58
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. JAN. is, 1902.
23 February, 1848. I do not deem it necessary
to burden the columns of *N. & Q.' with ^fur-
ther particulars, but would refer A. L. W. r.
to a pamphlet entitled ' Token of a Nation's
Sorrow. Addresses in the Congress of the
United States, and Funeral Solemnities on
the Death of John Quincy Adams,' second
edition, Washington, 1848, 8vo, which con-
tains much information respecting this
worthy, as well as an engraved portrait of
him. W. I. R. V.
There is a pretty full notice of him in ' The Penny Cyclopaedia,' which says that he was " of a family which had come from England at the first settlement of the colony." There are lives of him by G. Gibbs, 1848, and C. F. Adams, 1851. C. S. WARD.
"IN PETTO" (9 th S. viii. 413). The error to which attention is drawn by H. in construct- ing Italian phrases from corresponding French ones had once an amusing illustration in my experience. When in Italy my sister and I were invited to dine at her " pensione " with a friend who constantly boasted that, knowing French well, she could get on anywhere in Italy by converting literally the French phrases into Italian. On the day appointed my sister was unwell and unable to go with me ; and when the " padrone," who had been told to expect two extra, saw only one sit down, he asked my friend why the other lady had not come. " Sua sorella non seporta bene" replied my friend, which she thought the equi- valent of ne seporte bien. " Oh, never mind !" said the kindly padrone, looking compas- sionately at me, " let her come, let her come," when I, laughing, had to explain to my friend that she had told the padrone that my sister did not behave herself well enough at table to be invited out. K. M. ROBERTS.
Condover.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.
Edited by Dr. James A. H. Murray. Vol. VI.
Lap Leisurely. By Henry Bradley. (Oxford,
Clarendon Press.)
SOME points of extreme interest are illustrated in the last instalment a double section of the great Dictionary. Modern editors of Shakespeare, so far as we know without exception it is certainly the case in all the editions we have consulted, includ- ing the ' Cambridge Shakespeare 'have in ' King Henry VIII.' altered into legatine the "legative" of the First Folio. Dr. Schmidt even, in his admirable 'Shakespeare Lexicon,' falls into the same error. The Dictionary shows, however, that legative was in use from 1537 to 1886. This furnishes a further proof how dangerous it is to tamper with
Shakespeare, and how frequently increasing know-
ledge vindicates his true text from the conjectures of
the commentator and the phrase-mender. Lastery,
which, on the strength of Spenser, appears in most
dictionaries, is shown to be a ghost-word. The
passage in which it appears
Polisht ivory
Which cunning Craftesmans hand hath overlaid With faire Vermilion or pure lastery occurs in 'The Faerie Queene,' b9ok ii. canto ix. stanza 41. We quote from the edition of 1609. The word should, however, be castory, a colour extracted from castoreum. It is a misprint which was duly corrected in the errata to the first edition. Under lavender, the current hypothesis that lavendula, in mediaeval Latin, is a corrupt form of lavandula, and is connected with lavanda, washing, is not favoured, the sense development from washing to a non- essential adjunct thereto not seeming plausible. The resemblance of lavendula to calendula, mari-
fjld, is obvious. M. Paul Meyer, the eminent rench scholar, suggests livindma for "lividula," " livid." Prof. Skeat derives lawn, tine lineu, from Laon, in France, where there was a manufactory of linen. Lawn& glade in its original form is laund. Larder is defined as " a room or closet in which meat (? originally bacon) and other provisions are stored." Should Corporal Gregory Brewster's constant inter- jection in Dr. Conan Doyle's 'A St9ry of Waterloo,' " Lardy ! Lardy ! " find a place beside lardy dardy ? Larrikin, which is chiefly Australian, is said to be of uncertain origin, being first known in Melbourne shortly before 1870. Popular suggestions concerning its use are not accepted. Lasher the body of water that lashes or rushes over a barrier or weir, is said to be chiefly local (on the Thames). A well-known name for such a spot on the Aire at Bingley, Yorks, is "the lasher." A lateen sail which is, of course, a Latin sail is not heard of until early in the eighteenth century. Under lather we find a quaint quotation from Bailey's ' Erasmus's Col- loquies ': "Such as by the Lather of Tears, and Soap of Repentance have washed away their Pol- lutions." The use of lather as a verb=to thrash, is, we suppose, dialectal. It used to be familiar. That pretty word lattice pretty, at least, in its suggestion is derived from "lath." Lay occupies the most space of any word in the section. To our surprise, since we thought it a modern word, to laze^to enjoy oneself lazily, dates back to the sixteenth century, being used by Robert Greene. That abominable word leaderette first intrudes into the language in 1880. "When Little's leadless pistol met his eye," from ' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' is naturally the first quotation under leadless. In this, as in other parts of the ' Dic- tionary,' the supremacy over all rivals is maintained, and the work remains a source of undying informa- tion and delight.
The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Dis- tinguished Men and Women. Collected from Various Sources by Frederic Rowland Marvin. (New York, Fleming H. Revell Company.) WITH the limitations conveyed in its title, this work is not quite what it professes to be. This is of little consequence, since it is an edifying and an entertaining work of a kind of which the Anglo- Saxon race does not soon tire, and may be read with the certainty of interest and the possibility of advantage. ' Deathbed Utterances,' though inaccu-
