406 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'«J S. X. Nov. 24. '60. 



records, of Lord Brougham's eminent public ser- 

 vices, " more especially in the diflFusion of know- 

 ledge, the spread of education, and the abolition 

 of the slave trade." This will, we are sure, be 

 welcome information, not only to the thousands 

 who at Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, 

 and elsewhere, have, within the last year or two, 

 witnessed Lord Brougham's untiring energy, but 

 to all who recognise the value of his long services 

 in promoting the social and intellectual progress, 

 not of his fellow-countrymen only, but of the 

 whole civilised world. 



Names of the When. — Is it not somewhat re- 

 markable that such a little insignificant bird as the 

 wren should in so many languages have received 

 the title of king, or little king ? Is this owing to 

 the fact that one variety wears a crest ? or is it 

 because the bird, for its size, is preeminently /3oV 

 ayadSs ? I leave it to others to decide, and will 

 content myself with subjoining a list of the names 

 the little creflture has received in the different 

 languages with which I am more or less ac- 

 quainted. Many of your readers will doubtless 

 be able to extend this list : — 

 Anc. Greek. ^ao-iAeus, the crested wren being called 



TupavviK. (See Liddell and Scott, s^lb voce rpoxiAos.) 

 Lat. regulus. 

 Fr. roitelet. 



Ital. re di siepe (king of the hedge), reattino. 

 Span, reyezuelo (little king). 

 Portug. averei (king of birds). 

 Germ. Zaunkonig (king of the hedge). 

 Dutch, tuinkoningse (little king of the hedge). 

 Swed. Kungsfagel (king's bird), or SmSkonung (little 



king). 

 Russ. koroiek (little king). 

 FolisK. krdlik (little king). 

 Boliem. krdlik (little king). 



Our v^ren comes from the Anglo-Saxon jppenna 

 (wrenna), which is said to be akin to the German 

 rennen (to run), and if so, it would be akin in 

 meaning to the modern Greek Tpo-xi\os (rpexci), 

 Dan. Gferdesmutte (slipping along the hedge), 

 and to another German terra for the bird, Zaun- 

 schliipfer. 



As wrens are not mentioned in the Old Testa- 

 ment, it is not known what they were called In 

 pure Hebrew, and with the rabbinical word I am 

 unacquainted. In the only Arabic dictionary too 

 I possess, wren is not down in the English- Arabic 

 part. The Hungarians call it okorszem (ox-eye). 



F.C. 



Bloi^)in outdone. Two Hundred Years Ago. 

 — In the Diary of the celebrated John Evelyn, 

 Sept. 15 th, 1657, is this curious entry : — 



" Going to London with some companj', we stept in to 

 Bee a famous rope-dancer called the Turk. I saw even to 

 astonishment the agility with which he performed; he 

 walked barefooted, taking hold bj' his toes only of a rope 

 almost perpendicular, and without so much as touching it 

 with his hands ; he danced l>lindfold on the high rope, 

 and with a boy of twelve years old tied to one of his feet 



about twenty feet beneath him, dangling as he danced, 

 j-et he moved as nimbly as if he bad been a feather. 

 Lastly, he stood on his head on the top of a very high 

 mast, danced on a rope that was very slack, and finally 

 flew down the perpendicular on his breast, his head fore- 

 most, his legs and arms extended, with divers other acti- 

 vities." 



A. A. 

 Poets' Corner. 



Chalking the Psalms on a Slate. — It has 

 been said that no Presbyterian customs yet lurk in 

 the Church of England, yet we read in Evelyn's 

 Diary, Sept. 1641, who is describing his visit to 

 Amsterdam — 



"On Sunday, I heard an English Sermon at the Pres- 

 b3'terian congregation, where they had chalked upon 

 a slate the psalms that were to be sung, so that all the 

 congregation might see it without the bidding of the 

 clerk." 



Here is an example of a custom of Puritanical 

 origin which was afterwards, and In fact is now, 

 very common In the Church of England. It 

 could not have been a practice in that church 

 before this date, or so good a churchman as Evelyn 

 would not have recorded It as a novelty. F. S. A. 



Officers who served at Trafalgar. — The 

 Times obituary of Nov. 1 , records the death of an 

 officer whose career may Interest some contribu- 

 tors to " N. & Q." Captain H. N. Kowe entered 

 the navy in 1798, served in the expedition to the 

 Texel, and in the West Indies, where, under 

 Capt. Mackenzie, he cut out and captured nume- 

 rous privateers of the enemy. He was acting 

 lieutenant of the "Guachapin" in 1803, and 

 served in the " Impetueux " at the blockade of 

 Brest. Lieutenant in the "Ajax" in 1805, he 

 took part In Sir Robert Calder's action and share 

 in the glories of Trafalgar. But it was subse- 

 quent to the last famous battle that this officer 

 seems to have rivalled Francois de Civille in mira- 

 culous escapes. When the " Ajax," anchored off 

 Tenedos, was burning to the water's edge, Rowe 

 took his station at the end of the jib-boom ; and 

 though unable to swim, escaped death by dropping 

 himself into the sea almost at the instant that the 

 ship's cable parted, when turning her broadside 

 to wind, she blew up. Scarcely out of the " Ajax," 

 than Lieut. Rowe volunteered In the "Windsor 

 Castle" for the passage of the Dardanelles, and 

 was in that vessel when she was struck by a marble 

 shot and disabled. Returned to England, he was 

 appointed to the " Valiant " in the expedition to 

 Copenhagen, and at the siege was sent on shore 

 In command of the " Charles" armed transport, to 

 cover the landing of our troops. After prolonged 

 exposure to a heavy fire a shell struck the maga- 

 zine of the "Charles," and she instantly exploded. 

 Lieut. Rowe was literally blown Into the air, and 

 falling had already sunk below the surface of the 

 water when he was caught by the hair and dragged 



