Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/591

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io* s. LJUSE 18,180*.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


487


While nothing is said of the presence of wolves in the immediately availame descrip- tions, the Aleutian Islands generally are said to be "overrun with foxes, dogs, and rein- deer." Probably it is quite safe to assume that the wolf also howled in those remote latitudes when the poet wrote ' The Pleasures of Hope.' THOMAS BAYNE.

CROMWELL'S HEAD. The question as to whether a certain gruesome relic in the possession of a gentleman residing nearSeven- oaks in Kent is or is not the head of the whilom Protector of England has recently taken up some twenty-three inches of space in thecolumnsofthe/)cu7 : yJ/ai7. OnBNovember, 1895, the Daily Chronicle devoted nearly three columns to the same subject, and also pub- lished a horribly realistic full-size picture of the head itself. What can be the reason for hoarding such a relic? Whether it once belonged to Cromwell or not, surely the one right and proper course to pursue is to bury it reverently out of sight forthwith. A corre- spondent appears to have already made this suggestion in the columns of Truth. I would cordially re-echo it through the medium of the world-read pages of ' N. & Q.'

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

"AMONG OTHERS/' This expression is becoming quite usual in newspapers and reviews. Thus in the Spectator, 14 May,

p. 764, "an enlightening article appears

among others in a book called ," &c.

Here, by the hypothesis, the "others" are those that remain after the particular article has been taken away. How then can it still appear among those others ? What is meant is "with others." Again, in the pamphlet 'History of the Times,' just issued, p. 6, we read, " Among other stones employed for the building were those of Baynard Castle."

W. C. B.

GRAY'S 'ELEGY' IN LATIN. In addition to the versions mentioned ante, p. 58, in the review of Mr. W. A. Clarke's rendering, there are the following :

A version by C. A. Wheelwright in 1813, referred to in the Classical Journal, xi. 675.

A version in Latin verse, together with the author's rejected stanzas and Dr. Edwards's additional lines, by D. B. Hickie, Class. Jour., xxviii. 377.

S. G. Owen's version in 'Musa Clauda,' Clarendon Press, 1898, p. 2.

Mr. Clarke states that the version in 'Arundines Cami,'1841, is by J. H. Macaulay. John Heyrick Macaulay is J. H. M. 1 ; John


Herman Merivale is J. H. M. ; and the trans- lation of the ' Elegy ' is signed J. H. M. But as there are two pieces in the book signed J. H. M., and none signed J. H. M. 1 , one J. H. M. is perhaps an error for J. H. M. 1 It would be interesting to settle this point. F. T. KICKARDS. Asiatic Society, Bombay.


WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

ISABELLINE AS A COLOUR. Wanted the origin and use of the word "isabelline" as a colour. It is not taken up in Latham's edition of Johnson's ' Dictionary ' (1871).

Jos. D. HOOKER.

["isabelline" duly appears in the ' N.E.D.,' the earliest quotation being 1859. The word is formed from Isabella, which is illustrated by an extract from 'Inv. Queen's Garderobe,' 1600: "Item, one rounde gowne of Isabella - colour satten." Dr. Murray says : " Various stories have been put forth to account for the name. That given in D'Israeli, ' Cur. Lit.' (Article ' Anecdotes of Fashion '), and also in Littre, associating it with the Archduchess Isabella and the siege of Ostend 1601-1604, is shown by our first quotation to be chronologically impossible." SIR JOSEPH HOOKER may like to see the references to isabel colour at 6 th S. ii. 309, 525 ; 8 th S. vi. 7, 52 ; vii. 37 ; 9 th S. xi. 49, 174, 392.]

FATHER PETCHORIN. In the correspond- ence of Herzen I find a number of references to a Father Petchorin, who was in the thirties a brilliant professor at Moscow University. About that time he joined the Roman Catholic Church, and, after living for some while in Paris, settled in Ireland. In 1855 he was prosecuted for the alleged burn- ing of Protestant Bibles, but acquitted. For his career in Russia I have ample material, but I can find no particulars as to his life and work in Ireland. He died, I believe, about 1873, and it is just possible that some of your readers may be in a position to give me the information I require. V. Z.

Ley ton, Essex.

WHO HAS " IMPROVED " SlR EDWARD

DYER 1 Would some of your ingenious corre- spondents be at the trouble to assist me in the following difficulty beyond my means of solution 1 ? In 1847 I published in the fieasoner, No. 34, ' Selections from the Poetry of Progress,' compiled by " Pantier " the late Miss Sophia Dobson Collet an intelligent and trustworthy writer.