158
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. iv. AUG. 19, 1911.
" MAKE A LONG ARM "(US. iv. 44, 118).
I remember a great-aunt of mine who habit-
ually used this expression when she wished
us to give her something which was out of her
reach. She also used to tell a story of her
father, in an absent-minded way, asking his
son, then a boy, to " make a long nose "
for something, whereon my grandfather
"took a sight" at the object in question,
to the mixed horror and amusement of the
whole family. E. E. STREET.
Chichester.
This is quite a common expression, and I have known it from my youth up until now. It is sometimes difficult to find such locutions in print, because writers used to be rather timid about bringing colloquialisms to press. The language of books was one thing, and the language of talkers another. It is so still, but the difference is less striking than it was. ST. SWITHIN.
THE THREE HEAVENS (11 S. iv. 48). Thomas Brooks, the Puritan divine, whose collected works occupy six large volumes of Nichols's " Puritan Series," was a man of scholarly attainments, having been edu- cated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was quite equal to the construction of his own Latin phrases. Probably the phrases noted in MR. CURRY'S query were of Brooks' s own making, and not borrowed from any of the Church Fathers, although ccelum beatorum is an expression such as one would expect to find in early theology. The three phrases were no doubt employed by Brooks to give point to his sermon and to arrest the atten- tion of his hearers. They stand on a par with the Hebrew quotations with which Cole- ridge's father is said to have edified his rural congregation in Devonshire. W. S. S.
I^ULLYVANT : BuLFIN : BULFINCH (IIS.
iii. 444 ; iv. 18, 117). Bardsley regarded Bony f ant and Bonenfant as nicknames, the English version being Goodchild (Fr. bon -^-enfant) ; while Barber explains Bullivant and Ballyfaunt as derived from Fr. bel-}- cnfant.
Bulfinch is evidently a later adaptation of Bulfin. The word bulfinch is first noted in the * N.E.D.' in 1570. N. W. HILL.
New York.
BIBLES WITH CURIOUS READINGS (US. iii. 284, 433). -r-" The Murderers' Bible" was an edition published in 1801. The word " murmur ers " is rendered "murderers" in the sixteenth verse of the Epistle of Jude.
T. SHEPHERD.
GEE SURNAME (11 S. iii. 489). The
' Patronymica Britannica ' says, s.v., with
reference to this name : " The Celtic Mac-
Gee (Magee) sans Mac."
Barber, on the other hand, derives it from Fr. Ghys, Ger. Gey, Dutch Gee.
N. W. HILL.
New York.
' LA CARMAGNOLE ' (11 S. iv. 27). The 14th Foot, now West Yorkshire Regiment, use as their regimental march the Revo- lutionary tune ' (Ja Ira.' On an occasion in Flanders in 1794, I think, their colonel led them to the charge against a French regiment saying, " Let us beat them to their own damned tune." S. W.
'PICKWICK': Miss BOLO (US. iv. 89). Dean Farrar, when he was an assistant master at Harrow, used to quote Miss Bolo's- plight as a perfect instance of zeugma.
G. W. E. RUSSELL.
" BUT " = " WITHOUT " IN THE BIBLE (US. iv. 26, 78). A much better parallel to Amos iii. 7 will be found in Ps. xix. 3, where it will be seen how the A.V. elucidates the older rendering. The meaning seems to be often misunderstood, the emphasis being wrongly laid by many readers on " voices " instead of " their." W. E. B.
" NIB "= SEPARATE PEN-POINT (11 S. iii. 346; iv. 54, 117). I agree with MR, RATCLIFFE at the last reference in so far as " nib " is a term applied to the part of the "pen" actually employed in the act of writing. It may be customary in the Midlands for persons to call for a "nib" meaning " penholder " -f " nib " ; but in London a box of " pens " =a box of " nibs " only; "pens" and "nibs" being conver- tible terms originally. It is a mere extension of usage that the whole writing instrument is now designated " pen " when "penholder ' r is meant also. M. L. R. BRESLAR.
" ' Shall it be a hard or a soft nib ? ' inquired Nicholas " (' Nicholas Nickleby,' 1839, chap. ix.). G. W. E. R,
ST. SABINUS OR ST. SALVIUS (11 S. iv. 47). St. Sabinus, Bishop of Assisi, suffered martyrdom in 304 at Spoleto in Italy. There was a St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi, in the sixth century, and another St. Salvius or Sauve in the seventh. None of these saints, so far as I am aware, ever visited the shores of this countrv. Row TAY.
