have been numbered this difficulty has existed; and as houses must be numbered to save present confusion, the only thing to be done is to keep a proper register of changes.

I hope you will receive other suggestions, and that the subject will not be allowed to drop. HENRY B. WHEATLEY.

5, Minford Gardens, W. "DON QUIXOTE (5th S. xii. 489).-The Don Quixote published by H. G. Bohn, 1842, was translated first by Shelton in 1612. It was then paraphrased by John Philips, who poured into it the filthiness of his own impure spirit. Philips was followed by Peter Motteux in 1712, who substituted for his predecessor's ribaldry a low comedy of his own, and did nothing in the way of trans

Journalism, 1859. In the case of the London Magazine imaginary Latin names were used, which were sometimes a little like the real names, but more often wholly unlike, and the idea was that by thus printing false names, and at the same time printing for private use correct explanatory indexes, all pains and penalties might be avoided. In the London Magazine for 1755 there are debates containing the speeches of 176 imaginary Latin debaters, and the explanatory index gives the names of the 176 English members of Parliament thus designated.

EDWARD SOLLY.

WILLIAM MUDFORD (5th S. ii. 160, 216).—I believe the most complete memoir of this accomplished journalist and author, who died in 1848, is to be found in my New Biographical Dictionary (1873). Its accuracy may be relied on, as the particulars it contains were derived from private and trustworthy sources. Mudford's son now worthily occupies the editorial I may add that Mr. chair of the Standard newspaper.

THOMPSON COOPER, F.S.A.

I

lating the original text. Next came Jarvis in 1748, whose work was a return to Shelton's, retaining all the beauties of the first translation, with some attempt to keep to the original, but failing in any approach to represent its poetry, eloquence, humour, or earnestness. Then came Smollett, in 1755, who as slavishly followed Jarvis as Jarvis followed Shelton, imparting to the work some of "BAMBOOZLE" (5th S. xii. 488).—If MR. QUEthe vulgar coarseness which disfigures more than KETT will look at the second edition of my Dicone work of his own. All these translations or tionary he will see that I have made the reference versions contribute to the production of the one in to the Italian bamboccio which he suggests. MR. PICKFORD'S possession, which has been care-quote from Florio: " Bambolo, bamboccio, bamfully read over by some one acquainted with the Spanish tongue, but not much impressed with the genius of Cervantes. How it ever happened that a book so pure in spirit and so chaste in words, so lofty in style and yet so full of human sympathy and love as Don Quixote came to be regarded by English men of letters as a book of low buffoonery, is a question that I trust at no distant day will be satisfactorily answered by those who pretend to know something of the history of English and Spanish humour.

Savile Club.

A. J. DUFFIEld.

The OxfordshiRE ELECTION, 1754 (5th S. xii. 428). When the House of Commons decided in 1738, after a full discussion, that it was a high indignity and notorious breach of privilege for any one to presume to print any report of their speeches and debates," the journals which attempted to give any account of Parliamentary proceedings had to be very cautious in what they printed. In the Gentleman's Magazine they were published as "Debates in the Senate of Great Lilliput," and the speakers were designated the "Nardac Befdort" (Duke of Bedford), the "Hurgo Toblat" (Lord Talbot), &c. (vol. viii. pp. 283, 331, 387). In these the speakers' names were changed by the transposition of the letters, so that though no real name was given it was easy to know who was intended. Something like this was done by all other journalists, the history of which may be seen in Mr. A. Andrews's valuable History of British

bocciolo, a young babe, by met. an old dotard or
babish gull; imbambolare, to blear or dim one's
sight, also with flatteries and blandishments to
enveagle and make a fool of one." If a verb were
made of bambocciolo in the same way, as bam-
bocciolare, it would have much the sense of bam-
boozle. The word seems to have sprung up about
the beginning of the last century. I do not know
what authority Prof. Skeat has for the assertion
that it originated in thieves' slang. I cannot
think that there is any plausibility in his suggestion
that it may have come from the cant phrase of
would be to treat to a good drink.
"a bene bouse," a good drink; so that to bamboozle

H. WEDGWOOD.

FRANZ LISZT (5th S. xii. 268, 389).-R. M. asks for information as to this eminent pianist's public and social life. A very interesting anecdote is related of him at p. 19 of the Almanach des bons Conseils pour l'Année 1880, published in Paris at No. 32, Rue des Saints Pères. It is headed "La charité voile le péché," and tells how a young female pianist, an orphan, and totally dependent for her livelihood on her professional talent, arriving in a small town in Germany, advertised a concert for a certain day, giving herself out as a pupil of Liszt's. The day before the concert was to come off she discovered, to her great dismay, that Liszt had arrived in the town, and was staying in the same hotel as herself. Fearing an exposure, which would be fatal to her

"BRITISH CURIOSITIES IN NATURE AND ART" (5th S. xii. 448).-The title of the second edition of this book is

future career, she waited on Liszt, and, in the daughter of John de Walkingham and Agnes his most humble manner, begged pardon for the un-wife (daughter and heir of Alan, Lord of Staveley), warranted use she had made of his name, making heir of her brother and sister Alan and Ada de him acquainted at the same time with her un- Walkingham. K. M. Y. friended situation. He listened to her story, and in the kindest manner requested her to sit down to the piano and play one of the pieces she had prepared for the next day's concert. He sat down by her side, gave her advice as to how certain passages should be rendered, corrected some faults, and then said, "Now, my young friend, I have given you a lesson; you may henceforth call your-taining a brief Account of the State of each County in self a pupil of Liszt's." Before she could stammer out her thanks, he added, "If the programmes are not yet printed, you may state that, on this occasion, you will be assisted by your instructor, the Abbé Liszt." E. McC-.

ADDER STONES (4th S. ix. 155).-The communication above referred to gave an interesting account about the superstitions in connexion with adder stone in Renfrewshire. I am now going to furnish some further particulars from the other end of the kingdom, namely Cornwall. Mr. R. J. Cunnack, of Helston, writes to me as follows:

"Passing through an outlying district of the parish of Sithney, I recently met with a curious relic of superstition. The farmer called it a milpreene or serpent stone, which, when required, was boiled in milk and the milk afterwards administered as an antidote for bites of

vipers. The account he gave me of the formation of the stone was that a number of adders congregated together at times, and their spittle hardened upon a hazel rod or the tail of one of their number. Near Bodmin, I am told, one of these stones is still in use. It sounds like a relic of Druidic superstition. Ancient glass beads called serpent stones are, I believe, not uncommon. My father had a very fine one, which was lent to a collector and not returned."

In Caractacus, a Dramatic Poem, by Rev. William Mason (London, 1759, 8vo.), pp. 10, 91-2, the

adder stone is thus referred to :

"Brennus! has thy holy hand
Safely brought the Druid wand?
And the potent adder-stone,
Gender'd fore th' autumnal moon?
When in undulating twine

The foaming snakes prolific join;
When they hiss and when they bear
Their wond'rous egg aloof in air;
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid, in his hallow'd pall,
Receives the prize;

And instant flys,

Follow'd by th' envenom'd brood
'Till he cross the crystal flood."

From a note to this passage it appears that Pliny described these charms under the name of serpent's eggs, and that Lhwyd speaks of the superstition as being in force in Scotland and Cornwall.

GEO. C. BOASE.

15, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster. WALKINGHAME (5th S. xii. 429).-Thomas de Scriven was married, temp. Ed. I., to Agnes,

"British Curiosities in Art and Nature; Giving an
Account of Varieties both Antient and Modern, viz....
Likewise an Aecount of the Posts, Markets, and Fair-
Towns. To which is added a very Useful Scheme, con-
England, at one View, curiously engraved, and printed
on a Sheet to fold up or put in a Frame. The Second
Edition, with Large Additions. London: Printed for
Sam. Illidge, under Serle's-Gate, in Lincolns-Inn New-
Square. MDCCXXVIII."

Then follows the Dedication "To the President,
Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society of
London," pp. iii-v; the Preface, pp. vi-xiv; a
Table of Contents; and the folding sheet, en-
titled "The British Curiosities; or, a Brief
Account of the State of each County in England,
carefully collected and composed for ye Use of
Foreigners and others." The pagination in my
copy is quite different from that of MR. GISSING'S.
The sections for Counties in England, 1-173;
Wales, 174-202; Islands about England, 203-209
an account of the several Monasteries, Priories,
Frieries, Nunneries, &c., 211-16; Appendix,
| 217-48.
ALICE B. GOMME.

Castelnau, Barnes, S.W.

No doubt Lowndes is right in saying that there were three editions of the work entitled British Curiosities in Art and Nature, i.e. 1713, 1721, 1728. MR. GISSING'S description of his copy corresponds with the last-mentioned edition, which has a folded table called "A Brief Account of the State of each County in England, carefully collected and composed for the Use of Foreigners and others."

This seems to be misnamed, however, by MR. GISSING as if a frontispiece. Its place in the edition of 1728 is after Title-Page, Dedication, Preface, and a Table of Contents. It occupied, as appears from a defective copy in the William Salt Library at Stafford, a corresponding place in the edition of 1721. A copy of the edition of 1713 I have never seen. The tabular "Brief Account" was perhaps absent from your correspondent's. T. J. M.

Stafford.

recommendation of PROF. DE MORGAN in your THE BEST INKSTAND (5th S. xii. 438).—By the 3rd S. iv. 348, 462, I bought an inkstand, there described by him, of Mr. Dufour, a stationer, 17a, Great George Street, Westminster, which I have had in use now for sixteen years, to my constant comfort and satisfaction. I never chance to have seen any of the same sort in any other shop

their writings, and he would suggest that they might have had some common source. He says the speech of Timon to the banditti is most to the purpose, and quotes eight lines from it. If MR. BIRCH will look into his Anacreon, in the ode EIZ TO AEIN IIINEIN, he will, I think, find what looks very like the original of Timon's speech. N. J. HAYDON, M.D.

Minchin Hampton, Gloucestershire. THE THEATRE AT PARMA (5th S. xii. 467).—A plan of the new theatre occurs at plate 80 of

24, Victoria Grove, Chelsea.

OCTAVE DELEPIERRE, LL.D. (5th S. xii. 180).— Some of your readers may be glad to learn that an admirable notice of this lamented man of letters will be found in Trübner's American and Oriental Literary Record, Nos. 143-4, for Oct.,

1879.

H. S. A.

THE MISUSE OF ENGLISH BY FRENCH WRITERS (5th S. xii. 361).-In that depressing, unsatisfacParallèle des Principaux Théâtres Modernes de tory, and over-rated book, Les Rois en Exil, the 'Europe et des Machines Théatrales Françaises, Allemandes et Anglaises. Dessins par Clément Contant, use of English words is very remarkable, and as Architecte, Ancien Machiniste en chef de l'Académie they are generally given without italics or inverted Royale de Musique. Texte par Joseph de Filippi. Paris. commas we must suppose that they are accepted chez A. Lévy Fils, 13, Boulevard de Sébastopol, et chez as component parts of the French language. We les Principaux Libraires. 1859." meet with cab, ulster, sportman, beefsteack, dear The work is a large folio, and MR. WARD will ("le dear de toutes ces dames"), moleskine, water-find a copy in the Art Library of the South proof, flirte ("on flirte au grillage de la caisse "), Kensington Museum. FRANK REDE FOWKE. clown, yes, shoking, clergyman, for in hand, hall, mackintosh, bookmaker, club, steeple-chase, steamer, revolver, baby, stick. The occasional irregularities in spelling are, I need scarcely add, those of M. Daudet. That great word Goddam, which serves as the title of a remarkable poem in the French language, is not omitted. We have also the expression, so frequently heard on the Continent, so seldom used here, "high life"; but in order that his readers may not mistake the true Parisian pronunciation, M. Daudet writes it the first time (p. 27) hig-life. A prince is described as having un gracieux hennissement dont il avait pris l'habitude à force de vivre au Tattershal." One of the heroines of the book keeps a family hotel, which is afterwards spoken of simply as the family ("le bureau du family," or "la fenêtre du family"). I have said that Les Rois en Ecil is an unsatisfactory book, and so it will, I think, be found by the majority of English readers. It is nothing but a tissue of chroniques scandaleuses concerning royal personages, put together without much art, and certainly without delicacy of either sentiment or language. Supposing these tales to be true, the time has not yet come (should it ever come) for publishing them. Should they, however, be untrue, an author who serves them up in the form of a popular novel exposes himself to just and severe censure. Finally, the volume is badly printed, and is full of typographical errors.

APIS.

are

LOUIS XIV. (5th S. xii. 487).—It would be easy to quote authorities in support of Thackeray assertion that this king was short, though I do not know of any writer who says that he was 5 ft. 2 in. The pictures in which he appears as one of a group (in many at Versailles, for instance) conclusive evidence on the main point. The king is always represented as shorter than most of the courtiers about him, and he wears, for an obvious reason, shoes with heels of an enormous height. It is true that it was the custom of the time to wear high heels, but those of the king exaggeration of the fashion.

are a gross

S. LEE.

In describing the figure of Louis XIV. Thackeray probably forgot the difference between the French foot and the English foot, 5 ft. 2 in. in French measure being rather more than 5 ft. 6 in. in English.

J. C. M.

"THE UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE" (5th S. xii. 328, | 455, 497).—If vol. i. would be of any use to MR. FREELOVE, to complete his set, which as he says is defective of vol. i., it is quite at his service. J. P. E.

VANDYCK'S "CHARLES I." (5th S. xii. 228, 254, 497).-I have had in my possession for some years Vandyck's sketch in pen and bistre for his eques

by 63 in., and represents Charles issuing from an trian portrait of Charles I. It is on paper, 8 in. arch, through which a castle is seen on the right

Stoke Charity, Hants. The church is in good pre-
servation, and is, with good reason, generally con-
sidered to be of the twelfth century. Could it
have been the same founder who supplied both
churches?
C. B.

in 1652. Barlow the etcher (who was a Lincolnshire man), in his beautiful edition of Esop's Fables, 1687, generally represents countrymen wearing very much the same covering for the legs that they wear here to-day-easy-fitting breeches, with "yanks" or "splats" (=gaiters). R. R. Boston, Lincolnshire.

BAPTISMAL FONTS (5th S. xii. 443).-In the hope that some one will carry out the suggestions made, I should like to make a note of the following, which, if its present resting place can be found, would probably be of great help :"7192. A curious and very interesting manuscript

MANORS IN ENGLAND AND IRELAND (5th S. xii. 428). Does ECLECTIC not know the fundamental work of J. P. Neale, Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, in six descriptive and illustrated quarto volumes, published in London between 1818 and 1823? He can inspect a copy of it in the Finch Library, preserved at the Taylor Insti-work on Ancient and Remarkable Baptismal Fonts in tution, Oxford. this Country,' prepared for the press by Jos. Taylor,

H. KREBS.

WHEN WERE TROUSERS FIRST WORN IN ENG-author of many antiquarian works, illustrated with numerous drawings and engravings of the most curious LAND? (5th S. xii. 365, 405, 434, 446, 514.)-fonts in this country. 4to. half calf neat, 488."—J. C. Some sixty years ago a "woman Friend," preaching | Hotten's Handbook of Topography and Family History. H. G. C. in a country Quaker meeting, admonished her hearers against vanity in raiment, and said it was AUTHORS OF BOOKS WANTED (5th S. xii. 389).— distressing to see so many of the younger memTwenty Years in Retirement is by Captain Blakiston. hers running down into longs; but, thank the (5th S. xii. 449.) Lord, there was still a precious remnant left in The Two Rectors is by G. Wilkins. shorts." When I was a boy, the spelling of the (5th S. xii. 489.) word was trowsers. Is there any relationship between this and the Scottish trews?

46

X. P. D. What kind of trousers were those which figure in Somerville's tale of "The Officious Messenger," a poem which, unsavoury as is its subject, was deemed worthy of a place in Elegant Extracts? As Somerville died in 1742, the verses must have been written in the earlier part of last century; and yet, when Squire Lobb sets out on his way to make a complimentary call,

"In his best trowsers he appears,

(A comely person for his years)." These can scarcely be the sort of trousers MR. PEACOCK refers to, especially as the Squire seems only to have had white "drawers" beneath them -no "breeches." CLK.

I offer the following to MR. PEACOCK, which I imagine to be an earlier instance of the word, though I may be, and probably am, wrong:

"To see this fight all people then
Got up on trees and houses;
On churches some, and chimneys too,
But these put on their trowses,
Not to spoil their hose.

66

Dragon of Wantley," in Percy's Reliques,
iii. 302, ed. 1767.

C. F. S. WARREN, M.A.

Old Bailey Experiences is by the late Mr. Wontner, the grandfather of the present well-known solicitor, 1

believe.

Life of the Right Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, D.D., Leri
Bishop of Oxford, and afterwards of Wincheste
Edited by the late Canon Ashwell. Vol. I. (Murray
Or the two Bishops of the Church of England who i
recent times have left the strongest personal impressio
upon the memory-" Henry Exeter" and "S. Oxon
the widest and strongest impression is that left by Samue
Wilberforce. For of the two he was by far the more dis-
tinctively many-sided, and his varied relations with
princes, statesmen, men of science and of letters, helped
the more to make him such. To a certain extent, indeed.
this very characteristic, which so greatly increased his in-
fluence, tended, at the same time, to lessen it. Perhaps
the actual measure of that influence has not yet bee
fully realized. To the nation generally, in which his
name had practically become a sort of household word,
the sense of what had been lost in him came home most

powerfully, though, at the same time, somewhat vaguely,
with the tragically sudden tidings of his death. Now.
by means of the story of his life, which the lamented
and almost equally sudden death of its editor leaves for
a time incomplete, it will be possible to form a more
matured judgment on the work done by Bishop Wilber-
force. Canon Ashwell's book is, even in its present
state, a valuable addition to the history of the English