256 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. VII. Mar. 26. '59. 



two works which prove that The Times had good 

 grounds for its statement. 



Alberti, in his valuable Descrittione di tutta 

 V Italia et hole pertinenti ad essa, dedicated, 1550, 

 to Henry II. of France and his Queen Catherine, 

 but of which I possess only the enlarged Venetian 

 edition of 1596, takes no notice of Piedmont. 



Boccone, an eminent Italian botanist of the 

 seventeenth century, entitles one of his works 

 printed at Venice, 1697, Museo di Piante Rare 

 della Sicilia, Malta, Corsica, Italia, Piemonte, e 

 Germunia. 



The omission of Piedmont by Alberti, and the 

 position which it occupies in^ the title-page of 

 Boccone's work, forbid the notion that in the six- 

 teenth and seventeenth centuries Piedmont was 

 regarded as a part of Italy. H. Pk. 



Lighting of the First Slate Quarry with Gas. — 

 The following cutting, from the Dublin Local Ad- 

 vertiser (10th November, 1858,) is worthy perhaps 

 of a corner in " N. & Q." : — 



" This slate quarry is situated near Festiniog, North 

 Wales; it belongs to Samuel Holland, Esq., and is worked 

 through different levels into the inside, of the mountain, 

 to the distance of more than 1000 feet ; the mode used 

 being to make openings in the solid slate rock at the end 

 of the tunnels, 30 feet wide, high, and long, and then 

 leaving a* pillar of slate of the same dimensions before 

 making another opening. In these excavations no daj'- 

 light can enter, the light of candles being found the only 

 source through which the men worked up to last spring, 

 when the proprietor employed Mr. George Walcott, engi- 

 neer, to erect gasworks, and fit up the slate quarry with 

 gas. These works have been now in operation two or 

 three months, and have given every satisfaction to the 

 owner." 



Abhba. 



Etoccetum. — At the junction of Icknield Street 

 and Watling Street, two miles S. S. W. of Lich- 

 field, is the site of the Koman station of Etocetum. 

 The etymology of this name has not been hitherto 

 deduced by Caihden and the local historians. It 

 appears, however, probable that it was the Latin- 

 ised form of ^'EtokoWoov, " the year's rest." This 

 Greek compound is not to be found in the Classics; 

 but we have a similar one in Sophocles (^Antigone, 

 805. 810.), irayKohav OdXa/jLov, " the chamber where 

 all repose," and 6 irajKolras, " the luller of all to 

 rest;" the former expression meaning the grave, 

 the latter being an epithet of Pluto, its sovereign. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



Minor ahntviti. 

 Old Maps of Ireland. — Can you refer me to the 

 best source of information respecting old maps 

 of Ireland, in manuscript or printed ? I have 

 Hard i man's Catalogue of Maps, Charts, and Plans 

 relating to Ireland, preserved amongst the Manu- 

 scripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin ; 

 but I want something more. Abhba. 



" Ye Diners-out, from whom ice guard our 

 Spoons." — The following is an extract from 

 Moore's Diary of 26th June, 1831 : — 



" Went (Lord John and I together, in a hackney- 

 coach), to breakfast with Rogers. The party besides 



ourselves, Macaulay, Luttrell, and Campbell 



In the course of conversation, Campbell quoted a line, 

 ' Ye diners out, from whom we guard our spoons,' and 

 looking over at me, said significantly, ' You ought to 

 know that line.' I pleaded not guilty; upon which he 

 said, ' It is a poem that appeared in The Times, Avhich 

 every one attributes to you ; ' but I again declared that I 

 did not even remember it. Macaulay then broke silence, 

 and said, to our general surprise, ' That is mine : ' on 

 which we all expressed a wish to have it recalled to 

 our memorj', and he repeated the whole of it. I then 

 remembered having been much struck with it at the 

 time, and said there was another squib still better on 

 the subject of William Bankes's candidateship for Cam- 

 bridge, which so amused me when it appeared, and 

 showed such power in that style of composition, that t 

 wrote up to Barnes about it, and advised him by all 

 means to secure that hand as an all}% ' That was mine 

 also,' said Macaulay ; thus discovering to us a new power, 

 in addition to that varied store of talent which we had 

 already- known him to possess." 



The object of my Query is to inquire if any of 

 your readers can supply me with the first of the 

 above-mentioned squibs, " Ye diners-out, from 

 whom we guard our spoons;" the second was 

 quoted in t\ie_ Quarterly Review for April, 1857, 

 in an article on "English Political Satires." I 

 have long been a collector of the fugitive pieces 

 of our great writers, and am anxious to procure 

 the above, but I have no opportunity of referring 

 to a file of the Times ; our Public Library (still 

 in its infancy) does not possess a copy. I should 

 also be obliged to any of your readers who could 

 inform ihe of any other of the uncollected writings 

 of Macaulay. I may mention that I know most 

 (if not the whole) of his articles in the Edin- 

 burgh Review, as well as his contributions to the 

 eighth edition of the Encyclopmdia Britannica, 

 and to Knight's Quarterly Magazine. J. B. 



Melbourne. Australia. 



Dr. JohnsorCs MS. Collections for his Diction- 

 ary. — In his preface to the English Dictionary, 

 Dr. Johnson observes : — 



"When I first collected these authorities, I was desir- 

 ous that every quotation should be useful to some other 

 end than the illustration of a word ; I therefore extracted 

 from Philosophers principles of science ; from Historians 

 remarkable facts; from Chymists complete processes; 

 from Divines striking exhortations; and from Poets 

 beautiful descriptions. Such is design, while it is yet at 

 a distance from execution. When the time called upon 

 me to range this accumulation of elegance and wisdom 

 into an alphabetical series, I soon discovered that the 

 bulk of my volumes would fright awa)- the student, and 

 was forced to depart from mj- scheme of including all that 

 was pleasing or useful in English Literature, and reduce 

 my transcripts verj' often to clusters of words, in which 

 scarcely any meaning is retained ; thus to the weariness 

 of copying, I was condemned to add the vexation of ex- 

 punging. Some passages I have yet spared, which may 



