2°d s. Xo 103., Dec. 19. '57.] 



XOTES AND QUERIES. 



501 



attacks on the philosophers of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, and particularly on Voltaire. For the true 

 version, see (Euvres Complets tie Voltaire., torn. iii. 

 p. 1002., Paris, 1817: — 



" L'autre jour au bord d'ua vallon 

 Un serpent piqua Jean Freron, 

 Que pensez-vous qu'il arriva ? 

 Ce fut le serpent qui creva." 



With this different reading : 



" Hier auprfes de Charenton 

 Un serpent mordit Jean Freron, 

 Que croyez-vous qu'il arriva ? 

 Ce fut le serpent qui creva." 



It is an imitation from the Greek, but I have 

 not the original. John Scott. 



Norwich. 



Nomenclature (2"^ S. iv. 442.) — I have much 

 pleasure in replying to the hint of your corre- 

 spondent G. N. The small work, of which he 

 appears to have a portion, is entitled : 



" A Curious and Humorous Arrangement of Surnames, 

 in Sj'stematic and Scientific Order; containing the 

 Names of about 800 living Characters in the City of 

 Edinburgh and its Vicinity, with their Professions, Ad- 

 dresses, and other local Circumstances. Edinburgh, 1825. 

 12mo." 



It was published anonymously ; but I shortly 

 afterwards found out that the compiler thereof 

 was Mr. Veitch, dentist., James Square, Edinburgh. 

 I have not seen a copy for these twenty years 

 past. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



Candlesticks (2"'^ S. iv. 437.) — I am puzzled to 

 find what ground your correspondent, Em Quad, 

 has for supposing the word stick necessarily con- 

 nected with wood, any more than with brass, iron, 

 silver, or any other rigid substance ; or that 

 "candlesticks" are so called because first made of 

 wood. If indeed he can prove this, he will have 

 suggested a very fair conclusion ; but surely we 

 must not begin by supposing that the term stick 

 was used exclusively with this meaning in the 

 fifteenth any more than in the nineteenth century. 

 The root from which the word is derived is un- 

 doubtedly stig., and is found repeatedly both in 

 Greek and Latin. In the former we see it in 

 <rT€tx«, " to go ; " and in o-ti'I and cttIxos, both sig- 

 nifying a "row," or "line," in which sense they 

 are used by different authors as referring to a 

 line of verses, a rank of soldiers, and a row of trees. 

 In Latin also we find ve-stig-ium, a " track " or 

 "path :" and hence, by the English word stick, we 

 have presented us the idea merely of a line — of 

 any kind, crooked or bent. Strictly, therefore, 

 it may be applied as well to an iron hoop as to a 

 wooden rod ; in fact, to any rigid body whatever : 

 nor in the present day is it confined to wood. We 

 hear of a stick of sealing-wax, and a stick of sugar- 



candy, as often as we hear of a bundle of sticks ; 

 and the correctness of such language is never to 

 be questioned. Unless, then, Em Quad can show 

 that the meaning attached to the word in the 

 fifteenth century differed from the one we now 

 give it, and differed also from its original meaning, 

 I think he must be satisfied that the derivation of 

 "candlesticks" is not that they were first made of 

 wood, but only that they were then, what they are 

 now, — candle-supporters. R. C. L. 



Tympan : Candlestick. — Suffer me to occupy a 

 " stick "ful of your space with an observation on 

 Em Quad's last Query. 



Mr. Bowyer's Latin quotation and his Note 

 upon it do not affect the general definition of the 

 word tympan I before offered, and its applicability 

 to the instrument of the printer. 



With respect to the syllable stick, as E. Q. seems 

 to demur to my physical derivation of it, I will 

 suggest another, an etymological, a verbal one. 

 The first printers were Germans ; the term is pos- 

 sibly, then, an adaptation of the German word 

 StUck. I do not know the expressions used by 

 Germans for these things, dictionaries do not help 

 us ; therefore I submit this supposition with some 

 diffidence. If the word is used, it has descended 

 from the earliest workmen, and the English phrase 

 is easily deduced from it. 



Again, the first types were wooden, the presses 

 were, and continued for centuries to be, wooden : 

 why not wooden composing-sticks ? My opinion 

 is that we have prima facie good cause for suppos- 

 ing them to have been so ; and as to their " clum- 

 siness," let E. Q. disabuse himself of that notion. 

 Has he ever handled one ? Metal (chiefly iron) 

 composing-sticks are stronger and more durable — 

 qualities fully sufficient to account for their now 

 universal use. 



Em Quad puts in a P. S. what he evidently thinks 

 a " clincher." Stick in "candlestick" I believe to be 

 an old corruption of the original stock, i. e., handle, 

 the instrument by which the candle, when in use, 

 is supported and carried ; as in "gun-stock," where 

 the proper phrase has been preserved. Modern 

 English is abundantly fruitful in these perver- 

 sions. Or it may fall within the category of the 

 Stacks. 



Your columns are too precious to be taken up 

 with gossip of such limited interest as this. I have 

 done. J. S. D. 



Verses on ''Nothing''' (2"^ S. iv. 283. 420.) — 

 The verses of Passeratius on " Nothing " are ap- 

 pended by Dr. Johnson to his Life of Lord Ro- 

 chester, who likewise wrote a poem on the same 

 "barren subject," as it is called by Johnson. L. 



" Aut disce, out discede" (2^^ S. iv. 428.)— Your 

 correspondent has omitted the latter part of the 

 inscription as it used to appear at Winchester, 



