Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/314

256 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vm. MAKCH so, 1021 apparently derived from the Sanskrit root svar, from which susurrus and sonus also are said to take their origin. The word certainly has nothing to do with o-o/oos a coffin. The Langhornes in their translation change the shrew-mouse into a rat. By tWapxos Plutarch means Magister Equitum. In Dr. Dickson's trans- lation of Mommsen's 'History of Rome' (1888), vol. i. pp. 262-3, may be read : " In the election of dictator the community bore no part at all ; his nomination proceeded solely from one of the consuls for the time being. There lay no appeal from his sentences any more than from those of the king unless he chose to allow it. As soon as he was nominated, all the other magistrates became legally powerless and entirely subject to his authority. To him as to the king was assigned a ' master of the horse ' ; and as the nomination of a dictator took place primarily and mainly on occasions when internal troubles or danger from war necessitated the call- ing out of the burgess-force, the nomination of a master of the horse formed as it were a constitu- tional accompaniment to that of dictator." The dictator himself nominated his "majister equitum," but could not dismiss him, and the latter held office for the same period as the former. There was probably no definite ceremony at the nomination of either of these extraordinary magistrates. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. GIUSEPPE PARINI (12 S. viii. 191). This famous Italian poet was born in 1729 not far from Lake Como. The son of a peasant he became a priest, partly to please his father and partly because it was only in this way that he could hope to dedicate his life to literature. But his real vocation was for teaching and guiding the young ; hence, for many years he was occupied as a tutor in some of the best families in Lombardy. Lombardy was at that time under Austrian rule, which was kindly, but as the Italian aristocracy was shut out from political life, it gave itself up to erotic exploits, pageants and social frivolities : sometimes too the desire for honours induced its members to cringe before the Austrian authorities. Parini, who had excellent opportunities for observation, published satirical poems, directed against the vices of the upper class. In 1770 he became professor of literature in the Brera Institute at Milan, a post that he held till his death. To such an extent did he win the confidence of his countrymen that in 1796 when Bonaparte was in Lom- bardy he was appointed a member of the city council, and 'here he combated the democratic excesses that took place in Milan, as a result of the arrival in Italy of the- apostles of "liberty." He died in 1799.. Upright and patriotic, loving poverty and' simplicity after the fashion of Horace who> often inspired him, he has been ranked with Dante, Machiavelli and Alfieri as one- of the would-be regenerators of Italy. T. PERCY ARMSTRONG. The Author's Club, Whitehall Court, S.W. Both this man and Ugo Foscolo (not? Fossolo) are the subjects of articles in ' The- Encyclopaedia Britannica,' in ' The Every- man Encyclopaedia ' and in Samuel Maun- der' s 'Biographical Treasury,' and the- latter is also mentioned in Chambers' s ' Biographical Dictionary.' Parini lived 1 1729-1799 and Foscolo 1778-1827. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. DOMESTIC HISTORY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (12 S. vii. 191, 216, 257, 295, 399 y 452 ; viii. 17, 195). In the series of letters from William Creech, the publisher, and! Lord Provost of Edinburgh (called by Burns " dictionar and grammar amang- them a' "), respecting the" Mode of Living,,- Arts, Commerce, Literature, Manners, &c,, of Edinburgh in 1763, and since that period," published (in 1793) as an appendix to vol. vi. of Sir John Sinclair's ' Statistical Account of Scotland,' otherwise known as 'The Old Statistical Account,' are the following notices of afternoon tea : " In 1763. It was the fashion for gentlemen to attend the drawing-rooms of the ladies in the- afternoons, to drink tea, and to mix in the society and conversation of the women." " In 1783. The drawing-rooms were totally deserted ; invitations to tea in the afternoon were- given up j and the only opportunity gentlemen- had of being in ladies' company, was when they happened to mess together at dinner or supper ; and even then, an impatience was sometimes shewn, till the ladies retired. Card parties, after a long dinner ; and also after a late supper were frequent." The above extracts illustrate the fact that fashions come and go. R. Y. PICKERING. Conheath, Dumfriesshire. BYERLEY OF MIDRIDGE GRANGE, DURHAM (12 S. vii. 471). Anthony Byerley of Mid- ridge Grange, co. Durham, born in or about 1620 ; married in or about 1650, Anne,, daughter of Sir Richard Hutton, of Golds- borough, Yorks, by whom he had ten children, all living Aug. 17, 1666, when he registered his pedigree at Dugdale's 'Visita- tion.' J. W. FAWCETT.. Templetown House, Consett.