184 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Sept. 8. 1855. 



And, of his experience of babies, there is a line in 

 the Walking to the Mail, that speaks volumes : 

 " As ruthless as a baby with a worm." 

 What otlier poets have used the word hdby as 

 an adjective ? " My baby boy " is a familiar ex- 

 pression. Jlerrick speaks of the ^^ babies of the 

 eyes," and of lovers who — 



" Each make babies in each others' eyes," — 

 an idea much appropriated by subsequent love- 

 poets. Cowley (^Davideis) uses the word infant 

 as an adjective : 



« Infant winds their tender voices try." 



CUTHBERT Be1>E, B.A. 



A Whip queerly found. — James S. M'Intire, of 

 the Unitud States army, advertises, in the Fran- 

 cisco Herald, a lady's riding whip that he found in 

 a sturgeon, weighing seventy-five to one hundred 

 pounds, which he had caught at Benecia. The whip 

 is 21 J inches long, and silver mounted. W. W. 



Malta. 



Russia and Turkey. — The following, copied 

 from Toumefort, vol. i. p. 2S., may seem to you 

 available for insertion in your valuable " N. & Q.," 

 with reference to existing affairs, Turco-Russian 

 or otherwise, as showing the animus then prevail- 

 ing, even so early as the time of the foregoing 

 writer (a.d. 1676) : 



" J'ai oubli^ de dire que nous avions log^ il Brices, chez 

 nn vieux Papas, fort zel^ pour son rite, et d'une ignorance 

 pitoyable. II voulut nous persuader en mauvais langage 

 italieii qu'il avoit une ancienne prophetic ^crite sur les 

 murailles du labyrinthe, laquelle marquoit que le Czar de 

 Muscovie devoit bientot se rendre maitre de I'Empire 

 Othoman, et delivrer les Grecs de I'esclavage des Turcs ; 

 qu'il re souvenoit encore que du temps du si^ge de Candie 

 un Grec avoit assiire le Vizir Cuperli qu'il prendroit la 

 placo suivant une autre prophetic de ce meme labyrinthe. 

 Ces bonnes gens prennent pour des proph^ties les carac- 

 tferes dont les etrangers barbouillent les murailles de ce 

 lieu." 



H. M. 



" The Lungs of London^ — The Parks have long 

 been called by this name, which seems to have 

 originated with Mr. Windham. In a debate in 

 the House of Commons on June 30, 1808, respect- 

 ing certain encroachments upon Hyde Park, Mr. 

 Windham said, that Hyde Park was " the lungs 

 of London." Free and fresh air was like cham- 

 pagne to the vulgar, as they seldom tasted it. 

 (Examiner, 1808, p. 426.) F. 



A Mother of Twelve Years of Age. — The cen- 

 sus-taker found a woman in Macedon, New York, 

 twenty-three years old, mother of four children : 

 the eldest of whom is twelve years, the nSxt eight, 

 third three, last one. The elilest was, of course, 

 born when the mother was twelve years old. 



w.w. 



Malta. 

 No. 306.] 



MUEAT AND WHICH IS THE TRUE STORY? 



The task of reconciling the discrepancies be- 

 tween cotemporaneous historians has frequently 

 been attended with considerable difficulty, and 

 various ingenious theories have been propounded 

 to account for contradictions between positive 

 eye-witnesses of a fact. The subjoined extracts 

 are a very remarkable example. Probably, of all 

 the distinguished officers of the grande armee, none 

 has been more frequently the subject of descrip- 

 tion than Murat. That unfortunate hero, at least, 

 did not seek to hide his light under a bushel : and 

 we should imagine that the whole French army 

 must have been well acquainted with his demea- 

 nour and habits in action. Lamartine professes to 

 give his own account, as communicated by his 

 friend and minister. Mr. Beamish quotes the 

 words of his emperor, commander, and brother- 

 in-law. How are we to reconcile the two ? There 

 are probably officers still living who have charged 

 with him, and could settle the point. 



Lamartine, in describing him, says he always 

 wore a short broad Roman sword, with a mother- 

 of-pearl handle, decorated with the portraits of his 

 wife and children : certainly not the weapon a 

 cavalry officer would select to do great execution. 

 And he moreover adds, that he never drew it but 

 once to encourage his escort to fall on a hostile 

 squadron. 



" ' Murat,' said Napoleon, ' was a most singular cha- 

 racter .... Every day Murat was engaged in single 

 combat, and returned with his sabre dripping with the 

 blood of those he had slain.' " — From the notice of " The 

 Uses and Application of Cavalry in War, by N. L. Bea- 

 mish," Athenaum, No. 1450., p. 919. 



" II disait au Comte de Morburg, son ami et son mi- 

 nistre . . . Ma consolation la plus douce quand je repasse 

 sur ma vie de soldat, de general et de roi, c'est de n'avoir 

 jamais vu tomber un seul homme mort de ma main. II 

 n'est pas impossible, sans doute, que dans tant de charges 

 k fond, oil je lancais mon cheval k la tete des escadrons, 

 quelques coups de pistolets tires au hasard aient blesse ou 

 tue un ennemi, mais je n'en ai rien su. . . . Si un homme 

 etait mort devant moi et de ma main, cette image me 

 serait restee toujours presente et me poursuivrait jusqu'au 

 tombeau." — Lamartine, Hist, de la Restauration, vol. iii. 

 p. 308. 



E. C. 



Chevalier John Taylor, — This person, who was 

 oculist to George III., and published his life in 

 1761, was a native of Norwich, and says he was 

 educated in this university. He died before Sep- 

 tember 17, 1787. I am desirous of ascertaining 

 the exact date of his death. As to him, see "Life 

 of James Ware," in Pettigrew's Medical Bio- 

 graphy ; Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxxi. p. 226,, 

 vol. li. p. 356. ; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, 



