Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/196

This page needs to be proofread.

NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 12 s. vi. APRIL 21. 1920.


So many nonce-words, and attempts at words < have been recorded in the Dictionary, occurring 1 in books which no man now ever reads, that we think place should have been found for Robert Hugh Benson's rather ingenious volor" the name which he gave to the airships which figure in The Lord of the World' and The Dawn of All.' 'Under " volcanic " Byron has been forgotten ; though " Lone as some volcanic isle " would have - supplied an element desirable for adequate illustra- tion, as, rather curiously, " volcanic isle " or " island " does not occur in the group of quotations in which it would naturally be placed. Under "' vulture," in the figurative use as " something which preys upon a person," it is said that an allusion to Tityus is commonly intended ; but we fancy that, however incorrectly, those who use the figure usually have Prometheus rather than Tityus in mind.

The earliest instance for " vulnerable " appears to be the one in ' Macbeth.' A single instance of this -in the active sense (1603) is noted. " Vulgate " has aiotso completely been appropriated to St. Jerome's version of the Bible, but that it can be used even for common or colloquial speech not a specially 'happy use. We confess to some surprise at finding that " vulgarian " as substantive can be traced back as far as Maria Edgewprth. ' Vulgars," in school phrase, for passages in English to be done into Latin, seems to have had a run of exactly a century from 1520, here, to 16 1 2. South ey, apparently, would have had us speak of " vul-

canising" verses, in the sense of committing 'them to the flames; however, some twenty years

later than the date of his letter, the word was -appropriated by the inventor of the process to name the method of hardening india-rubber by 'treatment with sulphur. 'Voyage' is one of the best articles in the section and we would particu- larly congratulate the compilers on the fine group of examples illustrating its obsolete use for a .military expedition. So late as 1860 an instance of " making a voyage " for making a journey by land (has been discovered. " When the voyage is ready, the master is bound to sail as soon as the wind and tide permit" (1826) the only example of voyage= a vessel fitted out for sailing and the whaling and fishing uses of the word are interesting extensions of meaning. Beside "voyage" we would put

    • vow " and its derivatives, and with them " vouch-

safe," the forms of which present a bewildering variety.

We observed, with satisfaction, that the Daily Press has here been less frequently drawn upon for

quotations than in many sections is the case, and this is the more noticeable because the words dealt with are so largely modern and often referable to

! purely modern institutions or discoveries.

'The Bowyer Bible. A Monograph by Archibald Sparke. (Published by the Libraries Committee, Bolton).

'THE BOWYER BIBLE is an extra-illustrated or Gran- gerised copy of Macklin's Bible, which has been

extended from seven volumes to forty-five by the insertion of engravings and drawings collected from

every part of Europe. The whole work which is enclosed in an elaborate oak cabinet was accom- plished, at the cost of thirty years of occupation and 4,000 guineas, by Robert Bowyer, a miniature painter of some note subsequently a publisher


(1758-1834). It seems to have reached completion about 1826.

It is at present on loan at the Bolton Public Library for a term of ten years, and Mr. Archibald Sparke, well-known to all our readers, has here brought together all the particulars of its history and vicissitudes, with so much as proved obtainable, or was requisite, of the history or its divers owners. This makes an interesting short monograph, which will be specially acceptable to those who have had the opportunity of inspecting the Bible.

We fear there is not much to be said in favour of "Grangerizing," except from the point of view of the Grangerizer himself. So, ones own common- place-book is of singular use to oneself, but of doubtful value to any other person. We are in- clined to think the good Bpwyer overdid it not so much in the way of collecting as in the sumptuous- ness of the book-case and accessories. He attempted by these means to unify that which would have been better left obviously as it must needs remain in- trinsically heterogeneous.


10


We request our correspondents to note that the arrangement for sending advance copies of Replies upon payment of a shilling will be discontinued now that ' Notes and Queries ' is once more published weekly.

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to The Pub- lishers" at the Office, Printing House Square, London, E.C.4.

In reply to MR. ANEURIX WILLIAMS at p. 40 (' Samuel Rowlands ') MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE writes : " This author was born about 1570 and wrote many tracts in prose and verse between 1598 and 1628. Two of his pamphlets were publicly burnt in 1600, but he issued them later under different titles. All his works are biblio- graphical rarities and the book embodied in your query is ' Martin Mark-all, Bedale of Bridewell ' 1610, and contains a thieves' vocabulary com- pleter than in any earlier work. Only six copies of this book are known to eyist, says ' D.N.B.* He died about 1630."

ST. LEONARD'S PRIORY, HANTS (12 S. vi. 90). MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE suggests that " the Priory MRS. COPE requires may be the one known as ' St. Leonard's Grange,' a thirteenth-century building occupied by the monks of Beaulieu. A description of it is in the ' Victoria County His- tory of Hampshire,' vol. iv., p. 654."

MR. M. A. ELLIS (" Puttick : Origin of Name"). MR. HENRY HARRISON, in his 'Surnames of the United Kingdom' derives this name, no doubt correctly, from M.E. puttoc, a kite or hawk.

G. ("'Butter' in Place-names"). This may be considered a variant of Boter (Boterus), Latinized form of the English name Bot-here. See the late PROF. SKEAT at 10 S. xii. 91 on " Butterworth."