620 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



['i-^d s. VII, June 25. '69. 



In the dictionary of the French Academy, it is 

 called 



" Toutenague. Alliage metallique blanc, fait aveo de 

 I'etain et de bismuth. On le nomine aussi Tintenaque." 



This is probably taken from Dr. Woodward's de- 

 scription, as his works were well known to the 

 literati of France. 



The Germans call it Tititenack,lTombak, Spdu- 

 ter, zinc, &c. 



Neither of these definitions or descriptions be- 

 long to T. J.'s tooth-and-egg candlesticks. When 

 I was a boy, a playmate picked up in the street a 

 watch which he thought to be silver ; but a neigh- 

 bour, who had been in India and China, said it 

 was tutanague, a Chinese metal scarcely less valu- 

 able ; and a neighbouring watchmaker, the parish 

 clerk, declared it was pinchbeck. The metal is 

 like that described by T. J., and is white copper 

 of China, esteemed by some mineralogists to be a 

 metal sui generis, and entered originally into the 

 composition of that deleterious union of metals 

 cdlled German silver. James Elmes. 



Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide, 1 vol. 

 8vo., Canton, 1856 (4th edition) : — 



" Tutenage, or Ctiina spelter, sluing tung. The word 

 tutenaga is the Portuguese for zinc, and lias been misap- 

 plied to this and other cupreous alloys b}' foreigners ; it 

 is properly the gong metal of the Cliinese, an alloy of 

 copper and tin. It is made by melting 100 catties of the 

 mineral called hung-tung, or red copper, with 25 catties of 

 tin, and running it into a thin plate whefa intended for 

 gongs." 



I have frequently observed in the joss-houses 

 at Canton altar candlesticks of this metal, and 

 doubtless those of T. J. have taken a part in 

 many a "joss-pigeon." Arthur Paget. 



The alloy now called tutenag, and extensively 

 used in China, was formerly called ioothanage. 

 In a letter from Sir Thos. Browne to his son Ed- 

 ward, May 29, 1679, he says, — 



"In the list of commodities brought from the East 

 Indies, 1678, I find among the druggs, tincal and tooth- 



anage set doune thus . Enquire also what these are, 



and may gett a sample of them." 



Hence the corrupted form, tooth and egg metal, 

 used by T. J.'s informant. The alloy is composed 

 of copper, zinc, and nickel, with a_,fraction of iron, 

 and much resembles silver. X. 



[We are indebted to Louisa Julia Norman, W. J. 

 Berkhard Smith, Stat Veritas, N. D., and several 

 other correspondents for similar replies.] 



THE BALLAD OF SIR ANDREW BAIlTOlt. 



(2"* S. vii. 316.) 

 I quite agree with A. A. in feeling the difficulty 

 respecting this gallant officer's nautical tactics. 



and have been waiting in the hope of some reply 

 to your correspondent's Query, more satisfactory 

 than any explanation that has yet been oifered. 

 It appears that this Scottish champion. Admiral 

 Barton (Breton, Briton, or Britannus), was a 

 peculiarly formidable antagonist in naval war- 

 fare, from a knack which he had of letting down 

 '■'■beams" from his "top-castle;" and the question 

 is, What were these beams ? What was the true 

 nature of this nautical manoeuvre ? Chamber.s, in 

 his Biog. Diet., 1856, gives the following expla- 

 nation: — 



" One manoeuvre of Scottish naval warfare which Bar- 

 ton used was derived from an old Roman practice used 

 against the Carthaginians, although he had, perhaps, 

 never read their history ; this was, to drop large weights 

 or beams from the yard-arms of his vessel into that of the 

 enemy, and thus sink it while the two ships were locked 

 together; but to accomplish this feat, it was necessary 

 for a man to go aloft to let the weight fall. The English 

 commander, aware of this," &c. — Suppl. Vol. p. 88. 



A mere landsman is rather at a loss to imagine 

 how, when two ships were locked together, one 

 could sink the other ; and the explanation is en- 

 cumbered with other difficulties, already stated 

 by A. A. But an able writer of fiction gives us a 

 somewhat different view of Barton's modus ope- 

 randi. Mr. Grant, in his Yellow Frigate, prefixes 

 to his sixty-fourth chapter, headed " The Battle 

 of Fifeness," the following extract from one of 

 several versions of the ballad of Sir Andrew 

 Barton : — 



" Were ye twentye shippes, and he but one, 



I swear by kirke, and bower, and hall, 

 He wolde overcome them everye one, 



If once his beames they do let fall." 



And the following is Mr. Grant's description of 

 the predicted result : — 



" At that moment there was a trerrtendous shock ; the 

 masts nodded like willow wands, and several top-masts 

 with all their yards, sails, rigging, and hamper, came 

 thundering down on the still contested decks ; and then 

 a hoarse shout of rage and despair arose from the English 

 ships."— P. 405. * 



A most extraordinary manoeuvre indeed ; and 

 what an ingenious way of terminating a naval 

 conflict! '■^Several top-masts," with no end of 

 top -hamper, come suddenly and simultaneously 

 thundering down on the contested decks ! 



Having referred to various authorities alleged 

 by writers upon the subject of Sir A. Barton and 

 his "beams," and having found nothing to the 

 purpose, I would now venture to suggest, on fair 

 etymological grounds, that the beams let fall from 

 Barton's tops on the enemy's deck were bombs : 

 not necessarily " twelve-inchers," but in magni- 

 tude, possibly, something between what we now 

 call bombs and hand-grenades. It is certain that, 

 under peculiar circumstances, the Gr. fiSjxSos and 

 the Lat. bombus assume, in old Scottish, Anglo- 

 Saxon, and old English, the form of beme and 

 beam. Lat. bombus, a hum, a hoarse sound, the 



