u s. ix. FEB. 7, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
107
I believe that the reading of both folio
and quarto," What newes, my love ? " is
right, except for the comma. " News " is
a transitive verb, and the question means,
What revolutionizes my love ? " which is exactly the sense required.
I cannot find the verb " to new " in Shakespeare ; but, as a neuter verb, it is to be found in Chaucer, and surely the language was at that time sufficiently elastic to permit this changing of an adjective into a verb. Shakespeare has so many ^instances of this very interchange instances " amended " by earlier commentators because parallels had not been found that one specimen more need not trouble us.
I suppose so obvious an emendation must have occurred to some commentator before. But if so, I am ignorant of the fact, and it is certainly not the accepted interpretation in our popular school texts.
RICHAKD E. CROOK.
STEAM VESSELS : THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALGIERS. A small collection of corre- spondence of Wimbledon celebrities recently acquired includes an interesting letter from Lavinia, Lady Spencer, to Charles Hatchett, chemist and antiquary, of Belle Vue House, Chelsea. Dated 18 Aug., 1824, from West- field, Ryde, Isle of Wight, it provides the following :
" You may, perhaps, not dislike to hear a few particulars of the first application of Steam Vessels
- is Engines of War. The Lightning, now lieing
under my window in quarantine, is just returned from the Bombardment of Algiers, and it is highly interesting to watch the first steps of this Infantine species of Warfare God grant it may be the last attempt to bring it into actual service for with every advantage that could be given to it, it yet proved itself to be so dreadful a service to perform that I trust no poor creatures will ever be sent on uch in future. This steam boat had in it a very magnificent engine of an hundred horse power, thats to say, two fifties. It towed its coal-filled com- panion 1 ,800 miles. At one self same time it towed the Infernal Bomb Vessel, the Industry transport, &nd a mortar vessel all 3 as large as 'herself, for 180 miles. It consumed 500 gallons of water a minute. The steam was up 870 hours, and the consumption of coal was 8,568 bushells. The range ot the thermometer in the engine room was from 100 to 120 degrees. The stokers, or men employed
- at the furnaces, were nearly killed by the heat, and
with difficulty were brought to go to their daily work. The only shot which reached our Squadron was a spent shot from one of the batteries, and this shot hit the Lightning while towing off the Etna bomb, which had been becalmed within reach ot the enemies Guns, but it was a spent shot and did no mischief. The result of this experiment is certainly very far from satisfactory and delightfully discouraging. God bless you, my dear Mr. H. I am in a terrible hurry."
ALECK ABRAHAMS.
WE must request corresp9ndents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
" TRAPEZIST." This word for a performer
on the trapeze is common in the newspapers
(in September, 1905, an aeronaut-trapezist
was killed) ; but I have never heard it
spoken. I shall be glad to know how
trapezists accent their name, whether on the
first or the second syllable. And why is
the trapeze so named ? It is the French for
trapezium, but what connexion has it with
that figure ?
" TRASH NAIL." This term appears fre- quently between 1550 and 1620, especially in connexion w r ith fixing up the stage or scenery for revels. We have from Swayne, 1 Churchwardens' Accounts ' (1896), of date 15567, " trashe nayles, ij</." ; from Feuil- lerat, 'Revels of Queen Elizabeth' (1908), p. 308, 1578, " Trashe nayle xiiiid.," and p. 369, 1584, " threed, fire, candle, traishe nayle," &c. ; and from Thomas's ' Latin
Diet.,' 1620, " Clavi umbellati Trash
nailes."
If any one can explain either the English or the Latin name, I shall be glad to hear from him.
TRENCHMORE, -MOOR, was the name of " an old English country dance, of a lively or boisterous nature," to which there are many allusions from 1560 to 1775. An inter- esting account of it is given in Grove's ' Dictionary of Music and Musicians,' but no information as to the origin of the name. Is anything known ? It looks like a place- name or a family surname.
J. A. H. MURRAY. Oxford.
LIEUT. JAMES HOPE, 92ND HIGHLANDERS. Mr. Francis Edwards (Catalogue 324) at- tributes to James Hope the anonymous and interesting book ' Letters from Portugal, Spain, and France during the Campaigns of 1811, 1812. and 1813, and from Belgium and France in the Year 1815 ' (London, 1819, 8vo, p. 307). A James Hope joined the 92nd as a volunteer in 1809, and was promoted to an ensigncy November, 1809. Col. Greenhill Gardyne (' The Life of a Regiment,' i. 210) says he was a nephew of General Sir John Hope of the Hopetoun family. Who was his father, and when did he die ?
J. M. BULLOCH. 123, Pall Mall, S.W.
