478
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. DEC. n,
- NOTES AND QUERIES * COMMEMORATION
(10 S. xii. 167, 251, 331, 376, 433). Prof. J. E. B. Mayor's name has not, I think, been seen quite recently in ' N. & Q , ? but he is mentioned at 9 S. iv. 533 among those whose signatures appear in the very first volume. EDWARD BENSI.Y.
MORTE (10 S. xii. 346). Is not morte the wax candle of " nightlight n shape contained within the " lampte ? See Halliwell.
W. C. BOLLAND.
Lincoln's Inn.
ST. BERNARD DOGS IN ENGLAND (10 S. xii. 388). In 1876 and 1877 the late Mr. J. T. Danson of Liverpool had a noble St. Bernard dog named Monk. How long before or after I cannot say, but in those years I met Mr. Danson, his little girl, and Monk at the Roman Wall, and we four walked for some days per lineam valli. J. T. F.
Durham.
" LIE " IN SCOTCH LEGAL DOCUMENTS (10 S. xii. 388). One explanation of the meaning of this word is that it stands for lege, read, the g and y having been written at one time almost alike. Another and more likely meaning is that it is the equivalent of the French le, the. Portions of land in Scotland are still familiarly known as " lie Dubbie Land," &c. LINDSAY C. STEELE.
Edinburgh.
LAST DUEL WITH SWORDS IN ENGLAND (10 S. xii. 227, 290, 378, 433). The late DR. INGLEBY stated at 7 S. i. 293 that about 1859-60 a friend of his and a Frenchman fought a duel at Malvern Wells : " The combatants fought with swords, and my friend was wounded in the sword-arm, but ultimately disarmed his opponent. n
R. J. FYNMORE.
" AN OLD EWE DRESSED LAMB FASHION "
(10 S, xii. 189, 237).' The Influenza, a Tale,' signed J. II . and dated York (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xlvii. 1777, p. 187), contains the following lines :
Here antique maids of sixty three Drest out lamb-fashion you might see ; Here youthful belles, whose studied pride Was Nature's loveliest gifts to hide, With Babel-towers of hair as high As if they meant to kiss the sky.
I suggest that the origin of the phrase " dressed lamb fashion " is not the dressing of mutton as lamb, but rather the decoration of lambs with ribbons, &c.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Lone Shieling, with other Literary and His- torical Studies. By G. M. Fraser. (Aberdeen, William Smith & Sons.)
MR. FRASER, who is Librarian of the Public Library of Aberdeen, has given us in these pages a batch of Scotch sketches, in which Aberdeen,, as might be expected, figures largely. But all are pleasant reading, and deserve more than a local reputation.
In the opening paper Mr. Fraser shows much ingenuity in ascertaining the authorship of ' The Canadian Boat Song,' and makes out a very good case for ascribing it to Prof. Wilson, the " Christ- topher North " of the ' Noctes.' The high jinks of the latter are somewhat discredited as a form of literary entertainment, but Wilson actually did, as Mr. Fraser shows, use more than once in his verse phrases which, seem peculiar in the ' Boat Song,' and it is this evidence which chiefly persuades xis. The rest is not conclusive.
Other papers deal with ' Walter Scott and the Aberdonians,' and the need of a properly anno- tated edition of Lockhart's ' Life of Scott,' which the present reviewer has often contemplated. There is an admirable exemplar for such work in Dr. Birkbeck Hill's wonderful edition of Boswell r s ' Life of Dr. Johnson.' The Doctor, by the by r went to Aberdeen with Boswell after seeing Lord Monboddo, and his remark that they had not " started a single mawkin for us to pursue ' r might have been added to the last chapters on ' Aberdonians viewed from the Outside.' We have some experience of the race, and gladly admit their fine qualities of sound sense, hard- headedness, and enterprise. At the same time, we have found a matter-of-factness, if we may use such a word, which reminds us of Lamb's views on Scotchmen. Aberdeen has, Mr. Fraser reminds us, " advocates," the only members of the profession outside Edinburgh so termed, and " baillies " with a double I, a retention due to* French influence, which is strong in the Northern town. The Edinburgh officials of that name do not deserve this spelling, we presume, on p. 88. We do not regard Union Street as quite the finest in the world, but it is certainly notable.
A chapter which tempts us to quote is concerned with ' Some Notable Literary Deceptions/ especially the forging of ballads, and the career of W. H. Ireland. Considering the place-name of Aberdeen, Mr. Fraser comes to the conclusion that it represents the mouth of the Dee, not the Don. As for the last letter, it is said to represent a Pictish genitive.
The author throughout has nothing of the " provincial " point of view. We dislike the word, which is too often used by inhabitants of a city which, though the greatest in the world, has by no means always been the foremost in enterprise.
IN The Cornhill Sir Henry Lucy writes on ' A Haunting Verse ' in the ' Canadian Boat Song,' but adds nothing to ordinary know- ledge. He would have found in the book reviewed above (which has been out some little time, though we have not been able to notice it until this week) strong evidence that the poem
