NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«'ds. N0 27., JnLY5,'56. 



sense ^iieuld, in some cases, pretty accurately ex- 

 press the peculiar Portuguese term saudoso. The 

 Lusitanian lexicographers define the substantive 

 saudade, " grief arising from the absence of the 

 beloved object, accompanied by the desire of see- 

 ing it again ; " which is something like desiderium. 

 But we find saudoso in connections where this is 

 not the exact sense. Thus we meet with olhos 

 saiidosos, " mery eyen," and Camoens says : 



" Nos saiidosos campos do Mondego," 

 in both of which places it is the pleasure of pre- 

 sence, rather than the {)ain of absence, that is in- 

 dicated. As I am on the subject of etymology I 

 will give the origin of saiidade, saudoso, of which 

 I have seen no derivation. As then an older 

 form is so'idade, so'idoso, 1 would say, having in 

 view the syncopating character of the Portuguese 

 language, that the root of them, as of the French 

 souci, is sol'icitus. I may add that souci and 

 saiidade are names of the same flower. 



" Good Cheer." — I have given cheerful as a 

 sense of merry, jjnd it is curious to mark the pro- 

 gress of the word cheer. There can, I think, be 

 hardly a doubt that the origin is Kc'pa, " head ; " 

 retained by the Spaniards in cara, and changed by 

 the Italians to cera, ciera, and by the French to 

 chere, all signifying " face." Hence o\jr cheer 

 usually denotes aspect, countenance ; then it was 

 applied to the mind, as in " Be of good cheer ; " 

 and finally, indicative, some might say, of the 

 English character, good cheer came to signify good 

 eating and drinking! There were also the verbs 

 to cheer and to cheer up, the last contracted to 

 chirp, as in — 



" He takes his chirping pint and cracks his jokes." 



" Lechery." — This word is usually derived from 



the French lecher, to lick ; but this is evidently 



incorrect, for both it and licorous must come from 



luxuria, which is exactly the same with it in sense. 



ThOS. KEIGHTIiEY. 



DUKE THE POET. 



It may perhaps be doubted whether Richakl 

 Duke deserved the honour of being immortalised 

 by the pen of our great moralist ; but, since the 

 thing has been done, it seems only a proper mark 

 of respect to Johnson to make a note of anything 

 that may assist in filling up his sketches, and 

 carrying out his purpose. Tliis is especially the 

 case when the biographer was at a loss for mate- 

 rials ; and I believe that of all the Lives of the 

 Poets that of Duke is the shortest and most 

 superficial. In my copy it does not occupy so 

 much as one full page ; and what little there is 

 quite accords with the opening words — " Of Mr. 

 Kichard Duke I can find few memorials." More 

 of his circumstances and personal history may, I 



think, be learned from a document which I lately 

 found, while searching for something else, among 

 some family deeds and papers in my possession. 

 How it, and several other documents to which 

 Duke was a party, came to be where they are, I 

 cannot tell; but I think that (if room can be made 

 for it) this one is worth printing as it stands; for 

 it seems as if it could not be materially abridged 

 without losing some part of the character or in- 

 formation. It is written on parchment, and en- 

 dorsed "A Cop[)ie of Mr. Richard Duke his 

 Discharge to his iFathers Executors, 1679 :" 



"Know all men by these presents that I, Richard 

 Duke, Batchelor of Art, eldest sonne and heire of 

 Richard Duke, late Citizen and Scrivener of Lon- 

 don, deceased, anil now of the full age of one and 

 twenty yeares, doe hereby acknowledge, and de- 

 clare, that I have received and had, at and before 

 thenseuleing and delivery hereof, of and from 

 Robert Cliilcott, Citizen and Merchantaylor of 

 London, George Dashwood of London, esquire, 

 and Thomas Goodwin, Citizen and Scrivener of 

 London, executors of the last will and testament 

 of the said Richard Duke my said late father, de- 

 ceased, my share, and the better share to my 

 owne content, of all my said fathers printed 

 books, which he, in and by the said will, did will 

 and appoynt should be devided betweene his two 

 sonnes (namely), mee the said Richard Duke, and 

 my brother Robert Duke; and that I should have 

 the better share. And that I have also received 

 and had, of and from them the said executors, in 

 severall boxes and otherwise, all the deeds, evi- 

 dences, and writeings, which upon, or after, the de- 

 cease of my said late father came to, and have 

 remayned in the hands, or custody, of them the 

 said executors, or some or one of them, which do 

 concern or relate unto the messuage, tenement, or ' 

 inne, commonly called, or known, by the name, or 

 signe, of the White Beare, scituate and being in 

 West Smithfeild, in the parish of St. Sepulchre's 

 without Newgate, London. And also all those 

 which doe concerne, or relate, unto a messuage 

 or tenement scituate and being in Charterhouse 

 Lane, on the west side of the said lane, in the 

 county of Middlesex, and in the parish of St. 

 Sepulchre's without Newgate, London, aforesaid 

 (and commonly called, and knowne, by the name, 

 or signe, of the WoU Sack or Wooll Pack), the 

 which said inne, and tenement, my said late father, 

 by his said last will and testament, did give, de- 

 vise, and bequeath, unto his said executors, and 

 to the survivors, and survivor, of them, and the 

 executors, and administrators, of the survivors of 

 them, dureing, and untill, Ithe said Richard Duke 

 should have attayned unto my full age of one and 

 twenty yeares, upon the trust and to the intents 

 and purposes in the same his last will and testa- 

 ment expressed, declared, and conteyned. And 



