282
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. OCT. 5, 1901.
kind because she had in a somewhat off-hand
manner refused the old woman a solicited alms.
The fear lest this threat should turn out true had
in this instance caused it to be fulfilled.
It is possible that among your readers there
may be some one who can throw some
further light on that case, in any event a
very striking one. H. G. K.
SURVIVING OFFICER OF THE OLD GUARD. The following cutting, taken from the Tablet, with reference to the sole survivor amongst the officers of Napoleon's historic " Old Guard," may be worth preserving in the pages of 'N. &Q.':
"The sole surviving officer of the Old Guard of the First Napoleon is said to be living at Warsaw in poverty. He is a Pole named Markiewicz, and is now 107 years old. He receives a small pension from the Russian Government, but it is contended that as he has the Military Cross of the Legion of Honour, he is entitled to an allowance from the Third Republic. Markiewicz was decorated for distinguished conduct on the battlefield eighty- eight years since, when he was only a lad of nine- teen. The decree is dated 28 November, 1813. Markiewicz is thus not only the sole survivor of the officers of the Old Guard, but he is doyen, or senior member, of the Legion of Honour. He has, how- ever, been enabled to live in three centuries, and according to all accounts is still alert, in spite of age and poverty."
FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.
"ROOI-BATJE" = RED COAT. Owing to the introduction of khaki, the word above, familiar to us in the last Boer war, has been displaced by rooi-nek. Batje, however, deserves a note on account of its obscure origin. It is, of course, the diminutive of A.-S. pad (in 'Beowulf'), O.S. peda (in the
- Heliand '), and of Gothic pdida. Of. country
Frisian baittsje, coat. There being no genuine Gothic word beginning with p, this word may be Slavonic (Schade). H. P. L.
"WHEN ISRAEL, OF THE LORD BELOVED." (See ante, p. 179.) This "glorious hymn," as N. S. S. justly calls it, is not to be found in any of the hymn-books in common use in England, but is No. 437 in the 'Church Hymnary ' (Frowde), which is much used in Scotland. W. S.
" THE SCOTTISH ANACREON." In ' The Student's English Literature' ( Murray), p. 1 15, this sentence occurs :
" The work of Sir Alexander Scott (1525?-1584?), 1 the Scottish Anacreon,' consisting of love-songs' satires, and madrigals, belongs to a much earlier period."
In the index of the work also the poet is named Sir Alexander Scott. There must be a misapprehension here. Scott's bio-
graphers have discovered so little regarding
him that they are glad of anything helpful
towards a distinctive designation. Even
"old Scott," in the sonnet addressed to
Robert Hudson by Montgomerie, is found
to have biographical value. But there seems
to be no evidence that the poet was " baron
or squire or knight of the shire." The scholar-
ship and care of 'The Student's English
Literature' (just issued in its new form) are
so manifest on fevery page that a compara-
tively small point such as this quickly arrests
the reader's attention. THOMAS BAYNE.
AN ANCIENT CHAIR. Dr. Johnson, the eminent antiquary; has discovered a chair in the village church, Stanford Bishop, Here- fordshire, which is believed to be the oldest example of British carpentry in existence. It is composed of oak, and is said to date from the year 500. Some authorities claim it to have been the one used by Augustine at a synod held in the vicinity about 590-5.
ANSLEY IRVINE.
24, Rutland Avenue, Liverpool.
REIMS RELICS OF THE PAST. The Daily Telegraph of the 20th of September mentions that one of the most precious possessions of the Reims library is an evangelistary in the Slav language. This work is in two volumes, the first dating back to the eleventh century, and the second to the end of the fourteenth. It has only been the property of the Reims library since the Revolution, having previously belonged to the cathedral, to which Cardinal de Lorraine had presented it. The first volume is written in the Cyrillian character, the second in the Glagplitic. According to the legend, it was on this book that the kings of France took the oath at their coronation ceremony. The library also possesses a manu- script dating from the year 1049, describing the marriage of Henry I. of France with Anne of Russia, which was celebrated at Reims.
A. N. Q.
DARIUS AND DANIEL. In a note in the ' Speaker's Commentary ' on Daniel vi. 16 we are told that to the king's words as given in our version from the Hebrew "the LXX. makes the curious addition ews Trpcot Odppci " (i.e., " be of good comfort until the morning "). It is well known that in very early times Theodotion's translation of Daniel was sub- stituted for that of the Septuagint, and is the one (or rather the basis of the one) in most of our printed Greek Bibles. The above words therefore do not appear in these, and their existence in the LXX. version of Daniel, which was recovered about
