518
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. DEC. 27, 1902.
to Shakespeare as "a butcher's apprentice,
according to Mr. Sidney Lee." Mr. Lee
quotes the well-known passage from Aubrey,
but, as a reference to p. 18 (fourth edition)
of his ' Life of Shakespeare ' will prove, does
not commit himself to an acceptance of the
story. ALEX. LEEPBE.
Trinity College, Melbourne University.
WHITE-HEADED BOY (9 th S. x. 229, 376). See 'Life of Bishop Wilberforce,' vol. iii. chap. xiv. p. 377. The bishop in a letter to his daughter-in-law speaks of his grand- children as " Whiteheads."
F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART.
Castle Pollard, Westmeath.
Scott uses the term "white-boy" in 'The Abbot,' chap, xviii.: "Said Adam Woodcock,
'We used to be their white-boys and
darlings when we pulled down the convents in Fife and Perthshire.' "
J. H. STABLEFORTH.
ADMIRAL EDWARDS (9 th S. x. 387, 458). Admiral Richard Edwards, who died in 1794, was Governor of Newfoundland 1779 to 1782.
G. F. R. B.
This officer "commanded at Newfoundland in 1779, 1780, and 1781" (Haydn, 'Dignities,' 1851), and during these years was Governor of the colony. C. S. WARD.
" THE POLICY OF PIN-PRICKS " (9 th S. iii. 46, 115, 238 ; x. 372, 412). Your correspondent is simply confining himself to the words in their literal sense, and in this sense no one would, of course, deny that they are older than Tartarin de Tarascon. As your corre- spondent says, there are probably earlier examples of its use than that he mentions. Taking the English words, and in their literal sense, we can go as far back as Shakespeare for an instance :
I will not swear these are my hands : let 's see ; I feel this pin prick. ' King Lear,' IV. vii.
There is no hyphen here, but that is only a step. I take it, however, that the point (the pin's point) is, Who first used the phrase
- ' coups d'epingle" (or pin -pricks) in its
figurative sense? and as yet no earlier example than Tartarin de Tarascon is forth- coming. The reference to Bonaparte can your correspondent give us the exact French 1 is nearer the mark. EDWARD LATHAM.
The earliest recorded use of this phrase is said to occur in the official account of the meeting between Napoleon and the Czar Alexander at Tilsit on 22 June, 1807. " For the maintenance of peace," Napoleon said, " nations should avoid the pin-pricks which
forerun cannon-shots" (M.A.P., 28 January,
1899). J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
Historical Essays and Reviews. By Mandell Creigh-
ton, D.D., sometime Bishop of London. Edited
by Louise Creighton. (Longmans & Co.)
THESE remains of the late Bishop of London present
him in an amiable light. They are of different
length and varying degrees of merit, rarely passing
the bounds of a popular lecture, and sometimes
shrinking to the dimensions of a brief and rather
hurried review. Many of them deal with Italian
subjects, having been written, the editor tells us,
during a period when the author, a resident in a
quiet country parish, was enabled to enjoy some
opportunities of foreign travel. During a visit to
Rimini Dr. Creighton was greatly interested in the
remains, Roman and mediaeval, of that fascinating,
if now neglected spot, and his dissertation upon
Gismondo Malatesta, under the not very striking
or significant title of 'A Man of Culture,' is the
best of his Italian studies. A worthy transmitter
of a name of evil import, Gismondo was excom-
municated by Pius II. as a heretic who had com-
mitted every mentionable and unmentionable crime.
When he was burnt in effigy in Rome the legend
put in his mouth by his inexorable foe was " I am
Gismondo Malatesta, king of traitors, enemy of God
and men." Heretic as he is declared, Gismondo
is a type of much that is best in the Italian
renaissance. His zeal for learning was extreme, and
it is remarkable to find this turbulent leader carry-
ing off from Turkish ground the remains of a
Platonist, Gemistus Plethon, and giving them
Christian sepulture. Gismondo was also a poet
and a fairly inspired sonneteer. It is with his
famous church, known as the Tempio Malatestiano,
that our author is most concerned. Two opening
chapters deal with Dante as the man and the poet.
We do not always find ourselves in accordance
with the opinions expressed. When, for instance,
in the lines
So that from afar
I caught the tremulous quiver of the sea Dr. Creighton finds "a very fine appreciation, which was rare in Dante's time, of natural beauty," we rather find a distinct recollection of perhaps the best-known passage in ^Eschylus. The passage in the original, ' Purgatorio,' i. 117,
Conobbi il tremolar della marina, supports this view, though the Greek idea loses much of its beauty. The papers on ' The North- umberland Border ' and that on ' The Fenland ' popularize historical knowledge in a very agreeable Fashion. No better than 'A Man of Culture,' of which we have already expressed our disfavour, do we like, in the case of work of the class Dr. Creighton contributes, ad captandum titles such as ' A Schoolmaster of the Renaissance ' or ' A Learned Lady of the Sixteenth Century.' ' The Italian Bishops of Worcester ' is a curious and interesting paper on Dr. Creighton's best lines, and the matter with which it deals will be fresh to the vast majority of readers. A notice of Symonds's ' Renaissance,' republished from the English His- torical Review, controverts the views of Symonds as
