514
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vm. DEC. 27, 1913.
it was gravely suggested that " His High-
ness " or "His Majesty," or some such title,
should be conferred upon him by law.
Fortunately, common sense prevailed, but
for many years a President was called " His
Excellency," and even now the title is occa-
sionally used, though the etiquette in
Washington is (I believe) to speak of " the
President," and to address him as " Mr.
President."
It has been said that Englishmen " dearly love a lord." However that may be, these notes furnish ample proof that my country- men have always whether British subjects or American citizens dearly loved a title. ALBERT MATTHEWS. Boston, U.S.
AUTHOR WANTED (11 S. via. 450). The quotation commencing
They said that Love would die when Hope was gone
is the last few lines of pt. i. of ' The Lover's Tale,' by Tennyson
ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.
[Miss G. DE CASSEL FOLKARD also thanked for reply.]
FINGER BOARD (11 S. viii. 68). No answer has appeared to my query as to the meaning of this term. I have since come across it in some printed extracts from the Churchwardens' Accounts of Leigh, Lanca- shire, under date 1716 i.e., seven years before the use of the term at Eccleston in the same county, before quoted. At Leigh the entry is :
Spent when the ffingar bord was taken downe And likewise get up Againe my prt ... 00 00 04
The writer of the work from which I quote (' Leigh in the Eighteenth Century,' 1882), Mr. Josiah Rose, in his comments speaks of the " finger board or clock face," thus supporting the opinion I expressed in my query. But I should like to know if the term was used in other parts of the kingdom.
F. H. C.
'THE SILVER DOMINO' (11 S. viii. 86, 133, 174, 438). ' The English Catalogue ' correctly supplies the date of the first edition {October, 1892). A copy of this first issue {accurately described by MR. M. B. FORMAN at the last reference) lies before me, and this identical copy, given me in 1896, supplies an additional reason why one should sometimes endeavour to unveil anonymity. The donor, a chance acquaint- ance, since deceased, claimed the authorship, and aroused my suspicion, as he possessed
no literary instinct either for writing or
reading. Perusal of the book made it
quickly obvious that the real writer must
have done a good deal of both. The internal
evidence supplied by composition and style
points unmistakably, I think, to Miss
Corelli. So far as I know, the attribution
to Miss Corelli has never been contradicted
during the last seventeen years, the period
during which her name has been linked to
the book. WILLIAM JAGGARD.
GENERAL WOLFE (11 S. viii. 368). Major Walter Wolfe died in Dublin on 30 April, 1771, at an advanced age. There is a very brief notice of him in Exshaw's Magazine of that date, printed in Dame Street, Dublin. It states incidentally that he had served under Marlborough, and that his nephew the General " was not a. little indebted to him for the share of military glory he acquired, being early under his tuition."
Major Wolfe, in recognition of the services of his nephew, was appointed a half-pay Major of Horse. His will, dated Dublin, 6 Feb., 1769, appoints his manservant, Joseph Marshall, " a reward if possible for his long and faithful service, and for his great care of my parson [sic], and for his friendliness to my poor kindred." Legacies to be paid to two of his maidservants.
CONSTANCE RUSSELL. Swallowfield, Reading.
" PRO PELLE CUTEM " (11 S. viii. 387, 453). I think the explanation given by B. B. is the one I gave as an alternative, and I think it is the more probable one. The words are obviously, as suggested by MR. BROWNING, the converse of those in Juvenal. The metaphorical explanation he gives is cer- tainly ingenious, and may possibly have entered the mind of the originator. One is naturally, as PROF. BENSLY says, reminded of the remark of Satan in Job ii. 4 ; but this, I find, does not throw any light on the matter, for the Vulgate version of this is " pro pelle pellem," so that there is here no question of comparison or contrast.
J. FOSTER PALMER. 8, Royal Avenue, S.W.
WORDS AND PHRASES IN ' LORNA DOONE ' (US. viii. 427). 3. Barn-gun. In T. L. O. Davies's ' Supplementary English Glossary,' where the same passage from Blackmore is quoted, the meaning of this word is given as " AJI eruption in the skin. Same as Red-gum." Red-gum is defined as " an eruption common in newly born infants.
