Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/277

This page needs to be proofread.

ix. APRIL 5, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


269


on his tombstone in the churchyard of the parish of St. Thomas in that island ? Also, of what family was his wife Priscilla? Both are mentioned, and his monumental inscrip- tion is given, in the notes to Oliver's * History of Antigua,' 3 vols. folio, London, 1894-9, and the names of three of their daughters, Mrs. Weatherill, Mrs. Douglas, and Mrs. , appear, but without any account of he parents, who did not belong to the sland of which Mr. Oliver has written the dstory so copiously and so well.

R. MARSHAM-TOWNSHEND.

GENESIS I. 1. A rabbi of my acquaintance insists that the first three words mean "In the beginning He created elohim, i.e., gods or powers." The word for "the heavens" is preceded by a particle, usually untranslated, which might mean " with relation to." Not being a Hebrew scholar, I ask whether the grammar of the passage, apart from theology, will bear such a rendering.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

GENIUS AND INSANITY. Seneca, quoting Aristotle, says : "Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementise fuit" ('Dialogues,' ix. 17). Where is the sentence in the Stagirite from which the Roman translated this passage, which has been echoed ever since 1 Dryden put it :

Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide.

Shakespeare, who could not read either Aristotle or Seneca, after all had hit on the same idea, as he shows by classing together The lunatic, the lover, and the poet.

JAMES D. BUTLER. Madison, Wis.

SATIRICAL COLOURED PRINTS. I have half a dozen old coloured prints, quarto size, each representing, in a spirit of satire, a man on horseback. Only one of them presents man and horse in a favourable light. This one shows a young buck, in a wide hat, green coat, and top boots, on the back of a sturdy brown cob, walking quietly along a country road. The title printed underneath is 'The Mistaken Notion.' What does this refer to? And from what book or collection of prints do these engravings come ? They bear the inscription "H. Banbury, Esq., Delin. W. Dickinson Excudit," but no date. One of the prints is of an ugly man on an ugly horse, at cross-roads. The rider is awk- wardly endeavouring to pull the horse's head in the direction of one turning, while the sorry hack is evidently determined to choose


another. In the background is an inn, the sign of which is a Golden Cross with the legend " In hoc signo vinces." The title at foot reads 'A Horse with a Nose.' From their appearance I should judge the date of these prints to be about 1780. Can any one enlighten me? JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS. Town Hall, Cardiff.

COURT ROLLS OF THE HONOUR OP RAY- LEIGH, ESSEX. In one of the MS. volumes of the late H. W. King, bequeathed to the Essex Archaeological Society, of which he was hon. secretary for many years, are some extracts entitled ' Brief Notes taken by me 19 Aug., 1880, on a Casual Inspection of Two Large Volumes of Rolls of the Court Baron of the Honour of Raleigh.' Unfortunately, no refer- ence is given as to the ownership or the place of custody of these rolls ; ana hitherto all inquiries have been fruitless. I shall be thankful if any one can inform me of their present habitat. In his diary the last entry is dated just two months previous to the above. WALTER CROUCH.

Wanstead, Essex.


THE WEST BOURNE. (9 th S. viii. 517 ; ix. 51, 92, 190.) I THINK that COL. PRIDEAUX and readers to whom this question may be interesting (as doubtless it especially is to those who, like myself, live in the Westbourne district) must, for evidence of the original name of the stream, be content to find it in the name of the district. It is agreed, I think, that the territorial word " bourn," of French extraction, was not ingrafted on English stock until our own similar word, as an indigenous plant, had flourished for centuries. At the date of the first mention found of Westbourne viz., 1222, it is not thought that the alien word had been imported, and for this reason, if for no other, the second syllable of the name cannot refer to land, or a land boundary, but to water i.e., a stream or bourne. Had there not been a western bourne the name Westland or Weston or Westham might have been naturally applied to the vil or manor, but not Westbourne. Thus reasoning, we may think that, while yet the virgin ground or primeval forest lay undisturbed, the London native, venturing thus far from his defended settlement, knew this stream as the western bourne ; and that in like manner it would be known to the mediaeval citizen, who from his city gate