Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/446

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. v. MAY n, 1912.


A SAYING ABOUT PHYSICIANS : " SOL

EORUM SUCCESSUS INTUETUR. EBROBES

AUTEM TELLUS OPERiT." This adage, intro- duced by the words " Quid am etiam ex antiquis de Medicis dicebat," was quoted at 8 S. i. 29 by MR. JOHNSON BAILY, who asked for its source. I cannot find that any answer has appeared. That useful work of refer- ence, Langius's ' Polyanthea,' ed. novissima, Lugd., 1659 (my own copy with three other folios was bought at Prof. Mayor's sale for two shillings), has, s.v. ' Medicina,' col. 1756,

'" Nicocles Medicos fcelices nominabat, quoniam successus quidem ipsorum sol intuetur, errores autem tellus operit, Ant. part. 1. scrm. 56. Meliss. Max. serm. 50."

On referring to Conrad Gesner's edition of the ' Loci Communes ' of the so-called Antonius Melissa (Melissa was apparently the title of his compilation) and of Maximus Confessor, Zurich, 1546, I find the Greek to be NiKoxA^s TOVS iarpovs eiVi^is eAeyev, on ras JJ,(V CTTtTVY/as cnrrtSi/ 6 i^'Atos opy, rots 8e cnroTUY/as fj "yfj KaAt'TTTft. Gesner's Latin rendering, with one unimportant difference, was given by Langius. The Greek just quoted is found again as No. 217 of the ' Florilegium Monacense,' near the end of vol. iv. of Meineke's edition of Stobseus's

  • Florilegium.' G. E. Benseler, in his edition

of Pape's ' Worterbuch der griech. Eigen- namen,' does not attempt to identify the Nicocles in question.

EDWARD BENSLY. Univ. Coll., Aberystwyth.


SAMUEL DERRICK : THOMAS WILKES. An extraordinary mistake in connexion with Samuel Derrick has been committed by R. W. Lowe in his ' Bibliographical Account of English Theatrical Literature,' and re- peated by the ' Dictionary of National Bio- graphy.' Both authorities state that Derrick, under the pen-name of Thomas Wilkes, wrote ' A General View of the Stage,' pub. lished in London in 1759. He did nothing of the kind. Wilkes was a real, if some- what obscure individual. He was living in Dublin in 1773, and wrote letters at that period on theatrical topics to David Garrick, published in ' The Garrick Correspondence,' i. 530-31. The following obituary notice of him appeared in The Dublin Evening Post for 15 June, 1786.. No. 1313 :

" Tuesday evening, at his lodgings in Michael's lane, Mr. Thomas Wilkes, author of ' A General View of the Stage,' and editor of ' Swift's Letters,' &c., &c. Educated at the University of Oxford."


It would be difficult to say how this blunder arose. To my own knowledge, the late Robert W. Lowe, both as bibliographer and theatrical historian, exercised particu- lar caution, and was the last man to jump to a conclusion. W. J. LAWRENCE.

Dublin.

" TOTANE." The reviewer (ante, p. 219) of vol. xiii. of the ' Cambridge Modern History ' (Genealogical Tables, &c.) asks for an expla- nation of the entry Maurice "a totane " in Table 17. The individual meant is Maurice FitzJohn Fitzgerald, called Maurice Dvbh, i.e., the black (either from the colour of his hair or from his morose disposition), and also Maurice a totane, i.e., Maurice of the burn- ings, Anglo-Irish, from Irish a(n) the, and toitedn (gen. toitdin) = a, burning ; root toit smoke. He is so called in a letter from Sir Wm. Fitz william to Cecil, 17 May, 1562, in ' Cal. State Papers Irel., 1509-73,' p. 194, and elsewhere ; see Index to ' Calendar,' s.v. ' FitzDesmond, Sir Maurice Atotane.'

R. D.

" CHEEK." In Mrs. J. M. CallwelPs book upon ' Old Irish Life ' in County Gal- way are some extracts from the ancient records of the municipal council of the town of that name. In one of these the precise date of which is not stated, but which apparently belongs to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century it is chronicled that by " the wholle assent of the Counsaille " it was determined that if any person should speak any " ingerous " (injurious ?) or slanderous words or " cheke " to the mayor, he should forfeit one hundred shillings and his body be put in prison. I think this very early example of the use of the word " cheek" in the sense of impudence deserves a note. The earliest instance in the ' N.E.D.' is a quotation from Marryat (1840).

H. D. ELLIS.

ELIZABETH, DOWAGER COUNTESS OF CLAN- CART Y. The record of a " fashionable " marriage at St. George's-in-the-East, Middle- sex, such as even a West-End church might covet, is of too rare a kind to remain un- noticed.

The parish register (p. 317, No. 1035) records that

" the Bight Honourable Elizabeth Countess Dowager Clancarty of the Kingdom, of Ireland of this Parish Widow and Charles Caliste Anselme Macarty More of the City of Cambray in french Flanders & Captain in Barndick's Begiment of Foot in the French service now lying in the said City Batchelor "