350 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°'J S. X. Nov. 3. '60. 



caucrtcsJ iBttl) ^ustDcrS. 



Lepaux. — Who was the Lepaux so celebrated 

 in the Anti-Jacohin poem of " New Morality? I 

 do not find his name in any of the French biogra- 

 phical dictionaries. A Subscriber. 



\1l\\q individual whose name is so frequently associated 

 with those of the "Lake Poets " in the pages of the Anti- 

 Jacohin, was the celebrated Louis Marie la Revelliere- 

 Lepeaux, the theophilanthropist, and head of the French 

 Directory. For an account of this famous, or rather in- 

 famous deist, consult Biographie des Contemporains, b3'' 

 MM. Rabbe, De Boisjolin, and Saint-Preuve, 8ro., Pari?, 

 1834. Talfourd, in his Life of Lamb, thus rescues his 

 hero from the tmmerited category into which the 

 joint wit of Canning, Frere, Gifford, and Ellis had con- 

 signed him : " The literary association of Lamb with 

 Coleridge and Southey drew upon him the hostility of 

 the 3'oung scorners of the Anti-Jacohin, who, luxuriating 

 in boj'ish pride and aristocratic patronage, tossed the 

 arrows of their wit against all charged with innovation, 

 •whether in politics or poetry, and cared little whom thej-^ 

 wounded. No one could be more innocent than Lamb of 

 political heresy ; no one more strongly opposed to new 

 theories in morality, which he alwavs regarded with dis- 

 igust."] 



The Ass with Two Panniers. — An English 

 friend of mine, while on a visit to Paris with his 

 wife and daughter, made the agreeable discovery 

 that on more than one occasion he was called by 

 the natives " the ass with two panniers " (I'ane a 

 deux paniers). What had he done to merit this 

 title ? My friend is about the last man in the 

 world whom I should think of calling a donkey. 



Q. 



[We presume that while at Paris our correspondent's 

 friend, when he set out for his daily ramble, gave one 

 arm to his wife, and the other to his daughter. As, Eng- 

 lish-fashion, he thus paced the streets with a lady on each 

 arm, the polite Parisians, that being the case in which 

 they apply the expression, would be very likely to call 

 him " An ass with two panniers." If the party extended 

 their tour to Italj', and there promenaded in like guise, 

 he would not improbably be called " Pitcher " (in allu- 

 sion to the primitive form of the amphora, with its two 

 cars or handles). Naj', even in a leisurely walk with his 

 two fair companions along Cheapside, should they in 

 similar order of march, three abreast, occupj' the whole 

 Irreadth of the pavement, so that people behind could not 

 easily get before them, he might possibly hear vindictive 

 mutterings of the word " Bodkin." 



While we decidedly think many things for which the 

 French laugh at us "very well as they are," we still 

 would submit that our countrymen might advantageously 

 take a French lesson on this particular subject. With 

 our own practice let us compare that of our neighbours. 

 In France they manage differently. A Frenchman whose 

 happiness it is to have charge' of two ladies at once, 

 keeping his right arm free, gives his left arm to one of his 

 fair companions, who gives her's to the other. This is a 

 far more agreeable way of making progress ; for instance, 

 in a crowded thoroughfare. When the trio find them- 

 selves inconvenienced by the throng, the first lady, still 

 holding on, falls a little behind the gentleman, the second 

 lady in like manner falls a little behind the first. And 

 so, in a string, presenting a diminished front, they thread 

 the difficulty with comparative ease ; the gentlenTan, who 

 leads, opening a path for his ladv followers. The Eng- 



lish party on the contrary walking three abreast under 

 similar difficulties, no wonder if the two lovelj' panniers, 

 projecting one on each side, experience a succession of disa- 

 greeable collisions, while they cushion the intermediate 

 donkey, who escapes without a rub. The Frenchman 

 boasts that, besides all this, having his right arm disen- 

 gaged, he is in a position not only to repel annoj^ance, 

 but to carry his umbrella.] 



"Happy as a King."— The Editor of "N. & 



Q." will oblige by stating the author of the above. 



An Old Subscribek. 



I^This phrase was in use at least two hundred years 

 ago, as it occurs in the following extract from 7Yie Tra- 

 gical History of Guy Earl of Warwick, 4to., 1G6I, 

 Act V. : — 



" Phillis. Give me some bread. I prithee father eat, 



" Guy. Give me brown bread, for that's a pilgrim's 

 meat. 



" Phillis. Reach me some wine, good father taste of this. 



" Guy. Give me cold water, that my comfort is, 

 I tell ye, Ladj', your great Lord and I 

 Have thought ourselves as happy as a King, 

 To drink the water of a christal spring."] 



Duel between Major Glover and Mr. Jack- 

 son. — In the Annual Register for 1760, the first 

 paragraph of the May Chronicle contains the ac- 

 count of a duel between Major Glover, of the 

 Lincolnshire Militia, and Mr. Jackson, an apothe- 

 cary. Can any of your readers inform me whether 

 Mr, Jackson recovered, or in what coffee-house 

 the duel took place ? Monumiensis. 



[At the assizes at Lancaster, on Aug. 20, 1760, Philips 

 Glover, Esq , Major in the Lincolnshire militia, was found 

 guilty of manslaughter for killing Mr. Jackson of Man- 

 chester in a duel, and was immediately discharged out of 

 custody in court. Vide Gent. Mag., Sept. 1760, p. 440.] 



Starlings and Rooks. — The starling appears 

 to be a very sociable bird. I do not merely mean 

 to say that starlings are gregarious, but that they 

 seem fond of associating with other birds. In 

 particular, I have noticed them keeping company 

 with rooks. I should be glad to learn how far my 

 limited observations are confirmed by those who 

 know the country better. Paul Pry. 



[Starlings may occasional!}' be seen associating with 

 rooks; not only frequenting the same feeding-grounds, 

 but accompanying the rooks in their flight both out and 

 home. We once had an opportunity of observing, on a 

 wide expanse of downs in the South of England, wljere 

 there were no rooks, that the large flights of starlings 

 were much persecuted by hawks. If, where rooks are 

 present, the starlings affect their companj', is it for se- 

 curitj' ? Or, in other words, will no hawks pursue their 

 prey where a swoop would bring them down amongst a 

 host of rooks? It has been observed however that star- 

 lings, during the time when they are building, incubating, 

 and rearing their young, withdraw entirely from their 

 association with rooks, their chosen haunts of nidificatiou 

 being different. We have sometimes seen starlings keep- 

 ing company with jackdaws.] 



" The Latins call me Pokcus." — Some time 

 ago, while conversation was going on in a mixed 

 company where I was present, an elderly gentle- 

 man by whom I sat gave me a nudge, aiffd smilingly 



