472
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. m. JUXB 17, m
The Basque Jesuit priest whom I quoted in
my former letter under this heading says, on
p. 339 of the same book, "Lembicico artu
aldian, ciquinduric utci zuen Judasec bere
comunio gaistoarequin aldareco maya," i.e.,
" At the first time of receiving Judas left the
table of [the] altar defiled with his bad com-
munion." Just below this he adds, "There
are many who make a semblance of cleansing
in the fountain of confession, and go up to
the table of communion (comunioco mayera)
with lost and muddy heart." It is possible
that Mendiburu here used aldareco maya and
comunioco maya in distinct senses. But has
there always been a Communion rail before
every Catholic altar? A living Spanish-
Basque priest who prides himself on his
orthodoxy assures me that in the Castilian
of "la venerable Madre Maria Jesus de
Agreda," author of 'La Ciudad Mistica,' the
word mesa, which is merely a shortened form
of Latin mensa, is used as the equivalent of
altar. I remember seeing in an Anglican
Eucharistic book the following mediaeval
rime :
Presbyter in Christi Mensa Tu quid agis bene pensa.
PALAMEDES.
SARAH CURRAN: ROBERT EMMET (9 th S. iii. 349). Referring to this sad subject, I beg to be permitted to remark that in my copy of 'Ireland in '98' (Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1888), J. Bowles Daly, LL.D., the editor, states at p. vii :
" My main desire is to put before the mass of English readers a true report of the most stirring and eventful chapters of Irish history."
At pp. 35 and 36 it is stated that Miss Currans
" correspondence fell into the hands of Major Sirr at the time of Emmet's arrest. They remained long in his possession, classed with rebellious papers, and were burned by Major Sirr some years before his death."
For the verification of this declaration may I suggest an examination of the truculent major's papers which contain much valuable information relating to the times in which he lived preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin ? HENRY GERALD HOPE.
Clapham, S.W.
" To SAVE ONE'S BACON " (9 th S. ii. 407 , iii. 33). The earliest occurrence of this ex- pression I have ever met with is in the old Latin poem of ' Ysengrimus,' more commonly known (in this country, at all events) by the title given to it without any authority by Mone, ' Reinardus Vulpes.' It was written some time in the thirteenth century, and the passage to which I allude is in the account o1
ne of Reynard's adventures with the wolf.
They meet one morning on the verge of a forest, when both are setting out on a foraging expedition in search of food, and, after a long discussion, agree to work together for mutual benefit. The fox sees a countryman in a cart, and immediately follows him, and, jumping up behind, finds a flitch of bacon in the cart, which he quietly throws out, unnoticed by the r lriver, intending, of course, to have his share of the spoil -but the wolf is too quick for him, and before Reynard has time to rejoin him
lis companion has devoured the whole, leav-
ng nothing but the string and the greasy stick (virqa) on which the bacon was hung. The fox forthwith remonstrates, whereupon another long-winded discussion follows, in the course of which Isengrim taunts him with
this insulting jeer :
Pace mea potuit salvo mihi virga bacone - Cortice plus medio rosa fuisse tibi,
'.e., " So long as I have the bacon safe you are
welcome to gnaw the stick as much as you like." F. NORGATE.
KEY AND KAY (9 th S. iii. 248, 371). PR9F. SKEAT wishes to know when the pronuncia- tion of key as kee can first be clearly de- tected. It occurs in Milton, ' Comus,' 1. 13 :
To lay their just hands on that golden key,
That opes the palace of eternity.
And a little later in Marvell's ' Flecno' :
Now as two instruments to the same key Being tuned by art, if the one touched be, The other opposite as soon replies.
These instances are curious, for both before and after this time the prevailing pronuncia- tion was evidently kay. Herbert rimes the word with way ; in ' The Secrets of Angling ' (1613) culverkeys is rimed with rays; in Wither's 'Mistress of Phil'arete' (1622) key with day. Dryden, too, and Swift have the same pronunciation and not till I come to Green's 'Spleen' (1737) do I, after an hour's search, find the other. There please rimes with keys. This pronunciation must, how- ever, have become common soon afterwards. In Duncombe's 'Imitation of Gray's Elegy' it is rimed with me, and Garrick rimes it with flea, which would, I suppose, be pro- nounced then as it is now. Nares, in his 'Elements of Orthoepy' (1784), says of the diphthong ey, "Its proper sound should be that of the 'long e ; this, however, is given to it only in the word key ; for ley, a field, is constantly written lea" C. C. B.
If " key " with Chaucer was keye in spelling, and in sound was as day is now pronounced with us (PROF. SKEAT), and if also Kaye was
