398 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»a S. N" dC, Nov. 15. '56. 



tliose whose business calls for constant exercise 

 of the eyes, are more or less liable to become 

 nearsighted. Editors, clergymen, literary cha- 

 racters, and laborious students generally, com- 

 plain more or less of this defect. So that, leaving 

 out of the question predisposing causes, such as 

 high living, dissipation, &c., it seems a well ascer- 

 tained fact that the eye is liable to become 

 affected in this way, just in proportion to the 

 exercise it is subjected to. Vox. 



Continuation o/" Candide " (2""^ S. ii. 229. 319.) 

 — There may be more than one English trans- 

 lation of the second part of Candide. The only 

 one which I know is of both parts, London, 1814, 

 8vo., pp. 263. There is no " valuable matter " in 

 the preface, which begins : 



" The original work written by Mr. De Voltaire was 

 intended to ridicule the notion propagated by Rousseau 

 in one of his works, I believe his Confessions, that all's for 

 the best." 

 It ends : 



" Let Byron picture horror and remorse, 

 As if his anguished breast still felt the force ; 

 Let Campbell sing of hope, and Moore of love, 

 While to their notes our breasts responsive move. 

 Voltaire's pervading genius attic wit to shew 

 In English prose be mine, the modest humble task : 

 No merit in translation ? Critic, say not so ; 

 My honest countrymen to please is all I ask." 

 I have not seen the original French, so cannot 

 say whether it is a good imitation of Voltaire's 

 style or not, but even this translation gives suffi- 

 cient notion of the matter to make one wonder 

 that such poor stuff should have imposed upon 

 any editor. I will give only one instance. At 

 p. 181. Candide is attacked by robbers, his leg 

 broken by a bullet, and afterwards cut off to pre- 

 vent mortification ; at p. 206. he wears a wooden 

 one ; and at p. 243. he dances " with the best 

 grace in the world." H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



" Candide " and the " Quarterly Review " (2"'' S. 

 ii. 349.) — The original of the words, "Are you also 

 a king ? No, your majesties, and I have no desire 

 to be," are not to be found in the edition of Vol- 

 taire's Works, in seventy-one volumes, published 

 at Basle in 1789, nor in the Romans de Voltaire, 

 published by the Didots in Paris, an viii (1800). 

 The extei-nal evidence is opposed to the introduc- 

 tion of these words ; so also is the internal ; for at 

 the opening of this interview Candide had antici- 

 pated the question by telling the six kings, an- 

 other instance of his simplicity, that he was not 

 himself a king, " pourquoi etes-vous tous rois ? 

 pour moi, je vous avoue que ni moi ni Martin 

 nous ne le sommes : " and that they so understood 

 him is clear from their designating him " ce simple 

 particulier," equivalent to " une personne privee." 

 The inquiry of the kings amongst themselves, 

 evidently not addressed to Candide, " et qui le 



donne ? " omitted by the reviewer, is followed in 

 the original by a description of the entrance, 

 " dans I'instant qu'on sortait de table," of four 

 Serene Highnesses, who had also lost their do- 

 minions by the fate of war, to whom Candide 

 could afford only a glance, being absorbed in the 

 thought of meeting his Cunegarda. I concur with 

 the Hermit of Hampstead that the introduction 

 of these words, so far from meriting the encomium 

 passed on them by the reviewer, are beneath the 

 art of Voltaire. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Count Vilain XIV. (2"'^ S. i. 232. ; Ii. 338.) — 

 Your correspondent, in his inquiries after the 

 origin of the appendix to their name adopted by 

 the Vilain family, has not given the cause most 

 generally asserted to have been the occasion of 

 that singular nominal distinction. AVhen Louis 

 XIV., in the flush of victory, was receiving the 

 congratulations and petitions of the conquered 

 Flemish nobles, the Count Vilain presented him- 

 self, and humbly besought his majesty to permit 

 him to change his name. The king, probably ir- 

 ritated at being troubled with a request so truly 

 trivial, answered tetchily, " What ! are you 

 ashamed of your name, then take mine." The 

 monarch knew well he was addressing one of the 

 highest nobles In the land, and the descendant of 

 a most ancient lineage. This is believed to be the 

 credited version, and adopted by the family. 



Henky D'Avenet. 



Instrument of Torture (2'"5 S. ii. 109.) — In 

 Bryan Edwards's History of the West Indies (third 

 edition, 1801), I find a copy of the " Consolidated 

 Slave Act of Jamaica, passed the 2nd of March, 

 1792," the following clause of which seems to 

 afford a comment on the extract given by W. W. : 



"XV. And whereas a mischievous practice hath some- 

 times prevailed of punishing ill-disposed slaves, and such 

 as are apt to abscond from their owners, by fixing or 

 causing to be fixed round the necks of such slaves an 

 iron collar with projecting bars or hooks, to prevent the 

 future desertion of such slaves : Be it further enacted by 

 the authority aforesaid, That such practice is hereby de- 

 clared to be utterly unlawful, and that no person shall, 

 on any pretence whatsoever, under the penalty of fifty 

 pounds, punish any negro or other slave, whether his own 

 property or otherwise, by fixing, or causing to be fixed, 

 any iron or other collar round the neck of such slave, 

 or by loading the body or limbs of such slave, for any 

 offence whatsoever, with chains, irons, or weights, of 

 any kind, other than such as are absolutely necessary for 

 securing the person of such slave ; and all and every the 

 justices of the peace, within this island, are hereby au- 

 thorized, directed, and required, under the penalty of 

 one hundred pounds, on information and view of such 

 offence, to order such collar, chains, irons, or weights, to 

 be immediately taken off from the slave or slaves wearing 

 or bearing the same." 



Another clause of the act provides for the 

 punishment of persons found guilty of " mutilat- 

 ing or dismembering any slave or slaves." It 



