii. 364).—In 'The Returne from The concluding lines contain a query respecting Parnassus,' 1597, Luxurioso says :the colour sorrel. Annandale says the origin of the word is doubtful, but the colour is a reddish or yellow brown, and was formerly applied to a horse; also, that roan is at present restricted to a mixture having a decided shade of red.

71, Brecknock Road.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

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PRINTERS' ERRORS: DOUBLE F (8th S. i. 185, 217; ii. 337, 456).-Replying to MR. INGLEBY, I happened to note especially the use of double fin our parish register, which begins at 1561. From that time to about 1627 the use of it is common. Names of persons and places are written with two small ƒ's made large (if I may use the expression), other words with two smaller f's. But the use is by no means invariable. We find all through the period "first," "fifte," &c., side by side with "first," " ffourth," &c. We also find the two f's in such compounds as "twentie-ffirst." From 1630 we get the single ƒ only, and the modern form of capital, as Franke." Lapworth.

R. HUDSON.

LEATHER MONEY (8th S. ii. 308, 394,517).-There are several leather trade tokens in the Beaufoy Collection at the Guildhall, which have been described by J. H. Burn. The most interesting, perhaps, are two issued from the Chapter Coffee House, Paternoster Row. The larger one appears to have passed as a groat, being marked with the figure 4. They have in the field a mitre. The Chapter House was for generations the resort of eminent literary people, and a place of meeting for London publishers; and here Charlotte and Anne Brontë stayed when they came to town in 1848. A few years afterwards it was turned into a tavern, and has been rebuilt quite recently. The old name still remains on the passage at the side, leading into St. Paul's Churchyard. These leather trade tokens have no date, but were probably issued before the middle of the eighteenth century, for "a leather threepence, Union in Cornhill," occurs in the sale catalogue of the coins and other articles of virtù, the property of Peter Birkhead, goldsmith and antiquary, deceased, which were sold in January, 1743, at his house, the Queen's Head, in Grafton Street, Soho. The Union was also a coffee-house. PHILIP NORMAN.

May I mildly protest against the note with this heading at the last reference? Anglesey pennies and halfpennies of 1788 and thereabouts are very common. But I quite fail to see what they have to do with the "leather money." R. HUDSON.

"Marrye, all my debts stande chaukt upon the poste for liquor! Mine hostis may crosse it if shee will, for I have done my devotion! Farewell, mine alone hostis, thou shalt heare newes of thy ale-knighte!"-Part i. Act I. sc. i. 11, 451–4.

In 'The City Match,' 1639, Dorcas remarks:-
They say

You do offend o' th' score, and sin in chalk,
And the dumb walls complain you are behind
In pension.

Dodsley, 'O. E. Plays,' ed. Hazlitt, vol. xiii, p. 287.
F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

PORTRAITS WANTED (8th S. ii. 468).-There
are many portraits of Robert Car, Earl of Somer-
set. The Duke of Devonshire has a picture which
bears this name. Mr. Jeffrey Whitehead lent a
miniature of him, by Peter Oliver, to the Bur-
lington Club in 1889. There is a print of him
by Simon Pass; another by Vandergucht; a third,
by Houbraken, is among the 'Illustrious Heads,"
but cannot be genuine. Lord Lothian had, or has,
a head of him at Newbottle, so says Granger. Mr.
G. Digby Wingfield Digby exhibited a Cornelius
Jonson of John Digby, first Earl of Bristol, at the
National Portrait Exhibition, 1866, and has it
still; likewise a miniature, said to be by Cooper.
The Rev. W. B. L. Hawkins has a miniature of
the same peer; Mr. Lumsden Propert is equally
fortunate.
F. G. S.

Portraits of Robert Car, Earl of Somerset ; John Digby, first Earl of Bristol; and Sir John Eliot were exhibited at the Loan Collection of National Portraits in 1866, at South Kensington. (See Catalogue, Nos. 503, 539, 610.) There is a print of Car by Houbraken. G. F. R. B.

Evans's Catalogue' mentions an octavo engraved portrait of John Digby, Earl of Bristol, by Cooper; also one in hat and feather, by Wm. The latter is mentioned by Granger. Engraved portraits of Robert Car, Earl Peake, quarto. of Somerset, by S. Pass and Harding, also one by Houbraken, which Granger says is not authentic, was published in Smollett's 'History of England," are included in Evans's list. Somerset's portrait vol. vii. p. 49.

Liverpool.

J. F. MANSERGH.

TYCHO WING, ASTROLOGER (3rd S. x. 374, 424; 8th S. ii. 478).-The date of Mrs. Eleanor Wing's death, January 16, 1769, fails to appear at the latter reference. DANIEL HIPwell.

'TRISTRAM SHANDY' (8th S. ii. 304, 372, 494). -MR. J. DIXON says, at the last reference, that he wished in his original note "to exhibit the strange spectacle of a man-a clergyman, too-dictating to his wife and daughter passages of indecency." He draws that picture from some

words which he quotes from one of Sterne's letters, "My Lydia helps to copy for me, and my wife knits, and listens as I read her chapters"; but how does he know what parts Lydia copied, or what chapters Sterne read aloud?

I must confess that I have read chapters from 'Tristram Shandy' to my wife and daughter; but I would ask MR. DIXON not to assume, as a matter of course, that such readings have included "The Abbess of Andouillets," or any passages containing objectionable matter. The question your correspondent puts to me being, in my opinion, based on a supposition, I think it unnecessary to reply to it. C. M. P.

"THE OFFICE OF HOURS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN' (8th S. ii. 425).—Montalembert must not be supposed to give the earliest use of the popular devotion; for, as Mr. Procter observes in his invaluable History of the Book of Common Prayer'

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the Revolution, to be used, if occasion served, at the execution of General Washington. When the British army retired the irons were left behind. The evident fact that the outfit was intended for a much smaller man physically than General Washington does not impress the minds of those who listen to the story. It is probable that this is the only set of gallows irons existing in the United States. The punishment of hanging in chains does not appear to have been inflicted in this country, at all events not since Independence.

Brooklyn, U.S.

JOHN E. NORCROSS.

ITALIAN IDIOM (8th S. ii. 445, 498).—In my opinion DR. CHANCE is hardly justified in raising to the dignity of an "idiom" the reprehensible practice of putting the singular form of the verb along with a plural pronoun. This Tuscan peculiarity is animadverted on by Veneroni in a chapter "On Improper and Obsolete Words" ('Italian Master,' London, 1801). He there writes :

"Avoid saying, as the Florentines do, voi dicevi, because the termination in vi is never used but with tu in the singular. Read those authors who have written on the purity of the Italian language, whom I have quoted at the end of this treatise; and all those that have written since the origin of that language to the present time, and you will see that they disapprove of voi avevi, which is a great blunder in the Florentines, and in illiterate persons. To convince those that say voi amavi instead of voi amavate, I shall only refer them to the remarks of Giacomo Pergamini, Trattato della lingua Italiana,' p. 173: La seconda persona dell' imperfetto nel numero del più deve esser terminata in vate. E contra questa terminazione ricevuta universalmente da, regolati dicitori, hanno alcuni moderni usato di scrivere cantavi, vedevi, il che è manifesto errore.' Ferrante Longobardi, in his book entitled, 'Il torto ed il dritto,' condemns this It will be seen from this quotation that the somanner of speaking, voi cantavi, as impertinent." called "Italian idiom" must have got into the good graces of educated Italians with unusual rapidity during the century, if it be now-as stated by DR. CHANCE's informant-considered pedantic to employ the tense in its correct form.

The occasional use-or misuse-of the present subjunctive for the imperfect subjunctive in French is not an analogous case: a nearer French equivalent would be que vous aimasses-an impossibility. Nor does DR. CHANCE's suggestion as to the origin of the Italian-or rather Tuscanerror appear to me to be altogether satisfactory, as Veneroni, in the work above quoted, counsels the avoidance of such forms as voi avesti for voi aveste, where evidently there is no difference in the length of the word to offer in extenuation of the blunder. And even as regards facility of pronunciation, there is no perceptible advantage in substituting for eravate? the exasperating form eri voi? which, by the way, has its counterpart in the English 66 was you ?" Some not very flattering remarks regarding

other irregularities of Tuscan speech are to be found in a grammar prefixed to the second volume of Baretti's Italian Dictionary.'

MR. INGLEBY is mistaken with regard to the Italian use of voi when addressing royalty. His remarks will doubtless receive attention elsewhere; but perhaps I may be allowed to add a line or two respecting some peculiarities of construction observed in other idioms in regal and official style. In Spanish, for instance, nos and vos are used for nosotros and vosotros, instead of the singular, as: "Nos Don N., Obispo de Toledo, os mandamos." The second person plural is used in Portuguese also in addressing royalty; both Spanish and Portuguese differ, however, from Italian in that the adjectives and participles do not agree with the attribute, but with the gender of the person. Therefore, "Vostra Maestà è stata ingannata" is rendered in Spanish "Vuestra Magestad ha sido engañado," when addressing a king, and "engañada" in the case of a princess. The so-called "plural of majesty " occurs often in Shakespeare: e. g., "We ourself will follow in the main battle" ("Rich. III."); "In our remove be thou at full ourself" ( Meas. for Meas.'). A phrase, repeatedly used not long ago by the present Premier in addressing the Queen, attracted some attention, and was at the time burlesqued by Punch: "Mr. Gladstone presents his humble duty to your Majesty." This is exactly in accordance with the Spanish formula: "El Señor G. puesto á los reales piés de Vuestra Magestad, humildemente le ofrece sus respetos," where the same apparent incongruity of persons is reproduced.

German Court phraseology also presents some singular divergences from ordinary rule: "Seine Majestät, der König, haben befohlen"; "Ihre Majestät, die Königin, sind ausgefahren"; "wenn Ihre Majestät befehlen," and such like.

A Portuguese anomaly is the substitution of the Spanish article el for the Portuguese o when referring to their king, who is styled el-rei; any other king is termed o rei; d'el-rei and do rei differ in that the former refers to the King of Portugal and the latter to the king of another country. J. YOUNG.

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common conversation, it" rect in elegant prose.'

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can never pass for cor

In Italian books my attention has frequently been directed to this idiom, as by Buommattei (Della Ling. Tosc.,' Milan, 1807, ii. 285, 314); the author of a 'Vocabolario......per agevolare la lettura degli Autori' (Paris, 1768, s. v. "Preteriti"); an anonymous 'Gramatica' (Parma, 1771, p. 114); Soave (Gramatica,' Milan, 1816, p. 58); Mastrofini ('Dizionario...... de' Verbi,' Milan, 1830, i. 67, 76, et passim); Corticelli (Regole......della Lingua Tosc.,' Turin, 1846, pp. 81, 85). It is used by Machiavelli not only in verse, but in prose (Arte della Guerra,' lib. vii., in 'Opere,' Milan, 1798, viii. 289), Agnolo Firenzuola ('La Trinuzia,' III. i.; 'I Lucidi,' I. ii.), and Benvenuto Cellini, whose editor, Carpani (Milan, 1821, ii. 203), has the following note to voi avevi :

"I Fiorentini adoperano ordinariamente negli imperfetti de' verbi la seconda persona del singolare anche per la seconda del plurale; così voi eri, voi fosti, voi saresti, e simili si leggono spesso negli Scrittori i più autorevoli in lingua italiana."

Here is the conjugation of the imperfect indicative of essere and avere as given by the Florentine Lorenzo Franciosini in his 'Vocabolario Italiano e Spagnolo' (Rome, 1620, pp. 10, 19): Io ero, tu eri, quello era, noi eramo, voi eri, quello erano. Io havevo, tu havevi, quello haveva, noi havevamo, voi havevi, quelli havevano. All the verbs are conjugated in accordance with this paradigm, and the assimilation of plural to singular in the second person takes place also in the perfect definite indicative and both past tenses of the subjunctive. Franciosini acknowledges no other conjugation.

DR. CHANCE says that voi with the singular verb-form is used in addressing a single individual; but there is no question of numerical restriction in the authorities I have cited. Mastrofini affirms unconditionally (i. 68): "In Firenze non si dice altro mai che voi avevi, ed avevate sarebbe affettazione"; and Nannucci, in his Analisi de' Verbi' (Florence, 1843, pp. 144, 145), quotes two verses from the younger Buonarotti's 'La Tancia,' in which plurality is unquestionable:

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E come v'eri prima amiche siate.—II. i,

O che badavi voi, dismemorati?-V. v. DR. CHANCE's explanation seems to me unexceptionable save in one point, viz., his assumption -the assumption upon which Carpani's note is based-that in voi avevi the singular is used for the plural. The use of singular verb-persons for plural by old writers, even Tuscan, is of frequent occurrence, says the editor of the Leggenda di where a modern would write quegli tengono; and san Petronio,' commenting on quilli tene written in verse of the thirteenth century I have met with sai for sapete and fai for fate (real plural) and fanno But the example we are considering appears to be simply an Italian corruption of Latin habebatis

not a borrowed singular, but a dialectal plural form. Prof. Nannucci, at the place already cited, exhibits the etymological changes in the instance of voi amavi as follows: from amabatis to amabati, then with elimination of t to amavai (cf. Spanish amabais), and finally, with syncope of a for facility of pronunciation, to amavi. For avevi the process would be habebatis, habebati, havevai, havevi. As to the singular tu amavi, Nannucci observes that whereas its true form was amava (Latin amabas) the change to -i was determined by the personending of the present (tu ami). The idiom appears to have passed into familiar Tuscan speech from the Florentine, where, as I have shown, it was in high literary honour; but Nannucci says it was not wholly confined to the Florentines, and quotes the following verses

Sospira il core quando mi sovvene

Che voi m'amavi, ed ora non m'amatefrom Fra Guittone, the Aretine poet commemorated by Dante in the 'Purgatorio.' Dante himself never uses this idiom, and it is worth noting that he blames Guittone “et quosdam alios" as nunquam in vocabulis atque constructione desuetos plebescere" (De Vulg. Eloq.,' i. 13).

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My objection to DR. CHANCE's explanation, however, does not affect his theory; for the populace do not talk etymology, and doubtless use avevi instead of avevate for the reason he assigns. It is the sound of the longer word that is disliked by people so addicted to word-clipping. Noi éramo is in use for the same reason. Any one saying eravamo "sarebbe da tutti forse burlato" (Buommattei, ii. 314). Oddly enough, the people fail here to be more accurate than the grammarians only by reason of their throwing back of the accent under the influence of the third person érano. The poets, with whom eramo is in general use, always keep the accent in the right position. i. e., on the penultimate. F. ADAMS.

105, Albany Road, Camberwell, S.E. "YELE" (8th S. i. 294, 341, 442, 462; ii. 177, 414, 476). The last communication under this head requires that I should say that the replies to my query have been instructive. While thank ing those who were good enough to give them, may say that there was no intention of discourtesy when I wrote in May last.

F. J.

I

SIR GEORGE DOWNING (8th S. ii. 464).-Pepys has several entries, all more or less prejudiced. Sir George was a trimmer. January 28, 1659/60, he was to sail for Holland, salary 1,800l. per annum. He was knighted in Holland, May 21, 1660. He arrests three regicides on March 12, 1611/2, "like a perfidious rogue." As some compensation we find, May 27, 1667, that he was "active and a man of business, and values himself upon having of things do well under his hand."

A. HALL.

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Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

W. C. B.

The Attis of Caius Valerius Catullus. Translated into English Verse, with Dissertation, &c., by Grant Allen, B.A. (Nutt.)

To his "Bibliothèque de Carabas" Mr. Nutt has added the text of the 'Attis,' a translation by Mr. Grant Allen, Attis," on "The Origin of Tree Worship," and on “The with an introduction and dissertations on 66 The Myth of Galliambic Metre," by the same eloquent, erudite, and assiduous ex-Postmaster of Merton College. Like the previous volumes of the series, it is a treasure to the bibliophile, a book on which the hand lingers caressscholarship and an important contribution to folk-lore. ingly. It is, moreover, a valuable addition to Into all he has to say upon the galliambic metre there is no strong temptation to follow a writer who is always ingenious and always modest, if not always thoroughly convincing. In respect to the myth of Attis and the deepest interest and significance. Starting from the origin of tree worship, all that Mr. Allen has to say is of point of view of Mr. Herbert Spencer in deriving polytheism from ghost worship and ancestor worship, and accepting the theory of Mr. Frazer, in 'The Golden Bough,' that Attis was originally a tree spirit, Mr. Allen carries out his argument as to the close relationship between ancestor worship, stone worship, tree worship, "and the cult of the corn spirit in his various forms as man or animal, pine tree or cedar." To explain in a few sentences the manner in which Mr. Allen arrives at this conclusion is obviously impossible. There are few readers yielding to his reasoning. who follow his argument, luminously expressed, without With admirable lucidity he traces to their source the various forms of sacrifice collected in Mr. Tylor's Primitive Culture,' and lately dealt with briefly by us in reviewing Mr. Baring Gould's 'Curious Survivals,' and he establishes his position that to understand the origin of tree worship "we must directly affiliate it upon primitive ancestor or ghost worship, of which it is an aberrant and highly specialized offshoot." Most warmly do we commend to our readers a noble and far-reaching book.

English Writers.-An Attempt towards a History of English Literature. By Henry Morley, LL.D. Vol. IX. We are glad to welcome another instalment of Prof. Spenser and his Time. (Cassell & Co.) Morley's magnum opus. The book opens with a curious slip. "Edmund Spenser," Prof. Morley tells us, in the first sentence," was born in Lancashire." A few pages further on he assures us that he was certainly born in London. Though Spenser appears to have belonged to North-east Lancashire, his parentage is more or less a family of that name which had long been resident in conjectural, and no record of his birth has been discovered. Spencer himself names London as the place of his birth in the Prothalamion,' while tradition fixes the spot at East Smithfield, near the Tower. The book is full of interesting matter, and should be widely read. pages, we make the acquaintance of Sir Walter Raleigh, Besides Spenser, who is the principal figure in these Sir Philip Sidney, William Camden, Richard Hakluyt,

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