86
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xii. JULY 31, im
of shoes. His Lordship says : ' The trifling story
about his losing his bundle on his way from Wapping
to Mallet's house in London, and the want of shoes,
is in the peculiar style of malevolence which stains
the work of Johnson as a biographer. The only
occasion that I had the mischance to meet Johnson
was at old Strahan's, the translator of the first six
books of the " ^Eneid," in Suffolk Street, London,
where I found him and Mallet preparing that
work for publication, after having censured Gavin
Douglas, Dryden, and the other predecessors of
poor Strahan, in the translation of Virgil.'" 'Eng-
lish Gentleman's Library Manual,' p. 142.
Goodhugh in another part of his book {p. 31) has indulged in an acknowledged quotation from Boswell, but this statement which connects Johnson with the publica- tion of Strahan's ' Virgil ' appears to be unknown. The name of Alexander Strahan does not occur in the elaborate index to Dr. Birkbeck Hill's edition of Boswell.
The passage is not without difficulty. Apparently the person intended by " the late Lord Buchan " is the eleventh Earl, but he did not die until 1829, two years later than the date of Goodhugh's book. His father, the tenth Earl, died in 1767, whilst Goodhugh was not born until 1 792.
Strahan's version of the first book appeared in 1739. In the edition of the whole of the x ^Eneid ' which appeared in 1767 Strahan reprints the preface to that of 1753, which contained only the first six books, with an addition in which he acknowledges Mallet's aid :
"My good friend, the late Mr*. Mallet, was so obliging as to revise with me the translation throughout, and compare it carefully with the original, except the fifth and sixth books, which his death prevented, and by that accident they will appear less perfect than they otherwise would have been ; however, I have given them a very careful revision. The tenth and twelfth books were trans- lated by the late reverend Mr. [William] Dobson (the translator of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' into Latin verse), the same who is mentioned in Mr. Layng's verses, which were likewise carefully revised."
It would seem from this that Strahan was not unwilling to acknowledge indebtedness, but he makes no reference to Johnson.
WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester.
HAPPISBURGH on HAISBOROUGH. In an- nouncing the running-down on the 14th inst. of a submarine by the steamer Eddy- stone the daily papers stated that it occurred " off Haisborough Light, near Cromer." I do not remember seeing this orthography before. Commonly it is Happisburgh, which is used* officially by the Great Eastern Railway. Haisborough is phonetic, and represents the local pronunciation, which
I have often heard. The * Railway and
Commercial Gazetteer ' admits neither of the
above, but gives two other forms, Happis-
borough and Hasborough. The latter is
not to be recommended, as it suggests that
the a is short, whereas it is long.
JAS. PL ATT, Jun.
" AVIATION." This word, which is very much to the fore at present, cannot be found in the ' N.E.D.' (1888) nor in Littre (1863), but Larousse's ' Grand Dictionnaire ' (1866) already has it. There is no doubt that it was invented or first used by M. G. de la Landelle, the author of ' L' Aviation ; ou, Navigation aerienne sans Ballon' (1863). The Revue des Deux Mondes (September, 1865), when reviewing that book, states :
"Nous adoptons les mots d'aviation [and
others] qui sont maintenant entre"s dans 1'usage
. 3> T> OOO
commun." P. 322.
L. L. K.
[See also. 10 S. x. 186,250.]
ROBIN'S ALIVE, A GAME. This game is mentioned by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, dated at Monticello, 16 Jan., 1814 t
"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper, as we
were formerly by the old Continental paper
Prudent men must be on their guard in this game of Robin's alive, and take care that the spark does not extinguish in their hands."
RICHARD H. THORNTON. 36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.
MACAULAY : OLIVE TREES IN AUSTRAL- ASIA. Under the date of 1 Jan., 1839, Macaulay wrote :
" Since I have been in Italy, I have often thought it very strange that the English have never intro- duced the olive into any of those vast regions which they have colonized. I do not believe that there is an olive tree in all the United States, or in South Africa, or in Australasia." Trevelyari's ' Life and Letters,' p. 368, one-vol. ed., 1881.
Macaulay was mistaken in his belief. Whatever the truth may have been about Africa or America, the olive had undoubtedly been introduced into Australia before this year. W. C. Wentworth, for example, in ' A Statistical Account of the British Settlements in Australasia ' (3rd ed., 1824), says of New South Wales :
" The olive plants taken out a few years since by Mr. M'Arthur, have been preserved and multiplied, and it is expected will in time prove a valuable article of culture in the colony." -Vol. ii. p. 300.
This passage had attracted Southey's atten- tion. See his ' Commonplace Book,' Third Series (1850), p. 580. EDWARD BENSLY.
