370 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»dS. N045., Nov. 8.'66. 



Spanish war, that " It was the beginning of the 

 end." But it was not an original mot. In Mid- 

 snmmer's Night Dream, Prologue says : 



" . . . To shew our simple skill, 

 That is the true beginning of our end." 



Act V. Sc. 1. 



Did or could Talleyrand read Shakspeare ? 



J. W. Farbeu. 



" Canard" origin of the Word. — 



" The origin of the word Canard, when emploj'ed to 

 signify some unfounded storj% is not generally known. 

 The following are the terms in which M. Quetelet relates, 

 in the Annuaire de V Academie (article on Norbert Corne- 

 lissen), the manner in which the word became used in its 

 new sense. 



" To give a sly hit at the i-idiculous pieces of intelli- 

 gence which the journals were in the habit of publishing 

 ever}' morning, Cornelissen stated that an interesting ex- 

 periment had just been made, calculated to prove the 

 extraordinary voracity of ducks. Twenty of these ani- 

 mals had been placed together ; and one of them having 

 been killed, and cut up in the smallest possible pieces, 

 feathers, and all, and thrown to the other nineteen, was 

 most gluttonouslj' gobbled up, in an exceedingly brief 

 space of time. Another was then taken from the nine- 

 teen ; and being chopped small, like its predecessor, was 

 served up to the eighteen, and at once devoured like the 

 other ; and so on to the last, who was thus placed in the 

 position of having eaten his nineteen companions in a 

 wonderfully short time. All this, most pleasantly re- 

 lated, obtained a success which the writer was far from 

 anticipating, for the story ran the round of all the journals 

 of lilurope. It then became forgotten for about a score of 

 years, when it came back from America, with amplifica- 

 tions which it did not boast of at the commencement, 

 and with a regular certificate of the autopsy of the body 

 of the surviving animal, whose oesophagus was declared 

 to have been seriously injured. Ever}' one laughed at 

 the history of the ' Canard,' thus brought up again, but 

 the word remained in its novel signification." — Galignam. 



w. w. 



Malta. 



Winds. — 



" Table showing the frequency of 'the various winds in 

 different countries. The numbers in each column denote 

 the number of days of each wind in every 1000 days : — 



Difference between Horse Chesnut and a Chesnut 

 Ho7-se. — In one of Queen Anne's parliaments 

 there were two members named Montague Mat- 

 thew and Matthew Montague. Some one having 

 attributed opinions to the first gentleman which 



ought to have been ascribed to the second, the 

 latter, in repudiating the charge, stated, that not- 

 withstanding the similarity of names there was as 

 much difference between them as between a horse- 

 chesnut and a chesnut horse. 



Clericus Rusticus. 



The Blue Frock Coat, Sfc. — The following 

 passage from the last page of The Sorrows of 

 Wertcr reminds us of a late attempt to violate 

 the regulations of the Queen's drawing-rooms : 



" He was dressed in a blue frock coat and buff waist- 

 coat, and had boots on. Everybody in the house, and 

 irom all parts of the town, flocked to see him." 



M.E. 



Luigi Canina, the architect and great archaeo- 

 logical writer, is dead ; a man characterised as 

 gentle and warm-hearted. It may be as well to 

 record that It was (my friend) Giuseppe Mazzini 

 who, while a Triumvir at Rome, greatly fostered 

 the researches of the above deserving and talented 

 man. J. Lotsky, Panslave. 



31. Burton Crescent. 



CANTICLE SUBSTITDTE1> TOR THE " TE DEDM." 



In the curious book called Hortidus animce, pub- 

 lished by Schoffers, Mayence, 1516, we find the 

 following parody, as it were, of the Te Deum : 



" Canticum predictum coriversum in laudem S. Virginis, 

 quod potest dici in loco prioris (i.e. Te Deum'). 



" Te Matrem Dei Laudamus, te Mariam virginem con- 



fitemur, 

 Te Eterni Patris sponsam, omnis terra veneratur. 

 Tibi omnes angeli et archangeli, tibi omnes principatus 



humiliter serviunt. 

 Tibi omnes potestates et supernae virtutes, tibi coelorum 



universse dominationes, obediunt. 

 Tibi omnes throni, tibi cherubim et seraphim exultanter 



assistunt. 

 Tibi omnes angelicas creaturse delectabili voce concla- 



mant, 

 Sancta — Sancta — Sancta Maria Dei Mater et virgo. 

 Pleni sunt coeli et terra et mare majestatis et glorisa 



fructus ventris tui. 

 Te gloriosus apostolorum chorus, Creatoris matrem col- 



laudat. 

 Te prophetarum laudabilis numerus virginis Deum 



parituram praedixerat. 

 Te Martyrum beatorum candidus exercitus Christi ge- 



netricem glorificat. 

 Te gloriosus confessorum ccetus totius Trinitatis matrem 



appellat. 

 Te sanctarum virginum amabilis chorea suffl virginitatis 



et humilitatis exemplum prsedicat. 

 Te tota ccelestis curia coelorum Reginam honorat. 

 Te per universum orbem, sancta ecclesia invocando celo- 



brat, 

 Matrem divinse majestatis, 

 Venerandam te veram, regis ccelestis puerperam, 

 Sanctam quoque, dulcem et piam proclamat. 

 Tu angelorum domina. 

 Tu paradisi janua. 



