20* S. No 83., AcG. 1. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



fi7 



thee," in Macbeth, better than most of the pas- 

 sages adduced for that purpose. I may add that 

 Mim, the Dutch for ivy, seems to be another mem- 

 ber of this family. One of the same noble lord's 

 poems, by the way, commences thus : 



" Although I had a check. 

 To give the mate is hard, 

 For I have found a neck 

 To keep my men in guard." 



Here it is really amusing to see the perplexity 

 of Dr. Nott and Mr. Bell in their efforts to make 

 any sense of neck, which is simply kneck, i.e. knack. 



Bottle. — This word seems peculiar to the French 

 language, whence we got it ; its remote origin is 

 probably m0os, whence, perhaps, pot. From it 

 comes the verb bottle, of which, as far as my know- 

 ledge extends, the sole meaning is, to put into a 

 bottle. In what sense, then, is it that in Richard 

 III. Gloster is called " a bottled spider ?" Ritson 

 says this is " a large, bloated, glossy spider, sup- 

 posed to contain venom proportionate to its size;" 

 but as he gives no authority for this sense of bot- 

 tled, and as all the other commentators are silent, 

 I venture to think that the poet wrote " bloated 

 spider," the very phrase of that accurate observer 

 Cowper ( Task, v. 422.), and meaning a spider sur- 

 chai-ged with venom. Bottle, in a " bottle of hay 

 or straw," is apparently a mere corruption of 

 bundle. Thos. Keightlet. 



THE COMET AND ITS EFFECTS IN DIPFBKENT 

 COUNTRIES. 



For the information of those persons who may 

 be living when the comet does make its appearance, 

 as it is supposed will be the case in the course 

 of ten years, the following notices which have 

 recently appeared in different European and 

 American journals may claim a remembrance in 

 " N. & Q. : " 



" The Comet. — A maid servant at Shields got a holi- 

 daj% a few days ago, for the 13th of June, ' that she 

 might be drowned by the comet beside her mother ! ' 

 — A thoughtful inhabitant of Cleadon made a large chest 

 of oak, in which to shut himself up, in order to be safe 

 from the comet. — A sly Liverpool tradesman, whose 

 stores are 'under the office where everybody goes to get 

 his weights stamped,' wrote an essay in the advertising 

 columns of the local papers, demonstrating the danger 

 of the 'Milky Way' from the comet, and advising the 

 public to lay in a stock of his butter ' before the source is 

 dried up.' — A woman actually committed suicide in 

 Prussia from terror of the comet. — A Mormon preacher 

 at Southampton said in his sermon a Sunday or two ago: 

 ' Shall I tell you, my brethren, when the comet shall come 

 and strike this earth ? When Brigham Young chooses 

 to say the word, then will the comet come and strike the 

 earth.' — Accounts from Galicia state that disturbances 

 have lately taken place on the Russian frontier — for 

 which we are likewise indebted to the comet. The pea- 

 sants, believing that the world was about to come to an 

 end, gave way to numerous excesses, and were guilty of 



encroachments on other people's propert3'. The authori- 

 ties were compelled to send to Lemberg for troops to put 

 an end to the outbreak." 



" The story that the eminent French savant, M. Babi- 

 net, of the Institute, had expressed a belief that the 

 world would be burnt up by contact with a comet about 

 these days, is entirely without foundation. On the con- 

 trary, he says, over his own signature : 



" ' If in passing the comet should come in contact with 

 the earth its imperceptible substance could not penetrate 

 through our atmosphere, and this meeting would be en- 

 tirely unperceived by the inhabitants of this planet.' 

 He also says, very justly, ' Nothing is more ridiculous 

 than this rage for trembling, this fever of fear, this epi- 

 demic panic which has seized people from time to time in 

 the midst of the lights of science and of astronomical 

 sentinels who crj' out " every thing is tranquil." ' " 



" Some of the wise ones of a continental city notice that 

 the Man in the Moon has already flattened and scorched 

 his nose considerably by coming into contact with the 

 comet, while swinging round our earth, which circum- 

 stance irrefragably proves that the fiery mass must al- 

 ready be near us." 



" JBets on the Comet. — We ought to have published 

 long ago the propositions of the Urbana (III.) Constitu- 

 tion concerning the comet. They have been extensively 

 quoted and credited to a paper which stole them from the 

 Constitution, and, late as it is, we'll do what we can to 

 set the matter right. Zimmerman, after observing ' the 

 critter' carefully with the instruments of the Urbana 

 Brass Band, comes to the conclusion : 



" 1st. The comet will not strike the earth ; but 



" 2nd. If it does strike, it will never do it a second 

 time. 



" In case, however, any gentleman holds opinions dif- 

 ferent from the above and is willing to back his views to 

 a limited extent, in order to arrive at the truth in this 

 momentous matter, we hereby make the following 



" Propositions. 



" 1st. We will wager 20,000 dollars, more or less, that 

 if the comet offers to strike, we will dodge before it does 

 it; in other words, that it can't be brought to the scratch. 



" 2nd. A like sum that, if it does strike, it will be 

 knocked higher nor a kite. 



" 3rd. Twenty-five times the above amounts that, in 

 case the comet strikes, it won't budge the earth six 

 inches by actual measurement. 



"4th.' A like amount that after the comet strikes its 

 tail drops. 



" 5th. An optional sum that the earth can knock the 

 comet farther than the comet can knock the earth, nine 

 times out of eleven. 



"6. That after the comet gets through striking the 

 earth it will never want to strike anybody else. 



" These propositions are intended to cover the case of 

 any gentleman on this globe, or on the comet, or else- 

 where. 



" Money to be deposited in the Banks of Newfoundland. 



" Time of striking and other arrangements to be fixed 

 by the parties. 



" Applicants for bets have a right to select any comet 

 they choose." 



w. w. 



Malta. 



fflinav i^aUS. 



The Original Locomotive Evgine. — Perhaps 

 the following account of the ceremony of inau- 



