12 s. ix. OCT. is, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 309 up'Uo 1718. Many of the Notes, Queries, and Replies are given in verse. The title page describes it as " containing about 2,000 answers to curious questions in most Arts and Sciences, serious, comical, and humourous, approved of by many of the most learned and ingenious of both Uni- versities, and of the Royal Society, Per- formed by a Society of Gentlemen." A. ' THE BEGGAB'S OPERA ' IN DICKENS. Literary allusions and quotations are not numerous in the works of Dickens ; perhaps this is one of the reasons why plain people like him. But the following reference to
- The Beggar's Opera ' may be worth putting
on record. In ' David Copperfield,' chap, xxii., Miss Moucher says : Is he fickle ? Oh, for shame ! Did Tie sip every flower, and change every hour, until Polly his passion requited ? Is her name Polly ? . . . The quotation, it will be seen, is not strictly accurate. C. W. B. WE must request correspondents 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. ' ALBUM AMICOBTJM ' OF WANDEBING SCHOLABS. I have lying before me two small quarto MS. volumes, each the ' Album Amicorum ' of a wandering Scottish scholar. In, each a page is devoted to an autograph tribute (in Latin or Greek or Hebrew or French frequently in verse) paid to the owner of the book by a friend whom he has met in his travels among the continental Universities. The album of George Strachan (see
- Musa Latina Aberdonensis,' iii. 338-346)
has about 150 entries, of dates from 1599 to 1609, written at Beam, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Rome, Padua, &c. The album of George Craig, ' Edinburgensis,' is of almost the same size and date ; among the)places represented are London, Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Geneva, Venice. Many well-known names appear : Theodore Beza, Isaac Casaubon, Thomas Dempster, Arthur Johnston. Were such albums common at the date indicated ? Have any been described in detail ? P. J. ANDEBSON. University Library, Aberdeen. RUSSIAN ? BACKGAMMON. In Cavendish's ' Pocket Guide to Backgammon,' 2nd ed., 1886, two pages are devoted to Russian Backgammon. Where can I find a more exhaustive account of this form of the game ? P. J. ANDEBSON. " HABAKKUK EST CAPABLE DE TOUT." This saying is constantly attributed to* Voltaire. I noticed, for instance, in The Edinburgh Review for January, 1920,'" capable de tout,' like the prophet Habbakuk," and in The Quarterly Review for the same month, " as Voltaire said of the prophet Habbakuk, 'capable de tout".' But did he ever say it ? Can anyone give the reference ? It is true that in * Zaire,' IV. ii., he says, " Apprenez qu'Orosrnane est capable de tout," but where did he bring this charge against the prophet ? whose name, by the way, is given in the Bible as Habakkuk. C. A. COOK. Sullingstead, Hascombe, Godalming. SIB JOHN TOBIN OF LIVEBPOOL : DALZEL. I have an old silver cup, given in 1799 by Governor Dalzel to Captain John Tobin (afterwards Sir John Tobin). I should be grateful for any particulars about Governor Dalzel. He may have been a colonial governor. It may be of assistance to mention that Captain John Tobin (1763-1851) was a native of Liverpool, a master mariner in the African trade, and well known on the coast of Africa and in the China trade. In 1800 he was a merchant in Liverpool and im- ported palm oil and ivory. He was Mayor of Liverpool 1819-1820, and was knighted in 1820. (SiB) ALFBED TOBIN. 3, Temple Gardens, London, E.G. 5. BAD SEASON: TBAGIC OCCUBBENCE. In the middle or late fifties of last century, I think about the time of the Northumber- land Street tragedy (a murderous attack on a well-known attorney), there was a very wet summer, causing great destruction of crops all over the country through the continuous rain. In the Midlands or the South of England, I forget which, a farmer walking through his fields, and seeing the sodden state of the grain, gave utterance to some blasphemous expression, and in a moment afterwards he was struck dead. Can any reader remember the incident, and give shortly the details of this and name of place where it happened ? A.
