Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/66

This page needs to be proofread.

50


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io B. IIL JAK. a, MOB.


called 'Raimond et Angeline,' which first appeared in a novel entitled ' Les Deux Habitants de Lozanne,' printed in 1606. The book, the writer says,

" is very rare, the volume that I have read being the only one that I ever saw : I am sorry that it is not now in my possession : it being the property of the Duchess di Levia, who I believe is at present in Italy. Most probably Goldsmith, in his wander- ings over the continent, had met with this little work, and being struck with its merit had first translated it for its beauty, and then, relying on' the obscurity of the author, published it as his own.

Dr. Goldsmith hath interwoven many stanzas

which are in themselves beautiful ; yet for my part, I am better pleased with the compressed length of the French ballad, and think it, upon the whole, infinitely more perfect."

The writer then prints the French ballad of which he says he has modernized the spelling. The following is the first stanza exactly as it appears in the book : Entens ma voix gamesante, Habitant de ces vallons ! Guide me march tremblante,

Qui se perd dans les buissons : N'est il pas quelque chaumiere,

Dans le fond de ce reduit ; Ou je vois une lumiere, Perce 1'ombre de la nuit.

Is all this an elaborate piece of mystification 1 Upon the whole, it seems most likely that it is. At least we can hardly consider it to be anything else until a copy of ' Les Deux Habitants de Lozanne,' including the ballad, is discovered. BERTRAM DOBELL.

'NOTES ON THE BOOK OP GENESIS,' BY C. H. M. Who is the author of this book ? The third edition was published by George Morrish, 24, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, in 1862. The author dates from Dublin.

E. R.

PIG HANGING A MAN. In turning over the pages of William Hone's ' Table Book ' we have come on the following story. ' N. & Q.' has recorded many instances of a similar punishment befalling a sheepstealer, but we do^not call to mind any other case where the office of executioner devolved upon a pig. If there be any such, it would be doing a good work to record them in these pages.

" S wine Harry. This is the name of a field on the side of Pinnow, a hill in Lothersdale, in Craven ; and is said to have derived its name from the following singular circumstance. A native of the valley was once, at the dead of night, crossing the field with a pig which he had stolen from a neighbouring farmyard; he led the obstinate animal by a rope tied to its leg, which was noosed at the end where the thief held it. On comin" to a ladder-style in the field, being a very corpulent man, and wishing to have both hands at liberty, but not liking to release the pig, he transferred


the rope from his hands to his neck ; but when he reached the topmost step his feet slipped, the pig pulled hard on the other side, the noose tightened, ind the following morning he was found dead. I believe this story to be a fact. It was told me by an aged man, who said it happened in his father's time. Sept. 2, 1827. T. Q. M."

Is there any field called Swine Harry in Lothersdale? and does this tale attach to it at the present time 1 N. M. & A.

ARITHMETIC. I ask the help of readers to identify an old arithmetic, of which title and prefatory matter are missing. It is a small 4to of 178 pp., adorned with a beautifully en- graved plate for each portion of the subject, e.g., ' Addition,' ' Division,' &c. These plates are in facsimile MS. of the most ornate and flourishing description, introducing nonde- script angels, fishes, eagles, &c. (drawn by one continuous stroke of the pen), such as were regarded as the acme of calligraphic achievement in the olden days of ornamental penmanship. The book embraces fractions, ' Merchants' Accompts,' foreign money tables, book-keeping, ledger examples, &c. The last, being dated 1694, may furnish a clue to the date. Several signatures of various members of the Savery family, of " Pawlett, co. Som.," occur, the earliest being that of "Thomas Savery, 1716." 0. KING.

Torquay.

" T. D." Profs. Greenough and Kittredge, in their 'Words and their Ways' (1902), p. 252, speak of "the labourer engaged in laying a watermain and in smoking his 1 T. D.' " What does this abbreviation mean ? It apparently refers to some kind of pipe.

J. DORMER.

RICHARD WARREN. Can any correspondent say if Richard Warren, of " Cleybury," Essex, had issue by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Rowland Hay ward, Lord Mayor of Lon- don in 1570 1 WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

Manor House, Dundrum, co. Down.

MUNICIPAL DOCUMENTS. What has become of the documents that accompanied the Report of Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales ('Parl. Papers,' 1835, vols. xxiii.-xxvi.)? Lists of the documents sent are appended to the respective reports of each borough, and as a class they appear to be an invaluable source for students of British municipal history. Where are they ? Can any one oblige with a clue ? A. L.

" JE NE VIENS QU'EN MOURANT." To what family is this motto ascribed 1 The symbol is an oak-leaf. W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.