Dec. 23. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



507 



Cat. — Whilst the name of the dog varies in 

 every language, thereby indicating that he is in- 

 digenous, or coeval, or prior to the formation of 

 such languages, the name of the cat is identical, 

 ■with slight dialectical variation, in almost all 

 known languages, thereby indicating its foreign 

 origin. What then is the natural habitat of this 

 feline animal ? The only language, as far as I 

 can ascertain, in which this word is significant, is 

 the Zend, where the word gatu, almost identical 

 with the Spanish gato., means " a place " (Bopp, 

 i. 111.)? ^ word peculiarly significant in reference 

 to this animal, whose attachment is peculiar to 

 place, and not to the person, so strikingly indicated 

 by the dog. The inference is, that Persia is the 

 original habitat of the cat, where that animal 

 exists in its most perfect state, Pallas has a co- 

 loured plate, the portrait of a very fine animal in 

 the Crimea, of that species, in his Travels, vol. ii. 

 It may be probably inferred that It was introduced 

 into Europe from Spain, because the Spanish 

 word is almost identical with the Zend, whilst a 

 greater variation is found in other European dia- 

 lects : for example, catus in Latin, chat in French, 

 hatze in German, ca^in English, kate in Lithuanian, 

 kot in Russian, cat in Gaelic, and cath in Celtic. 

 As the Zend, the language of Zoroaster, is a dead 

 one, akin to the Sanscrit (Bopp, passim), and gave 

 place to the Persian, which dates its origin from 

 the Arabic invasion in the seventh century ; the 

 probable inference is, that the cat had been do- 

 mesticated in Europe prior to the seventh cen- 

 tury. T. J. BUCKTON. 

 Lichfield. 



'■^ Fade." — Lamb objected to the word "fade- 

 less." "What," he asked, "is a fade?" He 

 supposed that the termination -less could only be 

 adjected with propriety to a noun-substantive. 

 But he did not recollect, ceaseless, daunt/ess, 

 quenchZess. Q. 



Bloomsbiuy. 



Climate of the Crimea. — In the Lettres edifi- 

 antes et curieuses (vol. iii. p. 135., edit. 1810), 

 there is one to the Marquis de Torcy, stating 

 that — 



" Le climat serait assez tempere, si les vents etaient 

 moins furieux ; mais en hiver le froid per9ant du vent du* 

 2^ord ri'est pas supportable." 



This letter is dated from Bagchsaray (Backshi- 

 serrai). May 20, 1713, and is fully confirmed by 

 subsequent travellers. The Tartar protects himself 

 from the furious winds and cold by sinking a hole 

 in the ground. (See Clarke's Travels, vol. i.) 

 Felt tents are in universal use by the Tartars in 

 traversing their elevated and exposed steppes 

 (heaths). T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



&UtVitS, 



THE LAST JACOBITES. 



In a recent number of Household Words 

 (No. 241. Nov. 4, 18.54) is an article on the last 

 of the Stuarts, the Cardinal York. It concludes 

 as follows : 



" The Cardinal Duke, down to the very day of his death, 

 although in the receipt of a munificent pension from 

 England, was in communication with several noblemen 

 who still indulged the hope of placing him upon the 

 throne of Great Britain, Among the Cardinal's papers 

 were discovered letters from active partisans both in 

 Ireland and Scotland ; but the English government 

 wisely took no notice of these awkward revelations. Had 

 they done so, many men of high rank and great influence 

 would have been brought to a severe account." 



The Queries which I wish to put are these : 



1 . Are those parts of the above quotation, which 

 I have marked m Italics, correct ? 



2. If correct, who were the "noblemen," the 

 " men of high rank and great influence," who con- 

 tinued to cherish hopes of a Stuart restoration 

 down to 1807, the year of Cardinal York's death ? 



My opinion is, that statement is incorrect. I 

 doubt whether any Jacobites were left in Scotland 

 in 1807, except a few decrepit old men, the 

 remnant of those who had been " out in '45," and 

 these could not be described as men of great 

 influence. It seems strange, too, that so ex- 

 emplary a person as Cardinal York, when he 

 bequeathed his papers to his kinsman and bene- 

 factor George III., should not have taken some 

 precautions to have all those destroyed which 

 compromised any of his adherents who were then 

 living as British subjects. 



I hope that either the author of the article in 

 Household Words will give his authority for the 

 above statement, or that some of your correspon- 

 dents will answer my Queries. R. C. C. 



Manchester. 



;^tn0r €i\itvie^. 



First Fruits and Tenths. — Are the " first fruits 

 and tenths," which form " Queen Anne's Bounty," 

 still paid on the assessment of the King's Book, 

 compiled in the reign of Henry VIII. ? Supposing 

 they are not paid after that date, what assessment 

 forms the basis of the present payment ? S. D. 



Bose-trees. — In Barnaby Googe it is said of 

 these : " It will also doe them good some time to 

 burne them." I have read that the rose did not 

 blossom in Chili, where it is not indigenous, until 

 after it had accidentally been burnt down. Has 

 this experiment ever been tried with the queen of 

 the garden ? F. C. B. 



Diss. 



