80
NOTES AND QUERIES. [u s. ix. JAN. 24, iou.
rom 'Cursor M.,' 1300, and tills two columns with
- ises of the word signifying "time." The jour-
nalistic uses of the word, "on space," "space- writing," " space-man," are Americanisms which date apparently from the eighties. Nature and The Engineering Magazine used "space-tele- graphy" for "wireless telegraphy" soon after this was first invented. One of the earliest quotations
call a spade a spade" show how the sense of the
proverb has subtly altered. In its sixteenth- cen-
tury application it meant that one called a spade a
spade because one knew no more ornamental name
-to call it by. "Spagyrie" alchemist or alchemi-
cal used by Paracelsus, was, it is thought, prob-
.ably invented by him a very cunning expressive
invention. " Span," " spandril," " Spain " and the
numerous words derived from it, "spar," "spare,"
and " spark " we noted as specially interesting.
Among old country or artisan words " spancel
.and "sparable" repay looking up. Sir C. Napier
wrote in 1844, ' ; Gough himself is all right, only
spancelled by his staff," an expression which seems
t,o argue a more than usually thorough country
bringing-up. The word is used for the short rope
which ties the legs of a cow during milking.
"Sparse " as applied to population is now so ordi-
mary that one may be surprised to find it a rela-
tively new Americanism. " Sparth," the long-
handled Irish battle-axe, is the most interesting
of the few Scandinavian words which occur here.
The words derived from " species " fill an imposing
.number of columns ; they have a distinctively
modern ring, but it may astonish some students
of the Dictionary to notice how long ago and how
thoroughly many of them had rooted themselves in
the language.
ALTHOUGH ' N. Q.' has no concern with politics, national or international, we cannot forbear a word or two of appreciation of the Aga Khan's article in the January Edinburgh Review. It gives an admir- .ably clear summary of the 'Indian Moslem Out- look,' and therewith of an historical situation which has hardly been surpassed in interest since Moham- .medariism itself came into being. Mr. Lytton Strachey has a good study of Henri Beyle, which ought to send many readers anew to their Stend- hal. Most readers of the recent monthlies will know more or less what to expect from Dr. Georges Chatterton-Hill's interesting paper on 'Contem- porary French Literature,' which, like others from his pen, cannot but awaken sympathy and expecta- tion, yet from a certain lack of critical intuition fails somehow to carry conviction. Lord Redesdale discourses more on the subjects treated of by Mr. Houston Stewart Chamberlain than on that writer himself. The most interesting pages are those con- cerned with Kant. Mr. VValter De la Mare, in 'Current Literature,' meditates in his usual manner, graceful, often suggestive, never tediously profound, on eight books about as wide apart from one another as books on literature could well be. Mr. Felix Clay's ' Renaissance of Dancing ' and Mr. Lawrence Haward's ' A Year's Opera ' are both worth reading. Dr. R. Murray contributes a study of the mind of Sir Thomas More which is decidedly worth reflecting on, though the point of view from which it is written, admitting as it does of quotation from Herbert Spencer, is now a little
remote. The most workmanlike and best-written
article in the number we thought Dr. Shipley's
'The Honey Bee.' As Beyle read the Code
Napoleon, so our writers of prose might do well
to read scientific works by those men of science
who are able to write.
The Antiquary. January. (Elliot Stock, &/.) A HISTORY of the beautiful domain of Knole is contributed by Sir Edward Brabrook. John Wesley visited it on the 17th of October, 1780, and in hi's journal speaks of the park as " the pleasantest I ever saw : the trees are so elegantly disposed. The house, which is at least 200 years old, is immensely large. It consists of two squares, considerably larger than the two quadrangles in Lincoln College." He describes the bed curtains in the King's Bed- chamber as so richly wrought in cloth of gold that some strength is required to draw them. " The tapestry, representing the whole history of Nebu- chadnezzar, is as fresh as if newly woven."
Mr. T. Sheppard has an article on ' A Recently Discovered Anglo-Saxon Cemetery in East York- shire.' He concludes that these and other dis- coveries indicate " that East Yorkshire was much more thickly populated in Anglo-Saxon times thai* is usually supposed."
Mr. J. Reid Moir writes on ' The Piltdown Skull.' He confines his consideration to the geo- logical and archaeological aspects. He has, " owing to the kindness and courtesy of Dr. Smith- Wood- ward, seen and handled the flints " ; and be con- siders that while " Mr. Charles Dawson has undoubtedly made a wonderful and supremely important discovery, its true significance cannot, I think, be properly gauged until further dis- coveries of human bones are made in more easily dated deposits than the gravel at Piltdown."
Mr. George Bailey records the result of some of his searches in the Chapter House at Worcester in an article on the vestments of Bishop Henry de Blois. Mr. George Worley tells us about the church of St. Michael, Paternoster Royal, and discusses the adjective "Royal." The once popular theory that the distinction comes from the old palace of Tower Royal, the site of which is marked by the little offshoot of the same name from the modern part of the thoroughfare called Cannon Street, is now supplanted by the more probable suggestion that " it comes from La Riole, a suburb of Bordeaux, the quarter in which the church is situated having formerly been the centre of the London wine trade, and largely occupied by the French shipping houses or their agents." Our old friend " Dick Whittington " built the second church, which was partly destroyed by the Great Fire, but increasing evidence unfortunately goes to spoil the popular legend as to his early career, and he was never knighted.
jlotittx ta (Kamspontonts,
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