178 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 121. 



may obtain a full reply explanatory of how these 

 degrees are obtained, and of the bestowers of 

 them. J. W. 



Liverpool. 



Derivation of News. — It is just two years since 

 the word News was stated to be derived from the 

 initial letters of the cardinal points of the compass, 

 as prefixed to early newspapers. I well remember 

 tlie impression which the statement made on me : 

 if written seriously, as a mark of credulity ; if 

 sportively, as rather out of place. Moreover, it 

 was both stated as a fact, and as an ingenious ety- 

 mology — a manifest inconsistency. 



In the fierce and tiresome discussion which arose 

 out of that announcement, the main points in sup- 

 port of the asserted derivation were never once 

 introduced. Do such early newspapers exist ? 

 Is the derivation itself of early date ? As to the 

 first question, I must declare that no such news- 

 papers ever came under my observation ; but as 

 to the second, it must be admitted that the de- 

 rivation has been in print, with all the weight 

 of evidence which belongs to it, above two cen- 

 turies. 



I shall assume, if not better informed, that it has 

 no other authority than the subjoined epigram in 

 Wits recreations, first published in 1640, and said 

 to contain the finest fancies of the muses of those 

 times. In default of the original edition of that 

 icire work, I transcribe from the re-publication of 

 it in 1817. ' 



•^ " News. 



When news doth come, if any would discusse 

 The letter of the word, resolve it thus : 

 News is convey'd by letter, word, or mouth, 

 And comes to us from North, East, West, and South." 



BoLTON CoRNEY. 



Passage in Troilus and Cressida. — Would Mr. 

 J. Payne Collier, whose name I have often seen 

 among your contributors, have the kindness to in- 

 form me whether any light is thrown, in the emen- 

 dations inserted in his folio edition of Shakspeare, 

 l(i28, on a line which has always puzzled me in 

 Ulysses' speech in council, in Scene 3. of Act I. 

 of Troilus and Cressida ? The passage runs thus : 

 " How could communities, 

 Degrees in schools, and brotherhood in cities, 

 Peaceful commerce from dividable stiores. 

 The primogenitive and due of birth, 

 Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels. 

 But by degree, stand in authentic place?" 



It will be seen that the third line, according to 

 the usual pronunciation of the last word, is defec- 

 tive in scanning; that, if derived from divido, the 

 vowel in the penultimate syllable would be i and 

 not a; and that, even if intended to express the 

 word divided, as suggested by one of our commen- 

 tators, would be too vague and inexpressive. 



Might I suggest that the derivation is not from 

 the word divido, but rather fi-om a compound of 

 the words divitice and do ; the expression " riches- 

 giving shores" not only completing the sense of 

 the passage, but forming a compound not uncom- 

 mon with our immortal bard. W. S. D. 



Bachelor's Buttons. — That should be their name- 

 if they exist; but, if so, where are they to be got? 

 I never heard of them. I should think a clever 

 fellow might make a fortune by inventing some 

 kind of substitute which a man without the timej 

 skill, or materials necessary for sewing on a button, 

 might put in the place of a deserter. If you do 

 not insert this Query, may your brace buttons fly 

 off next time you are dressing in a hurry to dine 

 with the grandest people you know ! 



Your Wellwishee. 



Princes of Wales and Earls of Chester, eldest 

 Sons of the Kings of England. — In the New Me- 

 moirs of Literature, vol. iv., July, 1726, it was 

 announced tliat Mr. Bush, one of the Clerks of the 

 Record Office in the Tower, and late Fellow of 

 King's College, Cambridge, designed to print a 

 Collection of Charters, Letters Patent, and other 

 instruments concerning the creation and investi- 

 ture of the eldest sons of the Kings of England as 

 Princes of Wales, Dukes of Cornwall, Earls of 

 Chester and Flint, &c. &c., from the time of 

 Edward, the first Prince of Wales (afterwards 

 King Edward II.), to the time of Edward IV. 



Can any of your correspondents inform me 

 whether such a work ever was published ? and 

 who was the editor of the monthly review entitled 

 New Memoirs of Literature, which extended to six 

 volumes Svo. ? It contains notices of many old and 

 now rare works, and stopped in December, 1727. 



G. 



Authenticated Instances of Longevity. — Your 

 correspondent A. B. R. (ante, p. 145.) and others 

 argue their question of the old Countess of Desmond 

 very ably; — will any one of them be pleased to 

 argue my question ? Is there one word of truth 

 in the story, or any other story that rests, as a 

 preliminary condition, on the assumption that 

 people have lived to one hundred and fifty years 

 of age ? Of course the proof is to rest on dates 

 and facts, parish registers — on clear legal evidence. 

 It is admitted by actuaries and others, learned in 

 such matters, that the average duration of life is 

 greater now than it was ; so, we might fairly as- 

 sume, would be the exceptional life. Can these 

 gentlemen refer us to a single instance of an insured 

 person who lived to one hundred and fifty ? to ona 

 hundred and forty, thirty, twenty, ten ? aye, to 

 one hundred and ten ? There is a nonsensical 

 inscription to this effect on the portrait of a man 

 of the name of Gibson, hung up in Greenwich 

 Hospital, but its untruth has been proved. I also 



