508
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. VIL JUNE 28, 1913.
(c) Seventh edition of the ' Dictionary.'
Particulars required.
(d) Abridgment of the ' Dictionary.' Par- ticulars are required of the 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, llth, and 13th editions.
(e) Continuation of the ' Dictionary,' by R. S. Jameson, 2nd ed.., MDCCCXXVIII. What was the date of the 1st edition ?
Baretti's ' English and Italian Dictionary ' (1760). Johnson wrote the Dedication to the " Marquis of Abreu." Is it reproduced in the 1770 edition ? It is not contained in the 1778 edition.
' Beauties of Johnson.' The earliest edi- tion in the British Museum is the third, which was published in 1782. Particulars are required of the 1st and 2nd editions. It first appeared in 1781, and probably as
- Maxims and Observations by Dr. Johnson.'
W. P. COURTNEY. Reform Club.
THE STORY OF OLD MOTHER
I enclose a copy of an old Northamptonshire
nursery rigmarole, which I heard from an old
village Woman, who asserts that it has been
handed down from time immemorial. By
its systematic nonsense I am induced to
think there must once have been some
historical or political reference intended.
Can any of your readers tell me if this is
the case ?
" Old Mother Nim-Nam lived all alone by herself, and an ironstone grew before her door and an iron pear tree. Now she had a daughter to her son, sitting on Salisbury, playing at white linen horse-bread. Now there came thieves to rob the house, and they took the guts of the gudgeon and plenty of barley meal". Up jumped the old man of the house. ' We 're robbed,' quo' he. ' Nay,' quo' she, ' saddle the brown cow and bridle the brown mare and ride off through Narrowbroad lane.' And they rode further than you, or you, or you, or I can tell, till they came to the Sign of the three Horse - shoe - nail- stumps, bleeding at both nostrils, for they were in great need of a surgeon. So they sent for Betty Hickey the Hall maid, but she said she wouldna' come and she couldna' come, for she had a baby in the wheelbarrow. And the next day she bought a bed and three mustard spoons."
G. H. DE BLESS.
" PULL ONE'S LEG." Slang is generally picturesque. I am not aware whether the particular idea which inspired this popular phrase for humbugging, bam- boozling, or making a fool of a person has ever been explained.
A. SMYTHE PALMER.
[The ' N.E.D.' has a single illustration of this phrase in a quotation from an obscure work dated 1888.]
SAMUEL PEPYS AND SIR WILLIAM SAN-
DERSON. Is the exact relationship known
between Samuel Pepys, the diarist, and
Sir William Sanderson, the historian ?
Pepys under date 9 May, 1660, writes :
" This morning come M r Saunderson, that writ
the story of the King, hither, who is going over
to the King. He calls me cozen, and seems a very
knowing man."
Any information will be most acceptable. I have seen ' The Genealogy of the Pepys Family,' by W. C. Pepys.
CHAS. HALL CROUCH.
62, Nelson Road, Stroud Green, N.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. There is a saying, I think in the classics (perhaps in Homer), " No one but a madman would throw firebrands about." I have searched in vain for it. Where is it to be found ?
H. A. B.
A few who have watched me sail away Will miss my craft from the busy bay. Some friendly banks that I anchored near, Some loving souls whom my heart held dear In silent sorrow will drop a tear. But I shall have peacefully furled my sail In moorings sheltered from storm and gale, And greeted the friends who had sailed before O'er the unknown seas to the sunny shore.
A. J. DAVY. Torquay.
WATER- STEALING DEVICE IN ANCIENT ROME. Mr. Walter G. Kent, in ' An Appre- ciation of Two Great Workers in Hydrau- lics,' a privately printed book, when dealing with the Venturi law, makes the statement that " the crude germ of this principle was known in ancient Rome, and was employed in a rough way as a water-stealing device." I have searched in vain in the two books, ' De Aquis,' by Sextus Julius Frontinus (a new edition or reissue of which, with trans- lation, has been announced by Longmans & Co.). for the passage upon which Mr. Kent's statement must have evidently been based. Can some kind reader help me ?
L. L. K.
ADMIRAL EDMUND WILLIAMS. To what family did Admiral Edmund Williams, who died 1 May, 1752, belong ? I imagine him to be an uncle of General Richard Williams of the Marines, who married Gratiana Stephens, and whose daughter was the wife of Admiral Richard Thomas of Stonehouse, Devon. The general's son mentions my great-uncle Admiral Edmund Williams in his will.
A. STEPHENS DYER.
207, Kingston Road, Teddington.
