Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/498

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NOTES AND Q UERIES. [ii s. iv. DEO. ie, ion.


in the cause of peace, I think it will richly deserve this title." Cardinal Gibbons, The Century Mag., June, 1911, Ixxxii. 306, col. 1.

If one insists on using a passive construc- tion, it is, of course, difficult to avoid this "retained object." But the passive is not inevitable, and in many cases an active verb, being more forcible, will prove more effective. CLARK S. NORTHTJP.

Ithaca, N.Y.

' OLD MORGAN AT PANAMA ' (11 S. iv. 408). The writer of this spirited effusion was George Ellis Inman, whose name is attached to the poem in most editions of ' The Bentley Ballads,' if not all ; and also in Bentley's Miscellany, where it was first published in 1839. A brief memoir of Inman will be found in ' D.N.B.,' vol. xxix., by Mr. Francis Watt. R. B.

In a copy of the ' Bentley Ballads,' edited by John Sheehan, the poem is printed with a note to the effect that G. E. Inman, the writer, was a wine merchant in the City of London, who, " returning home late one night through Hyde Park .... fell into the Serpentine, and was drowned." It is added that he wrote a couple of other poems, which were also published in Bentley' s Miscellany. No dates are given in this note. H. C. CRAWLEY.

[CoL. R. J. FYNMORE is also thanked for reply.]

DR. JOHNSON AND ' THE PILGRIM'S PRO- GRESS ' (11 S. iv. 408). I wonder what will next be heaped upon Dr. Johnson's memory. I cannot say of my own knowledge that he did not think " ' The Pilgrim's Progress ' a stupid and barbarous book," but it is most unlikely that he held any such illiterate opinion. As soon as I read MR. WHITE'S query I remembered the anecdote which I now quote from Croker's Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' Appendix V., p. 838 :

" Bishop Percy was at one time on a very inti- mate footing with Dr. Johnson, and the Doctor one day took Percy's little daughter upon his knee, and asked her what she thought of ' Pilgrim's Progress ' ? The child answered that she had not read it. ' No ! ' replied the Doctor ; ' then I would not give one farthing for you ' ; and he set her down and took no further notice of her."

ST. SWITHIN.

THE POPE'S POSITION AT HOLY COMMU- NION (11 S. iv. 105, 179). The altar referred to in my previous note is the Altar of the Chair, and not, as MR. PENRY LEWIS queries, the Altar of the Choir (which is half up the nave to the left as one walks up the church). As a matter of fact, the Altar of the Choir


is closed during a Pontifical mass. The- Altar of the Chair is at the extreme end of the apse. The learned prelate who has been good enough to communicate further with me on the subject says :

"When the Pope pontificates, the upper part of the cross becomes the chancel, and the space is reserved for cardinals, bishops, and prelates, of whom I am one. At the ' Agnus Dei ' the Pope and some of the officiating ministers leave the High Altar and go to the throne in front of the Altar of the Chair ; and after the ' Domine nori sum dignus,' the officiating deacon carries the Blessed Sacrament to the Holy Father, who then communicates,"

and receives sitting, as mentioned in my first note. WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK.

Ramoyle, Dowanhill, Glasgow.

MAID A : NAKED BRITISH SOLDIERS (US. iv. 110, 171, 232, 271, 334). I must beg pardon for several inaccuracies in my various replies, none of which, however, affect the main point. De Watteville, of course, is wrong all the explanations in the world will not alter that. If MAJOR LESLIE will allow a civilian to prefer Hart's ' Army List * to the official one, I prefer it. MAJOR LESLIE'S references are good, but, like all human things, the books he names are not perfect. There is nothing in Hart between the 79th and the 83rd Regiment, but the index on p. 591 helps. Both books should be studied in connexion with a small work by Richard Trimen, called ' The Regiments of the British Army,' which, unfortunately for us, was published in 1878.

As an item of bibliography, I may men- tion there was a song of five verses, called ' The Battle of Maida,' by Sir George Dallas, Bart. ; the words will be found at p. 70 of ' The Soldier's Companion,' published in 1824. It was set to music by Venanzio Rauzzini, an Italian musician well known in his day, and sung by Braham at London and Bath. A. RHODES.

What are additional instances of naked soldiers in battle ? In fiction, one readily thinks of Kipling's ' Taking of Lungtung- pen ' ; in painting, of Michael Angelo's ' Cartoon of Pisa,' now lost, wherein were depicted Florentine soldiers surprised while bathing, as at Maida.

Ceremonial, rather than accidental, naked- ness in battle seems to be treated in Hachen- bach's ' De Nuditate Sacra Sacrisque Vin- culis,' which is recent and highly praised. Of Mueller's 'Nacktheit und Entbloessung,* &c., I know nothing except a citation.

ROCKINGHAM.

Boston, Mass.