2°i S. VII. Feb. 26. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



173 



Drawcansir. — What is the exact meaning and 

 the origin of this word ? A. E. H. H. 



Hawkhurst. 



[" Drawcansir" is the name of a character in The Re- 

 hearsal. It has since passed into a common name, and we 

 say, " a drawcansir," just as we might " a hector " or " a 

 martinet;" but, from its being introduced to us as a 

 proper name, belonging to a character in a play, we may 

 understand why it is so little noticed by our English lexi- 

 cographers. We do find the word, however, in foreign 

 Dictionaries of the English language. Thus, Ebers 

 (^Eng.-Germ. Diet.) defines "drawcansir" to be ''ein 

 Grosssprecher, Eisenfresser, Renomist ; " that is, one 

 ■who talks big, an iron-eater (a fire-eater), a bully. This 

 pretty well expresses the received idea of a drawcansir. 

 But it is to be borne in mind that the Drawcansir of The 

 Rehearsal is not a mere blustering poltroon, a Bobadil, or 

 a Parolles ; he is a caricature of Dryden's Almanzor in 

 The Conquest of Granada (see New Key to the Rehearsal) ; 

 and of the few lines that are put into Drawcansir's mouth 

 the greater part are parodies of Almanzor's words in Dry- 

 den's play : e. g., — 



"Aim. Spite of myself, I'll stay, fight, love, despair, 

 And I can do all this, because I dare." 



. Pt. 2. Act II. Sc. 3. 



"Drawc. I drink, I huff, I strut, look big, and stare, 

 And all this I can do, because I dare." 



Drj'den himself has told us what kind of character he in- 

 tended by Almanzor. " 1 formed a Hero, I confess, not 

 absolutelj' perfect, but of an excessive and overboiling 

 courage." Of this superlative and transcendental hero 

 Drawcansir is a comical exaggeration, thus passing by a 

 single step from the sublime to the ridiculous. "A battle 

 is fought between foot and great Hobby- Horses. At last 

 Drawcansir comes in, and kills 'em all on both sides." 

 (^Rehearsal.) Such is Drawcansir. But now what is the 

 derivation of the word? It might be asked in reply. Are 

 ■we certain it is derived at all? " Drawc-ansir " may have 

 been designed by the noble author of The Rehearsal to 

 indicate " Alm-anzor, " (sometimes spelt in Spanish 

 Almansor,) merely by the jingle. Ebers, indeed, writes 

 the woni " Draw-can-Sir." This pretty clearly in- 

 dicates his derivation of the word, and is not bad for 

 a foreigner; but we suspect it ■will hardly satisfy our 

 correspondent. Suppose then, by way of trial and con- 

 jecture, we begin with draco, a dragon! Draconarius 

 (we are not suggesting draconarius as the origin of 

 Drawcansir) was the ancient who in war bare the dra- 

 gon-standard. Draconizare, to speak or act as a dragon, 

 a mediiBval word of rare occurrence, comes a little nearer 

 to Drawcansir. Did it occur more frequently, we might 

 be disposed to suggest it as the probable origin of the 

 word. But — to pass on — the raising of the dragon-stan- 

 dard had a peculiar significance ; it was like proclaiming 

 " no quarter," or hoisting the black flag. " Praecedente 

 eum signo regio, nuncium mortis prsetendente, quod Dra- 

 conem vocant." (Du Cange.) Now draco, a dragon, be- 

 came in old English a drake, probably pronounced draak, 

 the a long as in father, drake : and drake signified, also, 

 a sort of cannon, as well as a familiar water-bird. More- 

 over, of the drake (water-bird) there was one kind well 

 known to our fathers. Anas moschata, L., very fierce for 

 a bird of its class (" ils sont farouches et defians," Buff.), 

 and as large as a goose {anser). " Maxima in genere 

 anatum," Ray; "Anas sylvestris B. magnitudine an- 

 seris," VVillughby. Combining the terrific with the lu- 

 dicrous, as both are comprised in the old word drake (a 

 dragon, a culverin, a male duck!), and annexing anser 

 thereto, may we not be permitted to imagine that Draw- 

 cansir (the military bully, the swashbuckler) was neither 



more nor less than drake-anser, a very formidable gander, 

 a prodigiously large duck ; in fact, a duck as big as a 

 goose? Nay, a drake in all its senses; not only a drake 

 among ducks, but a drake, a dragon and a culverin ! ] 



" Miscellaneous Observations upon Authors." — 

 Will you allow me to make an inquiry respecting 

 a work which some time ago came into my pos- 

 session ? It is an 8vo. volume, entitled Miscella' 

 neons Observations upon Authors, Ancient and Mo- 

 dern, and consists of conjectural emendations of 

 passages in many of the Greek and Latin Classics, 

 principally poets. It is dated 1731 ; and on the 

 title-page is stated to be vol. i., but seems com- 

 plete in itself. The emendations are, some of 

 them at least (me judice), ingenious and probable. 



May I ask who is the compiler of this volume, 

 as it seems the work of different contributors ? Is 

 it of any value ? Did any other volumes follow 

 this first ? S. S. S. 



[This work was edited bj' Dr. John Jortin, in conjunc- 

 tion with some literary friends, and published in a series 

 of twenty-four sixpenny numbers, making together 2 

 vols. 8vo., 1731, 1732. An explanation of the initials and 

 feigned signatures of the contributors will be found in 

 Nichols's Anecdotes of Rowyer, p. 259., and some account 

 of the work in Dr. John Disnev's 3Iemoirs of Dr. Jortin, 

 pp. 17—27.] 



The Rev. Treadway Russell Nash, D.D. — In 

 the memoir in the Qentlemari s Magazine, Feb. 

 1811, p. 190., of this divine, the author of Collec- 

 tions for the History of Worcestershire, he is 

 styled rector of Leigh, but I find no mention of 

 this preferment in his History, or in the account 

 of him in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, or the 

 Biographical Dictionaries. Can any of your 

 readers inform me if he was rector of Leigh, co. 

 Worcester, or in what county ? and whether he 

 had any preferment in the Church before he was 

 rector of Leigh ? Y. E. E. S. 



[From the meagre biographical notices we have of Dr. 

 Nash, it does not appear that he held any preferment in 

 the Church until his appointment to the vicarage of 

 Leigh in Worcestershire, to which he was instituted 23rd 

 August, 1792 ; and collated to the rectory of Strensham, 

 Nov. 23, 1797. (See his Worcestershire, vol. ii.. Correc- 

 tions and Additions, pp. 51. 72.) The best account of this 

 worthy topographer is given in John Chambers's Riogra- 

 phical Illustrations of Worcestershire, 1820, p. 459.] 



" Adeste Fideles." — Who was the author of the 

 above Christmas hymn, and of the tune to which 

 it is now commonly sung in the Catholic churches 

 of this country ? and why is it called the Portu- 

 guese Hymn ? Anon. 



[This hymn is modern, of the latter part of the last 

 centurj', and does not appear in the Roman Breviary ; nor 

 is it found in Daniel's Thesaurus. It is believed to have 

 been first used in this country in the chapel attached to 

 the Portuguese embassy, and the tune has been ascribed 

 to an organist, a Mr. Tliorley ; but upon what founda- 

 tion we cannot say. No doubt the hymn obtained the 

 name of " The Portuguese Hymn" from its coilnexion 

 with the chapel of the Portuguese embassy.] 



