another public-house, now and for many years known as the "Queen's Arms," but originally the "Bull's Head," under which name it had fallen into disrepute, so when it was taken by Mr. Edward Taylor the sign was altered. I knew some of the proprietors, among them being Mr. W. Jewitt, who had been previously connected with the evening paper the Glowworm, published in the Strand in premises now occupied by the Vaudeville Theatre; Mr. Van der Kiste, a first officer in the P. and O. service; Mr. J. E. Parker; Mr. Mark Johnson, a wellknown music-hall performer; and later Mrs. Julia Boak, Mrs. Dovey, Mr. W. H. Hiscox, Mr. F. Hand, and Mrs. Kaye. appears It is said that the limit of land for this great scheme is the south side of Tufton Street, and it is devoutly to be hoped, if such really be the case, that Barton and Cowley Streets, as well as what yet remains of Great College Street, will be spared; but this doubtful, for, as already stated, 9, 10, and 11 in the latter thoroughfare are now empty, preparatory to some steps being taken which may, and very likely do, mean demolition. A crumb of comfort may be found in the fact that these houses are among the least interesting in the street. One of the houses higher up will be eventually vacated, as new premises for the Westminster Female Refuge are being built in Tufton Street, on the south side, next to the Drill Hall of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. From this building to the corner of Wood Street and for some distance down that street the ground backing on to the houses in Cowley and Barton Streets has been cleared. upon the map of London. At the reference 66 A CHINESE ANALOGUE OF BEN JONSON'S 'ALCHEMIST.' The The house at the corner, No. 19, Tufton AMONGST the literature of fiction in China, Street, was the "Adam and Eve" public- the Kin Kou Ki Kouan' has excited the house, of which the last proprietor was interest of many European students, and Charles Ranton-in fact, in this neighbour-Stanislas Julien, Samuel Birch, Gustave hood almost every prominent corner is Schlegel, and the Marquis d'Hervey Saint occupied by licensed premises. No. 23, Denis have translated parts of it. Tufton Street, late in the occupation of Trois Nouvelles Chinoises' of the last named Mrs. Susannah Simson, who carried on a (Paris, 1885) contains a narrative of some grocer's business, was the house in which, interest in relation to the British drama. according to Sir Frederick Bridge and other The story of the deception of Pan-kien-tseng competent authorities, the immortal Henry recalls in some particulars the plot of The Purcell resided, there being very many Alchemist' of Ben Jonson. Pan is a rich evidences in the house, behind its slightly man who dreams of obtaining possession of modernized frontage, that favoured the the secret of the transmutation of metals, theory. It was also some years ago occupied and in that manner of becoming the master by Mr. Robert Jekyll, and here, I believe, of illimitable wealth. At a famous pleasuree were born two of his sons, James and Charles, resort he meets a stranger, who has a retinieft both musicians, one of them being deputy at of servants and a pretty wife, and who light, Westminster Abbey and afterwards for a in the style of an ostentatious Croesuards in time the organist of the Chapel Royal. two become acquainted, and Pan le minister, the illustrious stranger is an alche who can make gold at pleasrimself by put Chemical process, In Wood Street a little cul-de-sac, Young's Place, has now gone, and will be seen no more known trick Pan is induced to believe that he has witnessed lead changed into gold. He falls into the trap thus laid for him, and takes the alchemist to his house, where a range of buildings are devoted to the furnaces and to the residence of the alchemist and his wife. Pan finds the precious material for the operations, which are to last forty-one days, and the adept lays stress upon the necessity of purity of life and thought in those who are in the enterprise. Before the time is up a messenger arrives to tell the adept that his mother is dead and that he must at once depart for his home. Pan is in despair, but after consultation it is arranged that the furnaces shall be supervised by the wife of the adept, who is to remain behind with her two servants and the man whose duty it is to see that the furnaces are always kept at the proper degree of heat. This arrangement suits Pan all the better that he has been carrying on a flirtation with the lady. After the departure of the adept, Pan, having caused the labourer to be made drunk, seduces the alchemist's wife. Whilst this guilty lovemaking is proceeding the alchemist returns, and professes to know, from the failure of the gold-making operation and the disappearance of the precious powder of transmutation, that something improper has happened. He threatens his wife, who thereupon makes a clean breast of it, and Pan is glad to escape from prosecution by the payment of an enormous bribe to the alchemist. Still the passion for alchemical research continues, and in another adventure Pan, when far away from home, is despoiled of all the money and possessions he had with him, and is obliged to beg his way back to his estates. One day in a houseboat he sees the fair face of the alchemist's wife. The lady also recognizes Pan and sends for him. She then explains to him the deception which had been practised upon him, and in which she had borne an unwilling part. The Chinese courtesans, of whom she was one, are sold to that trade as children, and are so veritably slaves that it is difficult to attach moral blame to them. She was hired to entice Pan into love-making which might furnish a pretext for the non-fulfilment of the alchemist's promise. No longer being under contract with the rogues, she was at liberty to explain to Pan the methods by which he had been bbed. More than this, she gave him suffit money to carry him home a wiser man.* А ск for some this note was written I observe that Douglas has included a version of this within the rtaining 'Chinese Stories' (London, of improvemen The story is not a pleasant one; but Pan is no worse than Sir Epicure Mammon, and the alchemist's wife stands on a higher level than Doll Common. WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester. "JEER."-In a paper read by Prof. Skeat at the anniversary meeting of the Philological Society last May we find a note on the etymology of "jeer." In the new 'Concise Dictionary,' 1901, a Dutch derivation was suggested doubtfully-namely, from scheeren, to shear. But now another account of the word is proposed in this paper, which makes "jeer" identical with "cheer." Dr. Murray in 'H.E.D.' had noticed this identification as "plausible and phonetically feasible," but dismissed it with the remark that it "lies beyond existing evidence." In the article before us Prof. Skeat undertakes to supply the evidence. Let us examine this evidence. The professor brings forward two passages cited in Godefroy's O.F. Dict.,' in which O.F. chiere (countenance, visage, mien) appears in the form giere. They run as follows:-(1) "S'aucuns hons te fait d'amer[e] giere," ie., If any man makes thee to be of bitter cheer, or of a sorrowful countenance; (2) "Mas faites bale [for "bele "] giere, ioie, solas, et ris," i.e., But make good cheer, joy, solace, and laughter. These two passages show that O.F. chiere (Eng. cheer) was pronounced in a certain French dialect giere; but do they afford any evidence in support of the contention that our English word "jeer" (a scoff, gibe, taunt) is identical with the French giere (chiere)? Prof. Skeat maintains that to jeer at a man or "to jeer a man meant originally "to make him ill cheer, to put him out of countenance, to make him look as if cast down." This may or may not be the normal effect of jeering-I do not think that it is a necessary one; but, however this may be, "to jeer at a man" is quite distinct in meaning from "putting him out of countenance," quite as distinct as "boxing a boy's ears is from "making him cry." I still think, with Dr. Murray, that the identification of "jeer" with "cheer" lies beyond existing evidence. 66 COMESTOR OXONIENSIS. PENNSYLVANIAN DUTCH.-Dr. Henry Leffmann, of Philadelphia, has been good enough to send me a "cutting" relative to a dialect spoken in Pennsylvania, which is an olla podrida of English and German (German predominating), and resembles in a marked degree the Jewish jargon, as much in regard to its structural formation as to its linguistic content. "And I certainly agree with the American editor that the sense of the passages is not affected by the change." O, that estates, degrees, and offices 'Merchant of Venice,' II. ix. 41-4. The American says, "An instance of the in- Being of comparatively modern He adds:growth it is thus a fine example of language building and development; for it is spoken not only by a third of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, but also by hundreds of thousands of the descendants of these people, scattered over Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, &c. I presume that in these districts it serves to supplement rather than to supplant our deeply rooted Saxon, and is, in fact, merely a langage intime in vogue in private life, like the Jewish jargon, serving the ancillary purpose of a cult for its members in their daily reunions. As one would naturally anticipate of any community so favoured, a very high state of civilization obtains among the Pennsylvanian Dutch, many of whose leading men have risen to political eminence. They seem to possess the same indomitable qualities for ascendency in the State that are the dower or danger of the Jewish race, wherever planted. Let us hope they will always escape the penalizing postulates of Jewish supremacy. I will cite one example of this powerful dialect, which is a fair specimen of its organic traits : : "Unser Fodder, du os in Himmel bisht. G'aird is di nawma. Di kanichreich coom'd. Di willa sul gadu waerra uf der ard so we in Himmel. Geh uns heit unser daiglich brode. Fergeb uns unser shoolda, So we mer unser shooldner fergevva. Un luss uns net ferfeer'd waerra in schlechtes, awer heet uns geaga ungoot. For di is kanichreich, un de gewalt, un all de air for immer. Awmen." The Lord's Prayer in this form might be recited daily by every one, irrespective of theological differences. Every word breathes the essence of Judaism, clarified, idealized, M. L. R. BRESLAR. reincarnated. Percy House, South Hackney. SHAKESPEARIANA : VENICE.' THE MERCHANT OF 1. Should and would. "He will fence with his own shadow. If I should marry him, I should marry twenty husbands. If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for, if he love me to madness, I shall never requite him." "If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refuse to accept him."'Merchant of Venice,' I. ii. An American editor says of the words in italics that the would might be changed to "should," and the should to" would," without any difference. An Englishman, of excellent taste in writing, comments : "I must not quarrel with Shakespeare's language of long ago, but I should say now, If he should despise me, I would forgive him'; and again, 'You would refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refuse to accept him." "Common sense [? now] requires would. Should would carry with it the notion of propriety, of 'how many or what number should be chosen or agreed upon to cover,'" &c. Has any one a note to add? I would out-night you, did no body come. "La Bibliothèque Nationale" series trans lates: Je voudrais passer la nuit entière avec vous. That extraordinary translation has been mentioned before; but it now may be set by the German ones noticed at 9th S. x. 225, 283. By the way, did not Chateaubriand make some such translation of a passage in 'Paradise Lost'? 3. Sponge. "I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I'll be married to a sponge."-Merchant of Venice,' I. ii. 208. An English paper wrote, in 1898, "We all know one sort of two-legged sponge." But is the word in use? W. F. P. STOCKLEY. KILMANY. [Hamlet says to Rosencrantz (IV. ii.): "When he [the king] needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again."] It is curious to find, in the notice of Dr. Thos. Chalmers contributed to the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' that the great preacher's first parish is persistently called "Kilmeny." This, it will be remembered, is the name of Hogg's fascinating damsel in The Queen's Wake,' and it was perhaps a recollection of her charms that allured the biographer into his confusion. Kilmany was Chalmers's parish. It is in the Presbytery of Cupar, and pleasantly situated among the Fifeshire hills that lie southward Chalmers in the parish and neighbourhood. of the Tay. To this day there are legends of One, that is very persistent, is to the effect that housewives occasionally missed in the morning the "washings" that had been left on the bleaching greens the previous night, and found them replaced afterwards in splendid purity and beauty. The minister, it was averred, had amused himself by putting the clothes through a chemical process, and then restoring them in his own way to their puzzled and anxious owners. The story is an interesting tribute to Chalmers's devotion to chemistry, for which he was favourably known throughout Fifeshire during his Kilmany pastorate. Among Chalmers's successors was a nephew of Sir David Brewster's, the Rev. D. Brewster, a scholarly and genial man, who was long the trusted Clerk of his Presbytery. There followed him the Rev. D. P. Fenwick, one of the best Greek scholars trained at St. Andrews in the later nineteenth century. Mr. Fenwick, too, was Presbytery Clerk, but uncertain health prevented him from fulfilling his early promise. Kilmany is one of the rural parishes within which the railway projector has not yet exercised his skill. THOMAS BAyne. "BEZIQUE."-The derivation of this wellknown game has been discussed more than once in N. & Q.,' without eliciting any satisfactory answer. (See 4th S. iii. 80, 157, 253; 5th S. i. 167, 233, 357, 419; ii. 58; 6th S. ix. 445) The suggestion most in favour was that it is from Italian bazzica, a game of cards mentioned as early as 1726 in a comedy by Michelangelo the younger. The objections to this theory are, firstly, that the Italian word is stressed upon its first syllable; secondly, that the Italian game bears no resemblance to our game of bezique. Our lexicographers are therefore doubtless right in ignoring this explanation. The 'Century Dictionary says bezique is "of obscure origin." The 'N.E.D.' says it is "of unknown origin." Under these circumstances it comes as a pleasant surprise to me to find in Prof. Haddon's 'Study of Man,' 1898 ("Progressive Science Series "), a quotation from Figura's monograph 'Das Schwirrholz in Galizien' (Globus, 1896, p. 226), which appears to settle this vexed question. I copy only the essential parts : "The bull-roarer is used by the young herdsmen when in good humour...... By swinging some time and more quickly the high note passes into a low organ note. This tuning effect is called in Galicia, among both Poles and Ruthenians, bzik......This buzzing or humming noise excites pasturing cattle...... Therefore one says in Galicia that a man whose brain is not quite right has a bzik. It is supposed that the animals get into an idiotic condition owing to the buzzing of the bull-roarer. In what a curious way an idea may change may be seen from the following. It is well known that in the year 1831 thousands of young Poles emigrated to foreign parts, especially to France, and there a great number enlisted in the Algerian foreign legion. The Poles used to play cards, and their game was called bzik. The French men got to like the game; they could pronounce the word, but in writing it down according to French orthography it became bezique. Thus this favourite game of the French gambling clubs owes its name to the bull-roarer." Bzik is evidently connected with the verb bzykac, to buzz. I have looked up the term It is not in several Polish dictionaries. defined as a card game, but merely as sigPerhaps the game nifying "crazedness." was so called on account of the eccentricity of its rules, which, as I can testify from experience, are very baffling to the novice. JAS. PLATT, Jun. I THE MONORAIL SYSTEM OF CONVEYANCE.believe that it is generally accepted that this system of railway was copied from some Spanish or South American method of conduction. It appears from the following paragraph, copied from the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xcv. pt. i. p. 628, 1825, that under the name of "suspension railway" the monorail seventy-seven years ago :— system was invented and used in England suspension principle, having been constructed at "A line of railway, nearly a mile long, on the Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, by Mr. Gibbs, of that place, it was lately opened for inspection before a numerous assemblage of spectators. The railway ported upon posts of wood, at the distance of about consists of a single elevated line of surface, supten feet from each other. The average height of this road above the ground is from two to three feet. The carriage has two wheels, one placed before the other; and two receptacles for goods, which are suspended, one on each side, the centre of gravity being below the surface of the rail. At two o'clock seven carriages were put in motion, each carriage containing an oblong box, suspended on either side of the rail line, in which three of the company were seated, with a quantity of bricks stowed beneath the seats for ballast; thus one weight of bricks. The experiment answered in horse drew 40 passengers, besides an immense every respect." Exeter. W. SYKES, M.D., F.S.A. "SERMON": "HOMILY."-At 9th S. x. 283 I invited attention to a somewhat remarkable instance of contraction in the meaning of a word, as exhibited in the term "asphyxia." I would now ask readers of 'N. & Q.' to consider a curious case, not of mere contraction in meaning, but of positive distortion in sense, which is presented by the word "sermon"; and I would ask how or why that word has come to be applied to the exhilarating addresses which we all know so well. Now any decent Latin dictionary will show us that the word "sermo' means not only speech, or speaking in general, but speech carried on and participated in by two or more persons-conversation, that is to say, or discussion-and we have it on the express and Portugueze, in the late Wars of King William ing All his Sea-Actions with the English, Dutch, and Queen Anne. Translated from the French by a Sea-Officer. London: MDCCXXXII. 12mo. C. D. authority of Varro that in his time that Squadron in the Royal Navy of France, and Great word could not fitly be applied to the utter-Cross of the Military Order of St. Lewis. Containance of a single individual, but only to speech, or spoken intercourse, or disputation shared in by two or more persons; and this view of the matter is corroborated by Cicero, Virgil, A second edition of the former appeared in and Horace. It is, therefore, only by one of 1734, and of the latter in 1743, each being the ironies of chance that this word has been identical with the first edition, with the adopted in order to denote a speech or ad- substitution of a new title-page, that of the dress of a religious character only, uttered second edition of Trouin stating the transby a single person only, and in certain build-lator to be "George Shelvocke, Esq.; Secreings only, to a large company of other persons, tary of the Post Office." who are absolutely debarred from sharing that address or in any way discussing its propositions. It is not that any man would for a moment advocate the toleration of any such discussion. But it does seem that the word "sermon," looking to its original sense, is curiously inappropriate as the name to be applied to such utterances; and it is interesting to reflect in passing that the same objection may be advanced against the other word -of Greek origin-employed to denote pulpit addresses, the word "homily," to wit, which, like "sermon," originally signified not the utterance of a single person, but the intercourse or conversation or communing of several. ARCHBAND ROOF.-In the 'Parliamentary Surveys of Episcopal Lands' in 1647 (now in Lambeth Palace Library) is the survey of Ford House and Park, between Reculver and Canterbury :— "One Great Hall with a screen, in length 52 feet, and breadth 27, built of stone with buttresses, having an archband roof open to the top, in the midst whereof a lantern covered with lead." Also the kitchen_had "an archband roof open." Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls's 'Dictionary' describes this as that portion of a rib which remains visible below the surface of vaulting." ARTHUR HUSSEY. Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent. In strictness, then, and if these words had FREDERICK TENNYSON.-It is well worth retained their original and etymological noting that an article by the Rev. W. H. sense, a party of friends, in referring to a Buss appears in Morning Light of 8 Novemsocial entertainment where they had met and ber, 1902, controverting the statement in enjoyed agreeable conversation, might fitly the Dictionary of National Biography' that say, "We had a delightful sermon the other Frederick Tennyson abandoned his Swedennight"; or a young lady might appropriately borgian faith in his old age. Mr. Buss describe a successful dance as a highly enjoy-shows good reasons for thinking that this able homily. is a mistake. He was a "New-Churchman up to the age of eighty-eight, and his co-disciples "have certainly no ground for believing that his opinions changed just before he was ninety years of age." Swedenborg's influence has been wide and deep and has left a profound impression on many thinkers, as witness Emerson. Of course everybody knows that words have a perfect right to change their meanings, and our language teems with examples of such change and of divergence from the original signification of words; but I think it must be admitted that the words now under notice present a remarkable instance of such divergence. Bath. PATRICK MAXWELL. FRENCH NAVAL MEMOIRS. Among the most interesting of these records are those which describe the brilliant and adventurous careers of the Comte de Forbin and M. du Gué-Trouin. The English translations of these memoirs appear to be very scarce, none being in the British Museum Library. I transcribe the title-pages from my own copies: Memoirs of the Count de Forbin, Commodore in the Navy of France: and Knight of the Order of St. Lewis......Translated from the French. London: MDCCXXXI. 2 vols. 12mo. The Memoirs of M. du Gué-Trouin, Chief of a WILLIAM E. A. AXON. "THE CHIMES,' 1845.-In the first edition of 'The Chimes,' dated 1845, there is an error which has not, to my knowledge, been pointed out. In the list of illustrations, Trotty at Home' and 'Margaret and her Child,' the engravers' names have been transposed. Trotty is attributed to Linton, and Margaret to Dalziel, whereas Dalziel is responsible for the first and Linton for the second. MAURICE JONAS. THE CROSSING SWEEPER. (See 2nd S. ix. 20, 286.)-This curious incident would seem to be the basis of Thackeray's 'Miss Shum's Husband,' one of the "Yellowplush Papers," |