98
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. JAN. 29, '98.
bestowed on him by the higher orders in the
bull - ring. Billy, it is said, was himself a
workman, and, in the slang of the day, was
accounted as good a cracksman (house-
breaker) or peter-man (cutter away of luggage
from vehicles) as any in the ring. Billy's
bad character does not, perhaps, excuse the
perfidy of the Bank authorities, but there is
little doubt that he disposed of the forged
notes with a full knowledge of their character.
According to Lord Albemarle, his execution,
which "excited much public conversation,"
took place on 12 January, 1812, but the News
of 2 February, 1812, says it took place on
"Wednesday morning." As that paper was
published on a Sunday, the previous Wednes-
day would have fallen on 29 January. A
cursory search through the Gent. Mag. and
the ' Annual Kegister ' has not disclosed an
account of the affair. W. F. PRIDEAUX.
THE GOLDEN KEY (8 th S. xii. 408). If, like C. C. B., I do not see why a key of gold should be more efficacious than a key of another metal, I have unfortunately been forced to recognize that it is. I thought the matter proverbial. Xpvcros avoiyet irdvra. KcuSov 7rvAa9. Even Jupiter, past master of arts of gallantry, thought this as good as any ; " fore enim," as Horace observes, " tutum iter et patens, converse in pretium Deo," a very literal representation of which adventure has caused difference of opinion as to Correggio's delicacy. With the same material, as Horace goes on to say, "diffidit urbium portas Vir Macedo." C. C. B. may perhaps have observed an actual golden latchkey lately worn by ladies a practicable, not a property key, they have assured me. But this has no bear- ing on the question. KILLIGREW.
What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon
days like these ?
Every door is barred with gold and opens but to golden keys. ' Locksley Hall.'
C. F. S. WARREN, M.A. I think that the key to " the golden key may be found in the passage quoted editori- ally from 'Lycidas.' It is St. Peter, the keeper of the keys of heaven, not Camus, who bears the keys.
Last came, and last did go, The pilot of the Galilean lake. Two massy keys, &c.
E. YARDLEY.
The symbol of the golden key is evidently that of the ^Esculapian art the key which unlocks the secret of health. I cannot for the moment give chapter and verse, but in W. Browne's 'Britannia's Pastorals' there is a very apt use of the emblem in this sense
There is a very old - established chemist's
n Norton Folgate with the sign of the golden
cey, and it was not uncommonly so employed
)y chemists, though by no means exclusively
)y chemists. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
SLIPPER BATH (8 th S. xii. 142, 296, 395, 454). A noteworthy appearance of the slipper
3ath in America more than a century ago is chronicled in the ' Life of Manasseh Cutler '
ii. 234). Dr. Belknap, in 1785, wrote to Jutler, in the midst of a gossiping letter, about Franklin :
It is to be wished that for the benefit of man- iind the old Don would disburden himself of all lis philosophical hints, experiments, and conjectures Defore he makes his exit, which must be soon, as he ias completed four-fifths of a century and is obliged i,o use the warm bath every day to ease the pain of ihe stone. This bathing vessel is said to be a curiosity. It is copper, in the form of a slipper. He sits in the heel, and his legs go under the vamp ; on the instep he has a place to fix his book, and here
lie sits and enjoys himself But would it not be a
capital subject for an historical painting the Doctor laced at the head of the Council Board in his
JAMES D. BUTLER.
DENTAL COLLEGES (8 th S. xii. 508). In answer to this query, I can state that the Baltimore Dental College of this city claims to be the oldest in the world. It was founded in 1839. A sketch of it is in my ' History of Education in Maryland,' published by the U.S. Bureau of Education in 1894.
BERNARD C. STEINER.
Baltimore.
SWANSEA (9 th S. i. 43). We are here told that " Sein would naturally [ !] develope into Sweyn, later Swan."
That it certainly would not, for the plain reason that it could not. Whoever thinks otherwise will have to give at least one ex- ample in which an initial s has become sw in English before an e, or, indeed, before any other vowel. The converse process is not difficult, for sw has become s in dnsiver and sword. But at present, and until I get an instance of it, I entirely decline to swallow this alleged change of s into sw. And once more, Why should sweyn turn into swan? Does wain become wan, or weight become wat? Here, again, one would like an example.
The distinction between sweyn and swan is clear enough, tiiveyn represents the Norse sveinn, and swan represents the equivalent A.-S. swan, which are distinct dialectal varieties of the Teutonic original *swainoz. Neither of them turns into the other.
I cannot see the use of inventing etymo- logies which a very slight knowledge of
