28 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n>i S. No 80,, July 11. '57. 



A shrewd Decision of Alt, Caliph of Bagdad. — 

 In the Preliminary Dissertation to Richardson's 

 Arabic Dictionary, 2 vols. 4to., 1806, the follow- 

 ing curious anecdote is recorded : 



" Two Arabians sat down to dinner : one had five 

 loaves, the other three. A stranger passing by desired 

 permission to eat with them, which they agreed to. The 

 stranger dined, laid down eight pieces of money, and de- 

 parted. The proprietor of the live loaves took up five 

 pieces, and left three for the other, who objected, and in- 

 sisted on having one-half. The cause came before Ali, 

 who gave the following judgment : ' Let the owner of the 

 five loaves have seven pieces of money, and the owner of 

 the three loaves one ; for, if we divide the eight loaves 

 by three, they make twenty-four parts ; of which he who 

 laid down the five loaves had fifteen, whilst he who laid 

 down three had only nine ; as all fared alike, and eight 

 shares was each man's proportion, the stranger ate seven 

 parts of the first man's property, and only one belonging 

 to the other; the money, in justice, must be divided ac- 

 cordingly.' " 



Vox. 



An early Mention of Snuff. — In the quaint 

 tract, Pappe with an Hatchet (for the benefit of 

 Martin Mar-Prelate), ascribed to Tom Nash, an 

 allusion is made to snufF; which, just now, when 

 all are agitated respecting the " Tobacco Contro- 

 versy," may not be uninteresting : — 



" He beate all his wit to powder. What will the 

 powder of Martin's wit be good for? Marie, blowe up a 

 dram of it into the nostrils of a good Protestant, it will 

 make him giddie ; but if you minister it like Tobacco to 

 a Puritane, it will make him as mad as a Martin." 



This tract was written in 1589 ; therefore the 

 allusion to snuiF must have been " quite new ; and 

 very sharp." 



The story of Sir Walter Raleigh having a pail 

 of water dashed over him while smoking, is well 

 known ; but, in the excellent Handbook to Wilts, 

 published by Mr. Murray, another anecdote is 

 told of Sir Walter, not so well known. During 

 his disgrace, Raleigh visited Corsley, near War- 

 minster, and indulged there in the luxury of a 

 pipe ; thereby causing the wretched landlord to 

 take him for the Evil One, and refuse his money. 

 In Sherborne Park " a stone seat is pointed out 

 as the spot where Raleigh was in the habit of 

 smoking. It has a lower stone for the pipe to rest 

 on." J. ViBTUE Wtnen. 



Hackney. 



Kirig John's House at Somerton. — Dr. Doran 

 has made a great mistake in his Monarchs retired 

 from Business, in saying that King John of 

 France was confined as a prisoner in the castle of 

 Somerton in Lincolnshire. 



There is no such place in Lincolnshire. King 

 John's house in the town of Somerton, Somerset, 

 was in existence twenty years ago. It was well 

 known by that name. It was occupied at that 

 period, if I mistake not, by an innkeeper. The 

 building was at that time in good preservation. 



Baluol. 



Aphorisms respecting Christian Art, from the 

 Oerman of Reichensperger. — The opposite of the 

 genuine and right thing is scarcely so dangerous 

 as its distortion. 



Our diseased times cannot be cured with writ- 

 ing-ink, or printing-ink ; deeds are wanted. 



Our pliilosophers abstract the flesh of things 

 from their bones, and then throw the latter at one- 

 another's heads. 



Everything noble loses its aroma as soon as 

 men choose to restrict it to an unchangeable form. 



In art also (as in politics) everything depends 

 upon bringing again into currency the true notion 

 of freedom. 



Where fashion rules, art keeps away. None 

 but an eminent man can be an eminent artist. 



Life and individuality are the first essentials 

 for artistic training. In these days mechanical 

 facility alone is produced, because training begins 

 with the abstract, instead of the concrete. Imita- 

 tion wears away all independent, creative power. 



A desire for the beautiful must be awakened 

 before we proceed to satisfy it. Without hunger 

 there is no digestion. The Laocoon and the 

 Apollo Belvidere should come last in the series : 

 let the characteristic, not the beautiful, be the 

 first task. 



If from the first we only aim at producing 

 something faultless, we shall never arrive at an 

 individual development. 



One ought to give each stomach only what it 

 can assimilate. Our method of training is based 

 upon the supposition of a normal stomach. 



KOTSA. 



HhutxitS. 



CURTAIN XECTUEB. 



When and where did this phrase originate ? 

 The idea probably may be ascribed to Juvenal, 

 who in that ferocious invective against the fair 

 sex, his Sixth Satire, treats the subject at full 

 length. In lines 267-8. he says : 



" Semper habet lites, alternaque jurgia lectus, 

 In quo nupta jacet : minimum dormitur in illo," etc. 



And In lines 447-9. : 



"Non habeat matrona, tibi quae juncta recurabit, 

 Dicendi genus, aut curtum sermone rotato 

 Torqueat enthymema," &c. 



The first of these passages Sir R. Stapylton 

 (whose translation was first published in 1647) 

 renders thus : 



" Debates, alternate brawlings, ever were 

 I' th' marriage bed ; there is no sleeping there." 



In the margin are the words " The Curtain Lec- 

 turer 

 Dryden, in his translation of the same passage, 



