Aug. 26. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



167 



These may seem trifling questions ; but_ if we 

 are ever to make progress in minute inquiries of 

 this nature, it can only be by great accuracy. For 

 instance, I have, as I believe, a copy of the edition 

 to which C. refers ; but if C.'s description be cor- 

 rect, it must be a different edition, or a re-issue 

 with certain variations. E. D. T. 



Some correspondents seem to doubt that edi- 

 tions were published in 1727. I cannot but sup- 

 pose that those who doubt, and still more C, who 

 does not doubt, know the edition of 1743, part of 

 Warburton's "small edition" (sqq ante, p. 109.), 

 but published first, with notice of the rest to fol- 

 low. I should have supposed this edition to be 

 quite familiar to the contending parties ; but I 

 cannot find that any of them notice it. In the 

 Appendix is reprinted the " Preface prefixed to 

 the five first imperfect editions of The Dunciad, in 

 three books, printed at Dublin and London, in oc- 

 tavo and duodecimo, 1727." To this reprint notes 

 are annexed, containing criticisms on remarks 

 which Curl and others had made upon the matter 

 reprinted. If this be all a lie, it is a very circum- 

 stantial one. 



Has this Appendix slipped out of most of the 

 copies ? or does it belong only to the forerunner 

 edition of The Dunciad alone ? Sheet E e of the 

 work is a half-sheet, ending with "Finis:" the 

 Appendix I'epeats D d and E e, and gives F f and 

 G g (half), with paging continued from the work. 



M. 



SWIFT AND " THE TATLEB." 

 (Vol. X., p. 100.) 



C. will find that his remark, as to the similarity 

 of the letter in The Tatler (No. 31.) with Swift's 

 Polite Conversation, has been anticipated by the 

 annotator, who I suppose was Dr. Calder, in the 

 edition of 1786 (6 vols. 8vo.). See vol. i. p. 355. 

 The annotator remarks, " If this letter is not by 

 Swift, it is very much in the manner of his Polite 

 Conversation." 



With respect to the "Musical Instruments" 

 (No. 153.), "The Distress of the Newswriters" 

 (No. 18.), "The Inventory of the Playhouse" 

 (No, 42.), and " The Description of the Thermo- 

 meter " (No. 214.), C. is confident that Steele, — 

 in his acknowledgment in the preface to The 

 Tatler, where, after stating in general terms his 

 obligations to Addison, he mentions in the next 

 paragraph that the above four papers were writ- 

 ten iy the same hand, — means that " these four 

 pieces were by one hand, and that not Addison's," 

 and " thinks it is clear that they were not his, but 

 were supplied by some one who probably contri- 

 buted nothing else." 



I have always considered these papers as so 

 decidedly Addison's, on the ground of internal 

 evidence alone, that I must say I was not a little 

 surprised to see such a construction put upon 

 Steele's words. To me the passage merely ap- 

 pears to be following up, by a particular refer- 

 ence to the four pieces, which he looked upon "as 

 the greatest embellishment of the work," the gene- 

 ral expression which had preceded. Is it likely 

 that Steele would have given the palm to any 

 papers in The Tatler that were not Addison's ? 

 But the general evidence in favour of their being 

 written by Addison is too strong to admit of 

 question. Take, for instance, only one of the 

 four, for it is needless to carry it farther, all of 

 them being written " by the same hand," No. 153. 

 This paper is identified as Addison's in the list 

 delivered by Steele himself to Tickell, who has 

 reprinted it in his edition of Addison's works in 

 4to., vol. ii. p. 273. It is marked as a paper of 

 Addison's in the MS. notes of C. Byron, Esq., 

 who, from the information of the writers, had 

 carefully written out MS. notes of the authors of 

 the different papers in The I'atler. Steele ex- 

 pressly testifies that Addison wrote the distin- 

 guishing characters of men and women under the 

 names of musical instruments. (See Steele's de- 

 dication of Addison's Drummer to Mr. Congreve.') 

 It is farther identified as Addison's by those mi- 

 nute errata which he was so particular in causing 

 to be corrected by subsequent references. (See 

 Tatler, edit. 1786, vol. iv. p. 275., in which the 

 annotator (Dr. Calder) has enumerated the vari- 

 ous grounds I have stated, and which seem to be 

 quite conclusive for ascribing this paper to Addi- 

 son.) 



With respect to The Tatler, our obligations are 

 due, not so much to Mr. Alexander Chalmers, who 

 merely prefixed his introduction to the revised 

 edition in 4 vols. 8vo. (1806), in which there is 

 little new information, as to the editors Mr. John 

 Nichols and Dr. Calder, of the excellent edition of 

 1786. Jas. Ceosslet. 



CHINESE I.ANGUAGE. 



(Vol. x., p. 29.) 



With reference to the question of L. H. Wal- 

 ters, as to the best method of studying Chinese, 

 I send the following answer. Obtain a Chinese 

 master who speaks the Mandarin dialect. This 

 dialect is spoken by the Chinese literati through- 

 out China. Each of the thirteen provinces speaks 

 its own dialect, unintelligible to a native of any 

 other province, although each province under- 

 stands the written signs. Thus, spring-water, in 

 Mandarin dialect, has another name in each pro- 

 vince ; although the natives of each province un- 

 derstand the meaning of the written sign. They 



